New Delhi, Nov 19 (PTI) A 25.6 per cent drop in the number of persondays under MGNREGS was recorded in 2025-26 compared to the last two financial years, even as the trend of high deletions was reversed during the previous financial year, and up to September this year, a report released on Wednesday said.

The report - MGNREGA Implementation in India: Insights and Trends, April-Sept 2025, brought out by LibTech India, a consortium of activists and academicians, said that a trend of a high number of worker deletions, which was witnessed in 2022-23 and 2023-24, was reversed in 2024-25, and the reversal continued this year as well.

However, 132.5 crore persondays were generated between April and September this year under the scheme across the country, which is a drop of 11.7 per cent from 150.1 crore in the same period in 2024-25, and a drop of 25.6 per cent from 178.1 crore in 2023-24, the report said.

"This highlights the worrying trend of gradual decline in MGNREGS's employment generation each year," the report said.

Only eight states recorded an increase and 11 states saw a decline in persondays generated in 2025-26 when compared with 2024-25, while West Bengal did not record any persondays in either year.

Among states, Uttarakhand (54.3%) and Telangana (47.6%) saw the biggest drop, while Jharkhand (56.4%) and Madhya Pradesh (30.5%) saw the highest rise in persondays generated in 2025-26.

The report also noted that employment generation was relatively better during 2023-24 despite 2.37 crore worker deletions the same year.

On the deletions of workers, Mukkera Rahul, senior researcher at LibTech, said, "During the last two financial years, more were deleted and less were added. Last financial year, it was reversed, and more workers started getting added. This trend continues in 2025-26 as well. This is a positive development".

According to the report, in 2024-25, 91 lakh workers were deleted, and 2.22 crore workers were added to the workforce. Calling it a positive development, the report added that it continued this year as well, and between April and September, 90 lakh workers were added while only 11.2 lakh workers were deleted.

Rahul, however, added, "Getting registered is just an entry point in MGNREGS, it can't be taken as the ultimate value to understand its implementation. The spirit of NREGA is in finding jobs and getting wages. We should remember this is a positive development, when it comes to work, there is a dip in performance".

The activists said that workers under the scheme are again facing difficulties as the government has made e-KYC mandatory for MGNREGA workers.

The report highlighted that around 68 per cent of the total workers, and over 46 per cent of active workers under MGNREGS, are yet to complete their e-KYC.

They also shared video testimony of two workers from Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, who faced issues in the digital process.

Rekha, who is from the Heerpur panchayat in Raichur District of Karnataka, recounted that she faced problems in getting her e-KYC done as the app was not accepting her photograph.

Salmithi Kantamma, from Kimudupalli village of Andhra Pradesh, said she had to travel 18 kilometres to the nearest Aadhaar centre after her e-KYC failed repeatedly. It cost her around Rs 300 to travel, apart from the expenditure at the centre, she lost her wages for 4-5 days as she could not get work during that period.

According to the findings of LibTech, MIS records show that between October 10 and November 14, this year, around 27 lakh workers were deleted across India, while additions were 10.5 lakh.

They pointed out it comes as e-KYC was made mandatory.

"We are not saying it's a direct cause, but you can see it parallelly happening," Rahul said.

E-KYC - electronic Know Your Customer using Aadhaar-based facial verification was made mandatory for MGNREGS workers from November 1.

The report noted the push for e-KYC is part of a wider digital reform strategy of the Rural Development Ministry, which positions systems like the National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS) attendance app, Aadhaar Payment Bridge System (APBS) and now e-KYC as tools to improve efficiency to weed out duplicate or fake workers.

It said digital interventions such as the NMMS app and ABPS are compliances that affect workers' wages, after availing work, but e-KYC has become a precondition to access work itself, post which NMMS and ABPS come into the picture.

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, better known as MGNREGA or NREGA, is a flagship scheme aimed at enhancing the livelihood security of households in rural areas of the country by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. PTI AO APL APL