NEW DELHI, Feb 8: In a written reply in Rajya Sabha on Friday, Minister of State for Rural Development, Kamlesh Paswan, provided details on the State/Union Territory (UT)-wise number of active workers whose job cards were deleted under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) from 2019-20 to 2024-25 (as of February 4, 2025).

A total of 1,512,864 job cards of active workers under MGNREGS were rejected during this period, with Manipur accounting for 3,636 of the rejected workers, as reported by the Press Information Bureau (PIB).

According to Paswan, job cards were deleted primarily for reasons such as fake, duplicate, or incorrect job cards, families permanently shifting from a Gram Panchayat, and Gram Panchayats being classified as urban. MGNREGS is a demand-driven wage employment scheme, and the responsibility for its implementation lies with the respective State/UT governments. The updating and deletion of job cards is a regular process conducted by these governments.

To ensure greater transparency in the implementation of MGNREGS, the Ministry of Rural Development has mandated that States/UTs capture attendance at the worksite through the National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS) App, which includes geo-tagged, time-stamped photographs of workers. This requirement came into effect from January 1, 2023, for all works except Individual Beneficiary Schemes/Projects. If the worksite is in an area without network coverage, attendance can be captured offline and uploaded when the device is back in a network-covered area. An exemption provision is available for exceptional circumstances where attendance cannot be uploaded due to network issues.

Additionally, the Ministry of Rural Development has issued a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) on January 25, 2025, to all States/UTs with clear guidelines on the deletion and restoration of job cards. The SOP aims to ensure compliance with MGNREGS guidelines, promote transparency, and protect workers’ rights. It stipulates that before deletion, draft lists of job cards must be published, and verification must be conducted at Gram Sabhas. It also provides workers with the right to appeal if their job cards are deleted. The SOP also mandates the linking of job cards with Aadhaar to prevent duplicate or fraudulent entries.