State records 18% decline in employment generated under MGNREGS in the first half

State records 18% decline in employment generated under MGNREGS in the first half

Telangana registered close to 18% reduction in person days of work generated through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), in the first half of the financial year.

A study by the Libtech India, a voluntary organisation monitoring the implementation of the scheme in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, has noted that the workers generated 8.14 crore person days of work from April to September in 2023-23. This is way below the 9.92 crore person days generated during the same period last year, and the decline is significant, the report said.

Part of the reason for the decline could be the large number of workers deleted from the job cards during the previous financial year. As per the report, a total of 17.3 lakh workers were deleted due to various reasons belonged to Telangana.

Between April and September, 2023-24, the programme saw an addition of 1,34,487 workers, and deletion of 1,20,281 workers. During a previous study, Libtech India observed that the deletions were not always based on robust information, and in several instances, the workers had no clue about their own deletions.

However, despite the large scale deletions, the person days generated saw an increase at the national level, by 13.5% when compared with the previous financial year, the report noted.

“Part of the decline in person days in Telangana could also be attributed to a good monsoon. But we could not establish a direct correlation between the rainfall and the work generated district-wise. So, the phenomenon still remains inexplicable, and the government needs to focus on the declining numbers,” said Chakradhar Buddha from Libtech India.

For instance, the steepest drop in employment was observed in Mulugu at 51.2%, though the district received deficit rainfall. Medchal follows next with 51.1% drop, and Kamareddy at 47.5 per cent. Only three districts, Jagtial, Nalgonda and Sangareddy saw an increase in the number of person days, the report noted. The highest rise in employment was 14.4% in Sangareddy.