Lok Sabha Question No. 1419 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-12-09
Subject: Monitoring of MGNREGS in Kerala
Ministry: RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Dr. Shashi Tharoor

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

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1419 ANSWERED ON 09/12/2025

## MONITORING OF MGNREGS IN KERALA

## 1419. Dr. ShashiTharoor:

Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) the details and total number of cases of financial misappropriation  detected  under  Mahatma  Gandhi  National Rural  Employment  Guarantee  Scheme  (MGNREGS)  in  Kerala during  the  last  three  financial  years  and  the  total  amount misappropriated;
- (b) the details and total number of fake job cards deleted in Kerala during the last three financial years;
- (c) whether the Ministry has conducted any social audits in Kerala to assess the implementation of MGNREGS, if so, the findings thereof;
- (d) the  steps  taken  to  recover  misappropriated  funds  in  Kerala, and the amount recovered so far; and
- (e) the measures  implemented  to  strengthen monitoring and accountability  in  the  implementation  of  MGNREGS  in  Kerala, including the use of technology and social audits?

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

(a):  As  per the information furnished by the Government of Kerala, the  details  of  cases  of  financial  misappropriation  detected  under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGS)  during the last three financial years are as under:

| Financial Year   |   Number of cases of financial misappropriation | Amount Identified Rs   |
|------------------|-------------------------------------------------|------------------------|
| 2022-23          |                                             394 | 27,90,206              |
| 2023-24          |                                            2185 | 54,68,709              |
| 2024-25          |                                            5732 | 51,49,568              |

(b):  Details  of  fake  job  cards  deleted  in  Kerala  Mahatma  Gandhi NREGS during the last three financial years are given below:

| Financial Year   |   Number of fake job cards deleted* |
|------------------|-------------------------------------|
| 2022-23          |                                1471 |
| 2023-24          |                                 316 |
| 2024-25          |                                 108 |

*  As  per  the  information  received  from  the  Kerala  Government, since  at  the  time  of  deletion  of  job  cards,  there  was  no  option available  in  the  NREGA  Soft  to  mark  the  job  card  as  duplicate hence, the Gram Panchayat officials have deleted the duplicate job cards by giving the reason of fake job cards.
- (c):     An independent Social Audit Unit has been established in the state  of  Kerala  for  conducting  Social  Audit.  This  audit  process  is conducted once in every six months for all works  taken up under the scheme. The details of Social Audit conducted in the last three financial years are given at Annexure-I.
- (d):  Action  has  been  taken  to  recover  the  amount  involved  in  the financial misappropriation cases. The details of the amount recovered so far given below.
- (e): Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGS) is a demand-driven wage employment Scheme. The Scheme is implemented on an end-to-end integrated transaction-based Management Information System (MIS) platform  called  NREGASoft.  Through  this,  all  aspects  relating  to planning,  administrative  and  technical  approval  of  the  scheme, issue  of  job  cards,  acceptance  of  demand,  issue  of  muster  roll, measurement of work, approval of payment and finally payment to the beneficiary through  a  Direct Benefit  Transfer  (DBT)-Public Financial Management System (PFMS) platform are monitored.

| Financial Year   | Amount recovered (in Rs.)   |
|------------------|-----------------------------|
| 2022-23          | 27,90,206                   |
| 2023-24          | 54,68,709                   |
| 2024-25          | 51,49,568                   |

Transparency  and  accountability  are  the  prime  focus  of  the scheme. Ministry of Rural Development has adopted robust process for ensuring transparency and accountability in the implementation of  the  scheme  across  the  States/UTs.  A  brief  note  on  the  various monitoring  and  evaluation  arrangements,  including  technological interventions  made  for  ensuring  proper  utilization  of  the  funds released under the scheme is given at Annexure-II.

