Guwahati: Despite a decline in the demand for jobs under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) since 2020-21, two states, Arunachal Pradesh and Maharashtra, have witnessed an uptick in demand, as per data compiled by the Ministry of Rural Development.
The data was shared by the Ministry of Rural Development in a written response to a question in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
It indicated that the number of households that demanded employment reduced from 8.53 crore households in 2020-21 to 6.51 crore in 2023-24.
However, the demand for work under the flagship MGNREGA scheme rose almost 4 percent in November 2024 as compared to the corresponding period of last year.
As per the data, Maharashtra saw a steady increase in demand, from 18.83 lakh households in 2020-21 to 27.24 lakh in 2023-24.
In Arunachal Pradesh, 2.34 lakh households demanded jobs in 2020-21 as compared to 2.79 lakh households last financial year.
States such as Bihar and Jharkhand, saw a decline in the same period, by 11.37% and 20.49% respectively.
Kamlesh Paswan, minister of state, rural development, who was responding to a question by Lok Sabha MPs Charanjit Singh Channi, Benny Behanan, and Dean Kuriakose, on the reasons behind variations in MGNREGS demand, told the Lok Sabha: “While the work demanded closely matches the work offered, the difference in the work availed with the former is on account of lack of utilization of such offering by workers. This could be on account of better employment opportunities elsewhere, illness or any other relevant factor.”
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According to some experts, the work demand might have risen as workers returned to the sites after the completion of sowing activities in the farms.
So far, around Rs 75,000 crore for the scheme has been released while the Fy-25 Budget Estimates is around Rs 86,000 crore.
