Dependence on national rural job scheme declines

Demand for work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) saw an 11.1% dip year-on-year in April, suggesting reduced dependence on the Centre’s flagship rural jobs scheme for livelihood.

Data from the MGNREGA website showed work demand from households in April stood at 23.2 million, down from 26.1 million in April 2021. Individual demand fell 13% to 32.8 million from 37.8 million individuals who demanded work under the scheme a year ago.

The work demand in April, though higher than in 2019, is on the decline, suggesting a gradual return in the labour market. In April 2019, 21 million households demanded work under the scheme while the individual demand stood at 30.3 million.


The data, however, is not comparable to April 2020 as it was the first month of the nationwide lockdown imposed in the wake of Covid-19 during which all economic activities, including work under MGNREGA, had come to a halt. While 13.4 million households demanded work in April 2020, demand for work from individuals was 20 million.

This should come as a relief to the government, which had overshot its expenditure on the scheme for two consecutive years.

In 2020-21, the government had spent Rs 1.09 lakh crore under MGNREGA, as against the budgetary allocation of Rs 61,600 crore, which was topped up by Rs 40,000 crore after the outbreak of the pandemic.

In 2021-22, as against the budgetary allocation of Rs 73,000 crore, the government spent Rs 98,246.88 crore after enhancing the allocation to the scheme by Rs 15,000 crore at the revised estimates stage.

Data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) shows that rural unemployment is declining since February while urban unemployment is rising, suggesting a surplus of workforce in urban India.

As per the CMIE, unemployment in rural India stood at 8.35% in February, 7.29% in March and 7.18% in April while the unemployment rate in urban India stood at 7.55% in February, 8.28% in March and 9.22% in April.