MIS data on person-days of work demanded must be made available along with person-days of employment provided under MGNREGA, ask social activists

-First MGNREGA tracker by Peoples' Action for Employment Guarantee (PAEG), released on 13th July, 2020

A note has been prepared by the Peoples' Action for Employment Guarantee (PAEG) that brings to you the latest developments, updates, and figures on the implementation of MGNREGA across the country till 9th July, 2020. Given the significant role that MGNREGA is playing in the lives and livelihoods of rural workers, PAEG intends to keep a close watch on its implementation and flag issues for public discussion at regular intervals.

PAEG will send updated versions of this note on a weekly basis.

The NREGA is a lifeline for millions of rural poor. It guarantees 100 days of employment for each rural household at minimum wages. There are two important legislative provisions. Work should be provided within 15 days of demanding for work failing which the workers are entitled to an unemployment allowance. Workers should be paid within 15 days of completion of work failing which they are entitled to a delay compensation. While NREGA has always been vital, it has assumed renewed significance in light of the unemployment crisis induced by the lockdown. This weekly tracker is an attempt to closely monitor the performance of NREGA by making some key metrics available to everybody in an accessible manner. Some of the metrics would be updated weekly, some monthly, and some quarterly.

What is in this tracker?

The tracker provides some broad statistics from the NREGA Management Information System (MIS) such as the number of households that have completed 100 days of work, the number of households nearing completion of 100 days of work, amount of funds left with states, a
comparison between work demanded and employment provided for select states. The tracker also provides two graphs monitoring the NREGA performance annually. It shows the inflation-adjusted budget over the years and the pending liabilities as a proportion of the annual budget.

Please click here to access the 1st MGNREGA tracker dated 13th July, 2020.

* Source of all figures: www.nrega.nic. in, Ministry of Rural Development, GoI. Reports downloaded between 7th-9th July 2020

The People's Action for Employment Guarantee (PAEG) is a group of activists, academics and members of peoples' organisations that came together to advocate for the NREGA in 2004. PAEG hopes to play the role of a catalyst in provoking discussion, peoples' monitoring and convening coalitions to strengthen NREGA implementat ion through research and advocacy. PAEG is also facilitating a ser ies of consul tat ions on an urban employment guarantee in collaboration with various campaigns, institutions and organizations.

For more information, please contact:

MS Raunaq (Secretary, 8800901304), Rajendran (9620318492), Anindita (9871832323), Debmalaya (7294184845)
People's Action for Employment Guarantee
Email: paeg.india@gmail.com