MGNREGA To Be Renamed As 'Pujya Bapu Grameen Rozgar Yojna'
Along with the renaming, the number of work days will also be increased from current 100 days to 125 days.
India's flagship rural employment scheme, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) will soon be called Pujya Bapu Grameen Rozgar Yojana as the Union cabinet on Friday approved a Bill.
Along with the renaming, the number of work days will also be increased from current 100 days to 125 days.
Previously offering 100 days at varying state wages like Rs 237 in Uttarakhand to Rs 374 in Haryana, it now standardises a Rs 240 floor while allocating over Rs 1.5 lakh crore in funding, according to a report in The Financial Times.
Direct benefit transfers have already curbed misuse, saving Rs 50,000 crore by weeding out 12.6 million fake job cards since FY15.
MGNREGA or NREGA is a flagship scheme of the government aimed at enhancing the livelihood security of households in the rural areas by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.
Launched in 2005 as NREGA and rebranded MGNREGA in 2009, the program emphasises "right to work" for millions.
The Centre has released Rs 68,393.67 crore to states and Union Territories so far under the flagship rural employment scheme, Minister of State for Rural Development Kamlesh Paswan said last week. In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, the minister said Rs 57,853.62 crore has been released for the wage component by November 26 and Rs 10,540.05 crore for the material and admin components.
The MGNREGA budget for the financial year 2025-26 was Rs 86,000 crore.
Among states, Andhra Pradesh has a pending wage liability of Rs 381.02 crore, material liability of Rs 530.45 crore and Rs 27.51 crore under the admin component. Besides, Rs 248.42 crore is pending under the wage component for Kerala, Rs 91 crore for Mizoram, Rs 64.14 crore for Madhya Pradesh and Rs 46.98 crore for Gujarat. Under the material component, the Centre owes Rs 1,007.58 crore to Uttar Pradesh, Rs 880 crore to Rajasthan, Rs 655.03 crore to Madhya Pradesh, while Rs 668.80 crore is pending for Maharashtra.
Release of funds to West Bengal under the scheme was stopped with effect from March 09, 2022 owing to continued non-compliance with the directives of the central government by the state.
