The demand for rural jobs under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is up this fiscal, after a dip in FY23. Data from the scheme’s portal and archives show an 11 per cent increase in employment generation in this fiscal until December, compared with the corresponding period in the previous financial year.

Between April and December 2023, 231.34 crore person-days were generated across all States. This is higher than the number of person-days generated between April and December of 2020 when Covid and the lockdown caused a spike in the unemployment rate and increased demand for NREGA after migrant workers returned to their homes.

This demand for jobs has also resulted in an increased pace of asset creation. The total number of assets created as part of NREGA has grown from 6.96 crore in December 2022 to 7.91 crore in December 2023.

High demand in TN

The demand for NREGA work isn’t uniform across large States. Of them, Tamil Nadu saw the highest demand between April and December 2023. A massive 36.68 crore person-days were generated in Tamil Nadu. This is a 67 per cent increase, compared with last year.

“Tamil Nadu has managed to execute a geographical exercise where labourers could find work at a place that isn’t quite far from their homes,” says Nikhil Dey, a founding member of the workers and farmers solidarity group Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan. “This is probably why the demand is high in Tamil Nadu,” he says. In FY24, the State also increased its number of NREGA clusters from 20,000 to 30,000.

Uttar Pradesh, which topped the list in the same period last year, falls to second place with a person-day generation of 27.30 crore. However, it is still a 15 per cent increase compared with the last year. The other States with high demand for NREGA work include Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.

Budget comes down

The allocation for the scheme, which provides 100 days of compulsory employment to rural households was, however, down 33 per cent in FY24, creating a lot of hue and cry. A few months ago, there were reports on how the scheme had exhausted its funds. Following this, the Ministry of Rural Development sought supplementary funds of ₹16,142.86 crore earlier this month.

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