Full 100 days’ MGNREGA employment benefits just 7 per cent, says new report

The Congress on Wednesday, 21 May, cited the findings of a new report on MGNREGA to highlight crucial gaps in its implementation and attack the government.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, pointing to the findings of the report by LibTech India, said only 7 per cent of households get the promised 100 days of work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

Even as coverage of the scheme rises — perhaps due to the ongoing economic slowdown pushing more families to seek MGNREGS employment — the average of days of employment per household has fallen between FY 2023–24 and FY 2024–2025, he said in a statement.

Ramesh said that due to the worsening economic downturn, the budget must make adequate financial provision to realise the vision under MGNREGA.

"MGNREGA wages cannot be set by the arbitrary whims of the government. A Standing Committee must be established to evaluate the need for changes in the wage rate," he said.

The LibTech report points out that employment fell by 7.1 per cent in 2024–25, despite an 8.6 percent rise in registered households, under the scheme. It also pointed out that average workdays dropped by 4.3 per cent and 100-day completion households fell by 11.9 per cent.

Ramesh said the LibTech report documents several crucial gaps in MGNREGA implementation.

"One of the earliest indications of Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi’s uncaring attitude and shortsightedness was his mockery of MGNREGA on the floor of the Parliament in 2015," he said.

"In the years since, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic, MGNREGA has conclusively demonstrated its utility as one of the few social security interventions that the government can execute. From a pre-pandemic total of 6.16 crore households requesting work under the scheme in 2019-20, the numbers jumped by nearly 33 percent to 8.55 crore in 2020-2021. For these crores of families, MGNREGA was the only lifeline amidst the chaos of the government’s unplanned lockdowns," Ramesh said.

He said the LibTech report reveals some concerning data points about the state of the MGNREGA today.

"The MGNREGA budget — Rs 86,000 crore for FY24-25 — is widely considered inadequate. The People’s Action for Employment Guarantee (PAEG) had recommended a budget allocation of Rs 2.64 lakh crore for the MGNREGS for FY 2022-23 itself. The World Bank recommends that at least 1.7 per cent of the GDP should be allocated to this programme — current allocations are 0.26 percent of GDP as of 2024-25," he said.

After many years of arbitrary deletion of MGNREGS workers, sustained pressure from civil society and the Opposition parties has finally forced the Modi government to reinstate deleted job cards, he pointed out.

"However, the pace of additions has to be kept up to undo the damage wreaked upon beneficiaries over the last several years," he noted.

Ramesh said that during the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, MGNREGS workers from across the country raised these issues at the Jan Sunwai held at Ranka in Jharkhand on 14 February 2024.

Eight months later, these issues continue to persist — a government-created human, economic and institutional tragedy, he said.

"The Indian National Congress has consistently demanded several key changes to the Union Government’s implementation of MGNREGA, and the Parliamentary Standing Committee for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj has echoed several of these," he said.

"MGNREGA was envisioned as a demand-driven scheme, with workdays depending on the individuals applying for work rather than government budgets. Especially given the worsening economic downturn, the Budget must make adequate financial provision to realise this vision," Ramesh stressed.

"Amidst a decade-long crisis of stagnant wages, an increase in MGNREGA wages — as envisioned in the Congress Nyay Patra for the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections — assumes renewed importance. MGNREGA wages must rise to reach Rs 400 per day," he added.

Ramesh also said the Aadhar Based Payment Bridge Systems (ABPS) must not be made mandatory, wages must be paid within the statutory period of 15 days and any delay in payment must be compensated and the number of workdays under MGNREGA must be increased from 100 to 150 days.