New Delhi: A research organisation has noted a record increase in the deletion of job cards for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) database last financial year of 2022-23.According to the Telegraph, various state governments deleted over 5 crore job cards from the MGNREGA database in 2022-23, suggesting a violation of the due procedure. This, per LibTech India, is far higher than the yearly average of 1 crore to 1.5 crore deletions.LibTech India focuses on various aspects of improving transparency, accountability, and democratic engagement in rural public services delivery.LibTech India conducted a field verification by interviewing, between October 2022 and June 2023, 600 workers in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Telangana, Odisha and Jharkhand whose cards had been deleted.It found that rules were flouted in all 600 deletions and that the reasons cited were incorrect in 380 instances.The governments, however, claimed this was routine updation, citing reasons such as duplicate or fake cards, deaths, and cardholders’ unwillingness to work under the scheme any more.Laavanya Tamang, a LibTech India researcher, cited the huge jump in deletions in 2022-23 to suggest a deliberate paring of numbers by state governments, which faced pressure from the Union government to ensure that MGNREGA wage payments were made through the Aadhaar Based Payment System (ABPS). She said ensuring ABPS compliance would have meant a lot of work for the states.“It seems the states accelerated the deletion of job cards as the Union rural development ministry insisted on 100 per cent ABPS compliance,” Tamang told the daily.To achieve ABPS compliance, a worker’s Aadhaar number must be linked to their job card and bank account, which is facilitated by the state government and linked to the bank’s institutional identification number. States might have found deletion the easiest option to avoid this cumbersome process.The annual master circulars (AMCs) issued under the MGNREGA allow job card cancellations on 13 specific grounds. However, any addition or deletion of job cards must be presented before the gram sabha concerned.Tamang told the Telegraph that the field verification exercise had found that the gram sabhas were not consulted in any of the 600 deletions.Job cards can be cancelled if the holder applies for deletion. The panchayat-level MGNREGA official can also do so after informing the gram sabha.“They (states) mentioned reasons like not willing to work or not present in the panchayat in most of the cases. After verification, we found the reasons cited in the official documents were not true in the case of 380 of the 600 workers interviewed,” Tamang said.The daily sent an email to rural development secretary Shailesh Kumar Singh on October 5, asking whether the charges of wrongful deletion were true and, if so, what the Union government had done about it. His response is awaited.Also read: Aadhaar in MGNREGA Is Likely to Be Hugely Disruptive for WorkersIn January 2023, the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) mandated the use of ABPS for processing all wage payments in MGNREGA, starting from February 1, 2023. However, at the time of the mandate, only 43% of MGNREGA workers were eligible for ABPS payments.The pressure from MoRD to achieve 100% Aadhaar seeding (the process of workers submitting their Aadhaar details to be linked to their job cards) and authentication in a short period led to a significant increase in worker deletions from the MGNREGA database.Rural development minister Giriraj Singh, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on July 25, 2023, had said the total deletion of MGNREGA job cards stood at 5.18 crore in 2022-23 against 1.5 crore in 2021-22. In 2022-23, Bengal topped the list with the deletion of 83 lakh job cards.“The various reasons for the deletion of job cards are given below: i. fake job card (incorrect job card) ii. duplicate job card iii. now, not willing to work iv. family shifted from Gram Panchayat permanently v. single person in job card and the person is expired,” Singh said in the reply.
