'Grossly inadequate': NREGA allocation 0.29% of GDP, World Bank recommended 1.6%

By Rajiv Shah

A civil society tracker, seeking to periodically analyse the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), has said that NREGA budgetary allocation is only 0.29% of GDP and 1.85% of the total government expenditure of the financial year 2022-23, which is grossly inadequate. Thus, “As per estimates of researchers of the World Bank, for NREGA to run robustly, its allocation must at least be 1.6% of the GDP.”
Prepared by the People’s Action for Employment Guarantee (PAEG), a group of activists, academics and members of people’s organizations, who came together to advocate for NREGA in 2004 in order to catalyse discussion and strengthen the top Government of India rural jobs guarantee scheme, the tracker states, the NREGA budget as percentage of the total government expenditure has also decreased -- it stands at 1.85% for FY 2022-23, just about half the level in FY 2020-21 (3.65%).
The tracker, titled “Meagre Funds and Unlawfully Low Wages: How the MGNREGA is Being Squeezed”, says, “The programme guarantees 100 days of employment to each household at minimum wages. Yet, the provisioning has been significantly less than required, despite soaring demand for employment in recent years.”

The tracker raises the alarm, “By July 21, 2022, the Union government has already exhausted two-thirds of its budget, with eight months remaining”, predicting, “The pending dues are expected to increase.” It adds, “Pending payments at the end of FY 2021-22 amount to 16% of the budgetary allocation for FY 2022-23. Except for the pandemic year, FY 2020-21, the pending payment has been higher than 15%.”
Pointing out that “each year, a significant proportion of the budget allocated to NREGA is used to pay for previous years’ pending liabilities, leaving the budget remaining grossly inadequate for the current financial year”, the tracker notes, “In FY 2022-23, Rs 11,464 crore has been spent as on July 31, 2022 to clear previous years’ liabilities.”
“Another worrying concern”, says the tracker, is that “the NREGA wages have not increased in tandem with inflation. When we look at the national average, we find that the percentage increase in NREGA wages was about 4.7 percentage points less than the average rural inflation rate. Only in Kerala, Karnataka and Bihar was the percentage increase in NREGA wages higher than the rural inflation rate.”

Further, the tracker notes, “NREGA wage rates remain much below the need-based national minimum wage of Rs 375 recommended by the expert committee under the chairmanship of Anoop Satpathy in early 2019. Average daily NREGA wage per personday is 13.8% less than the national average notified NREGA wage rate. While this difference is close to 0 in some states, it is about 40% in Telangana.”
The tracker asserts, “In its pre-budget statement, the PAEG warned that with the pending dues of over Rs 21,000 crore by the end of FY 2021-22, and a meagre budget of Rs 73,000 crore for FY 2022-23, the programme would be able to provide employment of only 21 days on minimum wage to each household that demanded work in FY 2021-22.”
It adds, “The immediate result of the budget shortfall is reflected in the fact that the recorded unmet demand for employment is currently as high as 20.6%. That is, one out of every five households that have demanded employment in these four months has not been provided employment.”

Asserting that it had recommended budgetary allocation of Rs 2.69 lakh crore for the programme”, the tracker insists, “The government can and must allocate this much in order to ensure those who demand work under NREGA are employed for 100 days and are paid the minimum wages for their work, as guaranteed in the Act.”
It continues, “Recently, the government reduced the corporate tax rates by 8-10% that resulted in a revenue loss of Rs 2.09 lakh crore. Despite such high levels of corporate tax cuts, corporations have not created significant employment, while they have been registering record profits year after year. The tax cuts have also not increased investment, or thereby demand.”
Meanwhile, it says, “Unemployment rates have reached record highs and demand for NREGA work is still higher than pre-pandemic levels. At present, the economy is in a downturn and employment has still not recovered to pre-pandemic levels. Steep levels of unemployment and inflation add further distress to an already Covid-affected rural poor.”
“In such a situation”, the tracker believes, “NREGA becomes a crucial safeguard that ensures that poor workers can have at least some minimal incomes and security, by guaranteeing them the right to work. The Act specifies that up to the limit of 100 days of work per household, the actual employment provided must be driven by the demand for work, and not constrained by prior budgetary allocations.”
The tracker accuses the Government of India for “constantly allocating inadequate funding for NREGA” and “not providing funds as required by states”, which is in contravention of “both the letter and the spirit of the Act...” The result is, “In addition, by illegally fixing low wage rates, and not paying even these low wages fully, it has also slowly eroded workers’ interest in the Act. If the current trend continues, it will not be long before the Act becomes a hollow shell.”

