ABPS Speed Breaker of MGNREGA

 1.70 crore laborers have been deprived of employment by Aadhaar based payment system, now Modi government is caught in MNREGA!

MNREGA workers will now be paid through Aadhaar based payment system.  Now there is no exemption due to which 1.70 crore laborers have become unemployed.  This decision may create difficulties for the Modi government in the election year.

MNREGA scheme is one of the world's largest employment schemes in rural areas.  This is an employment guarantee scheme of the Government of India, which was started in the year 2006.  MNREGA scheme guarantees 100 days of employment to the citizens.  But since the beginning of the new year, there has been a big change in it.

 

The Central Government has made Aadhaar Based Payment System (ABPS) mandatory for payment of MNREGA wages from January 1, 2024.  After the implementation of this new payment system, more than 1.5 crore workers have lost their jobs.

 1.70 crore workers lost their jobs!

 According to the report of January 11, more than 25 crore workers are registered under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) scheme.  Of these, there are a total of 14.32 crore active workers.  An active worker is one who has worked at least one day in the last 3 years.

 

Now after the implementation of Aadhaar system, 12 percent i.e. 1 crore 70 lakh 68 thousand 632 active workers have become ineligible for ABPS.  These laborers stopped getting guarantee of work.  These workers are also voters of the government.  In such a situation, there are no less challenges before the government in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

 

However, the Union Ministry of Rural Development has said to give relaxation in case of some technical problems in the case of ABPS.  It has been said that if the job card cannot be linked with Aadhaar due to technical reasons in a Gram Panchayat, then they can be exempted.

 What is Aadhaar based payment system

 The Center has made Aadhaar-based payment system mandatory for all beneficiaries of MGNREGA scheme to transfer money directly to the bank accounts of rural labourers.  Under this, the Aadhaar card has to be linked with the job card.  This process is completed by Panchayat Secretary or Ward Member.

 

Also, Aadhaar should be linked with the bank account of the beneficiary laborer.  After this the National Payments Corporation (NPCI) maps Aadhaar.  The government says that with this system, there will be no delay in payment to the laborers and fraud will be stopped.

 

An order was issued in January 2023 to make ABPS mandatory and a deadline of February 1 was fixed.  After this, the first deadline was extended to March 31.  Then by June 30, followed by August 31 and the last deadline is December 31, 2023.