E-Paper
Smaller states fare better at providing MGNREGS jobs
While just 28.7% of the total enrolled MGNREGS workers found work in Bihar, 93% of those in Mizoram have benefitted, according to the government data.
Nine out of every ten enrolled workers have got a job under MGNREGS in the state of Mizoram in this financial year, as have 74% in Chhattisgarh. The two are among several smaller states where a wide swathe of the rural population has benefitted from the government’s flagship job guarantee scheme against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic that has shrunk economic opportunities and discouraged many workers from leaving home.
To be sure, these proportions are a function of the lower absolute numbers in these states. For instance, in Bihar, the number of active workers under the scheme as on Friday was 8.97 million lakhs whereas in Mizoram, it was just around 2,70,000 . But while just 28.7% of the total enrolled MGNREGS workers found work in Bihar, 93% of those in Mizoram have benefitted, according to the government data.
Former rural development secretary Jugal Kishore Mohapatra explained that the larger states have more options for economic activities. “In industrially developed or big states such as Maharashtra or Gujarat, people have many other financial opportunities to pursue. So, the participation in these states is usually low.”
The official data shows that active workers out of total number of workers in Jharkhand is 40%, Karnataka, 48%, Maharashtra, 23%, and Gujarat, 31%.
The corresponding proportions in smaller states is much higher. It is 84% in Tripura, 81% in the UT of Ladakh and 71% in Meghalaya.
A senior official of the rural development ministry pointed out that the world’s biggest employment guarantee programme has been beneficial to the smaller states and far-flung areas with limited economic opportunities. “During Covid, these economic opportunities have shrunk further, especially in these areas. And many migratory workers have not returned to bigger cities due to fear of the pandemic, resulting in additional dependence on the job guarantee programme.”
MGNREGS has generated 296 croredays of work so far nationally involving 94.3 million individual workers and the participation of 65.5 million households. As more families sought work under the Union government’s flagship job programme, only 2.45 million families have completed 100 days of work—as against 7.1 million lakhs in 20-21, 4 million 19-20 and 5.2 million in 2018-19, according to the government data.
The union rural development ministry has so far spent ₹86,028 crore out of the total availability of ₹86,265 crore. With 99.7% utilization of the available funds, the ministry will now need to seek more funds from the finance ministry in the latter’s last demand for grants of FY21-22.
