NREGS work demand up 3.6% in June

New Delhi: More people sought work under the government's flagship rural employment scheme in June than a year before, driven by limited migration of workers to farming in the wake of poor distribution of rains in some key states, showed the preliminary data compiled by the rural development ministry.

About 35.49 million people sought work under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in June, up 3.6% from a year earlier, showed the data.

The demand from individuals had contracted by 22.5% in June last year. In fact, the relatively low base has weighed on the pace of changes in the MGNREGS work demand in percentage terms since November 2024. The number of households that these workers represented touched 27.59 million in June, a 4.5% increase from a year before.

However, strong economic activities that usually open up better job opportunities in various sectors seem to have slowed the pace of the increase in the NREGS work demand, according to experts.

The experts also flagged the impact of poor spread of seasonal showers across swathes of states, including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Assam. This has prompted many labourers to hold on to their MGNREGS work.

According to the weather office data, while 63% of India received normal to excess large rainfall in June, about 37% witnessed deficient-to-large-deficient rains.

However, as the geographical distribution of rainfall improves, there could be greater migration of MGNREGS labourers to agriculture in July and August, they added.