New Delhi: Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday raised concerns over the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), a scheme implemented by UPA government in 2005, highlighting Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2015 parliamentary remark that mocked the scheme as a “living monument.” His comment had come following the release of the recent report showing a major mismatch between the coverage and delivery of the scheme.

Congress leader, in his statement posted on X, stated that there had been a surge in MGNREGA during the pandemic, noting that the number of households requesting work under the scheme increased from 6.16 crore in 2019–20 to 8.55 crore in 2020–21. He also highlighted that for many families, MGNREGA served as a crucial lifeline during the government’s lockdowns.

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Jairam Ramesh, however, had raised concern over the state of the scheme today. The recent LibTech report had documents several crucial gaps in MGNREGA implementation and some of the concerning data was highlighted in his post are as follows: Only 7% of the households receive the full 100 days of promised work. Though the coverage of the scheme had risen, the average days of employment per household had fallen between FY 2023–2024 and FY 2024–2025. The current budget allocation of ₹86,000 crore is widely seen as inadequate, falling far short of the ₹2.64 lakh crore recommended by the People’s Action for Employment Guarantee (PAEG).

Moreover, following years of arbitrary deletions of job cards, civil society and Opposition pressure has compelled the Modi government to begin reinstating workers, though much more remains to be done to restore access for those affected.

Jairam Ramesh had called the situation “a government-created human, economic and institutional tragedy” as the issue continues to persist even after eight months of the Bharat Jodo Nyaya Yatra, in which workers across the country raised the issue.

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Briefing on the changes raised by the Indian National Congress to the scheme, he stated these demands were equally raised by the Parliamentary Standing Committee of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj as well. These include restoring the demand-driven nature of the scheme with budget support, raising wages to ₹400 per day, ensuring timely payment that includes compensation for the delay, and increment in the number of workdays from 100 to 150.

The party also opposes the mandatory use of Aadhaar-based payment systems and advocates the creation of a Standing Committee to evaluate the need for changes in the wage rate.