Sharp decline in state MGNREGS job creation, shows 4-yr low

Jaipur: The employment generation under MGNREGS in Rajasthan showed a sharp decline until June in the current fiscal year (2025-26) compared to the previous fiscal periods. The scheme generated 9.71 crore persondays until June 2025-26, marking a substantial decrease from 13.99 crore persondays recorded up to June 2024-25. Similarly, the figures stood at 13.61 crore persondays up to June 2023-24, while 13 crore persondays were registered up to June 2022-23.According to officials in the rural development department, under the current BJP regime, there is no proper monitoring of the scheme even though there is a huge demand for work in the villages. The approved labour budget for the financial year 2025-26 is 12.5 crore, which is much less than what was approved initially in the previous financial year (2024-25). Last year (2024-25), the approved labour budget till the end of the financial year was 27 crore."The new norm here, which is not to spend more than 60% of the approved budget, sends a clear message that the BJP govt does not want to show any interest or give priority to MGNREGS. As per the Act, there is no budgetary constraint in MGNREGS. This is very bad for the state's rural employment scenario and rural economy. The money that is meant for the state is not coming," said social activist Nikhil Dey. "There are several issues related to NREGA work in Rajasthan. First, people are demanding work in villages, but they are not getting work. Second, in many gram panchayats, workers have demanded unemployment allowance in the absence of work, but they have not received that as well. As a union, we have also filed an application on behalf of the workers to pay unemployment allowance to NREGA workers. Third, in many places, Mates have not received payment for the past two years. This is the reason why many are not willing to work as Mates. Finally, there are other technical complications pertaining to a cap on 20 activities under NREGA," said Mukesh, a member of Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan.Nirma Kanwar, from Kookar Kheda gram panchayat in Rajsamand's Bhim block, said, "When we go to apply for work, they don't give us any. The village secretary says there is no budget. Budget is an issue, they say. When we do get work, we have to travel 4-5 km by pick-up truck to reach the site. Currently, out of 150 members in our union, only 30 are working, while the rest are sitting idle.""We electronically removed 5-6 lakh fake names from the NREGA list, saving us Rs 2,600 crore. Recently, we received Rs 1,000 crore for the material component from the Centre, and around Rs 4,000 crore is still pending," said I P Agarwal, SE, EGS, Rajasthan.