Over 1.55 crore MGNREGS workers' names deleted between 2022-2024: Govt

New Delhi: The names of more than 1.55 crore active workers have been deleted from the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) between 2022 and 2024, the government informed Parliament on Tuesday.

In a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Rural Development Kamlesh Paswan said the names of 86,17,887 and 68,86,532 active workers have been deleted or cancelled during the Financial Year 2022-23 and Financial Year 2023-24 respectively. The total number of the workers whose names have been deleted over the two financial years is 1,55,04,419.

The workers' names have been deleted for reasons, such as fake or duplicate or incorrect job cards, families shifted out of gram panchayats permanently or if their villages have been classified as urban.

The Union minister said the responsibility of the scheme's implementation is vested with the governments of the states and Union territories concerned, adding that updating or deleting job cards is a regular exercise conducted by the states. However, while deleting or removing workers or job cards, the states have to ensure compliance with the provisions of the Act and that no job card of deserving or eligible households is deleted or cancelled.

In a written reply to another question, Paswan said the Aadhaar seeding of 13.34 crore of the total 13.41 crore active workers (99.47 per cent) was completed as on February 1.

He said to streamline the process of deleting job cards, the Ministry of Rural Development has recently issued a standard operating procedure (SOP) vide a letter dated January 25 to all the states and Union territories, with clear guidelines for deletion and restoration of job cards.

"The SOP ensures compliance with the Mahatma Gandhi NREGS guidelines, promotes transparency, protects the rights of workers by defining conditions for deletion, setting up a grievance redressal mechanism, and ensures the settlement of pending liabilities if any before deletion/cancellation," the minister said in his reply.

The SOP includes a provision for the publication of a draft list of the job cards marked for deletion, verification at the gram sabha level and the right of appeal for the affected workers. It also mandates the linking of the job cards with Aadhaar to eliminate duplicate and fraudulent entries.

"These measures are aimed at preventing misuse of job cards while ensuring that genuine beneficiaries are not excluded. The ministry is committed to maintaining the integrity of Mahatma Gandhi NREGS and ensuring that the benefits of the scheme reach eligible rural households," the minister said.