Union Cabinet gives nod to Direct Release of Wages into bank accounts of MNREGA workers.

Union Cabinet has approved the proposal of direct release of wages in to the accounts of the workers engaged under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). Direct release of wages system under the MNREGA aims to streamline the flow of funds and to empower state governments to deliver entitlements as per the objectives of the Act. Henceforth, the wage component of MGNREGA will be directly released to the worker’s accounts based on a fund transfer order to be generated by states’ implementing agencies of government. The fund transfer order in case of wages of workers from implementing agencies will be based in accordance with procedures prescribed by Union Rural Development Ministry and the wage component will be given to the State Employment Guarantee Fund window for further transferring it to beneficiaries. In the implementation of this scheme, the gram panchayats will be empowered to take up work according to the agreed labour budget and without struggling for release of funds. The proposed system will Improve overall efficiency of implementation and benefit all stakeholders. Lesser will be the levels of corruption in MNREGA by bringing greater transparency in movement of funds. State governments instead of bothering to manage funds for implementation of scheme will be able to spend more time in planning and improving the process efficiency.

About MGNREGA

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act is an Indian labour law and social security measure that aims to guarantee the 'right to work'. It aims to ensure livelihood security in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work It is one of the important scheme being implemented by government to achieve inclusive growth. MGNREGA is to be implemented mainly by gram panchayats (GPs). The involvement of contractors is banned. Labour-intensive tasks like creating infrastructure for water harvesting, drought relief and flood control are preferred.