Hyderabad: A staggering 1,21,422 active MGNREGS workers from Telangana were removed from the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS, also known as MGNREGA) in 2023-24, revealed a parliamentary query made by the Communist Party of India (CPI) MP S Venkatesan.
Replying to the CPI(M) MP S Venkatesan’s question on the removal of MGNREGA workers from the scheme’s roll, Union minister of state for rural development Kamlesh Paswan revealed that more than 68 lakh (68,86,532) active workers were removed in the financial year 2023-24, while 86,17,887 workers were removed in 2022-23.
The minister’s answer also contained the state-wise data on MGNREGS deletions, which revealed that in Andhra Pradesh, 3,60,840 workers were removed from the employment roll.
The minister said that the MGNREGS removals are made due to reasons including fake/duplicate/incorrect job cards, family shifting out of gram panchayat permanently, village becoming classified as urban etc.
The Union government owes Telangana Rs 282.74 crore as pending liabilities for material components and Rs 15.46 crore as wage liabilities.
Funds released for MGNREGS continue to diminish
While the budget estimates have been the highest-ever allocation in the financial year 2023-24, the trend of decreasing the actual release of funds to the MGNREGS continues.
The MGNREGS, a demand-driven wage employment initiative, is aimed at providing job security to India’s rural unemployed population. Over recent years, the actual release amounts for MGNREGS have consistently exceeded the initial budget estimates, reflecting its responsive nature to employment needs.
In the financial year 2020-21, the Union government allocated Rs 61,500 crore but ultimately released Rs 1,11,170.86 crore. However, this figure saw a decline in subsequent years: in 2021-22, the release was reduced to Rs 98,467.84 crore, and further down to Rs 90,810.99 crore in 2022-23.
For the financial year 2023-24, while the Union budget initially announced an allocation of Rs 60,000 crore, the actual release amounted to Rs 89,268.30 crore. This trend indicates a significant reduction in allocation compared to previous years’ actual expenditures.
According to a statement from the Union ministry of rural development, the Union government has also gone against the trend of releasing more than the budget amounts.
As of January 28, the Union government has only released Rs 82,421.05 crore and has not released the full amount of Rs 86,000 crore, which was announced before the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
What is Mahatma Gandhi NREGS?
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) is the Union government’s flagship programme to minimise unemployment in rural India while providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment for unskilled workers.
MGNREGS was introduced under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), which gave Indian citizens the ‘Right to Work,’ passed in 2005.
MGNREGS aims to enhance livelihood security in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of assured and guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to at least one member of every Indian rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.
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