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According to the latest data available on the NREGS portal, 6.73 crore households (9.72 crore individuals) have availed of the rural job guarantee scheme till January 31 during the current financial year | Representational image The demand for work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) had peaked during the nationwide lockdown but is still higher than pre-pandemic levels, according to the Economic Survey 2021-22 tabled by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
The survey said, “An analysis of the latest data on demand for work under MGNREGS suggests the following trends in the rural labour market: (i) MGNREGS employment peaked during the nation-wide lockdown in 2020 (ii) the demand for MGNREGS work has stabilised after the second Covid wave; (iii) aggregate MGNREGS employment is still higher than pre-pandemic level…”
“During the nationwide lockdown, the aggregate demand for MGNREGS work peaked in June 2020, and has thereafter stabilised. During the second Covid wave, demand for MGNREGS employment reached the maximum level of 4.59 crore persons in June 2021. Nonetheless, after accounting for seasonality, the demand at an aggregate level still seems to be above the pre-pandemic levels of 2019,” said the survey.
The survey said that for some states such as Andhra Pradesh and Bihar, the demand for work under the job guarantee scheme had fallen below the pre-pandemic levels in the past few months.
“Intuitively, one may expect that higher MGNREGS demand may be directly related to the movement of migrant labour i.e. source states would be more impacted. Nevertheless, state-level analysis shows that for many migrant-source states like West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar, the MGNREGS employment in most months of 2021 has been lower than the corresponding levels in 2020,” the survey said. “In contrast, the demand for MGNREGS employment has been higher for migrant-recipient states like Punjab, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu for most months in 2021 over 2020. There are still other states that do not neatly fit into this categorization,” it said.
“Therefore, the relationship between MGNREGS employment and movement of migrant labour during the last two years cannot be conclusively determined, and requires further research,” it added.
According to the latest data available on the NREGS portal, 6.73 crore households (9.72 crore individuals) have availed of the rural job guarantee scheme till January 31 during the current financial year. The government had allocated Rs73,000 crore for the scheme in the 2021-22 Budget. It was enhanced to Rs 98,000 crore, by allocating Rs 25,000 crore through the supplementary demands for grants during Parliament’s Winter Session.
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