Amid Covid, an NREGS first: 10 crore individuals used scheme

As the financial system plunged into recession amid the coronavirus pandemic, the variety of staff who availed the National Rural Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) has crossed the 10-crore mark for the primary time, marking an unprecedented demand for the agricultural job scheme.
Latest information obtainable on the NREGS portal reveals that until January 10 within the present monetary 12 months, over 10 crore people throughout the nation labored beneath the scheme, which is 21 per cent larger than the 7.89 crore determine for 2019-2020. With two months nonetheless remaining within the present monetary 12 months, the quantity is anticipated to go up additional.
The 10-crore quantity is the best for the reason that inception of the scheme in 2006 – the earlier excessive was in 2011-12, when 8.2 crore people availed the scheme.
West Bengal has seen the best numbers this monetary 12 months, with 1.07 crore people availing the scheme till January 10. The state is adopted by Uttar Pradesh (1.06 crore), Rajasthan (99.25 lakh), Madhya Pradesh (91.62 lakh), Andhra Pradesh (77.57 lakh) and Tamil Nadu (75.37 lakh).

ExplainedA security internetThe unprecedented bounce in demand for unskilled work beneath NREGS is a pointer to the financial misery in rural areas. In wake of the pandemic, the scheme has emerged as a security internet for crores of unskilled staff, notably migrant staff.

Under MGNREGS, each rural family, whose grownup members volunteer to do unskilled guide work, is entitled to at the least 100 days of wage employment in a monetary 12 months.
The variety of households availing the scheme too has reached an all-time excessive of 6.87 crore till January 10 this monetary 12 months. In 2019-2020, 5.48 crore households availed the scheme.
The present monetary 12 months has additionally seen an unprecedented enhance within the variety of new job playing cards issued beneath the scheme. So far, 1.49 crore households (or 2.68 crore people) have gotten new job playing cards — greater than double of the 68.26 lakh households (1.27 lakh people) in all of 2019-20.
The variety of person-days generated up to now this monetary 12 months too has reached an all-time excessive of 302 crore, up from 265 crore person-days final monetary 12 months.

The expenditure beneath NREGA has reached an all-time excessive, with Rs 87,520 crore of the Rs-1-lakh crore allotted to the scheme being spent.
As a part of the financial bundle introduced within the response to Covid, the federal government declared an extra funding of Rs 40,000 crore for NREGS, over and above the Rs 61,500 crore allotted within the Union Budget 2020-21. With this hike, the NREGS finances has crossed the Rs 1 lakh crore determine for the primary time ever.