The demand for work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) saw a steep rise by 48.8 percent in April 2024 month-on-month as compared to February this year with as many as 301.8 lakh people demanding work in the particular month under the scheme, according to ministry of rural development data.
“Sequentially, the demand for work under MGNREGA increased sharply by 48.8 percent in April 2024,” National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) monthly economic review stated in its report.
The demand for work under the scheme increased 3.9 percent when compared on a year-on-year basis in April this year, it said.
“Employment indicators showed mixed trends. All-India urban unemployment rate declined, according to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) survey for the quarter of January-March 2024. Naukri JobSpeak Index moderated year-on-year, but sectors like travel and hospitality, banking, retail and IT services showed an increase in hiring activities. The number of net new subscribers under the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) increased year-on-year. Work demand under MGNREGA increased year-on-year,” the report said.
The allocation for the scheme remains unchanged at Rs 86,000 crore for FY 25.
Initiated as a safety measure to provide jobs between sowing and harvesting during the lean period, the law governing the flagship rural job programme provides guaranteed wage employment of 100 days in a financial year to rural households whose adult members are willing to take up manual work.
Aimed at generating employment, the rural job plan is a demand-driven scheme that was passed by the Parliament in August 2005 and was implemented in February 2006 in the country’s poorest districts. Later, the scheme was extended across the country in 2008.
The flagship employment guarantee scheme MGNREGA has the potential to boost rural economic growth beyond just being the jobs generator for unskilled workers.
Separately, the Union government has taken steps to plug leakages in the flagship rural job scheme ranging from mandatory digital attendance of workers through the National Mobile Monitoring System to ensuring wages are paid through Aadhaar-linked bank accounts.
In the past decade, Rs 8 lakh crore has been spent on the MGNREGA scheme. The employment guarantee scheme generated 3 billion person-days of work last year.
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