Page 2 - Mgnrega

West Bengal starts transfer of MGNREGA dues of around 3 million workers

The West Bengal government has started paying dues of around 30 lakh MGNREGA workers in the state, a senior minister said. The state government started transferring dues amounting to Rs 2,700 crore to the bank accounts of MGNREGA workers on Monday. These dues have been pending from the Centre since March 2022, he said. "A large number of transfers were successfully done yesterday but some were unsuccessful due to technical issues from the bank-end. We hope that the remaining transfers will be completed by today," state Panchayat Minister Pradip Majumdar told PTI. He said around 30 lakh MGNREGA workers will receive the due amounts, with the maximum hailing from South 24 Parganas district. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had earlier this month staged a 48-hour dharna in Kolkata demanding that the Centre release the unpaid dues to the state. She had then announced that her government would transfer the dues to the bank accounts of the MGNREGA workers.

MGNREGA scheme led to decline in gender wage gap in rural India: ILO

The paper also noted that the gap in rural wages between formal salaried workers and casual workers also decreased due to the employment guarantee scheme

Govt seeks Rs 78k cr cash outgo in second supplementary demand for grants

The second tranche of supplementary grants by various departments and ministries includes Rs 10,798 crore expenditure towards the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme

CM Mamata announces payment to 2.1 mn MGNREGA workers in Bengal by Feb 21

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday announced that her government would transfer funds by February 21 to the bank accounts of 21 lakh MGNREGA workers in the state. The Trinamool Congress supremo, who on Friday started a 48-hour-dharna in front of the BR Ambedkar statue in the city demanding release of "unpaid dues" from the Centre for various social welfare schemes, also said that she would soon come out with another announcement regarding the unreleased funds for the Awas Yojana. "We do not want to beg from the BJP nor do we want their alms. By February 21, we will transfer money to the bank accounts of 21 lakh workers who did not get the money from the central government even after working for the 100-day work scheme (MGNREGA) in the last three years. This is my first step", Banerjee announced at the dharna site. "The central government is thinking that they will starve Bengal to death. We will not allow them to succeed in that... Have faith in me... I will try

CM Mamata Banerjee to stage dharna in Kolkata today over West Bengal's dues

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will stage a dharna here from Friday to protest against alleged withholding of the state's dues by the Centre. The issue of the Centre withholding the dues, particularly under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), has snowballed into a significant political controversy in the state. "The dharna will start at 1 pm in Red Road area in Maidan. Our party supremo Mamata Banerjee will lead the agitation. Other senior leaders of the party will also be present," a senior TMC leader said. Earlier demonstrations by TMC's national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, along with a cohort of party legislators, MPs, ministers, and MGNREGA workers at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, followed by a five-day sit-in outside Raj Bhavan here, have underscored the gravity of the situation. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005, aims at enhancing the livelihood security of households in rural areas by providin

Interim Budget: 'Fiscally prudent, growth-promoting pronouncement'

The underlying nominal GDP growth assumption of 10.5 per cent for the Budget and tax collection estimates are realistic

PM-KISAN to Ayushman Bharat: Key changes possible in interim Budget

Interim Budget: Nirmala Sitharaman has said that there may not be big announcements. However, various reports have suggested that there may be some changes in many of the Centre's schemes

Industry bodies eye access to the e-shram portal to fill talent gap

Industry has asked for access to the e-Shram database which will help us enable skilling and employability of the unorganised workforce in the country

Rajasthan's 'tankas' mordernised under MGNREGA to battle water scarcity

The district has 2,971 villages, locally called 'dhannis', and respective gram panchayats are the implementing agencies

Will penalise states not MGNREGA workers if not linked with ABPS: Minister

Rural Development Minister Giriraj Singh Tuesday slammed the Congress for its criticism of making Aadhaar mandatory for payments under MGNREGA, and said "we will penalise states not workers" if they are not yet linked with the Aadhaar-Based Payment System (ABPS). A day after the ABPS was made mandatory for the rural employment guarantee scheme, Singh said several deadlines were given for linking. He also dismissed former rural development minister Jairam Ramesh's allegations that the union government is "weaponising technology", especially the Aadhaar against the poor. The ABPS has been made mandatory to ensure transparency, the minister said. According to data provided by the Rural Development Ministry, as on January 2 there are around 14.32 crore active workers under the MGNREGS of whom 14.08 crore (98.31 per cent) have been Aadhaar-seeded. Also, 12.54 crore workers (87.54 per cent of the total) have completed other steps and are currently eligible for Aadhaar-Based Payment ...

MGNREGA spend spike, subsidies to lead to fiscal slippage in FY24: Report

Despite the handsome growth in tax collections, there is a possibility of a fiscal slippage in FY24 because of higher spends on employment guarantee scheme and subsidies, a domestic rating agency said on Tuesday. India Ratings and Research, which is a unit of international rating agency Fitch Ratings, said the fiscal deficit for FY24 will come at 6 per cent, as against the budgetary target of 5.9 per cent. "Higher-than-budgeted revenue expenditure triggered through the first and likely second supplementary demand for grants in combination with lower-than-budgeted nominal GDP will push the fiscal deficit," the agency said in a note. It said the fiscal slippage will happen despite higher tax and non-tax revenue collections, and also added that these will be more than sufficient to offset the lower-than-budgeted divestment proceeds. In the first supplementary demand, the union government will spend more on prioritised areas/sectors such as food, fertiliser and LPG subsidy and Mahatma

PM Modi to address mass gathering of 2 lakh women in Kerala on Jan 2

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a mass gathering of two lakh women from various walks of life here on January 2. The meeting has been titled 'Sthree Shakthi Samgamam' and is organised by the Kerala unit of BJP to congratulate PM Modi for successfully passing the Women's Reservation Bill in both houses of Parliament, party's state chief K Surendran said on Friday. This event will be the first of its kind, not only at the state level but also nationally, following the historic passage of the bill, Surendran told reporters. Women from diverse backgrounds, including Anganwadi teachers, ASHA workers, entrepreneurs, MGNREGA and neighbourhood network workers and social and cultural activists will participate in the event at Thekkinkadu ground here. "The Prime Minister will participate in the programme, and the objective is to showcase Kerala's greetings to the PM under whose leadership the Women's Reservation Bill was passed," he said. The BJP chief claimed that no other ...

