On March 30, 2023, Biddika Nagesh, a 36-year-old Savara Adivasi from Andhra Pradesh, was marked as deceased in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) MIS system.
In reality, Nagesh is alive and unaware that he has been deleted from the rolls – a fate shared by over 9 crore workers who used to be on the MGNREGS registers in the last three years. This is as per the data from MGNREGS portal, run by the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India.
Responding to a question by Congress MP Sasikanth Senthil in Parliament about these deletions, Union minister Pemmasani Chandrasekhar said, “The deletion of job cards is a function of the State Government. The Union Government has no role in deletion of job cards.”
The Wire carried a detailed story on the discussion on December 3, 2024.
Also read: State Governments Responsible for Deleting MGNREGA Job Cards, Says Union Minister
Adding to the concerns, questions were raised in Parliament about whether the large-scale deletions were linked to the Union government’s push for digitalisation of payment and verification processes.
In response, the government asserted that digitalisation aims to enhance transparency, efficiency and timely payment of wages while safeguarding workers’ rights. Support mechanisms, such as grievance redressal systems, training and on-ground assistance, were highlighted as efforts to help workers transition seamlessly, it stated.
The government also vehemently denied the role of the Aadhaar-Based Payment System (ABPS) in deletions. But is it accurate to claim that the government has no responsibility?
The legal and policy framework
The MGNREGA provides explicit conditions for job card cancellations. Section 3 of Schedule II of the act states:
“The job card issued shall be valid for at least five years, after which it may be renewed following due verification.”
Schedule II, Paragraph 23, outlines the procedure for deleting workers from job cards:
“If the Gram Panchayat is satisfied at any time that a person has registered with it by furnishing false information, it may direct the Programme Officer to strike off their name from the register and require the applicant to return the job card.”
Regarding due process, the provision mandates that the deleted worker, if alive, must be “given an opportunity of being heard in the presence of two independent persons”.
Moreover, according to the ‘FAQs on MGNREGA operational guidelines 2013’:
“No job card can be cancelled except where it is found to be a duplicate, or if the entire household has permanently migrated to a place outside the Gram Panchayat and no longer resides in the village.”
The Master Circular 2021-22 further reiterates the legal provisions and expands upon them:
- Job cards can only be canceled after thorough verification and for the following reasons:
- Permanent migration to urban areas.
- Duplicate or forged documents.
- Migration to a different Gram Panchayat.
- Urbanization of the village into a municipality.
- The process must involve public notification, independent verification, and updates to the MIS system.
Regardless, on the ground, these guidelines are routinely flouted. Civil society organisations (CSOs) and media reports reveal that workers are deleted without notice, and gram sabhas, which are legally mandated to be part of the process, are completely bypassed.
Shockingly, reasons such as “not willing to work” frequently appear in the MIS, despite there being no legal basis for such deletions in either the Act or the circular.
Union government vs. state responsibility
The Union government has consistently maintained that job card deletions are the sole responsibility of state governments.
While it is true that states execute the deletions at the grassroots level, the larger picture reveals significant central oversight and influence:
Policy Framework and Guidelines
The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) issues overarching guidelines for implementing MGNREGA, including worker verification and job card management.
The lack of updated, clear guidelines on job card deletions has created ambiguity and operational confusion among state officials.
Also read: Budget 2025: ‘MGNREGA Is Essential for the Economy, Govt Shouldn’t Use it in Opportunistic Ways’
Mandatory ABPS Compliance
The Aadhaar-Based Payment System (ABPS), made mandatory by MoRD, has inadvertently contributed to large-scale deletions. Workers unable to link their job cards to ABPS were often deleted to showcase compliance, even when they were active participants in the program.
Adding to the complexities, as Chakradhar Buddha and Laavanya Tamang point out in their article on MGNREGS worker deletions in Economic and Political Weekly, the Union government’s push for ABPS – despite its intentions for transparency – has inadvertently incentivised large-scale deletions as states attempt to meet compliance targets without adequate support or safeguards.
Monitoring and accountability
The Union government monitors program implementation, penalises states for lapses, and enforces compliance with various provisions of the MGNREGA Act. It also funds 90% of the program’s budget, which gives it a significant stake in ensuring the scheme’s success.
Despite this, it has not acted decisively on worker deletions, even as the numbers surged alarmingly in recent years.
This raises questions about whether the Union Government is more focused on flagging irregularities in implementation rather than addressing violations of workers’ rights.
The lack of effective intervention in worker deletions undermines the intended protections of the Act, drawing attention to a gap in accountability where the Union Government’s monitoring efforts should ensure not only compliance but also the safeguarding of workers’ entitlements.
Discrepancies and mismanagement
Analysis of the MIS data reveals inconsistencies in the reasons cited for worker deletions.
In the national-level sample analysed by Chakradhar Buddha and Rajendran Narayan, ‘not willing to work’ was the official reason for 71% of the deletions, as highlighted in their article for The Hindu.
Notably, nearly 10.5% of these workers had actively participated in the program during the same year, contradicting the official reason for their deletion.
Neither the MGNREGA Act nor the master circular lists this as a valid reason for deletion. Additionally, the MoRD has admitted, in response to an RTI application filed by the author, that it has not conducted any study to analyse the surge in deletions or their underlying causes.
This lack of proactive oversight casts doubt on the intention and robustness of the government’s stated support mechanisms, such as grievance redressal systems and on-ground assistance for workers.
Conclusion
While the states carry out the deletions on the ground, the Union government’s policy decisions, lack of updated guidelines, and failure to address systemic issues make it equally accountable for the crisis.
Questions about the impact of digitalisation on deletions reveal that the push for transparency and efficiency, although well-intentioned, has not been accompanied by sufficient safeguards for workers. The large-scale deletions reflect a troubling reliance on administrative practices that often sideline workers’ rights.
The tragedy of these deletions is not just the loss of livelihood for millions of rural workers but also the systemic failure to uphold the very principles of MGNREGS – a programme designed to provide a safety net for the most vulnerable sections of society.
Also read: MGNREGS Remains Underfunded Despite High Demand
Rather than shifting responsibility to state governments, the Union government must impose an immediate moratorium on all worker deletions until genuine workers are reinstated.
Additionally, it needs to establish strict guidelines for frontline officials to prevent wrongful deletions, commission comprehensive research to assess the scale of incorrect removals, and launch dedicated campaigns to restore wrongfully deleted workers to the system.
These steps are crucial as deletions continue to threaten the livelihoods of vulnerable workers who depend on MGNREGS for their survival.
Chakradhar Buddha is associated with LibTech India, an action research and advocacy collective dedicated to enhancing the delivery of public services. The opinions expressed in this article are his own.
