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Informist, Thursday, Jan. 29, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme served as a critical safety net for rural households for a long time, but recent trends revealed a noticeable decline in work demand under the scheme, the Economic Survey for the financial year 2025-26 (Apr-Mar) said.

 

The survey cited data showing that person days generated have declined to approximately 1.84 billion as of Dec. 31, from a peak of 3.89 billion, a decline of around 53%. "This decline in MGNREGS demand coincides with a decrease in rural unemployment, from 3.3% in 2020-21 to 2.5% in 2023-24, suggesting that many rural households may be accessing non-farm or other non-MGNREGS work," the survey said.  

 

These developments highlight a marked improvement in the rural economy driven by strong macroeconomic fundamentals and a reduced dependence on MNREGS as a source of livelihood, it said.

The Congress party, which led the United Progressive Alliance government that enacted the scheme in 2005, has been up in arms against the Narendra Modi government for replacing the MGNREGA with a new legislation called the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act. While the Congress has been criticising the government for dropping Mahatma Gandhi's name from the legislation, other opposition parties have expressed concerns over the increased financial burden on the states under the new law.

 

While admitting various achievements of MGNREGS over the years, the Economic Survey said several emerging factors have prompted a re-examination of the design and objectives of employment guarantee programmes. Since its enactment in 2005, the MGNREGS has provided wage employment, stabilised rural incomes, and created basic infrastructure, offering at least 100 days of guaranteed unskilled work to rural households, it noted.

 

"Alongside these gains, deeper structural issues persisted... Misappropriation accumulated over time, and only a small proportion of households completed the full 100 days of employment post-pandemic, indicating that while delivery systems improved, the overall architecture of MGNREGS has reached its limits and warrants reassessment in light of evolving rural realities," the survey said.

 

Besides, it added, monitoring in several states revealed gaps, including work not being done on the ground, expenditure not matching physical progress, the use of machines in labour-intensive work, and frequent bypassing of digital attendance systems.

 

"Against this backdrop, the government has enacted the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025... The new Act builds on past improvements while addressing their shortcomings through a modern, accountable, and infrastructure-focused framework," it said. End

 

Reported by Asim Khan

Edited by Saji George Titus

 

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