Average workdays per household is down to just 44 days under MGNREGA

Representative image
| Photo Credit: PTI

Falling short of the 100 days of work guaranteed under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, average workdays per household under the scheme had come down to just 44.62 days in 2024-25 from 52.08 days in 2023-24, a consortium of non-profit organisations said on Sunday (February 2, 2025). 

A fall in person days from 312.37 crore in financial year 2023-24 to 239.67 crore in 2024-25 was also recorded. The term “person days” refers to the total number of workdays by a person registered under MGNREGA in a financial year. 

In a statement on Sunday, NREGA Sangharsh Morcha, the consortium of MGNREGA workers and NGOs working in social sector, said that low budgetary allocation for the programme which remained stagnant at ₹86,000 crore, same as that of last year, reflected the government’s deliberate neglect of the rural workforce. As of February 1, the deficit stood at ₹9,860 crore with pending wages of ₹6,948.55 crore as of January 25.

With two months remaining in the financial year, this recurring trend, where an average of 20% of the Budget is used to clear past dues, means that the effective allocation for FY 2025-26 will be no more than ₹70,000 crore.

This, when adjusted against inflation, is approximately ₹4,000 crore less than the previous year, it pointed out. “As a percentage of GDP, the allocation has further declined to a mere 0.24%, compared to 0.26% in the last financial year. The scheme is also awaiting routine wage indexation, and even this adjustment has not been accounted for,” the statement said. 

The NREGA Morcha said inadequate budget will result in “massive delays in wage payments exacerbating”, “financial distress for rural workers”, “suppression of work demand” and “denying people their right to employment”, “decline in quality asset creation”, and “weakening of rural infrastructure”.  

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said that the government’s neglect of this “crucial safety net” exposes its “indifference to rural livelihoods”. It reduces MGNREGA’s reach leaving drought-hit and poor rural workers stranded, Mr. Ramesh said.

“It also precludes any increase in the wages paid to workers. Even in this ongoing Financial Year, the minimum average notified wage rate was increased by only 7%. This is at a time when Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation is estimated to be ~5%. MGNREGA is therefore ground zero for the national crisis of wage stagnation,” he added.