In lockdown 2.0 UP MGNREGA enrollment up 560 per cent to 1.4 million

Lucknow / June 11, 2021

The flagship rural job scheme, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) provided work to more than 1.4 million people, including migrant workers rendered jobless during the 2nd wave of Covid-19.

During lockdown 2.0 in April 2021 and subsequent closure of commercial and industrial activities, UP had witnessed a second wave of reverse migration of its semi and unskilled workers employed in other states, especially Maharashtra, Gujarat and Punjab.

Consequently, the UP MGNREGA roll swelled from about 249,000 in May to more than 1.4 million in June 2021, thus proliferating by over 560 per cent in a month’s time, according to UP additional chief secretary, rural development department, Manoj Kumar Singh.

Over the past month, Rs 448 crore has been paid to the state MGNREGA workers as wages. Interestingly, the rural employment scheme is logging 50,000 to 60,000 fresh beneficiaries on a daily basis across the state gram panchayat bodies.

Meanwhile, the state is already working to further intensify MGNREGA activities in those villages, which have become corona-free now.

At the onset of the 2nd wave and the influx of migrant workers, chief minister Yogi Adityanath had directed officials for the skill mapping of these workers, and to expand the scope of MGNREGA for providing livelihood support to overcome the crisis.

Recently, Yogi had transferred Rs 230 crore to the bank accounts of 2.3 million (Rs 1,000 to each) daily wage earners, whose livelihood was impacted owing to lockdown in UP.

“The labour brethren have made a significant contribution through complete dedication and hard work in realising Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream of a self-reliant India,” he said in his virtual address to the beneficiaries.

To ensure that more workers could avail of the benefits of the government scheme, he also launched a web portal, www.upssb.in. The targetted beneficiaries including small shopkeepers, daily wage laborers, rickshaw/e-rickshaw pullers, barbers, cobblers etc have been urged to get themselves registered on the website.

The registration will help the state government in making arrangements for their social safety net. Referring to the Covid-19 first wave, the CM said that “our efforts to secure the lives and livelihoods of 4 million migrant workers are today the subject of study in all the institutions around the world.”

He noted the effective UP Covid management had been praised by the NITI Aayog, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Bombay High Court on different occasions.

(Virendra Singh Rawat is a Lucknow based journalist, who writes on contemporary issues of industry, economy, agriculture, infrastructure, budget etc)