FM Sitharaman’s claim about the MNREGS peak is true only for May, April saw a drop

A migrant family on their way to Chhattisgarh, near the Pune train station. (Express photo of Arul Horizon)

Announcing the second installment of coronavirus relief package, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said Thursday that worker enrollment under the MNREGS has increased 40-50% “compared to May last year.”

However, an analysis of data on the MNREGS public portal shows that both the number of people to take advantage of work under the emblematic rural employment scheme and the number of days they were employed has decreased in this financial year from April to now compared to 2019 -20.

This financial year, 1.06 million crore households have obtained 13.59 million crore-person-days of employment under the MNREGS so far. Faced with this, 1.55 million million households had obtained 24.66 million million person-days of work in April 2019 alone. The respective numbers for April 2020 are only 89.66 lakh and 11.08 crore.

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“The increase of 40-50% to which the minister referred is only in the last days. Not much work could be done in April because the focus of everyone, including states, was to enforce the blockade. The real increase is happening now, when economic activity is also opening up, “a senior official told The Indian Express.

Sitharaman also said that 14.62 million million person-days of work had been generated under the MNREGS as of May 13. “The data on the public portal is only up to May 12. The minister’s figure is not only more recent, he also mentioned that 2.33 Applicants for salary credits were offered work yesterday (that is, on May 13) The increase in employment will be visible in the coming days, “said the official.

The main driver of MNREGS employment will be migrant workers who return to their towns from cities and industrial centers. “States have been told to register freely, in accordance with the provisions of the MNREGS. Anyone looking for work under the program should receive employment, regardless of whether they have a job card or if it is active or not, “added the official.

On paper, MNREGS guarantees 100 days of employment to adult members of any rural household that “demands” such employment. Critics argue that this basic principle, that the program is demand-driven and self-selected, has rarely been implemented on the ground.

“The demand for work will be high, even more so by returning migrant workers who need to find immediate employment. May and June are also scarce months for agriculture, when the rabi harvest has already been harvested and the monsoon has not fully arrived, “said the official.

According to the public data portal MNREGS, the number of days of work per person under the scheme in 2019-20 increased from 24.66 million rupees in April to 33.17 million in May and 30.47 million in June, before drop to 18.94 million, 14.98 million, 14.37 crore and 13.52 crore in the following months coinciding with the kharif growing season.

This time, the MNREGS job demand is expected to increase, and this is reflected in many inactive job cards that are activated. Currently, of the 13.74 crore MNREGS of issued job cards, only 7.66 crore are “active”.

In 2019-20, 5.48 million crore households were employed in MNREGS works. The average number of days of employment provided per household was 48.39, with only 40.61 lakh households completing 100 days of wage employment.

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