According to the latest government data, around 20% of the 14 crore active workers under the MGNREGS are presently ineligible to be paid under the Aadhaar-based payment system (ABPS). Data from the scheme website says that 11.7 crore workers out of a total of 14.3 workers are eligible as of present. The rest of them will be ineligible to be paid under the soon to be implemented ABPS, according to officials.
Enforced in 2006, the scheme guarantees 100 days of daily wage employment to rural households at specially notified minimum wages. Workers must be paid their wages for any given day of work within 15 days, failing which they are entitled to additional compensation.
Activists have raised concerns about the current scenario and said that it would be “illegal” for the government to deny payment to ineligible workers despite the ABPS deadline. There is a lack of clarity about how the workers are going to be compensated since the modalities are yet to be worked out. The concerns are legitimate keeping in mind the vision for which MGNREGS was brought about since it says “anyone who demands work must get work.”
The government needs to find out answers to the problem soon to take the disadvantaged workers within the ambit of ABPS. The issue is grave in some states who have around a quarter of their active MGNREGS workers still ineligible to receive payments under the system, which will become compulsory from September 1, 2023.
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