NEW DELHI: Amid protests over the new order of making Aadhaar-based payments mandatory for MGNREGA wages, the Centre on Tuesday said that it has no plans to roll back the decision and it has no knowledge of the ongoing protest by MGNREGA workers.
Replying to a question in Lok Sabha on whether the Aadhaar-based payment of wages will exclude 57 per cent of the active workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and if the Government is considering a rethink on the new payment system, the government said that it has no plans to rethink on the system.
The Ministry of Rural Development made it mandatory that all payments to the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA beneficiaries would be made through the Aadhaar-based Payment System (ABPS) from February 1 onwards.
The move has invited strong protests from workers, activists and many leaders, including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. The ministry also admitted that for the Aadhaar-based option to work not only must the worker’s job card and bank account be seeded with Aadhaar, but the account also has to be connected to the National Payments Corporation of India.
In another reply to alleged glitches on the NMMS App and workers on an indefinite protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, Minister of Rural Development Giriraj Singh said that the ministry hasn’t received any information regarding an indefinite protest against NMMS App.
“No specific issue related to the non-use of the NMMS App due to the non-availability of smartphones has come to the notice of the Ministry,” said Singh. After the government made the National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS) App mandatory for the attendance of workers under MGNREGA from January 1, 2023, workers from several states have been up in arms over glitches in the recording system.
On the question of whether only two out of ten workers on the electronic muster roll turn up at the worksite due to NMMS issues which result in denying them work on demand, the ministry said that the NMMS application has been modified to capture the second photograph just after 4 hours of uploading the attendance and first photograph.
“It has eased out the specific time point requirement for capturing the attendance and photographs,” the ministry said.
Account must be seeded with Aadhaar
The Ministry of Rural Development also admitted that for the Aadhaar-based option to work not only must the worker’s job card and bank account be seeded with Aadhaar, but the account also has to be connected to the National Payments Corporation of India.