Names Of 84.8 Lakh MGNREGS Workers Deleted? Congress Demands To Stop ABPS

The Congress has criticised the implementation of the Aadhaar-Based Payment System (ABPS) for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), demanding that the policy be scrapped due to its adverse impact on workers. Jairam Ramesh, General Secretary of the All India Congress Committee (AICC), issued a statement on 26 October, highlighting how the system has led to the exclusion of millions from the programme.

The ABPS, introduced by the Ministry of Rural Development in January 2024, requires workers to fulfil multiple conditions: their Aadhaar must be linked to their job card, names on both records must match, and their bank accounts must be seeded with Aadhaar and mapped with the National Payments Corporation of India. However, Ramesh claimed that 27.4% of all registered workers (6.7 crore) and 4.2% of active workers (54 lakh) remain ineligible for payments through ABPS.

Further analysis by Lib Tech, a group of academics and activists, revealed that 84.8 lakh workers were removed from MGNREGS between April and September 2024. The timing of these deletions coincides with the rollout of the ABPS, raising concerns about wrongful exclusions, with estimates from Andhra Pradesh indicating that 15% of the deletions could be unjustified.

The Congress also noted that MGNREGS person-days—measuring total workdays completed by workers—have fallen by 16.6% compared to the previous year, suggesting a drop in participation due to policy complications. Workers are reportedly discouraged by delays in payments, missed attendance due to poor Internet connectivity, and the lack of smartphones required for the National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS).

Ramesh warned that these developments threaten the right to work and timely payment, guaranteed under MGNREGS. He called for an end to the ABPS and NMMS systems and urged the government to increase MGNREGS funding and raise daily wages. Citing grievances raised during the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in February, he described the situation as a “government-created human, economic, and institutional tragedy.”