Lok Sabha Question No. 1131 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-12-13
Subject: Extending the Scope of MGNREGS
Ministry: RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Nama Nageswara Rao

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

## LOK  SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1131 ANSWERED ON 13/12/2022

## EXTENDING THE SCOPE OF MGNREGS

## 1131.   SHRI NAMA NAGESWARA RAO:

Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the  Government is  contemplating  to  extend  the  scope  of  Mahatma  Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) to take up agricultural activities in rural areas and essential/emergency development activities in urban areas;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether  the  Government  is  aware  of  frequent  complaints  of  abnormal  delay  in payment of wages under MGNREGS; and
- (d) if so, the measures taken or proposed to be taken to ensure timely payment of wages?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (SADHVI NIRANJAN JYOTI)

(a)&(b):   Mahatma  Gandhi  National  Rural  Employment  Guarantee  Scheme  (Mahatma Gandhi  NREGS)  is  a  demand  driven  wage  employment  Scheme  which  provides  for  the enhancement  of  livelihood  security  of  the  households  in  rural  areas  of  the  country  by providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.

As per para 4(3) of Schedule-I of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act,  "works  which  are  non-tangible,  not  measurable,  repetitive  such  as,  removing  grass, pebbles, agricultural operations, shall not be taken up". Accordingly agricultural activities are not permissible.

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (Mahatma Gandhi NREGA), 2005  is  applicable  for  Rural  Areas  and  its  implementation  in  Urban  Areaa  is  beyond  the purview of the Act.

(c)&(d):        As  per  the  provision  of  the  Mahatma  Gandhi  National  Rural  Employment Guarantee Act, the beneficiaries are entitled to get wage payment within 15 days of closure of Muster  Roll  of  the  work.  Government  of  India  has  issued  a  detailed  Standard  Operating Procedure (SOP) to the States to ensure timely wage payment. 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 the actual time taken to credit wages in the workers accounts. In the current financial  year  (as  on  08.12.2022),  the  percentage  of  payment  generated  within  15  days  is 95.43%.

The Ministry has taken various steps to ensure timely payment of wages to workers under the Mahatma Gandhi NREGS. These include:

- i. Up scaling  of  National  Electronic  Fund  Management  System  (Ne-FMS)  in  27  States and 3 Union Territories.
- ii. Intensive  consultation  with  State  Governments  and  other  stakeholders  to  strategize timely payment of wages, verification of pending compensation claims etc.
- iii. Formulation  of  Standard  Operating  Procedure  for  monitoring  of  timely  payment  and payment of compensation.
- iv. Video  conferences  with  States/  UTs  reviewing  the  status  of  timely  payment  and payment of delay compensation.
- v. States/UT's have been requested to ensure timely regeneration of rejected transaction and every fund release is tagged with priority release of rejected transaction.
- vi. States have been requested to ensure correction of invalidate accounts as per information provided by PFMS.

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