Only 5% of households received mandated 100 days of employment under MGNREGA: CAG report

Even as the Congress government in Karnataka opposed any move to dilute the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) by the Centre, a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) flagged several shortcomings in the scheme’s implementation in the State.

The CAG report, tabled in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday for the period 2019–20 to 2023–24, noted that only 5% of households received the mandated 100 days of employment. Most households were provided just 1–30 days of work, while demand for employment did not exceed 48% of issued job cards during the audit period.

Contract management

The report highlighted irregularities in contract management, stating that outsourcing contracts were extended without fresh tenders, leading to higher service charges. It also pointed to violations in recruitment, where contract staff were hired without adhering to reservation norms, resulting in inadequate representation of women, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and persons with disabilities.

Further, the audit found gaps in data systems, noting that NREGASoft lacked provisions to track employment demand and allocation for vulnerable groups such as nomadic tribes and HIV-positive individuals. Cross-verification with housing scheme records indicated their significant exclusion from the programme.

Serious financial irregularities were flagged, including fraudulent payments for completed or non-existent housing works, payments to ineligible beneficiaries, and fabrication of records in projects such as solid waste management, check dams, and social forestry.

Pendency rate

While ombudspersons had been appointed across districts, the report noted a high pendency rate of 59% in grievance disposal, with less than 20% of imposed penalties actually recovered.

The audit observed a decline in wage expenditure during 2022–23 and 2023–24, underutilisation of funds under the material component, and inadmissible administrative expenditure of ₹32.78 crore. Additionally, Aadhaar mapping remained incomplete for 3.11 lakh workers out of 84.98 lakh active workers as of March 2024, with ₹35.10 crore worth of transactions pending due to rejected payments.

The CAG observed irregularities such as printing of muster rolls without utilising NREGASoft and irregular payments on such manipulated muster rolls.

The State government has urged the Centre to scrap the “Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar Ajeevika Mission (Gramin)” and restore MGNREGA in its original form to safeguard employment and livelihoods for rural workers.