MGNREGS job demand dips for first time FY24 in Nov, compared to FY23

Around 17.67 million households sought work under the scheme in November 2023, which was almost 5 per cent less than the same month of the 2022-23 financial year

Is MGNREGA work demand real sign of distress or problem lies elsewhere?

In FY23, around 87.5 million people worked under the scheme, according to the MGNREGA website. Till December 12 in FY24, approximately 72.6 million people had worked under the scheme

Job cards of over 54.8 million MGNREGA workers deleted in 2022-23: Govt

Over 5.48 crore job cards under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act were deleted in 2022-23, a 267 per cent jump from the previous fiscal, the Union Rural Development Ministry informed Lok Sabha Tuesday. In reply to a query by JD(U) MP from Bihar Dileshwar Kamait, Minister of State for Rural Development Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti said West Bengal saw the highest number of MGNREGA job cards being deleted at 83,43,469, which is 5,203 per cent more than 2021-22 when 1,57,309 job cards were deleted. In Bihar, job cards of 83,30,633 workers were deleted, which is 315.84 per cent more than the previous fiscal. Uttar Pradesh saw the deletion of 78,78,403 job cards, 608 per cent more than the previous fiscal, while Andhra Pradesh saw the deletion of 77,96,889 job cards, the minister said. She added that in total 5,48,27,121 job cards were deleted in 2022-23. This is an increase of 267.18 per cent compared to 2022-21 when job cards involving 1,49,31,801 workers were deleted

LS gives nod for additional cash outgo of Rs 58,378 cr in current fiscal

The Lok Sabha on Tuesday cleared a net additional spending of Rs 58,378 crore in the current fiscal ending March 2024, with a large chunk going towards MGNREGA and subsidy on fertiliser. The gross additional spending sought by the government was over Rs 1.29 lakh crore, of which Rs 70,968 crore would be matched by savings and receipts. Replying to a debate on Supplementary Demands for Grants, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that fiscal prudence is the top priority of the government without compromising on social welfare. She also said that the net additional spending by the government would be Rs 58,378.21 crore in the current fiscal. The additional expenditure includes Rs 13,351 crore towards fertiliser subsidy and about Rs 7,000 crore towards spending by the Department of Food and Public Distribution. The House also approved an additional outgo of Rs 9,200 crore spending by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Rs 14,524 crore by the Ministry of Rural Developmen

Over 743,000 MGNREGA 'fake job cards' deleted in 2022-23, highest in UP

More than 7.43 lakh "fake" job cards under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme were deleted in 2022-23, of which over 2.96 lakh were in Uttar Pradesh, the Centre has said in the Lok Sabha. In a written response to a question this week, Minister of State for Rural Development Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti shared data on fake job cards. The data showed 7,43,457 fake job cards were deleted in 2022-23 and 3,06,944 in 2021-22. Uttar Pradesh accounted for the highest number of deletions on account of job cards being fake. As many as 67,937 fake job cards were deleted in Uttar Pradesh in 2021-23 and the number increased to 2,96,464 in 2022-23. Odisha came second with 1,14,333 job cards being deleted in 2022-23 and 50,817 in 2021-22. In Madhya Pradesh, 27,859 fake job cards were deleted in the last fiscal and 95,209 in 2021-22. The corresponding figures for Bihar was 80,203 and 27,062. In Jharkhand, 70,673 job cards were deleted in 2022-23 and 23,528 the previous year.

Requested time to meet PM: Bengal CM Mamata on stoppage of MGNREGA funds

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleged that money has not been transferred from the central government for the work that has already been done under the MGNREGA programme

TMC raises MGNREGA dues issue in Lok Sabha, minister alleges corruption

The Trinamool Congress on Monday alleged that the Centre has imposed an 'economic blockade' against the West Bengal government by blocking funds for schemes like MGNREGA and PM Awas Yojana as it demanded an immediate payment of the dues. Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan in response alleged corruption in handling of the central funds in the state and said a CBI enquiry has been ordered into the matter. Raising the issue in Lok Sabha during the Zero Hour, TMC's Sudip Bandyopadhyay said that an amount of around Rs 18,000 crore is pending due to the state. "Under MGNREGA, (PM) Awas Yojana, National Health Mission, all money allocated by government of India has been blocked since (sic) last two years, amounting up to Rs 18,000 crore," the TMC MP said. He also said that TMC MPs had come to meet the Minister of State for Rural Development Niranjan Jyoti in Delhi but she left without meeting them, and the lawmakers were later forcibly removed from the ministry's premises. "We MPs and our

Rural housing construction may be driving up MGNREGS costs, says ministry

Rs 35,000-40,000 crore of MGNREGS wages have already gone towards the construction of houses under PMAY-Gramin since it was revamped in November 2016