MGNREGS funds

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), a lifeline for rural livelihoods, is once again grappling with an acute fund shortage. For the fiscal year 2024-25, the government allocated

Rs 86,000 crore, yet Rs 4,315 crore worth of wage payments remain pending. In 2023-24, the scheme ran a deficit of

Rs 6,146 crore just six months into the year. Similarly, in 2022-23, the revised allocation of Rs 89,400 crore was 33 per cent higher than the original budget. This annual struggle to meet financial requirements raises critical questions about the scheme’s implementation and funding priorities. It is riddled with glaring inefficiencies. The Congress’ demand for increasing MGNREGS wages to Rs 400 per day reflects political optics rather than a sustainable solution. It is a popular move and fails to address the root cause: a systemic shortfall in timely fund allocation.

Technical interventions such as the Aadhaar-Based Payment Bridge System and the National Mobile Monitoring System have exacerbated delays. Frequent connectivity issues and stringent Aadhaar seeding requirements have led to widespread deletions of job cards, with nearly nine crore workers losing access since 2022. While touted as measures to enhance transparency, these systems have become barriers to livelihoods. The MGNREGS was designed as a demand-driven scheme to ensure livelihood security for rural households.

The MGNREGS has consistently highlighted rural distress, with elevated demand for work signalling urban job shortages. Its role in alleviating poverty cannot be overstated. The government must prioritise realistic budgeting, transparent implementation and the removal of administrative roadblocks. That allocations are consistently falling short of demand and fund exhaustion is becoming a predictable mid-year crisis indicates a structural gap in policy implementation. The policy failure must be corrected.