Andhra sees decline in MGNREGA employment, nearly 38 lakh workers at risk due to Aadhaar eKYC requirement: Report

Hyderabad: A recent assessment of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) by LibTech India, a consortium of engineers, social workers, and social scientists has revealed a sharp fall in employment generation across Andhra Pradesh between April and September 2025.

Despite the state’s historically strong performance in implementing MGNREGA, both job creation and household participation have declined this year. The study warns of heightened digital exclusion risks linked to the ongoing Aadhaar eKYC mandate. Based on official MGNREGA MIS data, persondays generated in Andhra Pradesh fell by 13.6% during April–September 2025 compared to the same period in FY 2024–25. The state’s decline exceeded the national average drop of 10.4%, signaling worsening employment conditions. Notably, 23 of the state’s 26 districts recorded a decrease in total persondays.

According to the LibTech report, SC/ST workers are disproportionately affected. Persondays generated declined 18.7% for Scheduled Castes and 17% for Scheduled Tribes, compared with 11.3% among ‘Others’. Also average income generated by each MGNREGA household saw a 4.8% decline, dropping from Rs 10,695 to Rs 10,178 between FY 2024-25 and FY 2025-26. This decrease occurred even though the Central government raised the notified wage from Rs 300 to Rs307.

The MGNREGA guarantees at least 100 days of wage employment each year to rural households willing to do unskilled manual work. The programme is demand-driven, ensuring workers must be provided work within 15 days of requesting it, failing which they are entitled to an unemployment allowance.

Workers collectively earned around Rs 435 crore less than last year due to reduced work availability during the period that was assessed. Except for three districts, all other districts in Andhra Pradesh recorded a drop in MGNREGA employment.

The report also pointed that the current push for mandatory Aadhaar-based e-KYC risks excluding lakhs of MGNREGA workers from accessing work and wages. In Andhra Pradesh, nearly 38 lakh registered workers still do not have e-KYC completed, and even among active workers, over 21 lakh remain unverified.

The Government of India has recently made Aadhaar–based eKYC mandatory for MGNREGA workers across the country. Beginning October 1, 2025, frontline functionaries have been instructed to complete workers’ eKYC using a mobile application, with the deadline originally set for the end of October 2025. Workers who fail to complete this process are at risk of being denied access to work and wages, making eKYC an urgent compliance requirement. This push for e-KYC is part of a wider digital reform strategy by the Ministry of Rural Development, which positions systems like the NMMS attendance app, Aadhaar-Based Payment System (ABPS), and now e-KYC as tools to improve efficiency and “weed out duplicate or fake workers.” However, with e-KYC, digital verification has become a pre-condition for accessing work itself — not just for recording attendance or processing payments.

“Preliminary observations from our field investigations show that several workers are unable to complete eKYC due to technical glitches such as device-level errors, application failures, and weak network connectivity. However, migration appears to be a more fundamental barrier, since many workers are currently employed in distant towns or states and are unable to return home in time to complete this requirement. In addition, limited availability of trained personnel, inadequate smartphone penetration, and poor internet access in rural areas have slowed down the rollout,” said LibTech's Chakradhar Budha.

Aadhaar eKYC completion in Andhra Pradesh stands at 67.9%, meaning that about 79.9 lakh workers have completed the process while around 37.8 lakh registered workers are yet to complete eKYC. Since both wage payments and access to work increasingly depend on eKYC completion, this large number of pending cases underscores the need for stronger facilitation support to prevent avoidable exclusions.

“ Government of India may stop making Aadhaar-based e-KYC mandatory, as these digital filters aimed at “weeding out fake workers” are instead blocking genuine workers from accessing their legal right to work. The State Government should organise consultations in Andhra Pradesh involving worker groups, civil society organisations, researchers, and the Central Government to present ground realities and ensure that accountability measures do not lead to exclusion of genuine workers,” added Chakradhar.