Playing safe may cost TN Rs 5K cr in MGNREGS wages this fiscal
Reliable government sources say the authorities have been "aligning with the Union Government's norms" instead of implementing the scheme as mandated by the MGNREGS Act, which is demand-driven
MGNREGS scheme
CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu risks losing over Rs 5,000 cr under the MGNREGS scheme if the current pace of employment generation continues through the remaining months of the 2025-26 fiscal year. Ironically, this potential loss is nearly double the amount the Union Government withheld from the state under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan scheme for not implementing the three-language policy under the National Education Policy (NEP). Yet, the issue remains neatly tucked beneath layers of bureaucratic opacity.
Reliable government sources say the authorities have been "aligning with the Union Government's norms" instead of implementing the scheme as mandated by the MGNREGS Act, which is demand-driven. This approach could ultimately deny wages worth Rs 5,000 cr to the 88.76 lakh active rural workers in Tamil Nadu.
As of September 9, only 6.89 cr persondays had been generated for 44.51 lakh households, with a total expenditure of Rs 2,729 cr, of which Rs 1,831 cr has gone towards wages. In contrast, the state spent Rs 10,744 cr under the scheme in the previous fiscal year. "The projected shortfall in MGNREGS expenditure this year exceeds Rs 5,000 cr. This money should be reaching poor rural communities who rely on the scheme for their livelihood," said a source in the department.
Officials in the Rural Development Department, the implementing authority for the scheme, seem to be relying on the Union Government's proposed labour budget of 12 cr persondays for Tamil Nadu for 2025-26.
The question that lingers is why authorities are not sticking to the same yardstick as last year. In fact, the department generated 30.61 cr persondays in 2024-25, far exceeding the approved 20 cr, achieving 153% employment generation and disbursing Rs 10,744 cr, including Rs 8,374 cr in wages.
"There's no need to stick to the proposed labour budget. The Act empowers workers to demand jobs, and it's the implementing agency's duty to meet that demand. But that's not happening. Officials, for reasons best known to them, are playing it safe by limiting job numbers to the projected figures," said a source, warning that this would deprive hundreds of thousands of workers of their rightful wages.
A highly placed official said they have "the capacity to generate any number of persondays. But we don't want to burn our fingers like last year" and make the workers wait for the wage for four months. It may be recalled that inordinate delay from Centre in releasing funds last fiscal year, denied wage for the works on time and it put undue pressure on the TN government and became a political flashpoint. As a result, the department is now operating within the permissible limit.
"We'll push for additional funds once we exhaust the 12 cr persondays approved for this fiscal," the official said, also noting that the Union Government has yet to release Rs 1,170 cr in wage dues, including pending amounts from the previous year.
PERSONDAYS & COSTS
12 cr: Approved persondays for 2025-26
6.89 cr: Persondays generated for 44.51 lakh households
Rs 2,729 cr: Total expenditure, of which Rs 1,831 cr is wage
15.45 cr: Persondays expected to be generated at the end of 2025-26, if the trend continues, with total projected expenditure at Rs 5,191 cr, including Rs 4,008 cr in wages
30.61 cr: Persondays generated last year
Rs 10,744 cr: Expenditure last year
