Aadhaar-Based Payment System to Cover 90% of MGNREGS Workers by June-End

The Indian government plans to implement an Aadhaar-based payment system (ABPS) for 90% of active workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) by the end of June.

The Ministry of Rural Development aims to make ABPS mandatory for wage settlements starting July 1. Currently, around 74.9% of active workers are eligible for the payment system. The government has instructed state governments to organize camps and maintain contact with beneficiaries to ensure complete coverage under ABPS.

However, workers without an Aadhaar number should not be denied work. The government aims to register approximately 1,491,848 workers daily to meet the June 30 deadline. Some states are falling short of the targets, and they are labelled as “lagging” in terms of daily data updates on the government dashboard.

Several states have a low percentage of eligible workers, including Meghalaya, Nagaland, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, and Gujarat. However, the government remains optimistic that 88-90% of active MGNREGS workers will be covered by the end of the month.

According to government data, out of the total 14.28 crore active beneficiaries, Aadhaar has been linked to 13.75 crore individuals, and 12.17 crore of these have been authenticated, making them eligible for ABPS. In May, approximately 88% of wage payments were made through ABPS.

The MGNREGS is a government initiative that provides a minimum of 100 days of guaranteed wage employment per financial year to rural households for unskilled manual work, aiming to improve their livelihood security.