Work sought under MGNREGS in June still higher than before Covid

According to economists and policymakers, this reflects the continued lure of MGNREGS among rural manual casual labour despite a near resumption of economic activity, both in rural and urban areas

Around 31.67 million households demanded work under the government’s flagship Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in June 2022, the provisional data showed, which was marginally lower than the 33.97 million who had sought work under the scheme during the same month last year.

However, even after this slight reduction, the demand was higher than in the pre-pandemic year of 2019-20 when around 25.43 million households had demanded work under the scheme. 

According to several economists and policymakers, this reflects the continued lure of MGNREGS among rural manual casual labour despite a near resumption of economic activity, both in rural and urban areas. In April and May this year, around 23.26 million and 30.74 million households had sought work under the scheme, respectively.