Rural jobs scheme generated record 3.9bn days of work

RAJASTHAN HAS EMERGED AS THE TOP STATE IN TERMS OF WORK FOLLOWED BY BENGAL, UTTAR PRADESH AND MADHYA PRADESH

NEW DELHI: As millions of migrant workers returned home last year after factories and businesses downed shutters during the country’s 68-day long hard coronavirus-enforced lockdown, India’s federal job guarantee programme (MGNREGS) generated a bumper 3.877 billion days of work in FY2020-21, benefitting 112 million people — its best performance since inception.

Nearly all big states significantly scaled up their MGNREGS operations, with Rajasthan emerging as the top state in terms of work, generating 454 million days of work (in person days) followed by West Bengal (414 million).

India’s most populous state Uttar Pradesh (UP) generated 394 million days of work, Madhya Pradesh 341 million, and Tamil Nadu 333 million, according to official data from the Union rural development ministry.

Bihar, the state estimated to have received the received highest number of returning migrant workers last year, could only generate 227 million days of work in the federal job programme that served as a vital source of income for 75 million poor households as Covid-19 raged through the country, infecting millions, killing tens of thousands, and roiling the economy.

The government estimates the Indian economy to contract by 8% in 2021-22. In these straitened circumstances, the rural job guarantee scheme was the lifeline for tens of millions of households.

A senior official of the Union rural development ministry said on condition of anonymity that even Bihar has improved its performance from FY19-20 during which it could only generate 140 million days of work.

“A state like Rajasthan has a lot of area available for MGNREGS work but Bihar has mostly agricultural land. It also suffered floods.”