The Year-on-Year (YoY) decline in monthly demand for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) work is emanating from the normalisation of the rural economy due to strong agricultural growth and a swift bounce-back from Covid-19, said the Economic Survey 2022-23. The Survey, presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, noted, “The number of persons demanding work under MGNREGS was seen to be trending around pre-pandemic levels from July to November 2022. This could be attributed to the normalisation of the rural economy due to strong agricultural growth and a swift recovery from Covid induced slowdown, culminating in better employment opportunities.” “In FY23, as on 24 January 2023, 6.49 crore households demanded employment under MGNREGS, and 6.48 crore households were offered employment out of which 5.7 crore availed employment,” it noted. According to the Survey, a total of 5.6 crore households availed employment and a total of 225.8 crore person-days employment has been generated under the Scheme till January 6, 2023. It also said the significant growth in rural India was the “major shock absorber” during the Covid-19 pandemic when both businesses and consumer demand were impacted. “When majority of the workforce reverse-migrated to rural areas in search of livelihoods, agriculture (3.4 per cent growth in FY20-21) as well as the world’s largest employment scheme MGNREGA supported the domestic economy,” it said. “The digital infrastructure created over the years in rural areas ensured transparent and timely payments to the beneficiaries directly into their account thus limiting their exposure to the virus,” it added. The Survey also highlighted that NREGS has been “rapidly” creating more assets in respect of “works on individual’s land” than in any other category. “The share of this category rose to about 60 per cent in FY22, indicating that MGNREGA, besides generating daily wage employment, has also been creating assets for individual households to diversify their sources of income and lift their supplementary incomes,” it said. “Cash transfers” under the central schemes like PM-KISAN were “a big relief” for all the “adversely affected masses” in the country during Covid-19 pandemic, according to the Survey. “With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and the imposition of lockdown and enforcement of social distancing norms, the DBT (direct benefit transfer) ecosystem faced a tough trial and emerged as a means of relief to millions of citizens whose livelihoods were impacted. DBT played a major role in sustaining life, especially for the underprivileged segments of society, helping millions by providing immediate relief,” it said. “Cash transfers under central schemes like PM-KISAN, MGNREGS, National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP), Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY), NRLM, National Health Mission (NHM), scholarship schemes of various ministries through the National Scholarship Portal (NSP) and food subsidy under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana and Atma Nirbhar Bharat Package were a big relief for all the adversely affected masses of India during the Covid-19 period,” the Survey added.
