MGNREGS work allocation slows considerably, according to government data

New Delhi: The number of rural households that didn’t get work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme soared to 7.8 million in January – an all-time high in this financial year – as states were said to have gone slow in providing work.

While there was demand for work from 26.2 million households in January, only 18.4 million got employment, according to government data.

The previous peak was in June, when demand from 5.8 million households was unmet after workers migrated from the cities to rural areas in the wake of the Covid-19 lockdown.

This figure was 5.7 million in December. According to the MGNREG Act, one person in every rural poor household is supposed to get 100 days of employment at minimum wages every year.

According to government data, 92.97% of the funds for the scheme had been utilised so far, with total expenditure of Rs 91,225.7 crore against availability of Rs 98,127.9 crore. The Centre had enhanced the allocation to the scheme by Rs 40,000 crore during the pandemic, taking the total to Rs 1.11 lakh crore for 2020-21. The budgetary allocation for 2021-22 is Rs 73,000 crore.

With less than two more months to go in the current financial year, the states are eyeing more funds from the Centre before allocating work. At least a dozen states have spent over 90% of their funds till date, with Maharashtra’s utilisation at 117.08%, followed by 98.7% utilisation by Odisha, 95.5% by Bihar, 94.6% by Rajasthan, 93.2% by Madhya Pradesh, 92.14% by Jharkhand and 90.9% by Uttar Pradesh.

“States are deliberately going slow on work allocation as they have exhausted their funds while fresh funds are not coming from the Centre,” said Himanshu, a professor of Jawaharlal Nehru University.

The Centre should have allocated funds in advance, based on the proportionate utilisation in the previous months, in the absence of which rural income will take a severe hit, thus impacting demand, Himanshu said.