The Tamil Nadu government recently accorded sanction to release ₹1,229 crore for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) for 2024-25.
While ₹921 crore is the 75% share from the Central assistance for this programme (material component), ₹307 crore is the 25% share of the State government for the same for 2024-25, according to a G.O. issued in this regard. The Government of India had earlier this year increased the wages under MGNREGS by ₹25 per worker a day.
In March this year, the Central Empowered Committee approved “20 crore person days” under the labour budget for Tamil Nadu for 2024-25. The Government of India had that month approved ₹319 per person a day under the MGNREGS for workers in Tamil Nadu.
The ‘work week’ under MGNREGS starts every Thursday and ends the following Wednesday and works are taken up in clusters within a village. The wages for unskilled labour under this scheme have been fixed based on the Rural Schedule of Rates (RSoR). The wage was increased to ₹294 per worker a day from April 2023.
The funds for MGNREGS has three components -- wage for unskilled labour (100% funded by the Union government), material for civil works (75% by the Union government and 25% by the State government) and for salary and other expenditure (100% by the Union government).
