Delayed Wages and Refusal To Provide Work Haunt MGNREGS

The rural job guarantee scheme – officially called Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme or MGNREGS – continues to flounder due to govt. apathy and persistent blocking of electronic payments. Wage payments in 19 states of the country are frozen, totaling to about Rs.3,066 crore. In Haryana, workers have not been paid for their labour since 31st August. Payments in 12 states are pending since September.

With the increasing centralisation of implementation of MGNREGS due to electronic transfer of funds, the onus of paying timely wages lies largely with the Central government. This was proposed as a way to ease and quicken wage payments, but has been acting in the exact opposite manner. Fund Transfer Orders (FTOs) need to be approved by the Centre before any payment can be made. 100% of the FTOs are pending approval from the centre for the aforementioned 19 states. 

The centralized electronic method of the payment process was touted as a step taken for the benefit of the workers, but in reality it has given more power and control of the expenses and implementation of the scheme to the Centre. 

According to the rules of the scheme, in case of unavailability of work or delay in payments, workers have to be compensated. These compensations are nowhere to be seen. The Supreme Court had ordered the government to pay all the due compensation, but only Rs. 3.6 crore of the pending Rs. 34.7 crore was paid. Last year, the compensation amount was Rs. 1200 crore. But little of it reached the workers.

The government is also fast running out of funds for MGNREGS. Almost 88% of the funds assigned for the scheme are already exhausted. Only Rs. 6,000 crore of the budget allocation of Rs. 48,000 crore is left, with six months remaining in the financial year. The Ministry of Rural Development has requested supplementary funds of Rs 17,600 crore, but it is highly unlikely that the entire amount will be approved. In any case, the additional funds will not be disbursed before January of next year. 

The other dismaying part of MGNREGS is the falling number of people it is employing. A significant proportion of rural families are being refused employment under the scheme which was supposed to guarantee it. About 6.59 crore people applied for employment under MGNREGS this year, out of which only 5.82 crores were given work. This means more than 77 lakh people or 12% have been denied employment till now. 

MGNREGS serves as not only as an employment scheme, but a way for important infrastructure to be built in rural areas. People employed under the scheme undertake construction of roads, water tanks, canals, and other such necessities. Close to 70% of the projects are related to water conservation, irrigation, and land development, which are crucial in the face of droughts and other results of the agrarian crises. But the completion rate of these projects has been declining drastically. According to data on the website of Ministry of Rural Development which tracks the progress of MGNREGS projects, only 8% of the projects have been completed this year till October 12. This is down from a completion rate of 97% in 2014-15. Since April 2014, 1.04 crore projects have not been completed.

The present government has shown apathy towards the rural employment guarantee scheme right from the beginning, with statements suggesting it might be scrapped altogether. It was forced to continue with it because of massive protests in 2014. Yet, the govt. continues to sabotage it through a variety of underhand machinations. Given the severe employment crisis in the country, the scheme serves as a major support for lakhs of families. Its slow strangulation by the govt. is bound to have a destructive effect on the lives of crores.

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