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Economic Times
11-06-2025
- Business
- Economic Times
How to kill MNREGA in three easy steps? Just follow these govt's 'tricks', says Jairam Ramesh
'Three easy steps to kill MNREGA' Live Events "What needs to be done instead" Raise daily wages to ₹400 to account for inflation and ensure basic livelihood security. Scrap the mandatory Aadhaar-Based Payment System (ABPS), which he said creates unnecessary delays and exclusions. Ensure timely wage payments within the statutory 15-day limit, and compensate workers in case of delays. The govt's new rulebook (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on the Centre, reacting to a report by The Indian Express that revealed a significant policy shift in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS).The report stated that, for the first time, the central government has capped expenditure under MNREGA at 60% of its total annual budget for the first half of the financial year 2025– described the development as part of a deliberate "three-step formula" to systematically dismantle the rural employment scheme, which has served as a lifeline for millions of vulnerable households across to the Indian Express report , Ramesh outlined what he termed a calculated plan by the government to phase out the demand-driven scheme:Step 1: Starve MNREGA of funds over the years, resulting in stagnant wages and a growing backlog of pending payments, which now stands at a staggering ₹21,000 crore at the beginning of FY 2025– 2: Impose the Finance Ministry's Monthly/Quarterly Expenditure Plan (MEP/QEP) on MNREGA, restricting ministries to spend only 60% of the total annual allocation in the first six months—thus undermining the flexible, demand-based nature of the 3: With no funds left after clearing backlogs, bring work allocation under the scheme to a near halt, denying rural households their legal right to warned that the first two steps have already been executed, and the third is "now going to come out soon," which he said would mark the effective end of the scheme in response, the Congress leader laid out a list of corrective measures to safeguard and strengthen MNREGA:"Instead of fixing what's broken, the government seems to be dismantling the only safety net millions depend on," Ramesh said, accusing the Modi government of prioritizing fiscal optics over rural to the report, the Ministry of Finance has, for the first time, included MNREGA under its MEP/QEP framework — a cash flow management tool introduced in Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), which had previously resisted such constraints citing the scheme's demand-driven nature, reportedly submitted its quarterly expenditure plan as directed, only to be denied permission to exceed the 60% threshold in the first half of FY 2025– move, experts say, will likely slow down work allocations and further delay wage payments, especially during peak agricultural lean seasons when demand for rural jobs typically surges.
Time of India
11-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
How to kill MNREGA in three easy steps? Just follow these govt's 'tricks', says Jairam Ramesh
Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on the Centre, reacting to a report by The Indian Express that revealed a significant policy shift in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS). The report stated that, for the first time, the central government has capped expenditure under MNREGA at 60% of its total annual budget for the first half of the financial year 2025–26. Ramesh described the development as part of a deliberate "three-step formula" to systematically dismantle the rural employment scheme, which has served as a lifeline for millions of vulnerable households across India. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Unfriendliest Countries in the World, Ranked BigGlobalTravel Undo 'Three easy steps to kill MNREGA' Referring to the Indian Express report , Ramesh outlined what he termed a calculated plan by the government to phase out the demand-driven scheme: Step 1: Starve MNREGA of funds over the years, resulting in stagnant wages and a growing backlog of pending payments, which now stands at a staggering ₹21,000 crore at the beginning of FY 2025–26. Live Events Step 2: Impose the Finance Ministry's Monthly/Quarterly Expenditure Plan (MEP/QEP) on MNREGA, restricting ministries to spend only 60% of the total annual allocation in the first six months—thus undermining the flexible, demand-based nature of the programme. Step 3: With no funds left after clearing backlogs, bring work allocation under the scheme to a near halt, denying rural households their legal right to employment. Ramesh warned that the first two steps have already been executed, and the third is "now going to come out soon," which he said would mark the effective end of the scheme in practice. "What needs to be done instead" In response, the Congress leader laid out a list of corrective measures to safeguard and strengthen MNREGA: Raise daily wages to ₹400 to account for inflation and ensure basic livelihood security. Scrap the mandatory Aadhaar-Based Payment System (ABPS), which he said creates unnecessary delays and exclusions. Ensure timely wage payments within the statutory 15-day limit, and compensate workers in case of delays. "Instead of fixing what's broken, the government seems to be dismantling the only safety net millions depend on," Ramesh said, accusing the Modi government of prioritizing fiscal optics over rural welfare. The govt's new rulebook According to the report, the Ministry of Finance has, for the first time, included MNREGA under its MEP/QEP framework — a cash flow management tool introduced in 2017. The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), which had previously resisted such constraints citing the scheme's demand-driven nature, reportedly submitted its quarterly expenditure plan as directed, only to be denied permission to exceed the 60% threshold in the first half of FY 2025–26. This move, experts say, will likely slow down work allocations and further delay wage payments, especially during peak agricultural lean seasons when demand for rural jobs typically surges.
Time of India
19-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
MGNREGA job demand dips by 8% in state; J'khand has 3rd highest no. workers ineligible for online payment
1 2 Ranchi: The demand for MNREGA jobs in Jharkhand has registered an 8% dip in the last 2024-25 financial year when compared to the previous fiscal and the tribal-dominated state is among the top three after Maharashtra and Gujarat in the country with the highest proportion of ineligible workers for online payment, the Aadhaar-Based Payment System (ABPS), a nationwide survey titled 'The Missing Work: A National Review of MGNREGA Implementation (FY 2024-25) has said. The pan-India survey conducted by LibTech India and NREGA Sangharsh Morcha said the survey was conducted using data available on the govt-run MGNREGA dashboard The survey excluded a few states like Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Goa and Ladakh among others, as their contribution to the national trend is minimal. In terms of job loss, a total of 10.97 crore mandays of work was availed in the 2023-24 fiscal, which fell to 10.09 crore in 2024-25. In terms of ineligible workers, out of 1.03 crore people enrolled under MGNREGA in the state, 38.11% (39 lakh) are ineligible for ABPS. "Ineligible for ABPS means that workers fail to get money as their bank accounts are not linked with the National Payment Corporation of India and the UID, which is mandatory under the govt norms. Overall, the reason behind the dip in MGNREGA work demand could be due to various reasons, including lesser allocation of budget and diversion of the funds among others," said an official, who was part of the report preparation team. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like This Device Made My Power Bill Drop Overnight elecTrick - Save upto 80% on Power Bill Pre-Order Undo He added that on the ground, people with ineligible ABPS don't even get work quite often. In Maharashtra, the number of workers ineligible for ABPS is 63.44% of the total workers registered, and in Gujarat, it is 58.10%. James Herenj of MNREGA watch, which works in this sector, said the biggest problem in states like Jharkhand is the lack of education among the rural people. "There are numerous cases where payments are stuck even after doing the work because of non-compliance with ABPS. As a result, the workers lose out on their wages. Due to the lack of resources to help them tide them over the technical glitches, the workers tend to lose interest in MGNREGA jobs and migrate to other places for work," he said. Stating that the poor wage structure is also one of the reasons for the migration of workers, Herenj added, "In Jharkhand, MNREGA wage is Rs 282 per day after the recent hike. This includes the state govt's share of Rs 27. Even this amount is very less compared to the minimum wage rate prescribed for agricultural work in the state, which is Rs 289 per day."
