Reduced by 34%, five months to go, 90% NREGA budget used up: Advocacy group

By A Representative
The rural jobs advocacy group, People's Action for Employment Guarantee (PAEG), has taken strong exception to the Government of India reducing the total budget for implementing schemes under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) in the FY 2021-22, which “is 34% less than the budget for the previous year, even though the effects of Covid-19 have not abated.”
Pointing out that almost 90% of the allocated budget for the current financial year has been “used up till now, with five months of the programme still remaining”, releasing its new NREGA tracker on wage payments, it particularly noted, “The remaining funds can cover at most 13 days of employment per household for the rest of the year.”
The PAEG tracker is an attempt to monitor NREGA performance by making some key data available in an accessible manner. It is based on publicly available data from the NREGA Management Information System (MIS). Through this effort, it hopes to generate public interest in monitoring it, prompt further reporting and organise workers to demand and access their entitlements.
The sharp reduction in NREGA budget comes, according to PAEG, at a time when the number of persons seeking jobs under the scheme has been going up each year. Thus, “A total of 7.75 crore households were provided work in the financial year (FY) 2020-21. This is an increase of over 41% from the number of households provided with work in 2019-20.”
It added, “In 2020-21, a total of 389 crore persondays of work was generated, an increase of more than 53% compared to the previous year”, yet, it complained, “In the FY 2021-22 the Central government has reduced NREGA budget allocation despite the evident importance of NREGA during the first wave and the devastating economic impact of the second wave.”
Suggesting poor management of NREGA funds, PAEG said, “Around 24% of the total allocated budget for the FY 2021-22 is being spent to clear pending payments of last year”, noting, in the current financial year many rural workers are unable to get jobs under NREGA, even though they demand for it.

The remaining funds can cover at most 13 days of employment per household for the rest of the current financial year

Thus, while data suggest that “198.33 crore persondays of work have been generated in the first half of this FY”, which is “a decrease of around 26% when compared to the same period of last year”, the fact is, “Out of the total persondays of employment that were projected to be generated, only 91% has been generated”. Also, “13% of the total households that demanded employment did not get employment.”
Futher, according to PAEG, “Out of the total households employed under NREGA, only around 6% of households were employed for 81-99 days whereas only around 2% were completed 100 days”, adding, “For the first six months of the year, around 15% of total payments are pending to be paid by the Government of India.”
Interestingly, NREGA mismanagement has been happening “even though the Ministry of Rural Development and State Governments report that social audits are happening on the ground, concurrent social audit reports are still not available in the public domain in violation of the Auditing Standards of Social Audit as laid down by the Comptroller and Auditor Genernal of India”, said PAEG.

Comments

Modi’s Israel visit strengthened Pakistan’s hand in US–Iran truce: Ex-Indian diplomat

By Jag Jivan M. K. Bhadrakumar , a career diplomat with three decades of service in postings across the former Soviet Union, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Germany, and Turkey, has warned that the current truce in the US–Iran war is “fragile and ridden with contradictions.” Writing in his blog India Punchline , Bhadrakumar argues that while Pakistan has emerged as a surprising broker of dialogue, the durability of the ceasefire remains uncertain.

Why Indo-Pak relations have been on 'knife’s edge' , hostilities may remain for long

By Utkarsh Bajpai* The past few decades have seen strides being made in all aspects of life – from sticks and stones to weaponry. The extreme case of this phenomenon has been nuclear weapons. The menace caused by nuclear weapons in the past is unforgettable. Images of Hiroshima and Nagasaki from 1945 come to mind, after the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the cities.

Incarceration of Prof Saibaba 'revives' the question: What is crime, who is criminal?

By Kunal Pant* In 2016, a Supreme Court Judge asked the state of Maharashtra, “Do you want to extract a pound of flesh?” The statement was directed against the state for contesting the bail plea of Delhi University Professor GN Saibaba. Saibaba was arrested in 2014, a justification for which was to prevent him from committing what the police called “anti-national activities.”

Food security? Gujarat govt puts more than 5 lakh ration cards in the 'silent' category

By Pankti Jog* A new statistical report uploaded by the Gujarat government on the national food security portal shows that ensuring food security for the marginalized community is still not a priority of the state. The statistical report, uploaded on December 24, highlights many weaknesses in implementing the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in state.

Manufacturing, services: India's low-skill, middle-skill labour remains underemployed

By Francis Kuriakose* The Indian economy was in a state of deceleration well before Covid-19 made its impact in early 2020. This can be inferred from the declining trends of four important macroeconomic variables that indicate the health of the economy in the last quarter of 2019.

The soundtrack of resistance: How 'Sada Sada Ya Nabi' is fueling the Iran war

By Syed Ali Mujtaba* The Persian track “ Sada Sada Ya Nabi ye ” by Hossein Sotoodeh has taken the world by storm. This viral media has cut across linguistic barriers to achieve cult status, reaching over 10 million views. The electrifying music and passionate rendition by the Iranian singer have resonated across the globe, particularly as the high-intensity military conflict involving Iran entered its second month in March 2026.

School closures across states raise concerns amid Govt of India claims of improved access

By A Representative A recent report has raised concerns over the closure and merger of government schools in several Indian states, particularly in Bihar, where a significant number of institutions have reportedly been shut down or earmarked for closure.

Beneath the stone: Revisiting the New Jersey mandir controversy

By Rajiv Shah A recent report published in the British media outlet The Guardian , titled “Workers carved the largest modern Hindu temple in the west. Now, some have incurable lung disease,” took me back to my visits to the New Jersey mandir —first in 2022, when it was still under construction, though parts of it were open to visitors, and again in 2024, after its completion.

Health activist group raises concerns over HPV vaccination drive, seeks temporary halt

By A Representative Swasthya Adhikar Manch, a public health advocacy group, has urged the Union government to ensure greater accountability and transparency in the ongoing Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination campaign, and called for its temporary suspension pending a comprehensive review. In a letter addressed to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, the group flagged what it described as unresolved concerns surrounding the nationwide rollout of the HPV vaccine, which began on February 28, 2026. The campaign targets 14-year-old girls and involves administering Gardasil, a quadrivalent vaccine intended to protect against certain strains of HPV linked to cervical cancer.

Search This Blog