Comments

Academics urge Azim Premji University to drop FIR against Student Reading Circle

By A Representative A group of academics and civil society members has issued an open letter to the leadership of Azim Premji University expressing concern over the filing of a police complaint that led to an FIR against a student-run reading circle following a recent incident of violence on campus. The signatories state that they hold the university in high regard for its commitment to constitutional values, critical inquiry and ethical public engagement, and argue that it is precisely because of this reputation that the present development is troubling.

Was Netaji forced to alter face, die in obscurity in USSR in 1975? Was he so meek?

By Rajiv Shah This should sound almost hilarious. Not only did Subhas Chandra Bose not die in a plane crash in Taipei, nor was he the mysterious Gumnami Baba who reportedly passed away on 16 September 1985 in Ayodhya, but we are now told that he actually died in 1975—date unknown—“in oblivion” somewhere in the former Soviet Union. Which city? Moscow? No one seems to know.

UAPA action against Telangana activist: Criminalising legitimate democratic activity?

By A Representative The National Investigation Agency's Hyderabad branch has issued notices to more than ten individuals in Telangana in connection with FIR No. RC-04/2025. Those served include activists, former student leaders, civil rights advocates, poets, writers, retired schoolteachers, and local leaders associated with the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Indian National Congress.

Asbestos contamination in children’s products highlights global oversight gaps

By A Representative A commentary published by the International Ban Asbestos Secretariat (IBAS) has drawn attention to the challenges governments face in responding effectively to global public-health risks. In an article written by Laurie Kazan-Allen and published on March 5, 2026, the author examines how the discovery of asbestos contamination in children’s play products has raised questions about regulatory oversight and international product safety. The article opens by reflecting on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, noting that governments in several countries were slow to respond to early warning signs of the crisis. Referring to the experience of the United Kingdom, the author writes that delays in implementing protective measures contributed to “232,112 recorded deaths and over a million people suffering from long Covid.” The commentary uses this example to illustrate what it describes as the dangers of underestimating emerging threats. Attention then turns...

Aligning too closely with U.S., allies, India’s silence on IRIS Dena raises troubling questions

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* The reported sinking of the Iranian ship IRIS Dena in the Indian Ocean near Sri Lanka raises troubling questions about international norms and the credibility of the so-called rule-based order. If indeed the vessel was attacked by the American Navy while returning from a joint exercise in Visakhapatnam, it would represent a serious breach of trust and a violation of the principles that govern such cooperative engagements. Warships participating in these exercises are generally not armed for combat; they are meant to symbolize solidarity and friendship. The incident, therefore, is not only shocking but also deeply ironic.

The kitchen as prison: A feminist elegy for domestic slavery

By Garima Srivastava* Kumar Ambuj stands as one of the most incisive voices in contemporary Hindi poetry. His work, stripped of ornamentation, speaks directly to the lived realities of India’s marginalized—women, the rural poor, and those crushed under invisible forms of violence. His celebrated poem “Women Who Cook” (Khānā Banātī Striyāṃ) is not merely about food preparation; it is a searing indictment of patriarchal domestic structures that reduce women’s existence to endless, unpaid labour.

India’s foreign policy at crossroads: Cost of silence in the face of aggression

By Venkatesh Narayanan, Sandeep Pandey The widely anticipated yet unprovoked attack on Iran on March 1 by the United States and Israel has drawn sharp criticism from several quarters around the world. Reports indicate that the strikes have resulted in significant civilian casualties, including 165 elementary school girls, 20 female volleyball players, and many other civilians.

India’s green energy push faces talent crunch amidst record growth at 16% CAGR

By Jag Jivan* A new study by a top consulting firm has found that India’s cleantech sector is entering a decisive growth phase, with strong policy backing, record capacity additions and surging investor interest, but facing mounting pressure on talent supply and rising compensation costs .

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Search This Blog