Work demand under MGNREGS drops in May

Demand for work under the government’s flagship job scheme dropped in May from a year before, as work remains suspended in West Bengal, traditionally a major beneficiary, in light of alleged misappropriation of funds there.

However, sequentially, the work demand under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) rose sharply in May from the April level, reflecting the typical summer trend when farm activities remain subdued.

About 42.66 million individuals opted for work under the scheme in May, down 2% from a year before but up 34% from the April level, according to the preliminary data compiled by the rural development ministry. However, members of 31.76 million households sought work in May, which represented a 3.3% rise from a year before and a slight drop from the previous month, the data showed.

Excluding West Bengal from the pan-India data, however, showed a marginal 0.4% year-on-year rise in work demand (in the individual category) in May. Demand came from only 5,938 individuals in May in the state, against one million a year before.

These data get revised regularly as and when updated information flows in.

According to senior government officials, work demand under the scheme typically remains higher during the summer than earlier months, as farm activities ease after the winter harvest. Also, this is the best time to undertake MGNREGS works like building water bodies, etc, before the rainy season. In fact, some states usually exhaust over a half of their labour budget (person-day generation target) for the full fiscal year in the June quarter itself, they said.

In the individuals category, apart from West Bengal, work demand in May was driven down by states like Andhra Pradesh (6.29 million vs 7.25 million a year earlier), Telangana (3.15 million vs 4.66 million) and Bihar (2.74 million vs 3.04 million).

However, those who pushed up demand in May were Tamil Nadu (5.26 million vs 3.88 million a year earlier), Chhattisgarh (2.80 million vs 1.58 million) and Jharkhand (1.15 million vs 0.42 million).

Having hit a FY23 peak of 43.51 million in May 2022, work demand in the ‘individuals’ category under the MGNREGS eased to as low as 18.64 million in October before rising again almost steadily (except for the fall in January), the data showed.

According to the government's revised estimate, spending on the MGNREGS was expected to rise to Rs 89,400 crore in FY23 from the budgeted Rs 73,000 crore. The government has budgeted Rs 60,000 crore for FY24, but finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has indicated that more funds would be allocated for the scheme if required.