The Ministry of Rural Development has pegged the person-day generation target at 2,120 million under MGNREGS for FY24, the report added. This is 27 per cent lower than 2,902.4 million in FY23. This does not include West Bengal where the scheme has been suspended due to the misappropriation of funds.
The new electronic attendance system, which was introduced in February, is expected to weed out fake claims of person-day generation. This will also bring down the actual numbers.
The officials also said that more allocation towards Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Rural) and Jal Jeevan Yojana in Budget 2023 could also trigger a shift of workers from MGNREGS. The allocation for MGNREGS, on the other hand, has come down.
In FY23, Rs 73,000 crore was allocated for MGNREGS. In FY24, the allocation was cut to Rs 60,000 crore. However, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said that more funds will be allocated if required.
First Published: Apr 19 2023 | 11:21 AM IST
