Lok Sabha Question No. 1460 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-09-20
Subject: Payment to workers under MGNREGS
Ministry: RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Asaduddin Owaisi, Imtiaz Jaleel Syed

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

## LOK  SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1460 ANSWERED ON 20/09/2020

## PAYMENT TO WORKERS UNDER MGNREGS

## 1460.   SHRI ASADUDDIN OWAISI: SHRI SYED IMTIAZ JALEEL:

Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  payment  to  workers  under  Mahatma  Gandhi  National  Rural  Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) are to be made within a fortnight failing which penalty is imposed and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the extent to which early passing of budget has been helpful in timely release of funds to the States and timely payment of wages to the workers along with the time of release of funds to the States and time of payment to the workers;
- (c) whether due to COVID-19, a large number of workers have moved to rural areas;
- (d) if  so,  whether  the  Government has increased the prospect of MGNREGS to help those workers to get jobs in rural areas and if so, the details thereof;
- (e) the  steps  taken/being  taken  by  the  Government  to  revamp  the  MGNREGS  to  help  the migrated workers in rural areas; and
- (f) the  further  steps  taken/being  taken  by  the  Government  to  ensure  that  100  per  cent payment is made under MGNREGS in time?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR)

(a): The Ministry is implementing  the  Mahatma  Gandhi  National  Rural  Employment Guarantee Act,   2005  (Mahatma  Gandhi  NREGA), through States/UTs  which guarantees upto 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to every rural household whose adult member volunteers to do unskilled manual work.

As per the provisions mentioned in Schedule-II of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005 wage seekers are entitled to receive payment of compensation for the delay at the rate of 0.05% of the unpaid wages per day for the duration of delay beyond the sixteenth day of closure of muster roll. The delays take place mainly  in the first-stage  of  wage  payment  due  to  inefficiency  on  the  part  of  different  State  functionaries  in uploading the FTOs. Delay compensation is being paid by the States/UTs whenever accrues.

(b):      Mahatma  Gandhi  National  Rural  Employment  Guarantee  Scheme  (Mahatma  Gandhi NREGS) is demand driven wage employment programme. Fund release is a continuous process from which wage payment is made on regular basis.  Under DBT wage payment is made directly to  the  bank/post  office  account  of  the  beneficiary  by  the  central  Government  through  the National  Electronic  Fund  Management  System  after  receiving  the  Fund  transfer  order  (FTO) from State Government through PFMS. The Ministry has already released the funds Rs.61,293 crore to the State/UTs during the  current financial year.

(c) to (e):  Yes, many persons  have returned to the rural areas during Covid pandemic period. Mahatma Gandhi NREGS is a demand driven wage employment scheme. Every adult member of a household in a rural area, having job card (as per Mahatma Gandhi NREG Act), is eligible for a demand  for a job under the scheme. There is no provision to register a Job card holder categorised as migrant labourers/ family in the job card in the scheme.  A job card can be issued  to  a  migrant  labour/family  as  per  the  provisions  of  the  Act  against  a  demand  by  the migrant labour/family. A total of 86,81,928 new job card during the current FY so far, has been issued as compared to 36,64,368 new job card issued during the same period of the FY 2019-20.

The  Ministry  also  does  periodic revision  of  the  'Agreed  to  Labour  Budget'  in consultation with States/UTs as per their demand and performance so as to provide work in time to  every  wage  seeker  on  demand  for  work.  The  agreed  to  Labour  Budget  (persondays)  and budget allocation during the last two years and current financial year 2020-21 (as on 17.09.2020) are given below:

|                                                 | 2020-21   |   2019-20 |   2018-19 |
|-------------------------------------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| Agreed to Labour Budget (persondays) (In crore) | 310.79    |    276.76 |    256.56 |
| Budget Allocation (Rs. in core)*                | 61,500    |  71706.6  |  61830.1  |

*The  Government  has  made  provision  for  additional  provision  of  Rs.  40,000  crore  under Mahatma  Gandhi  NREGA  during  the  current  financial  year  2020-21  towards  meeting  any additional demand for work.

The Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan (GKRA) has been launched on 20th June, 2020 to boost  employment  and  livelihood  opportunities  for  returnee  migrant  workers  and  similarly affected  citizens  in  rural  area,  in  the  wake  of  COVID-19  pandemic.  The  Abhiyaan  adopts  a multipronged  strategy  of  providing  immediate  employment  &  livelihood  opportunities  to  the distressed, to saturate the villages with public infrastructure and creation of livelihood assets to boost the income generation activities and enhance long term livelihood opportunities by giving focus on 25 works in 116 selected districts across 6 States of Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.  The duration of the Abhiyaan is 125 days commencing from 20th June, 2020 with a resource envelope of Rs. 50,000 crore. A total of about 29 Crore mandays employment have been provided under GKRA so far and a total expenditure of Rs. 26,382 Crore has been incurred under GKRA so far.

(f):       The Ministry has issued Standard Operating Procedure (SoP) on timely payment process for direct payment into the account of beneficiaries. States/ UTs have been advised to follow the aforesaid SOP. Use of platforms such as PFMS/NeFMS facilitate monitoring of payments on a real-time basis. Use of the aforesaid mechanisms have resulted in considerable improvement in the  status  of  timely  generation  of  pay  orders  leading  to  improvement  in  actual  time  taken  to credit  wages  in  the  workers  account.  During  the  current  Financial  Year  2020-21  (as  on 17.09.2020), around 98.57 % pay orders have been generated within 15 days from the date of closure of the Muster Roll at National Level.

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