VELLORE: Employment under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREGA) scheme has gone down in Vellore, Ranipet and Tirupathur districts in 2021-22, even as the demand for it increases. The scheme, which is a lifeline to the rural economy witnessed a massive rise in employment generation after pandemic.
According to a senior official from Ranipet, the demand for MGNREGA jobs has shot up in recent times and they are trying to give jobs to a maximum number of people.
Ranipet district has 1,56,000 active workers and achieved 41,44,000 person-days for 2021-2022 (up to February 14). The total employment generated is calculated as person-days, i.e., total time contributed by all workers. “We’re allocating work more than the projections and have asked the authorities not to stop any works,” said the official, adding that 96 per cent of the works have been completed and 101 per cent of the projected works will be done by the year’s end.
In Vellore district, data shows 19,86,678 additional person-days were generated after the pandemic and 57,99,942 person-days were generated in the current year 2021-22 (till March 1) as compared to 64,13,119 in 2020-21, which indicates a decline.
However, officials deny a spike in demand for employment. But a field-level MGNREGA organiser in Vellore said the demand is growing.
“We have over 200 active enrollments and the number is increasing. We can provide jobs to a person only once in three weeks,” the organiser added. The average enrollments in a cluster are around 100-130 during 2019. Many field-level officials confirmed to TNIE that they’re witnessing a demand while officials have also confirmed that earlier the enrollments were few.
Government data only shows the number of people who are employed, but they don’t take into account the workers who have enrolled but are not been given an opportunity to work, said Professor Venkatesh Athreya, development economist. “In most cases, the households are given less than 50 days of employment. The workers also don’t get fair wages which leads to exploitation,” he added.
The pandemic has disrupted the livelihoods of the unorganised workers and a large number of the daily wage labourers from cities returned to rural areas. While the data cannot directly correlate this with unemployment, it can be noted that the rural economy is in trouble.
Similarly in Tirupathur distrioct data shows the demand for MGNREGA jobs have increased. According to district administration, the number of person-days generated in 2021-22 was 33,69,790, which is a considerable increase from 2019-20. However, the number has dropped since.
The number of person-days generated under the scheme is higher than the State average, said Tirupathur Collector Amar Khushawaha, adding that, the workers are paid on time.
Making matters worse, the Union government has cut down MGNREGA allocations in the 2022-23 budget by 25 per cent in 2022-23 which could hit the already weak rural economy in the coming years.