- Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)
The Modi government is yet to clear pending dues worth Rs 6,434 crore it owes states as wages for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme (MGNREGS) workers in this current financial year
The Centre also owes Rs 6,130.61 crore to 19 states and Union Territories for material components used in the implementation of the scheme.
The Modi government has allocated Rs 86,000 crore for the rural employment scheme for the financial year 2025-26 as well. The NREGA budget for 2025-26 remains unchanged at Rs 86,000 crore, the same as 2024-25. Notably, there was no mid-year revision in 2024-25, unlike previous years when allocations typically received an upward revision. As a result, a portion of this year’s budget might go towards clearing pending dues from 2023-24, further limiting funds available for new works and wage payments
Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh are among the few states with a high employment or number of person-days—26.27 crore person-days in TN and 29.94 crore in UP—as provided under the Centre’s flagship rural employment scheme in 2024-25 to date.
On 13 January this year, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding the release of Rs 1,056 crore for the payment of wage dues.
The Tamil Nadu CM also said the state government’s request for an increase in the labour budget (or person-days) from 20 crore to 35 crore is awaiting approval from the rural development ministry.
According to the scheme, workers should be paid within 15 days of completion of work.
The deletion of MGNREGS workers has been a contentious issue, especially after the Centre made the National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS) and Aadhaar Based Payment System (ABPS) mandatory for attendance (though there were some exceptions) in 2023 and then wage payment in 2024.
1.55 crore active MGNREGS workers were deleted from the list between 2022 and 2024. A worker is considered active if he/she has demanded pay for even one day of work in the last three financial years.
Reasons for deletion such as fake/duplicate/ incorrect job card, or the family shifted out of the Gram Panchayat permanently, the village became classified as urban. Print
