Lok Sabha Question No. 413 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-02-04
Subject: Challenges in Implementing MGNREGS
Ministry: RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Dr. Kalanidhi Veeraswamy

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 413 ANSWERED ON 04/02/2025

## CHALLENGES IN IMPLEMENTING MGNREGS

## 413.  DR. KALANIDHI VEERASWAMY:

Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has faced challenges in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS);
- (b) the details of steps taken by the Government to address issues related to delayed  payments  and  the  lack  of  timely  job availability under MGNREGS;
- (c) whether  the  Government  has  conducted  any  assessments regarding  the  impact  of  MGNREGS  on  rural  employment  and income levels, particularly in light of recent economic challenges, if so, the details thereof;
- (d) the  details  of  measures  being  implemented  to  ensure  better transparency and accountability in the management of MGNREGS funds at the State and local levels; and
- (e) whether  the  Government  provided  details  on  the  initiatives being  taken  to  enhance  awareness  among  rural  communities about their rights and entitlements under MGNREGS, if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (SHRI KAMLESH PASWAN)

(a): Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGS) is a demand-driven wage employment Scheme.  Ministry evaluates the scheme's performance periodically to address any emerging concerns and refine implementation strategies. This ensures that the scheme not only

meets its objectives but also adapts to the evolving needs of rural India.

The implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi NREGS is progressing without  any  significant  challenges,  which  may  be  seen  from  the substantial person-days generated and work completed in the past three financial years and current financial year:-

| Financial Year                      |   2021-22 |   2022-23 |   2023-24 |   2024-25 (as on 28.01.2025) |
|-------------------------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|------------------------------|
| Persondays generated [In crore]     |    363.19 |    293.7  |    308.69 |                       233.72 |
| Number of completed works[In Lakhs] |     89.96 |     94.45 |     84.24 |                        73.93 |

(As per NREGASoft)

- (b) and (e): 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  also  issued  a  detailed Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to the States to ensure timely wage payment. The Ministry in coordination 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. The Ministry has taken various steps to ensure timely payment of  wages  to  workers  under  the  Mahatma  Gandhi  National  Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). These include:
- (i)  Upscaling of National Electronic Fund Management System (NeFMS)
- (ii) Intensive consultation with State Governments and other stakeholders to strategise 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) During various meeting with States/UTs, which includes, Meeting  for  finalisation  of  Annual  Action  Plan,  Mid-Term  Review meeting,  Monthly  Review  Meeting  and  visit  of  senior  officers  to

States/UTs,  matter  regarding  the  timely  payment  of  wages  and payment of delay compensation is regularly reviewed.

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, is an Act to provide for the enhancement of livelihood security of the household 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.   The  Central  Government  has  initiated several  measures  to  generate  awareness  about  the  Mahatma Gandhi  NREGS  in  rural  areas  of  the  country  in  order  to  provide adequate  employment  opportunities  to rural  households  under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS, These include, (i) to initiate  appropriate Information Education and Communication (IEC) campaigns including wall paintings for the wide dissemination of the provisions of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005,  (ii)  to  expand  scope  and  coverage  of  demand  registration system  to  ensure  that  demand  for  work  under  Mahatma  Gandhi NREGA does not go unregistered, (iii)prepare plans in a participatory  mode  and  approve  them  in  the  Gram  Sabha.  (iv) Organization of 'RozgarDiwas' .

- (c): Government of India has made assessment of implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee  Scheme  (Mahatma  Gandhi  NREGS)  through  third  party study in terms of increase in household income, poverty alleviation etc. sponsored by NITI Aayog in 2020. Some of the key findings of the study are as under:
- (i)  Mahatma  Gandhi  NREGA  is  a  powerful  instrument  for  inclusive growth  in  rural  India  through  its  impact  on  social  protection, livelihood security and democratic empowerment.
- (ii) Mahatma Gandhi NREGS provide livelihood security for the poor through  creation  of  durable  assets,  improved  water  security,  soil conservation and higher land productivity.
- (iii)  Mahatma  Gandhi  NREGS  has  had  a  positive  impact  on  the standard  of  living  of  households  through  increase  in  household income by improvements in production from agriculture.

- (iv) Mahatma Gandhi NREGS has led to major increases in wages of rural workers
- (v)  SC,  ST  and  Women  along  with  socially  excluded  communities benefit  from  and  are  included  in  Mahatma  Gandhi  NREGS  plans which could be a significant indicator of poverty alleviation in rural areas.
- (d): The  Ministry  of  Rural  Development  has  implemented several  measures  to  enhance  transparency  and  accountability  in the  efficient  execution  of  the  scheme,  in  accordance  with  the provisions of the act and the guidelines issued periodically. Some of these measures include:
- 1.
- Conduct of Social audit at Gram Panchayat level
- Grievance  Redressal  Mechanisms  through  appointment  of
2. Ombudspersons.
- 3.
- Monitoring by National Level Monitors and Central Teams
4. Conduct of Internal audit
- 5.
- 6.
- Monitoring through use of Area Officers app
- Common Review Mission and Performance Review Committee.
7. Use of National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS) capturing of attendance.
- for
8. Janmanrega app for seeking citizen feedback and information

Some of the technological interventions that are made for effective implementation of the scheme are given below. :

- 1.GIS  based  plan-  Use  of  Space  Technology: GIS  based  GP  level plan  (ridge  to  valley  approach)  preparation  using  Remote  Sensing
- technology in a saturation mode for all the GPs of the country.
2. Yuktdhara:  GIS based planning tool - To simplify the GIS based planning  at  GP  level,  Yuktdhara,  a  Geospatial  planning  portal  is developed in collaboration with ISRO-NRSC.
3. SECURE - Software for Estimate Calculation for using Rural Rates for Employment: Application is being used for estimate calculation
- of works to be undertaken under the scheme.

4. GeoMGNREGA: the app has been developed by using technology to  track  the  creation  of  assets  by  geotagging  it,  at  'Before', 'During' and 'After' stages of the asset creation. So far, a total of

6.21 crore assets have been geotagged. 5.  Direct  Benefit  Transfer  (DBT):  To  bring  in  more  transparency  in the  system  and  minimize  leakages,  Direct  Benefit  Transfer  (DBT) system in wage payment has been adopted. Under the programme, more  than  99%  of  payments  of  wages  are  electronically  credited into the accounts of the workers through DBT system. 6.  Aadhaar  Payment  Bridge  System: Wage  payments  are  made through Aadhaar Payment Bridge System into the accounts of the beneficiaries following the DBT protocol. Against the total of 13.41 crore active workers, Aadhaar of 13.34 crore active workers have been seeded.

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