Lok Sabha Question No. 1570 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-12-09
Subject: Revision of MGNREGS Wages in Kerala
Ministry: RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Shri Kodikunnil Suresh

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1570 ANSWERED ON 09/12/2025

## REVISION OF MGNREGS WAGES IN KERALA

## 1570. Shri Kodikunnil Suresh:

Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government proposes to revise and enhance the wage rate under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in Kerala, considering that the present  notified  wage  remains  below  the  State's  agricultural and rural labour wages;
- (b) whether the State Government of Kerala has formally requested a wage hike under MGNREGS and the action taken thereon;
- (c) the steps taken by the Ministry to ensure timely  wage disbursal  to  MGNREGS  workers  in  Kerala  and  the  current status of pending wage payments, if any;
- (d) whether the Ministry has assessed the impact of low wages on worker  participation,  women's  labour  force  engagement  and livelihood security in the State; and
- (e) the details of MGNREGS wage revisions for Kerala during the last ten years along with corresponding labour budget allocations, year-wise?

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

## ANSWER (SHRI KAMLESH PASWAN)

(a) & (b):    As per Section 6 (1) of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment  Guarantee  Act  (Mahatma  Gandhi  NREGA),  2005,  the Central Government may, by notification, specify the wage rate for unskilled  work  for  its  beneficiaries.  Accordingly,  the  Ministry  of Rural Development notifies Mahatma Gandhi NREGA wage rate for every financial year for States/UTs including Kerala. To compensate the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA workers against inflation, the Ministry of  Rural  Development  revises  the  Wage  rate  every  year  based  on change  in  Consumer  Price  Index  for  Agricultural  Labour(CPI-AL).

The wage rate is made applicable from 1st April of each financial year.

In case of Kerala, the notified wage rate for the State of Kerala for unskilled  workers  under  Mahatma  Gandhi  NREGS  for  the  financial year  2024-25  was  ₹346,  which  has  been  revised  to  ₹369  for  the financial  year  2025-26.  This  reflects  an  increase  of  approximately 6.65% in the wage rate.

Further,  it  is  also  submitted  that  State  Governments  can  provide wages  over  and  above  the  wage  rate  notified  by  the  Central Government from its own sources.

(c):     As per the provisions of the Act, beneficiaries are entitled to receive wage payments within 15 days of work completion. In order to  ensure  timely  payment,  the  Government  of  India  has  issued  a comprehensive Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to all States/UTs,  which  defines  fixed  timelines  for  each  stage  of  the wage payment process-from muster roll uploading to FTO approval. 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.

The Ministry has taken various steps to ensure timely payment of wages to workers under scheme. These include:

-  Improvement of National Electronic Fund Management System (Ne-FMS)
-  Intensive  consultation  with  State  Governments  and  other stakeholders for ensuring timely payment of wages, verification of pending and delay compensation claims etc.
-  Formulation of Standard Operating Procedure for monitoring of timely payment and payment of delay compensation.
-  Reviewing the status of timely payment and payment of delay compensation with the States/ UTs during periodic meetings, Performance  Review  Committee  meetings,  Mid-term  Reviews etc.

Further,  continued  efforts  have  been  undertaken  by  the  Ministry through  various  technological  interventions  for  ensuring  timely payments of wages. Some of the key interventions include:

-  Direct  Benefit  Transfer  (DBT):  Wages  are  transferred  directly from the central account to workers' bank accounts, minimizing the role of intermediaries and reducing fund misappropriation. This has proven to be effective in enhancing transparency  and  preventing  leakages.  Almost  100%  of  the funds  are  managed  electronically  with  the  wage  payment made entirely through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) protocol.
-  Aadhaar Payment Bridge System (APBS): APBS conversion is a major reform process where benefits are credited directly into the bank accounts based on the Aadhaar of the workers under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS, preferably Aadhaar Based Payments, 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  thereby  promoting  greater  accountability and transparency.
-  National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS): Real-time attendance  capture  through  geo-tagged  photographs  at  the worksite ensures accurate and timely recording of attendance, which helps in timely payment of wages.

As per the provisions mentioned in Schedule-II of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (Mahatma Gandhi NREGA), wage seekers shall be entitled to receive payment of  compensation for  the  delay,  at  the  rate  of  0.05%  of  the  unpaid wages  per  day  of  delay  beyond  the  sixteenth  day  of  closure  of muster  roll. Delay  compensation  rules  are  notified  by  the  State Government concerned. The amount due for compensation is duly verified and approved, and then paid by the State Government.

The Ministry regularly reviews the performance of the implementation of Mahatma Gandhi NREGS (including delay compensation), including payment of delay compensation in States/UTs  through  various  fora  viz.,  Mid-Term  Review,  Labour Budget  meetings,  Labour  Budget  Revision  meetings,  Programme Review meetings.

As on 03.12.2025, an amount of Rs. 329.42 crore is pending liability for  Wage  component  in  the  Kerala  State  under  Mahatma  Gandhi

NREGS.

Here  it  is  also  submitted  that  the  wage  payments  are  directly credited by the Central Government  to the accounts of the beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer protocol. Sanctions for wage payments are issued daily by the Ministry through the Public Finance Management System (PFMS) based on fund transfer orders received from the States/ UTs  after following  due procedures. At the  beginning of each financial year, admissible pending liabilities of the previous years, if any, are duly reimbursed by the Government of India. Accordingly, all due and admissible pending wage liabilities  upto  FY  2024-25  have  already  been  cleared  (except  in case of State of West Bengal).

(d): Mahatma  Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGS) which is a demand driven wage employment  Scheme  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.   It  provides  livelihood  security,  i.e.  fall back options for livelihood for the rural households, when no better employment opportunity is available.

(e): Persondays generated and the notified wage rate of unskilled workers for the State of Kerala under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS for the  last  ten  financial  years  from  2015-16  to  2024-25  are  given below:

| Financial Year   |   Persondays Generated (In lakh) |   Notified wage rate for Kerala for unskilled workers (In Rs.) |
|------------------|----------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------|
| 2015-16          |                           741.74 |                                                            229 |
| 2016-17          |                           684.62 |                                                            240 |
| 2017-18          |                           619.59 |                                                            258 |
| 2018-19          |                           975.26 |                                                            271 |
| 2019-20          |                           802.3  |                                                            271 |
| 2020-21          |                          1023    |                                                            291 |
| 2021-22          |                          1059.66 |                                                            291 |
| 2022-23          |                           965.78 |                                                            311 |
| 2023-24          |                           994.59 |                                                            333 |
| 2024-25          |                           907.54 |                                                            346 |

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