Work generation under MGNREGA sees a significant dip in December

Work generation under the rural employment generation scheme the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme saw a significant dip in December despite demand for work being higher compared to previous months since August, impacting rural incomes.

This is primarily on the back of drying of funds under the scheme as some states which are traditionally more active have either exhausted their allocation under Mgnrega or are going slow on spending to spread it over next quarter with a lower rate of replenishment from the Centre.

Data shows persondays work generated under Mgnrega stood at 16.07 crore till December 31 compared to 23.60 crore in November, a month-on-month dip of 31.9%. This is despite 3.43 crore individuals demanding work in December as against 2.89 crore demanded in November.


The person-days work generated under Mgnrega stood at 14.15 crore in April, 56.92 crore in May, 64.07 crore in June, 39.13 crore in July, 26.05 crore in August, 26.39 crore in September and 26.23 crore in October.

Even the average days of employment provided per household under the scheme has been lowest so far since 2016-17 at 43.18 days compared to 48.39 days in 2019-20, 50.88 days in 2018-19, 45.69 days in 2017-18 and 46 days in 2016-17.

“The government is creating a supply bottleneck by squeezing the release of funds by the Centre. This will severely impact rural incomes,” rural expert and JNU professor Himanshu said.

According to labour expert and XLRI professor KR Shyam Sundar, given the budgetary constraints replenishment of funds by the Centre is taking longer than usual despite higher demand for work under the scheme.

“While I foresee uptake in work orders in the last quarter, it will depend on how quickly Centre approves the revised estimates of states for further allocation under the scheme,” he added .

Data shows out of total central release of Rs 82424.62 crore, expenditure of Rs 81605.8 crore has been made in the current financial year so far.

Telangana has utilised 95.94% of funds allocated while Odisha has utilised 87.12%, Rajasthan (93.79%), Uttar Pradesh (97.17%), Bihar (90.35%) Madhya Pradesh (89.7%), Jharkhand (84.39%), Chattisgarh (86.6%), Gujarat (80.34%) and Maharashtra (99.95%).