State governments across the nation have removed the names of 5.18 crore workers who were registered under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) during the financial year 2022-2023. This alarming figure represents a staggering 247% increase in deletions compared to the previous financial year. The data was provided by Union rural development minister, Giriraj Singh, in a written response presented in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, July 25. The minister attributed various reasons for these deletions, including the presence of fake and duplicate job cards, workers no longer willing to work, families permanently shifting from the Gram Panchayat, and cases of deceased workers. The MGNREGS is designed to guarantee 100 days of employment to rural households across the country, offering specially notified minimum wages for the labor involved. This work primarily comprises physical labor and includes activities such as construction, afforestation, and land-levelling. Responding to queries from Congress MPs V.K. Sreekandan and Gourav Gogoi, who sought clarification on the veracity and reasons behind the deletion of over a crore names from the MGNREGS system, Giriraj Singh clarified that “”system error”” was not a designated reason for these deletions. However, according to a report by The Hindu, one of the reasons behind the deletions is the state governments’ inability to reconcile differences in the details of registered workers between their MGNREGS job cards and Aadhaar cards. The Union government mandated earlier that payments for the MGNREGS must be routed through Aadhaar, India’s biometric identification system, leading to the requirement for laborers to link these two cards. Despite multiple deadline extensions for the “”Aadhaar-based payment system”” since January, state governments have been racing against the timeline and resorting to removing workers with discrepancies between the two databases. When questioned about holding low-level officials accountable for errors in the MGNREGS, Singh pointed out that it is the responsibility of state governments to implement the scheme effectively. The financial year 2022-23 witnessed the cancellation of job cards issued to 5,18,91,168 MGNREGS beneficiaries, a sharp increase from the 1,49,51,247 job cards cancelled in the previous year. States and Union Territories such as Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Telangana, and Puducherry reported the highest number of cancellations during 2022-23. During the last financial year, West Bengal removed the names of 83.36 lakh workers from the MGNREGS scheme, marking the highest number of deletions among all states during that period. According to the wire, One reason for the high number of deletions in West Bengal could be that the state has not received funds from the Union government for the scheme since December 2021, following allegations of corruption and malfeasance on behalf of the state government. Consequently, the state government faced challenges in adequately compensating its MGNREGS workers, affecting the program’s role as a safety net for migrant workers, particularly during the COVID-19 lockdown. West Bengal, governed by the All India Trinamool Congress party, is in opposition to the BJP. As of July 21, the Union government owes the state a total of Rs 2,765.55 crore in MGNREGS wage payments. For instance, Karnataka canceled job cards issued to 2,50,665 MGNREGS beneficiaries in 2021-22, but the number increased to 8,07,397 in 2022-23. Similarly, West Bengal reported an increase of over 5199% with 83,36,115 job cards being cancelled, compared to 1,57,309 cancellations in the previous year. Andhra Pradesh witnessed a rise of 1,147% with 78,05,569 job cards cancelled in 2022-23, compared to 6,25,514 in 2021-22. Telangana experienced a increase of 2,727% with 17,32,936 job cards deleted in 2022-23, whereas 61,278 cards were removed in 2021-22. Gujarat saw a surge of over 200%, with 4,30,404 job cards deleted in 2022-23, compared to 1,43,202 in the previous year.
#MGNREGA #GovernmentScheme #AadharCard #Job #AndhraPradesh #Workers #RuralDevelopment #WestBengal #Telangana #Puducherry #Karnataka #Gujarat #BJP #Congress #PMModi #RahulGandhi #HWNews
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
