Monsoon 2023: What’s pushing demand for work under MGNREGS?

The demand for rural employment under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) has spiked over this monsoon season compared to previous years, according to an analysis by Down To Earth (DTE).

In some states, the demand for MGNREGS work during the monsoon, a lean period for the scheme, crossed the COVID-19 figures.

DTE analysed 24 states with low deficit or deficient rainfall since June 1 this year, of which the majority reflect this trend.

According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), 29 per cent of districts — or 210 of India’s 713 districts — are facing a rainfall deficit. The monsoon started to withdraw on September 25.   

So far this year, about 48,280,853 households have availed of rural employment against the demand of 53,373,911. For September, Kerala has received a demand from 10,15,628 households compared to a demand from 9,55,221 houses during the COVID year of 2020-2021.

The demand has been comparatively high for previous months of June, July and August as well. The monsoon deficit in Kerala is recorded in 12 districts. Similarly, in Bihar, with 21 districts with rainfall deficit, the demand stands at 5,13,498, five times more until September this year against 1,09,091 for 2020-21.

In Telangana, the demand almost doubled to 610,494 in July 2023 compared to 376,537 in 2020-2021. The trend continued for August 2023, with 343,714 households demanding work against 130,346 in 2020-2021. In September 2023, the demand stood at 258,484 compared to 131,436 for 2020-2021.

In states such as Maharashtra, Gujarat, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, the demand has remained higher than that of COVID-19 years.

Moreover, these states saw higher demand for jobs in 2022-2023 compared to Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Meghalaya, Punjab, Haryana, Karnataka, Odisha, Jharkhand, Tripura, Manipur and Kerala.

Nikhil Dey, a social activist from NREGA Sangharsh Morcha, a group working for rural development and economically deprived sections, said the disturbed monsoon owing to El Nino this year has disrupted the rural employment scenario. 

“It is not just less rainfall during monsoon, untimely and erratic rains have aggravated distress among agricultural and rural workers,” he told DTE.

Dey said the southern part of India is particularly affected due to erratic rains. “Workers here rely heavily on agriculture during monsoon for their livelihood and poor rains led to them losing jobs. The demand is still suppressed. The Centre should immediately release drought funds,” he said.

MGNREGA has a provision to provide 150 days of work, an additional 50 days in case of such a crisis. “The Centre must step in to provide employment,” he said.

Dey said the situation of the rural population this year must be looked at from a climate change perspective.

“The floods in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, followed by a drought-like situation, have affected the agricultural sector heavily. Farmers lost their produce or missed the sowing season, leading to the rotting of seeds. Along with it, the investment,” he said.

The expert said the government scheme should be perceived from the lens of climate change adaptation measures. “The scheme cannot offer recovery to these workers, but can help them sustain by earning a decent livelihood until the next cropping season. It is a safety net for such crisis,” he said. 

Chakradhar Buddha, researcher at LibTech India, a platform for social workers, engineers and social scientists working towards improving public service delivery, said rainfall has played a major role in increasing MGNREGS work demand this year.

“The rainfall has been the worst this year after a long time. MGNREGS is the only option for many workers like me,” said Kuruva Venkatswamy, a tenant farmer from Pudur village in the rural Kurnool district, Andhra Pradesh.

In the absence of agricultural activity, landless farmers like him are compelled to migrate to the delta regions of the Krishna and Cauvery rivers. “MGNREGS which offers access to work can prevent such migration,” he added.

Poor rainfall in one region could impact employment and increase demand in other parts due to migration. “Such factors should be noted while considering the increase in job demands,” he said. 

There cannot be a better substitute for agriculture as other employment opportunities take a backseat during monsoon. “These rural workers engage themselves mainly in agriculture and in other works such as construction or brick kilns. However, these opportunities take a pause during monsoons as no construction work takes place,” Buddha explained. 

The researcher said migration happens over the years, not in a poor monsoon season. “Tribal people from Andhra Pradesh move to the Krisha river delta for three months with their families. So it should also be checked if the surge in demand is the result of poor rainfall alone or addition of new workers or that workers who have returned from other states have reinstated or revoked their job cards,” he said.

Raj Shekhar, another activist from NREGA Sangharsh Morcha, said the sharp increase in demand shows the monsoon has disrupted the agriculture sector, and the ground reality may even be worse.

Apart from agriculture, dairy or pastoralism is another source of livelihood the rural workers rely on. “Livestock trade or fairs used to be common during such times for rural populations to cope. However, recent years of fear around cow vigilantes have killed those prospects,” he said.

Demonetisation, the introduction of Goods and Services Tax and other changes have added to the financial woes of the rural workers. With the existing situation, MGNREGS is the only hope for workers and is evident with the increase in demand for work, Shekhar said.

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