Lok Sabha Question No. 2749 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-08-05
Subject: Demand for Jobs under MGNREGS
Ministry: RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Dr. D Ravi Kumar

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2749 ANSWERED ON 05/08/2025

## DEMAND FOR JOBS UNDER MGNREGS

## 2749. Dr. D Ravi Kumar:

Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) the  reasons  behind  the  decline  in  demand  for  jobs  under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) between May and August 2024 including factors  like  unseasonal  rains,  return  of  migrant  workers  to urban jobs and delays in wage payments;
- (b) the steps taken by the Ministry to incorporate more agricultural  and  allied  activities  such  as  compost  pits,  water conservation  and  post-harvest  management  under  MGNREGS to boost rural employment;
- (c) whether the Ministry monitors job demand under MGNREGS by households and individuals;
- (d) if  so,  details  from April to June 2021-22 show that 6.28 crore households demanded work, with 5.97 crore provided employment; and
- (e) whether  the  Ministry  is  using  the  National  Mobile  Monitoring Software (NMMS) and Area Officer App for real-time monitoring and accountability?

## 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.   It  provides  livelihood  security,  i.e.  fall  back  options  for livelihood  for  the  rural  households,  when  no  better  employment opportunity is available. Persondays generated during the months of May to August in the financial years 2023-24 and 2024-25 are given below:

| Persondays Generation under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS (figure in crore)   | Persondays Generation under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS (figure in crore)   | Persondays Generation under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS (figure in crore)   |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Month                                                                | 2023-24                                                              | 2024-25                                                              |
| May to August                                                        | 142.87                                                               | 112.29                                                               |

(As per NREGASoft)

It may be noted that being a demand driven scheme, there can be  variation  in  job  demand.  While  the  work  demanded  closely matches with the work offered, the difference between work availed with the work demanded is on account of lack of utilisation of such offering  by  workers  owing  to  availability  of  better  employment opportunities elsewhere, illness or any other relevant factor.

(b): As  per  Schedule  I  of  Mahatma  Gandhi  NREG  Act  2025,  Para 4(2) "Provided that the District Programme Coordinator shall ensure that at least 60% of the works to be taken up in a district in terms of cost shall be for creation of productive assets directly linked to agriculture and allied activities through development of land, water and trees." There are 266 works permissible under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS. Out of which 166 works are related to agriculture & allied sector. Further, there are 85 works related to water conservation. It may  be  noted  that  construction  of  compost  pits  is  already  a permissible activity under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS. Ministry keeps reviewing  the  list  of  permissible  activities  depending  upon  the requests received from the State Governments or any other source. After due examination, the new works are included in the permissible activities list.

(c)& (d): The Central Government has initiated several measures to  generate  awareness  about  the  scheme.  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'.

Ministry of Rural Development closely monitors the demand for employment at the ground level in order to ensure that there should be no unmet demand. In the FY 2021-22, 99.55% of the eligible rural households  were  offered  employment  against  demand.  Similarly, during  the  current  Financial  Year  (FY)  2025-26  (as  on  31.07.2025), offered

99.79% of the eligible rural households have been employment against demand.

(e): To ensure transparency and accountability in the implementation  of  Mahatma  Gandhi  National  Rural Employment Guarantee  Scheme (Mahatma  Gandhi  NREGS),  the  Ministry  has decided that States/UTs shall ensure capturing of attendance at the worksite  through  National  Mobile  Monitoring  System  (NMMS)  App with two-time stamped, geo-tagged photographs of the workers in a day for all  the  works  (except  Individual  Beneficiary  Work)  through NMMS w.e.f. 1st January, 2023.

The  implementation  of  the  NMMS  application  has  significantly improved  the  attendance  management  system  and  the  overall efficiency  of  the  process.  NMMS  application  also  helps  in  timely payment of wages as wage lists and FTOs can be generated on the same  day  as  on  which  the  attendance  has  been  captured,  this process  took  more  time  earlier  in  case  of  manual  attendance system.

During the current financial year 2025-26 (as on 31.07.2025), 95.95  %  attendance  has  been  marked  through  National  Mobile

Monitoring System (NMMS) under the Scheme.

Area Officer Monitoring App was launched on May 2021, in a bid to facilitate the authorities to record their findings online. It will also  help  in  recording  time  stamped  and  geo-coordinate  tagged Rural Development. It facilitates analysis of findings which in turn helps in photographs for all the schemes of Department of implementation of the schemes in a more effective manner.

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