Lok Sabha Question No. 306 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-07-22
Subject: Allocation of Fund under MGNREGS
Ministry: RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Shri Y S Avinash Reddy

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 306 ANSWERED ON 22/07/2025

## ALLOCATION OF FUND UNDER MGNREGS

## 306.  SHRI Y S AVINASH REDDY:

Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has reduced allocation for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS)  and  if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  if  not,  the reasons therefor since 2014 to till date;
- (b) whether  this  was  despite  implementation  in  recent  years, experiencing wage delays and underfunding and this has also depressed demand with formal requests for work only being a portion of the actual demand and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether it is a fact that Aadhaar-based payments have neither reduced  corruption  nor  stopped  wage  payment  delays  while creating hurdles for officials and workers during implementation; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof and the corrective steps taken by the Government till now?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

(SHRI KAMLESH PASWAN)

(a):  The  Budget  allocation  under  Mahatma  Gandhi  NREGA  has steadily risen over the years. The budget allocation for the financial year  2006-07  was  Rs  11,300  crore  which  increased  to  Rs  33,000 crore in FY 2013-14.  During the FY 2024-25 budget allocated for the scheme was Rs. 86,000 crore which was the highest ever allocation to  the  scheme  at  the  BE  stage.   For  the  FY  2025-26,  budget allocation at  BE stage continues to stand at Rs 86,000 crore which underscores  the  Government's  continued  support  to  the  scheme. The details of the budget allocated for the scheme since FY 2014-15 is given below:

|   SI. No. | Financial Year   |   Budget Estimate (Rs. in crore) | Revised Estimate (Rs. in crore)   |
|-----------|------------------|----------------------------------|-----------------------------------|
|         1 | 2014-15          |                            34000 | 33000.00                          |
|         2 | 2015-16          |                            34699 | 37345.95                          |
|         3 | 2016-17          |                            38500 | 48220.26                          |
|         4 | 2017-18          |                            48000 | 55167.06                          |
|         5 | 2018-19          |                            55000 | 61830.09                          |
|         6 | 2019-20          |                            60000 | 71001.81                          |
|         7 | 2020-21          |                            61500 | 111500.00                         |
|         8 | 2021-22          |                            73000 | 98000.00                          |
|         9 | 2022-23          |                            73000 | 89400.00                          |
|        10 | 2023-24          |                            60000 | 86000.00                          |
|        11 | 2024-25          |                            86000 | 86000.00                          |
|        12 | 2025-26          |                            86000 | -                                 |

(b):  The  Mahatma  Gandhi  National  Rural  Employment  Guarantee Act  2005  (Mahatma  Gandhi  NREGA)  aims  at  enhancing  livelihood security of households in rural areas of the country by providing at least  one  hundred  days  of  guaranteed  wage  employment  in  a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. The scheme serves as a fallback option when no better employment opportunity is available.  The  Ministry regularly  emphasizes  during  interactions  with  the  States/UTs  to ensure  that  no  demand  for  employment  is  left  unmet.   Under  the scheme fund release to the States/UTs is a continuous process and the Central Government is committed to making funds available to States for the implementation of the Scheme as per the demand for the employment  on the ground. The Ministry seeks additional funds for implementation of Mahatma Gandhi NREGS from the Ministry of Finance as and when  required for meeting the demand  for employment  on the ground.

(c)& (d): Under  Mahatma  Gandhi  NREGA  Direct  Benefit  Transfer, all wage  payments to the workers are to be credited into the bank accounts of the workers. The crediting of payments are done using

the  Aadhar  number  of  the  beneficiary  with  which  the  account  is linked.

Aadhaar  Based  Payment  System  (ABPS)  conversion  is  a  major reform  process  where  benefits  are  credited  directly  into  the  bank accounts  based  on  the  Aadhaar  number  of  the  workers,  cutting several layers in the delivery process. APBS  helps  in better targeting, increasing the efficiency of the system and reducing the delays in payments, ensuring greater inclusion by curbing leakages and thereby, promoting greater accountability and transparency.

One of the several benefits of APBS conversion is to minimize the rejection of transactions due to the frequent changing of bank accounts maximizing the performance of DBT. During a period from 1st january,2024  to 25th Feburary,2025  the  scale  of rejected transactions for reasons such as no such account or account closed etc. has drastically come down from 8.50% (in case of earlier NACH payment  mode)  to  a  mere  0.41%  in  case  of  ABPS  system.  This clearly establishes the benefits of the ABPS systems for the welfare of the beneficiaries.

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