The Central government on Wednesday extended the deadline for payment of wages for MGNREGA workers through the Aadhaar-based payment system (ABPS) till December 31, 2023 or till further order.
This was notified via a PIB press release on August 30.
In January 2023, the Centre announced the use of Aadhaar-based payment system (ABPS) mandatory for paying wages to those enrolled under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).
This is the fifth instance where the deadline has been extended. The initial deadline for the mandatory use of ABPS mode was February 1, which was later extended to March 31, then June 30, and eventually August 31.
The Central Government has been made aware of instances where wage payments are being rejected by destination bank branches due to frequent changes in bank account numbers by beneficiaries and the non-updating of the new account numbers by the Concerned Programme Officer.
This is a result of beneficiaries not submitting their new account numbers on time.
The rural development ministry announced on Wednesday that the progress of the Aadhaar-based Payment System (ABPS) has been reviewed, and the mixed route of wage payment (NACH and ABPS route) has been extended until 31st December 2023 or until further order.
According to data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the success rate for Aadhaar-enabled Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT) is higher, at 99.55% or above. For Account-based payments, the success rate is approximately 98%.
Once Aadhaar is updated in the scheme database, beneficiaries do not need to update account numbers in case of any changes in their location or bank account numbers.
The money will be transferred to the account number that is linked with the Aadhaar number. If the beneficiary has multiple accounts, which is not common in the context of MGNREGA, they have the option to select the account of their choice.
The Ministry has also made it clear to all the States that the beneficiary who comes for work should be requested to provide the Aadhaar number but will not be refused work on this basis. If a beneficiary does not demand for work, in such case her/his status about eligibility for APBS does not affect the demand for work. Job cards cannot be deleted on the basis of reason that the worker is not eligible for APBS.
Out of the total 14.33 crore active beneficiaries, the Aadhaar has been seeded for 13.97 crore. Against these seeded Aadhaar, a total of 13.34 crore Aadhaar have been authenticated and 81.89% of active workers are now eligible for APBS. In the Month of July 2023, about 88.51% of the wage payment has been made through APBS.
What is MGNREGA?
The National Rural Employment Act (NREGA), later renamed as Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Act (MGNREGA), is an Indian labour law and social security measure that aims to guarantee the people of India the ‘right to work.’
MGNREGA was enacted in September 2005 and was presented by Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Minister of Rural Development and was enacted by Parliament of India. According to MGNREGA, the Act “ aims to enhance livelihood security in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work”.
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