MGNREGA benefitted 5 crore households in past 4 months: Official data

More than five crore households across India have benefitted under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREGA) scheme over the past four months, according to official data.

Approximately 5.54 crore households and 13.28 crore workers have availed employment through MGNREGA in the current financial year, as per the Ministry of Rural Development data.

MGNREGA is one of the world’s biggest social safety schemes that guarantees 100 days of employment to the poor in order to earn their survival by means of manual work. The scheme was extensively used to generate employment during the pandemic across the country.

Uttar Pradesh generated employment for more than 93 lakh people, the highest among all states, under the scheme over the past four months this financial year. It was followed by Rajasthan (88.38 lakh), West Bengal (83.56 lakh), and Andhra Pradesh (75.42 lakh).

These are the home-states of migrant workers that saw a huge influx during the lockdown and were in dire need of employment generation.

Bihar, Jharkhand, and Odisha – three of the biggest migrant home-states – saw employment generation for almost 93 lakh persons under MGNREGA during the last four months. Even northeastern states including Assam saw employment generation for more than 32 lakh people during the same time.

The central government increased the budget allocation of MGNREGA from ₹61,500 crores to about 1 lakh crore after the stimulus package to fight the COVID-19 pandemic was announced.

While 13 states and UTs have provided more employment in these last four months than that of the previous year, the rest 23 have achieved almost 80 per cent of the target.

The average wage was also increased by many states this financial year. Currently, Haryana has the highest payment of ₹309 per day per person followed by Kerala (₹294). Rajasthan’s is the lowest at ₹163 per day, but it records one of the highest employment generation under the scheme.

Eight states that provide wages more than ₹250 are Haryana, Kerala, Goa, Karnataka, Punjab, Chandigarh, Lakshadweep, and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

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Odisha and Andhra Pradesh had given the highest spike of approximately ₹27. Every state has increased the wage by at least ₹10 per day.

In terms of budgetary allocation for the scheme, Rajasthan tops with funds of ₹3,700. and is followed by Tamil Nadu (₹2,700 crore) and Uttar Pradesh (₹2,600 crore), as on September 3. Eleven states have allocated more than ₹1,000 crore each. Migrant states like Odisha and Jharkhand saw a steep increase in the budgetary allocation this year.