Over 84 lakh workers erased from MGNREGS rolls in 6 months: report

Last Updated28/10/2024

Between April and September this year, as per a study released by Lib Tech, a consortium of academics and activists, 84.8 lakh workers registered under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) found their names deleted from the programme.

Between April and September this year, a study by Lib Tech India reports that 84.8 lakh workers registered under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) were removed from the programme, with 45.4 lakh new workers added.
The net deletion of 39.3 lakh workers marks an ongoing trend in the programme’s roster reductions. Tamil Nadu saw the highest deletions (14.7%), closely followed by Chhattisgarh (14.6%).

Lib Tech’s findings reveal a trend of accelerated deletions from MGNREGS. The organization’s prior report indicated that over 8 crore workers were removed between 2022 and 2024. The current rate of deletions raises concerns about “wrongful deletions,” with an ongoing study in Andhra Pradesh showing that around 15% of deletions may have been erroneous.

Since January 2023, the government has mandated Aadhaar-Based Payment System (ABPS) implementation for MGNREGS, requiring job card linkage with Aadhaar, matched names, and Aadhaar-seeded bank accounts.
Despite multiple deadline extensions, full ABPS compliance became mandatory from January 2024. According to Lib Tech, 27.4% of all registered MGNREGA workers (6.7 crore) and 4.2% of active workers (54 lakh) remain ineligible due to ABPS requirements, contributing to worker discouragement and increased rural-to-urban migration.

As of October 2024, the number of active MGNREGA workers declined by 8%, dropping from 14.3 crore in 2023 to 13.2 crore. This period also saw a sharp decrease in “person days” (the total workdays completed annually by registered workers), falling by 16.6% from 184 crore in FY 2022-23 to 153 crore in the current year.
Notably, Tamil Nadu and Odisha experienced the largest declines in person days, whereas Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh saw increases.