Context: The demand for work under the MGNREGA has soared to an all-time high, with about 5.53 crores households availing the rural job guarantee scheme in just four-and a-half months of the current financial year.

• This is the highest demand the scheme has seen since its inception in 2006-07, an analysis of data available on the MGNREGA portal shows.
• The earlier record was in 2010-11, when 5.5 crores households availed of MGNREGA work—but that was the figure for the whole financial year.

Details:

• The unprecedented spike in the demand for unskilled work under MGNREGA comes in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak, which has disrupted economic activity in cities and forced a large number of migrants to return to their villages.
• About 5.48 crores households availed MGNREGA work in the last fiscal shows the data on the portal.
• A month-wise analysis of the data shows that after an initial dip in April during the lockdown, the demand for work under MGNREGA continued to rise in the current financial year.
• A state wise break-up of the data shows that at least nine states—Goa, Nagaland, West Bengal, Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Haryana—registered over a 100 per cent increase in the number of households that worked under MGNREGA in July this year, in comparison to the corresponding month last year.

About MGNREGA:

• The MGNREGA was initiated with the objective of "enhancing livelihood security in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year, to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work".
• Another aim of MGNREGA is to create durable assets (such as roads, canals, ponds and wells).
• Employment is to be provided within 5 km of an applicant's residence and minimum wages are to be paid.
• If work is not provided within 15 days of applying, applicants are entitled to an unemployment allowance.
• MGNREGA is to be implemented mainly by Gram Panchayats (GPs). The involvement of contractors is banned.
• NREGA can help in protecting the environment, empowering rural women, reducing rural-urban migration and fostering social equity, among others.
• The act explicitly mentions the principles and agencies for implementation, list of allowed works, financing pattern, monitoring and evaluation, and most importantly the detailed measures to ensure transparency and accountability.

Reference:

https://indianexpress.com/article/india/in-less-than-five-months-of-fy21-nrega-demand-at-all-time-high-6557684/

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