Lok Sabha Question No. 1507 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-07-26
Subject: Direct Benefit Transfer under MGNREGS
Ministry: RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: RAJESH RANJAN  (PAPPU  YADAV), RANJEET RANJAN

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1507

TO BE ANSWERED ON 26.07.2018

## DIRECT BENEFIT TRANSFER UNDER MGNREGS

## 1507.   SHRI RAJESH RANJAN: SHRIMATI RANJEET RANJAN:

Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether in order to counter corruption in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) all types of payments to workers will be made through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) through banks and presently 94 percent of payments are being made directly to the beneficiaries accounts and the electronic fund management system has been made mandatory since April for its successful implementation;
- (b) if  so,  the  details thereof and the reasons for non-resolution of the problem of delayed payments even after making direct payment into accounts of 94 percent people;
- (c) whether the people not in possession of proper documents would be deprived of this scheme after implementation of DBT;
- (d) if so, the details thereof and the steps taken by the Government in this regard; and
- (e) the other steps taken/being taken for removal of corruption prevailing at other levels of MGNREGS?

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

## ANSWER (SHRI RAM KRIPAL YADAV)

(a)&(b): To streamline the  fund flow  mechanism and bring  down  delay  in  payment of wages,  the  Ministry  of  Rural  Development  has  implemented  National  Electronic  Fund Management System (NeFMS) in 24 States and 1 Union Territory. This process reduces the delay in allocation of funds for payment of wages to the States and removes parking of funds at various levels. As per NREGASoft, around 99% of the wages are being paid electronically (FY 2018-19 as on 24.07.2018) into the Bank/Post Office accounts of MGNREGA workers through Electronic Fund Management System (eFMS). In FY 2013-14, only 37% of the wages were paid electronically.

The  Ministry  along  with  the  States/UTs  has  been  making  concerted  efforts  for improving the timely payment of wages. States/ UTs have been advised to generate pay orders in time. This has resulted in considerable improvement in the status of timely generation of pay order and leading to improvement in actual time taken to credit wages in the workers account. During  the  current  Financial  Year  2018-19  (as  on  23.07.2018),  92%  pay  orders  have  been generated within 15 days.

Following are the major reasons which cause delay in generation of pay orders:

1. Delay in filling of attendance sheet on account of delayed submission of filled in Muster Roll  (MR) by the Gram Rozgar Sahayak (GRS) or  non-entry of attendance by Data entry operator (DEO) within 2 days of closure of Muster Roll (MR).
2. Delay  in  measurement  of  work  due  to  inadequate  number  of  Technical  Assistants/ barefoot technicians.
3. Delay on check measurement by Junior engineer/Assistant Engineer on the Measurement submitted by Technical Assistant (TA).
4. Delay  in  generation  of  wage  list  by  Data  entry  operator  (DEO)  and  authorisation  by Additional Programme Officer (APO).
5. Delay in signing of FTOs by Signatories exceeding the T+8 timeline.
6. Lack of IT infrastructure at GP level
7. Inadequate Core Banking Solution (CBS) based banking facility.
8. Mismatch  of  wage  seekers  account  information  due  to  wrong  entry  of  account particulars in NREGASoft.

(c)&(d): Every adult member of a registered household whose name appears in the job card are entitled to apply for unskilled manual work under the Scheme.

- (e): The Ministry under MGNREGA receives complaints of irregularities from States/UTs. Since the responsibility of implementation of MGNREGA  is  vested with the State Governments,  all  complaints  received  in  the  Ministry  are  forwarded  to  the  concerned  State Governments for taking appropriate action including investigation, as per law.

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