MANREGA: Changes have been made in the rules regarding Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MANREGA). From the new year, all wages under the MNREGA scheme will be paid through the Aadhaar-based Payment System (ABPS), for which it is necessary to link the Aadhaar information of workers with their job cards.
MGNREGA: Changes have been made in the rules regarding Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA – MNREGA). From the new year, all wages under the MNREGA scheme will be paid through the Aadhaar-based Payment System (ABPS), for which it is necessary to link the Aadhaar information of workers with their job cards.
This is the fifth extension of the deadline to make ABPS mandatory. In this, the state governments got time to match the database and it ended on 31 December 2023. Since the first efforts in this direction, the rate of removal of MGNREGA job cards has increased significantly, which workers in the field say is directly linked to the mandatory implementation of the payment process.
The first order to implement ABPS was issued on January 30, 2023, followed by extensions to February 1, March 31, June 30, August 31 and finally December 31. According to data from the Union Rural Development Ministry, 34.8% are job card holders. Still ineligible for this method of payment until December 27th.
Crores of employees are still not eligible
Government sources claim that the decision not to extend the deadline again is a directive from the active workers rather than the job card holders. Active employees are those who have worked at least one day in the last three financial years. As of December 27, 12.7% of these active workers are still not eligible for ABPS. Out of 25.25 crore workers registered under the Major Rural Employment Scheme, 14.35 crore have been classified as active workers.
