KOLKATA: Bengal ranked top among states by employing the highest number of unskilled workers and creating the second highest number of man-days under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) in 2021-22.
The Bengal government employed 1,11,19,765 unskilled workers in 2021-22. NREGA mandates to provide at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh ranked second and third by employing 1,00,50,834 and 95,70,803 unskilled labourers, respectively.
In 2021-22, Bengal created 36,41,17,876 man-days to occupy second position. Rajasthan ranked top by creating 42,03,20,918 man-days, while Tamil Nadu came third by creating 34,53,17,046 man-days.
However, till March 31, Bengal owed the most - Rs 2,876.28 crore in pending wage payment for unskilled workers and Rs 2,351.94 crore for semi-skilled and skilled workers. The total dues amount to Rs 5,228.22 crore, state's panchayat and rural development minister Pulak Roy said.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced on February 1 that the Union government has allocated Rs 73,000 crore for the rural jobs guarantee programme for 2022-23, which is 25.5% less than the revised estimate for the current financial year.
According to Peoples' Action for Employment Guarantee or PAEG - a group of activists, academics and members of people's organisations that came together to advocate for NREGA in 2004 - around Rs 21,000 crore could remain pending by the end of fiscal year 2022 because of higher expenditure.
