Mixed payments route for MGNREGS workers to continue till Dec 31

New Delhi: The Union Rural Development Ministry on Wednesday said the deadline for compulsory wages to workers through the Aadhaar-based payment system under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) has been extended till December 31 this year.

This comes days after an official had said it was decided that the deadline would not be extended any more.

The progress of the Aadhaar-based Payment System (ABPS) was reviewed and it was decided that a mixed route of wage payment (through NACH and ABPS route) will be extended till December 31, 2023, or till further orders, the ministry said in a statement.

An order was issued in January this year to make payments through the Adhaar-based payment system mandatory under the MGNREGS and the government had first fixed February 1 as the deadline, which was later extended to March 31, then till June 30 and eventually it was extended till August 31.

Sources in the ministry said while it had been earlier decided not to extend the deadline. However, after a review of the situation, the government decided to continue mixed mode payments to ensure that some workers are not excluded.

"The progress of the Aadhaar-based Payment System (ABPS) has been reviewed and the mixed route of wage payment (NACH and ABPS route) has been extended till 31st December 2023 or till further order," the ministry said.

It reiterated that beneficiaries, who come for work, should be requested to provide the Aadhaar number but will not be refused work on this basis.

"If a beneficiary does not demand work, in such case, her/his status about eligibility for APBS does not affect the demand for work. Job cards cannot be deleted on the basis of the reason that the worker is not eligible for APBS," the ministry added.

Under ABPS, the Aadhaar details of a worker are seeded with their job card and bank account. It also has to be mapped with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) database and the concerned bank's institutional identification number (IIN) should also be mapped with the NPCI database.

Out of the total 14.33 crore active beneficiaries, Aadhaar has been seeded for 13.97 crore, according to the ministry. Against these seeded Aadhaar, a total of 13.34 crore have been authenticated and 81.89 per cent of the active workers are now eligible for APBS. About 88.51 per cent of the wage payment has been made through APBS in July.

The ministry also said a "proper ecosystem for APBS is in place" and added that this is "the best system to be followed for the payment" considering the benefits of APBS for the beneficiaries.

"Aadhaar-based payment system is nothing but a route through which the payment is getting credited to the account of beneficiaries. There are well-defined steps adopted in this system and the role of beneficiaries, field functionaries and all other stakeholders is clearly defined," it said.

According to the ABPS dashboard on the Rural Development Ministry's website, Aadhaar seeding has been done for 97.33 per cent of the active workers while 95.87 per cent of seeded accounts have been authenticated.

However, the success of the NCPI has been achieved in accounts of 88.31 per cent of active workers, while 82.4 per cent of active workers are ABPS eligible, leaving around 18 per cent of active workers out.

The dashboard also said the rate of enablement needs to be increased to meet the August 31 deadline, which now stands extended.

According to the dashboard, Kerala is on the top with over 98 per cent of active workers being eligible for ABPS, followed by Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh and Tripura. Meghalaya is at the bottom, with only a little over three per cent of active workers being eligible for ABPS, followed by Nagaland (20.8 per cent), Assam (39.3 per cent), Lakshadweep (60.8 per cent) and Arunachal Pradesh (62.7 per cent).