One of the basic objectives of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) was to minimise distress migration but excessive reliance on technology was reversing the trend, Congress general secretary and former Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said.
He was reacting to The Hindu’s report flagging high deletion rate of registered MGNREGS workers due to a mismatch between job card and Aadhaar card details. The deletion rates have spiked because the Centre made Aadhaar-based payments mandatory from June 30. The States racing against the timeline are resorting to removing the workers who have discrepancies between the two databases.
“One of the basic objectives of MGNREGA was to minimise distress migration. That had happened. Now technology use seems to reversing the trend and not just in Odisha. The Modi Govt. is strangulating MGNREGA in the name of digitalisation,” Mr. Ramesh said in a tweet.
