Unpaid, delayed NREGA wages: Govt of India "fails" implementation despite Supreme Court order

By A Representative

India’s top civil societies network campaigning for the rural jobs guarantee scheme has revealed that despite the Supreme Court dated May 18, order to “prepare an urgent time bound mandatory program to make the payment of wages and compensation” to the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), the Government of India has refused to do it.
All that the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, has done following the order, which was in response to a Swaraj Abhiyan Public Interest Litigation (PIL), is to organise a consultation on this matter on 27 June, in which no representative of the civil society was invited.
Pointing this out, the NREGA Sangharsh Samiti (NSS) said, “In a press release issued on 13 July 2018, the Ministry claimed that it is implementing Standard Operating Protocols (SOPs) for ensuring timely payment of wages”, regretting, however, “These protocols are unavailable in the public domain.”
NREGA workers are supposed to receive their wages within 15 days of doing the work, failing which they are entitled to compensation. There are two stages in the processing of wage payments.

The first stage comprises of all the steps to be completed within the state/Union Territory (UT), i.e. measurement of work, entry of workers’ attendance in the Management Information System, generation of wage list, generation of Fund Transfer Order (FTOs) and approval of FTOs by the first and second signatories.
The second stage includes generation and forwarding of fund release order by the Ministry of Rural Development, crediting of the state account with funds in the sponsor bank and crediting of wages in the worker’s account.

According to the NSS, there is “lack of uniformity in timelines for first stage processes across states”, noting, “As per the Ministry’s guidelines, FTOs should be approved by the second signatory within eight days of the closing date of the corresponding Muster Roll. This leaves a week for the completion of the second stage processes.”
“However”, asserted NSS, “As per the Ministry’s own data, only 11 states/UTs follow this rule. Other states allow their functionaries to complete the first stage processes till up to 15 days after the closing date of the corresponding Muster Roll. This subsequently delays the completion of the second stage processes.”
Claiming that the PIL forced the Ministry to admit that what it had been touting as the rate of timely payment of wages is in fact only the proportion of FTOs approved on time by the second signatory, NSS said, “The submissions made by the central government to the Court reveal that the rate of timely processing of wages in the second stage is very poor: only 17% in 2016-17 and 43% in 2017-18.”
“Currently, compensation is only calculated for the delays in the first stage of the wage payment processes”, NSS says, adding, “Further, Programme Officers have the untenable discretion of rejecting this compensation. It is thus a matter of little surprise that from 2013-14 to 2017-18, only 4% of the calculated compensation was approved. Further, only 61% of the approved compensation amount was actually paid to workers.”
According to NSS, “Scores of workers do not receive their wages at all. Amongst the various reasons for non-payment of wages, one is rejection of FTO transactions for technical reasons. In the last financial year, 2.4% of the total wage payments – amounting to about Rs 500 crore – were rejected across the country. The year before, the rate of rejection of wage payments was as high as 16%. There are no less than 206 reasons for rejection of wage payments!”
The reasons include says NSS, “closed/transferred/blocked” account, “no such account”, “network failure”, “invalid Aadhaar”, “Aadhaar not mapped” and also a residual category of “miscellaneous”. The Ministry has no document in the public domain which explains the reasons for wage payment rejection or the remedial action to be taken in each case of rejection.”

Comments

Grueling summer ahead: Cuttack’s alarming health trends and what they mean for Odisha

By Sudhansu R Das The preparation to face the summer should begin early in Odisha. People in the state endure long, grueling summer months starting from mid-February and extending until the end of October. This prolonged heat adversely affects productivity, causes deaths and diseases, and impacts agriculture, tourism and the unorganized sector. The social, economic and cultural life of the state remains severely disrupted during the peak heat months.

Stronger India–Russia partnership highlights a missed energy breakthrough

By N.S. Venkataraman* The recent visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to India was widely publicized across several countries and has attracted significant global attention. The warmth with which Mr. Putin was received by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was particularly noted, prompting policy planners worldwide to examine the implications of this cordial relationship for the global economy and political climate. India–Russia relations have stood on a strong foundation for decades and have consistently withstood geopolitical shifts. This is in marked contrast to India’s ties with the United States, which have experienced fluctuations under different U.S. administrations.

From natural farming to fair prices: Young entrepreneurs show a new path

By Bharat Dogra There have been frequent debates on agro-business companies not showing adequate concern for the livelihoods of small farmers. Farmers’ unions have often protested—generally with good reason—that while they do not receive fair returns despite high risks and hard work, corporate interests that merely process the crops produced by farmers earn disproportionately high profits. Hence, there is a growing demand for alternative models of agro-business development that demonstrate genuine commitment to protecting farmer livelihoods.

The Vande Mataram debate and the politics of manufactured controversy

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* The recent Vande Mataram debate in Parliament was never meant to foster genuine dialogue. Each political party spoke past the other, addressing its own constituency, ensuring that clips went viral rather than contributing to meaningful deliberation. The objective was clear: to construct a Hindutva narrative ahead of the Bengal elections. Predictably, the Lok Sabha will likely expunge the opposition’s “controversial” remarks while retaining blatant inaccuracies voiced by ministers and ruling-party members. The BJP has mastered the art of inserting distortions into parliamentary records to provide them with a veneer of historical legitimacy.

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor* This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

The cost of being Indian: How inequality and market logic redefine rights

By Vikas Gupta We, the people of India, are engaged in a daily tryst—read: struggle—for basic human rights. For the seemingly well-to-do, the wish list includes constant water supply, clean air, safe roads, punctual public transportation, and crime-free neighbourhoods. For those further down the ladder, the struggle is starker: food that fills the stomach, water that doesn’t sicken, medicines that don’t kill, houses that don’t flood, habitats at safe distances from polluted streams or garbage piles, and exploitation-free environments in the public institutions they are compelled to navigate.

Why India must urgently strengthen its policies for an ageing population

By Bharat Dogra A quiet but far-reaching demographic transformation is reshaping much of the world. As life expectancy rises and birth rates fall, societies are witnessing a rapid increase in the proportion of older people. This shift has profound implications for public policy, and the need to strengthen frameworks for healthy and secure ageing has never been more urgent. India is among the countries where these pressures will intensify most sharply in the coming decades.

Thota Sitaramaiah: An internal pillar of an underground organisation

By Harsh Thakor* Thota Sitaramaiah was regarded within his circles as an example of the many individuals whose work in various underground movements remained largely unknown to the wider public. While some leaders become visible through organisational roles or media attention, many others contribute quietly, without public recognition. Sitaramaiah was considered one such figure. He passed away on December 8, 2025, at the age of 65.

Proposals for Babri Masjid, Ram Temple spark fears of polarisation before West Bengal polls

By A Representative A political debate has emerged in West Bengal following recent announcements about plans for new religious structures in Murshidabad district, including a proposed mosque to be named Babri Masjid and a separate announcement by a BJP leader regarding the construction of a Ram temple in another location within Behrampur.

Search This Blog