NEW DELHI: With 42 per cent workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme still not eligible for Aadhaar-based payment system (ABPS), the Union government on Wednesday extended the deadline for enabling payment of wages through the system to December 31. Earlier, the deadline was September 1 and this is the fifth extension by the Centre.
“The progress of Aadhaar-based Payment System (ABPS) has been reviewed and the mixed route of wage payment (NACH and ABPS routes) has been extended till December 31, 2023 or till further order,” said the rural development ministry.
This paper has reported that if the Aadhaar-based payment for workers under the rural job schemes becomes mandatory from September 1, only 57.75 per cent of workers will be eligible to receive payments under the system. According to data analysed by non-profit LibTech India, the national average of ABPS-eligible workers stood at a mere 57.75% per cent out of the total of 26.84 crore workers as on August 21.
Citing the reason for extending the deadline, the ministry said, “It has been brought to the notice of the Central government that in many cases, due to frequent changes in bank account numbers by the beneficiaries and non-updating of new account numbers by the concerned programme officers of the same, due to non-submission of new accounts by the beneficiaries on time, several transactions of wage payments are being rejected (due to old account number) by the destination bank branch.”
However, the Congress flayed the government for the extension of ABPS for the fifth time. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a statement, “The extension of ABPS for the fifth time became inevitable because despite four extensions, 41.1 per cent of the total 26 crore job card holders still remain ineligible for this mode of payment. The Modi government had initially ruled out any more extensions as the fourth extension ends on August 31, saying that only 18.3 per cent active workers will become ineligible.”
He said that according to the government’s own estimate, more than 2.6 crore active workers would not have been paid their legally mandated wages from September 1, 2023. “This number does not include the crores of workers who have had their job cards deleted due to various errors of omission and commission,” Ramesh said, adding that Aadhaar was introduced by the UPA government as a tool to empower citizens by making it easier for them to access social welfare benefits.
“The Modi government, especially in the case of MGNREGA and soon with pensions and other social welfare benefits, has used it (Aadhaar) as a weapon to exclude citizens from their guaranteed rights. By making them bear the brunt of its ‘experiments with technology’, the Modi government has hurt the incomes of the most vulnerable and the poorest of the poor,” Ramesh said.
MGNREGA wage payments were being rejected
Citing the reason for extending the deadline, the Centre said, “It has been brought to the notice of the Central government that in many cases, due to frequent changes in bank account numbers by the beneficiaries and non-updating of the new account numbers by the concerned programme officers of the same, due to non-submission of new accounts by the beneficiaries on time, several transactions of wage payment are being rejected (due to old account numbers) by the destination bank branch.”