Lok Sabha Question No. 350 (STARRED), answered on 2025-03-25
Subject: Payment of Wages under MGNREGS
Ministry: RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Shri V K Sreekandan

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

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 350 ANSWERED ON 25/03/2025

## PAYMENT OF WAGES UNDER MGNREGS

## *350. SHRI V K SREEKANDAN:

Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  it  is  a  fact  that  there  is  no  statistically  significant difference  either  in  timely  payment  of  wages  or  payment rejections between the Aadhaar Based Payment System (ABPS) and the standard bank account based methods adopted under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether  it  is    a  fact  that  many  workers  of  MGNREGS  have repeatedly  complained  that  their  wage  payments  have  been misdirected due to the ABPS while the names of many workers have been deleted because of a mismatch between details in their job cards and Aadhaar;
- (c) whether it is also a fact that  the problems with account based payments  can  be  resolved  locally  through  the  block  level computer operator whereas rejections due to ABPS  are centralized  and  harder  to  resolve,  if  so,  the  details  thereof,
- State-wise; and
- (d) whether the Government has any plans to revert back to the previous pattern of payment and attendance, if so, the details thereof?

ANSWER MINISTER OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (SHRI SHIVRAJ SINGH CHOUHAN)

- (a) to (d):       A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

Statement referred to in reply to parts (a) to (d) of LokSabha Starred Question No. 350 for 25.03.2025

(a):  To ensure timely payment of wages to the beneficiaries under Mahatma  Gandhi  National  Rural  Employment  Guarantee  Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGS) and to address the issues arising due to frequent changes in bank account numbers of the beneficiaries and subsequent  non-updation,  it  was  decided  to implement  Aadhar Payment  Bridge  System  (APBS).  This  has  been  made  mandatory with effect from 1st January 2024. Payment of wages through Direct Benefit  Transfer  (DBT)  mode  has  had  positive  impact  on  the livelihood  of  the beneficiaries  as  it  ensures  that  the  payment reaches directly into the accounts of the intended beneficiaries.  Also, the rejection of the wage transactions has been minimised after making APBS mandatory compared to the National Automated Clearing House (NACH) payment mode in the category of reasons  such  as   'Account  closed'  and  'No  such   account."  The details  of  total  transactions  for  wage  payments  &  transactions rejected for both the reasons since APBS has been made mandatory may be seen below:

| Period January, 2024 to February, 2025   | Period January, 2024 to February, 2025   | Period January, 2024 to February, 2025   | Period January, 2024 to February, 2025   |
|------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------|
| SI.No.                                   |                                          | APBS                                     | NACH                                     |
| 1                                        | Total transactions                       | 44,67,50,519                             | 1,63,39,229                              |
| 2                                        | Rejected                                 | 43,789                                   | 8,98,829                                 |
| 3                                        | % Rejection                              | 0.0098%                                  | 5.50%                                    |

(b)to (d): APBS helps in improving the transparency and accountability  of  wage  distribution  under  the  scheme  and  ensure faster   crediting  of  wages  in  the  account  of  beneficiaries.  Aadhar Authentication  also  reduces  leakage  and  corruption  and  ensures that  only  legitimate  beneficiaries  with  verified  identities  receive wages. In case of failure in payment through APBS, an alternative route to make payment is available through account-based payment that is National Automated Clearing House. Currently, against total of  13.58  crore  active  workers   Aadhaar  seeding   of  99.50%  have already been completed. State/UTs are continuously being monitored by the Central Government for achieving 100% Aadhaar Seeding and APBS conversion in NREGASoft. As and when any issue

is flagged  by  the  State/UT  or  any  other  stakeholders,  the  same  is resolved on priority basis.

Updation/deletion of Job Cards  under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS is a regular exercise conducted by the States/UTs. Job card cannot be deleted for non-linking of Aadhaar with bank account. To streamline the process for deletion and addition of Job Cards, Ministry of Rural Development has issued a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) vide letter  dated  25.01.2025  to  all  States/UTs,  with  clear  guidelines regarding  deletion  and  restoration  of  job  cards.  The  SOP  ensures compliance with the Mahatma Gandhi NREGS guidelines, promotes defining transparency and protects the rights of workers by conditions for deletion.

In order to ensure transparency and accountability in the implementation  of  Mahatma  Gandhi  National  Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, 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, geotagged  photographs  of  the  workers  in  a  day  for  all  the  works (except Individual Beneficiary Work) through NMMS  w.e.f  1st January, 2023.

Further, in order to avoid any inconvenience to the workers due to NMMS, it has been decided that in case any worksite is not located  in  network  covered  area  or  attendance  could  not  be uploaded  due  to  any  other  network  issue  then  attendance  can  be captured  in  offline  mode  and  can  be  uploaded  once  the  device exceptional circumstances owing to which attendance could not be uploaded, the  provision  for  exemption  also  exists  which  has  been  further comes into network covered area. In case of decentralized to the level of Block administration.

The  implementation  of  the  NMMS  application  has  significantly improved  the  attendance  management  system  and  the  overall efficiency of the process. NMMS boosts the credibility of attendance data and fosters trust in the overall process.

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