Bengaluru: Demand for work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) has dropped by 85 per cent in Karnataka ever since the dates for the Lok Sabha elections were announced.
With farm and construction labourers tagging with candidates and party workers for campaigning purposes, there are very few takers for the rural job scheme.
More than 60% of the 5,963 gram panchayats in Karnataka have not taken up a single work under the MGNREGS since the election announcement. Karnataka will go to polls in two phases on April 26 and on May 7.
Delay in payment of wages is said to be one of the major reasons for a majority of labourers switching to election mode. Moreover, labourers get twice the amount if they participate in political rallies and door-to-door campaigning; they also get free breakfast and lunch.
“The major advantage is we get money at the end of the day’s campaign. There is no question of going back to MGNREGS till the end of elections,” said Anjanappa, a labourer from Tanigeria in Davanagere district. Earlier, MGNREGS used to pay Rs 316 per day of work. That was increased to Rs 349 recently.
As per the rules, labourers are supposed to get their wages once every 15 days. However, there has been an inadvertent delay in payment of wages that is forcing labourers to opt out of MGNREGS.
MGNREGS beneficiaries received wages in the third week of December but no payments were made for the months of Jan and Feb. The next payment was made on March 21.
“We have been requesting the labourers to join work to complete emergency works under MGNREGS. However, not many are willing to come to work. Several important works are pending,” said a Panchayat Development Officer, who did not wish to be named.
In 2023-24, Karnataka generated 13.81 crore person days under the scheme. Each person day is calculated as one person working for eight hours. If 100 people work for eight hours, it is considered as 100 person days.
Other sectors also affected
The election campaign has also affected the construction industry, farming works and others as the labourers are busy with the promotion of candidates.
Highlights - 79.43 lakh families hold job cards (in 2023-24) 45.96 lakh families have sought work under the scheme 29.94 lakh families have got work 43,476 persons have completed 100 days of work under the scheme 13,450 persons have sought work after the announcement of the election
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