It has been noticed by the Ministry of Rural Development that some section of the media has quoted that “Rural Employment under MGNREGS dip by 16% in first half of current year. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (Mahatma Gandhi NREGA) aims at enhancing livelihood security of households in rural areas of the country by providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. It may be noted that the total person days generated between FY 2006-07 to FY 2013-14 were 1660 crore, whereas, the total person days between FY 2014-15 to FY 2024-25 has been 2923 crore. Since MGNREGA is a demand driven scheme and current FY is still ongoing, hence, it is not possible to fix an exact target of person days generation. However, the states/UTs can send proposal for labour budget revision as per the local felt needs.

DBT & Aadhar Seeding

Under Mahatma Gandhi NREGA Direct Benefit Transfer, all payments to the workers are to be credited into the accounts of the workers. The crediting of payments are done using the Aadhaar number of the beneficiary with which the account is linked.

ABPS conversion is a major reform process where benefits are credited directly into the bank accounts based on the Aadhaar of the workers under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS, preferably Aadhaar Based Payments, cutting several layers in the delivery process. APBS helps in better targeting, increasing the efficiency of the system and reducing the delays  in payments, ensuring greater inclusion by curbing leakages and thereby, controlling expenditure and promoting greater accountability and transparency.

The major benefit of ABPS conversion in Mahatma Gandhi NREGA is to minimize the rejection of transactions due to the frequent changing of accounts. Still, it also helps to maximize the performance of DBT. As on 26.10.2024, Aadhar seeding has been done for 13.10 crore active workers, which is 99.3% of total active workers (13.18 crore).

It is a fallacious argument that workers’ demand for work is not registered if their accounts are not ABPS-enabled and that their wages remain unpaid because of this reason. In case of non-eligible workers, whose ABPS is still pending, states/UTs have been requested to sensitize all banks to ensure timely seeding of Aadhar numbers of NREGS beneficiaries into NPCI mapper. In this regard, it is also informed that if any transaction returns from NPCI/Bank with any valid reason for rejection under ABPS then that transaction can be regenerated from NACH (National Automated Clearing House) payment mode. Therefore, there already exists an alternative solution at NREGASoft in the form of NACH Payment mode (i.e. Account Based) for the regeneration of failed transactions under ABPS. States/UTs have been continuously sensitized regarding this.

Deletion of Job Cards

Job card verification is a continuous process under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS. This exercise is conducted by states/UTs with the help of the Aadhaar number as a tool of de-duplication. Job cards can be cancelled/deleted, after due verification, only if it is a fake job card (incorrect job card)/ duplicate job card/ household not willing to work/ family shifted from Gram Panchayat permanently/ single person in job card and that person has expired.

As per NREGASoft, during the FY 2023-24, total number of job cards deleted by the states/UTs was 102.20 lakh, whereas, in current FY 2024-25 as on 26.10.24, it is 32.28 lakh. From the same document which has been cited, it is evident that in the state of Andhra Pradesh between April to September 2024, a total of 3.43 lakh new workers were added while 2.85 lakh workers were deleted resulting in a net addition of 58 thousand workers.

Importance of National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS)

It is a fallacious argument that NREGA work is not undertaken in villages where mates do not have smartphones that support the NMMS app. NMMS attendance can be taken by Gram Rojgar Sewak or Mate whoever is readily available at the worksite. The introduction of NMMS has brought about enhanced transparency in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGS) in the states/UTs, it involves capturing of real time attendance with geo-tagged, two time-stamped photographs of the workers in a day through NMMS App for all the works (except individual beneficiary works) which was made mandatory from 1st January, 2023. In order to address the challenges which may arise due to internet connectivity, server or technical issues in remote areas, the geo-stamped and time-stamped attendance photographs can be captured in an offline mode and can be uploaded to the server once the device is in a network area within a day. In case of exceptional circumstances due to which attendance could not be uploaded, the District Programme Coordinator (DPC) has been authorized to approve the manual attendance. In FY 2024-25, attendance for 20.35 lakh worksites (95.66%) has been captured and uploaded on the portal.

Budget Layout of Mahatma Gandhi NREGS

It is an inaccurate assessment to state that the budget of MGNREGA and workers' wages are being cut continuously. The Budget estimate for the scheme has been on an increasing trend. During the FY 2013-14, the Budget allocation was Rs.33,000 crore only at BE stage which is Rs 86,000 crore during the current FY 2024-25, which is the highest since inception. Further, it is stated that in FY 2024-25 the minimum average notified wage rate has increased by 7%.

The Ministry seeks additional funds for implementation of Mahatma Gandhi NREGS from the Ministry of Finance as and when required for meeting the demand for work on the ground. Under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS, States submit fund release proposals to Government of India. Fund release to the States is a continuous process and Central Government is committed to making funds available to States for the implementation of the Scheme as per the demand for the work on the ground.

Workers’ Wages

To say that workers' wages are not paid within the statutorily mandated period of 15 days (without any compensation for delay) is not accurate. Currently, 97% of Fund Transfer Orders (FTOs) are generated on time. Additionally, delay compensation rules have been notified so far in 27 states/UTs, with ₹5.27 lakh paid as compensation for delays in FY 2024-25.

Till 2008, Mahatma Gandhi NREGS workers were paid the same "minimum wages" as notified by the State Governments under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948. They were paid minimum wages applicable for agricultural labourers. In January 2009, the Central Government delinked Minimum Wages Act with MGNREG Act, by exercising its power under section 6(1) and froze the wage rates applicable to MGNREGS workers in different states. Accordingly, the Ministry notifies Mahatma Gandhi NREGA wage rate every year for states/UTs. To compensate the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA workers against inflation, the MoRD revises the wage rate every year based on the change in Consumer Price Index for Agricultural Labour (CPI-AL). The wage rate is made applicable from 1st April of every Financial Year.  Centrally, this Ministry does not maintain agricultural minimum wage rates in respect of states/UTs. However, each state/UT can provide wage over and above the wage-rate notified by the Central Government. In FY 2013-14, the minimum average notified wage rate for Mahatma Gandhi NREGA was ₹155, while in FY 2024-25, the minimum average notified wage rate is ₹279.

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