Job card-Aadhaar mismatch | A missing letter means no work for MGNREGS workers in Odisha

A mismatch between names on the MNREGS jobcards and Aadhaar card — A missing alphabet or a differently spelt name — is enough to push MGNREGS workers in Odisha to migrate to earn a living

Sugrib Naik (29) and Singi Majhi (59) are a generation apart and have never met. They have nothing in common except, recently, both their names were struck out of the beneficiary list under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), which provides at least 100 days of paid work annually to at least adult member of a family.

In both the cases, there is a mismatch between their names on the MNREGS jobcards and their Aadhaar card. A missing alphabet, a differently spelt name is enough to push both to a common destiny — migration to earn a living.

By an order on January 30, the Union Rural Development Ministry made it mandatory that the payment of MGNREGA wages will be Aadhaar-linked. The initial deadline was set for February 1, which, after two extensions is now set for June 30. As States rush to meet this deadline, the number of deletions is spiralling.

By June 23 this year, 61 lakh registered workers had been deleted citing various reasons ranging from unwillingness to work to fake job cards,  amounting to net deletion of 1.16%. This amounts to 2.26% of the total registered workers. According to an analysis by research group Lib Tech, financial year 2022-23 saw a 244.3% hike in the number of deleted workers. From 1.49 crore deletions in 2021-22 with net deletion of 1.8%, it climbed to 5.13 crore in 2022-23 with net deletion rate of 14.28%. The government claims this is a routine exercise to weed out corruption.

The Hindu’s field visit to Kashipur Block in Rayagada district of Odisha shows that many genuine beneficiaries have been binned in this process. Kashipur Block has a significant Adivasi population and has reported one of the highest MGNREGA deletion rates in the country. In village after village, the coincidence of a mismatch between Aadhaar and job card details repeats in the case of deleted job cards.

Mr. Naik, a tribal from Dangehskal village in Kashipur Block, while looking for work recently discovered that his job card was no longer in the system. Out of 547 registered MGNREGA workers in Mr. Naik’s village, 90 have been deleted. Like Mr. Naik’s case, 33 workers’ names have been removed citing the reason “not willing to work.”

“Who told them that I am not willing to work? No one came to ask me whether I want or do not want to work,” Mr. Naik said. The family’s land provides enough to keep the family fed, but that’s all it does. For the other basic needs like clothes, education for his two daughters aged eight and four years, medical care for his ageing parents, and for the meagre luxuries to which he aspires, he needs additional income. MGNREGA doesn’t entirely fill the gap, yet it is preferred because it provides him employment at his home. The only other option is migration.