State and year-wise details of workers who availed of employment under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGS) during the last five financial years are given at Annexure-I.

Mahatma Gandhi NREGS is a demand-driven wage employment scheme. Funds release to States/UTs is a continuous process, and the Central Government is committed to making funds available to States/UTs for the implementation of the scheme as per the demand for work on the ground.

Regarding budget allocation for Mahatma Gandhi NREGS, it is submitted that, for the financial year 2024-25, budget allocation of ₹86,000 crore has been made, which was the highest ever allocation for scheme at the Budget Estimate (BE) stage since inception. In the financial year 2025-26, the Government has retained this allocation at ₹86,000 crore, ensuring continued support for rural employment.

Here it is also submitted that keeping in view demand driven nature of the Scheme, the Ministry of Rural Development closely monitors demand for employment at ground level and seeks additional funds from the Ministry of Finance, as and when required.

Under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS during the last five years, more than 96% of Funds Transfer Orders (FTOs) have consistently been generated within 15 days of closure of muster roll. The Scheme is a demand-driven wage employment programme under which wage payments are directly credited by the Central Government into the accounts of beneficiaries through the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) protocol. Sanctions for wage payments are issued daily by the Ministry through the Public Finance Management System (PFMS) based on fund transfer orders received from the States after due procedures. At the beginning of each financial year, admissible pending liabilities of the previous year, if any, are duly reimbursed by the Government of India. Accordingly, all pending wage liabilities upto FY 2024-25 have already been cleared.

Under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS, 100% of wage payments are made by the Central Government directly to the accounts of beneficiaries through DBT mode.

As per Section 6 (1) of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (Mahatma Gandhi NREGA), 2005, the Central Government may by notification specify the wage rate for unskilled work for its beneficiaries. Accordingly, the Ministry of Rural Development notifies Mahatma Gandhi NREGA wage rate for every financial year for States/UTs. To compensate the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA workers against inflation, the Ministry of Rural Development revises the wage rate every year based on change in Consumer Price Index for Agricultural Labour (CPI-AL). The wage rate is made applicable from 1st April of each financial year.

Using the present methodology of wage rate calculation, the central government has notified the wage rate and it has increased by around 5% (average) over the last year and around 29% (average) in the previous 5 years. However, State Governments can provide wages over and above the wage rate notified by the Central Government from its own sources.

Currently, three States i.e. Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh & Odisha are providing a top-up over and above the wage rate notified by the central government.

State/UT-wise notified wage rates for unskilled workers under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS during the last five financial years are given at Annexure-II.

Annexure-I

 

Annexure-II

This information was given by Minister of State for Rural Development Shri Kamlesh Paswan in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.

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RC/ KSR/AR

(Release ID: 2146874)