MGNREGS: CAG finds fall in demand for work, person days of employment generated in Kerala

Declining demand for work and a resultant fall in person days of employment generated, delay in payment of wages, and failure of sanctioned works to take off are some of the findings in a Comptroller and Auditor General of India’s (CAG) performance audit report on ‘Implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act’ (MGNREGA) in Kerala.

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) has been pivotal in empowering the rural poor, the audit that covered the period from 2019-20 to 2023-24 observed. It provided employment to 77.21 lakh households in the State, and ₹18,806.62 crore was expended towards this during this period.

While the MGNREGS was intended to be a bottom-up scheme, dependent on the demand by beneficiaries in the grama sabha, it was found that the State gave additional targets to grama panchayats for creation of individual assets, thereby infringing on the rights of the grama sabha. This led to non-identification of beneficiaries by grama panchayats and non-implementation of 88.73% of individual projects included in their annual Plan, the report tabled in the Assembly said.

Demand for work declined by 13.77% during the 2020-21 to 2023-24 period. As a result, the person days of employment generated declined by 6%.

The CAG found that 16% to 22% of works included in the annual Plan and for which administrative and technical sanctions had been obtained did not take off.

Women accounted for 90% of total person-days, the highest in the country, and in the case of the differently abled, average days of employment ranged between 51 days and 62 days. However, in the absence of baseline survey, special drives, and activities to assess demand from various sections of people, the CAG could not draw an assurance that demand for jobs by all the needy was adequately captured.

It also found issuance of job cards after a delay of 264 days, payment of wages and material cost after 22 months of closure of muster roll, non-reckoning actual date of payment for calculation of delay compensation, and rejection of claims for delay compensation.

Delayed fund release

Lapse on the part of the State in ensuring timely release of funds also contributed to delayed payment of wages and material cost, the CAG report said. Another example of denial of livelihood security that the CAG found was that dated receipts on receiving application for job card/work were not issued, violating the provision to ensure work within stipulated time.

Though the scheme provides for enrolment of beneficiaries in insurance schemes, it was found that 44.01% of the beneficiaries surveyed were not enrolled in any such schemes.

The MGNREGS emphasised creation of durable assets, but the CAG found that the wage-to-material ratio fell significantly below the mandated 60:40, as the share of material component in the works was very low.

‘Asset quality neglected’

Ascertaining quality and durability of assets created under the MGNREGS was also neglected when the State failed to appoint quality monitors at various levels. Mates, envisaged for supervision of the work and capture daily attendance, were not engaged by any grama panchayats. The CAG found that in Pudur grama panchayat, loopholes in the system were exploited and MGNREGS funds misappropriated.

Though the CAG found failures in monitoring and grievance redressal system, it found that the State was able to register 84.17% and 98.72% achievement in the conduct of social audit during the years 2022-23 and 2023-24 respectively.