Haryana MGNREGS Status Report: Only 2,000 of 8 Lakh Workers Get 100 Days of Work

Under the law governing MGNREGS, every eligible rural household that volunteers for unskilled manual work is entitled to 100 days of wage employment in a financial year. File Photo.

The amount of funds released under the scheme to Haryana has shown fluctuations.

Haryana MGNREGS Status Report: Only 2,000 of 8 Lakh Workers Get 100 Days of Work

In Haryana, more than eight lakh active workers are registered under MGNREGS, yet only a tiny fraction of rural households are receiving the full 100 days of guaranteed work.

According to a reply in the Parliament by the union government, in the financial year 2022-23 there were 8,06,439 active workers but just 3,447 households secured 100 work days. In 2023-24, though the number of active workers remained the same, only 2,555 households managed to get 100 days. For 2024-25, with 806,422 active workers, the number fell further – only 2,191 households got full 100-day employment.

This data was provided in response to a question raised by Varun Chaudhary (Congress MP from Ambala) in the Lok Sabha.

Under the law governing MGNREGS, every eligible rural household that volunteers for unskilled manual work is entitled to 100 days of wage employment in a financial year. If the state fails to provide that work, it must pay an unemployment allowance under Section 7 of the Act. However, in the past five financial years, the state government of Haryana has reportedly not paid any unemployment allowance, as per data on the official portal (NREGASoft).

The amount of funds released under the scheme to Haryana has shown fluctuations. The Centre had allocated INR 764.55 crore in 2020-21, which dropped to INR 723.73 crore in 2021-22, then fell sharply to INR 373.99 crore in 2022-23. Some recovery followed with INR 477.97 crore in 2023-24 and INR 590.19 crore in 2024-25.

Minister of State for Rural Development Kamlesh Paswan said that under the scheme, wage-seekers are also entitled to compensation for any delay in wage payment – 0.05% of unpaid wages per day beyond 16 days after muster-roll closure. The state government is responsible for verifying and effecting such compensation.

The data reveals that out of over eight lakh registered workers, only about 2–4 thousand households manage to get the full 100 days of employment each year, and no unemployment allowance has been disbursed despite this failure. The decline in funding and poor realisation of full entitlement reflect serious implementation gaps in Haryana’s MGNREGS scheme.

Source: The Tribune