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## Annexure-I

## Annexure  referred  to  in  reply  to  part  (c)  of  LokSabhaUnstarred Question No. 1419 dated 09.12.2025.

| Financial   | Total No. of GPs No. of Audit Financial   | Total No. of GPs No. of Audit Financial   | Total No. of GPs No. of Audit Financial   | Total No. of GPs No. of Audit Financial   | Major Findings in Social Audit                                                                                                                                                                                                                               |
|-------------|-------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Year        | No. of GPs                                | where Social Audit conducted              | observations                              | Misappropriation Recoveries done          | Major Findings in Social Audit                                                                                                                                                                                                                               |
| 2022 - 23   | 941                                       | 936                                       | 6,894                                     | 27,90,206                                 |  Issues related to Citizen Information Board Installation.                                                                                                                                                                                                  |
| 2023 - 24   | 941                                       | 941                                       | 14,968                                    | 54,68,709                                 |  Measurement related issues.  Wages were paid to workers who marked attendance in NMMS but were marked absent in the manual muster roll.                                                                                                                   |
| 2024 - 25   | 941                                       | 941                                       | 48,420                                    | 51,49,568                                 |  More labour days were provided for LIFE/PMAY houses than the stage of completion warranted.  Overwriting/corrections in the entries recorded in the M-Book.  Worksite facilities are not fully provided.  RozgarDiwas is not being conducted regularly. |

Annexure  referred  to  in  reply  to  part  (e)  of  LokSabhaUnstarred Question No. 1419 dated 09.12.2025.

- i. Direct  Benefit  Transfer  (DBT):  Direct  Benefit  Transfer  (DBT) system  in  wage  payment  has  been  adopted  under  Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGS).  The  payment  of  wages  to  the  bank/  post  office accounts  of  Mahatma  Gandhi  NREGS  workers  is  through National Electronic Fund Management System (NeFMS)/Electronic Fund Management System (eFMS).
- ii. National Mobile Monitoring Service (NMMS): It enables capturing of attendance of  workers  at  Mahatma  Gandhi NREGA  worksites  (except  for  individual  beneficiary  works) along  with  geo-tagged  photographs  twice  in  a  day.  This  app aids in increasing citizen oversight of the programme. This is one more step towards transparency and accountability.
- iii. Area Officer Monitoring Visit Application:  This App facilitates the officials of the State/UT to record their field visit findings online.  The  App  also  allows  the  officials  to  record  timestamped  and  geotagged  photographs  for  all  the  schemes launched by the Department of Rural Development. Also, this App helps in developing hassle-free reporting of the field visits. This  app  records  the  field  visit  findings  and  views  the  field visit outcome report by the senior officials.
4. 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
- iv. country.
6. v.
7. Yuktdhara:   GIS  based  planning  tool  -  To  simplify  the  GIS based  planning  at  GP  level  under  Mahatma  Gandhi  NREGA 'Yuktdhara'  a  Geospatial  planning  portal  is  developed  in collaboration with ISRO-NRSC.
- vi. SECURE:  Software  for  Estimate  Calculation  for  using  Rural Rates for Employment :-Application is being used to  estimate
9. the  cost of works to be undertaken under the scheme.
- vii. GeoNREGA:  the  app  has  been  developed  by  using  Space Technology to track the creation of assets by geotagging it, at 'Before', 'During' and 'After' stages of the asset creation.
11. viii.
12. JALDOOT  App:  JALDOOT  app  has  been  developed  to  enable monitoring  of  ground  water  tables  across  the  country.  The

Jaldoot  app  enables  Gram  RojgarSahayak  (GRS)  to  measure the water level of selected wells twice a year (premonsoonand post-monsoon).

- ix. JANMANREGA app: this app  helps  in  proactive  disclosure  of information to its citizens in reference to the implementation of  Mahatma  Gandhi  NREGS.  Citizen  awareness  is  a  key  to efficient, effective, and transparent execution of the scheme.
- x. Ombudsperson App: An Ombudsperson App has been developed for smooth reporting and categorization of grievances received from various sources viz. physical, digital and mass media related to the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi NREGS, easy tracking and timely passing of awards on each  case  as  per  the  guidelines  and  easy  uploading  of quarterly and annual report on the website.
- xi. Social Audit: As per the mandate of the Act, the Ministry has laid emphasis on the setting up of an institutional structure at the  States/UTs  level  for  facilitating  social  audits  of  all  the Gram  Panchayats  at  least  twice  a  year.  With  the  consistent efforts  by  Ministry,  a  total  of  27  States  and  1  UT  have established Independent Social Audit Units.

Further, monitoring by National level monitors, regular and special monitoring,  monitoring  by  team  of  central  government  officers, monitoring  visits  by  Common  review  Mission  teams,  monitoring through  use  of  Area  Officers  app  is  being  conducted  for  better implementation of the programme. Also, State/UT specific reviews are also undertaken from time to time.

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