Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS): Key Facts and Issues

What’s in today’s article?

• Why in News?
• What is MGNREGA/MGNREGS?
• Objectives of MGNREGS
• Procedure to Enroll under the MGNREGS
• Key Facts about the MGNREGS
• Issues with the Implementation of the MGNREGS
• Recommendations of the Standing Committee Report to further Strengthen MGNREGS
• New Summary wrt Deletions under MGNREGS

Why in News?

• The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), in a written reply to the Lok Sabha, informed that names of over five crore workers have been deleted under the MGNREGS in the financial year 2022-23.
• There has been a hike of 247% in the deletions during 2022-23 as compared to 2021-22.

What is MGNREGA/MGNREGS?

• The MG National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), also known as MGNREGS is an Indian legislation enacted in 2005.
• It provides a legal guarantee for one hundred days of employment in every financial year to adult members of any rural household willing to do public work-related unskilled manual work at the statutory minimum wage.
• The MoRD, Government of India, is monitoring the entire implementation of this scheme in association with state governments.

Objectives of MGNREGS:

• It aims to improve the purchasing power of the rural people by giving people living below poverty line primarily semi or un-skilled work.
• It attempts to bridge the gap between the rich and poor in the country and leads to women empowerment as roughly one-third of the stipulated work force must be women.

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Procedure to Enroll under the MGNREGS:

• Adult members of rural households submit their name, age and address with a photo to the Gram Panchayat.
• The Gram Panchayat registers households after making enquiry and issues a job card.
• The job card contains the details of the adult member enrolled and his/her photo.
• Registered person can submit an application for work in writing (for at least fourteen days of continuous work) either to Panchayat or to Programme Officer.
• The employment will be provided within a radius of 5 km and if it is above 5 km extra wage will be paid.

Key Facts about the MGNREGS:

• Right to get unemployment allowance in case employment is not provided within 15 days of submitting the application or from the date when work is sought.
• MGNREGS focuses on the economic and social empowerment of women.
• MGNREGS provides “Green” and “Decent” work.
• Social Audit of works is mandatory, which lends to accountability and transparency.
• MGNREGS works address the climate change vulnerability and protect the farmers from such risks and conserve natural resources.
• The Gram Sabha is the principal forum for wage seekers to raise their voices and make demands.
• It is the Gram Sabha and the Gram Panchayat which approves the shelf of works under MGNREGS and fix their priority.

Issues with the Implementation of the MGNREGS:

• Delayed payment of wages: This is mainly due to failed payment transfers arising from inactive Aadhaar and closed, blocked, or frozen bank accounts. 
• Delay in compensation: In case of delay in payment of wages under MGNREGA, beneficiaries are entitled to compensation at the rate of 0.05% of unpaid wages per day for the duration of delay. 
• Unemployment allowance: State governments determine the rate of this allowance. In 2019-20 and 2020-21, only Rs 12,000 and Rs 3,000 respectively was paid as unemployment allowance. 
• Poor implementation of social audits provision:  In 2020-21, only 29,611 Gram Panchayats were audited at least once and social audit reports are not publicly available. 
• Appointment of ombudsperson: Under the Act, there should be an ombudsperson for each district who will receive grievances, conduct enquiries, and pass awards. 
  • So far only 263 ombudsmen have been appointed which shows poor coordination between central and state nodal agencies. 

Recommendations of the Standing Committee Report to further Strengthen MGNREGS:

• Increase in number of days of work (from 100 days to 150 days).
• Revision of permissible works: It recommended to consult stakeholders and include area-specific works under MGNREGA as per local needs. 
• Uniform wage rate: Need to devise a mechanism for a unified wage rate across the country as wage rates currently range from Rs 193 to Rs 318 in different states/UTs.
• Increase in wages commensurate with inflation.

New Summary wrt Deletions under MGNREGS:

• According to the MoRD, deletions are a “regular exercise” conducted by State governments.
• West Bengal (5,199%) has reported the largest hike in deletion, followed by Telangana (2727%) and Andhra Pradesh (1147%).
• The State governments have listed five reasons for the deletions, including – fake job card, duplicate job card, not willing to work, family shifted from gram panchayat permanently and single person in job card and the person is expired.
• According to some reports, the deletions are spiralling because of the government’s emphasis on linking MGNREGS job cards with Aadhaar cards and making wage payments through the Aadhaar-Based Payments System (ABPS).

Q1) What is the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana- National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM)?

The NULM, under the aegis of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, aims to facilitate skilled wage employment and gainful self-employment among the urban poor.

Source: Parliament proceedings | Names of 5 crore MGNREGS workers deleted in 2022-23, Minister informs Lok Sabha