Working under MGNREGS: Women workers start desilting as part of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) at Nidigattu village near Bheemunipatnam in Visakhapatnam district on April 23, 2020. Photo Credit: Deepak KR
from being calledliving monument of failureThe Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA) has long been the subject of harsh criticism by the ruling dispensation. While the NDA government has not scrapped the UPA’s legacy scheme, payment delays, technical snags and lack of funds have left the program in a state of disarray.
For example, Center has not yet paid wages worth thousands of crores in West Bengal and Rajasthan. The recently introduced Aadhaar-Based Payment System (ABPS) will affect around 80% of the workers in Maharashtra, who are yet to complete the relevant formalities. Also, the budget allocated for the scheme was reduced by 33% for FY24.
Despite the huge cut, Union Rural Development Minister Giriraj Singh recently claimed that the allocation was higher than what was given during the UPA regime. chart 1 Shows that the allocation is only 1.3% of the total budget in FY24, the lowest ever. The share peaked at 3.4% in FY09.
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From February 1, 2023, MGNREGA beneficiaries were to be paid through ABPS only. However, as of 20 February, only 44% of the total workforce in India was eligible for the ABPS. In 14 states, more than 50% of workers were not eligible. In Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra, where more than 2 crore workers are enrolled under the scheme each, more than 60% were not eligible. chart 2 Shows state-wise share of workers who were not eligible to receive payments through ABPS as on February 20. States have been divided into four categories based on the number of workers enrolled in MGNREGA.
Rajendran Narayanan, a faculty member at Azim Premji University, said, “Unless workers link their job cards and bank accounts with Aadhaar, they will not be allowed to do MNREGA work. This can have serious consequences as the process is time consuming and this is the peak season of MGNREGA. Also, it is almost impossible for workers and field officers to rectify errors in Aadhaar-based payments.”
MGNREGA also suffers from inordinate delay in payment of wages. There are two steps in the payment process. Step 1, which is the responsibility of the states, involves creating a fund transfer order with worker details. It is sent to the center in digital format. Stage 2, which is the responsibility of the Centre, involves processing the fund transfer orders and transferring wages to the employee’s account. chart 3 Shows wages (in Rs crore) that were yet to be processed by states and wages that were yet to be cleared by the Center as on February 25. For example, in Rajasthan, around Rs. 78 crore or 1.5% of the total transactions are yet to be processed at the state level, while the Center is yet to clear arrears of Rs. 1,138 crore or 18% of all transactions. In West Bengal, close to 98% of transactions worth Rs. Rs 2,897 crore is pending with the Centre.
In addition, several states such as West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Nagaland are running negative balances for payment of wages and materials. This makes it difficult for them to take up the new job in hand. Also, he has pending payments ranging from Rs. 200 crores more than Rs. 1,000 crores. In Gujarat, Telangana, Bihar, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, while the current balance is positive, the pending payment balance is much higher, which if cleared, would push the states into negative territory. chart 4 Shows balances with states and payments due in rupees. Ten million.
Source: MIS Reports, Budget Documents and Ministry of Rural Development
nihalani.j@thehindu.co.in
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