Some Rs 1,387 crore is pending in unskilled wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), the Indian government’s flagship rural employment guarantee scheme, according to data on the MGNREGA dashboard.
The dashboard is a website designed and developed by the National Informatics Centre and maintained by the Union Ministry of Rural Development.
In Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh, a little over Rs 243 crore is pending as payment dues. These states together account for over 65 per cent migrant workers returning home during last year’s novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) lockdown.
However, the highest dues pending are in the states of Manipur and Nagaland. The government has not cleared wage arrears to the tune of Rs 772 crore, accounting for 55 per cent of the total pending payment in these two states according to the dashboard.
— source downtoearth.org.in | Shagun | 20 Apr 2021