Coronavirus lockdown | Only 30 lakh found MGNREGA work in April
The Hindu, APRIL 30, 2020 This is 82% lower than in previous year. Although the Centre gave explicit instructions to reopen its flagship rural jobs scheme from April 20, only 30 lakh people were provided work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in April, about 17% of the usual, government data show. In mid-April, only 1% of the usual number of workers had found employment. The figures for this April are the lowest in five years, and show an 82% drop from the previous year’s figure of 1.7 crore workers. Some States had zero workers as on April 29, showing they had not restarted their work sites at all. Only 1,005 people got work in Haryana, along with 2,014 in Kerala and 6,376 in Gujarat, showing very low rates of employment. Andhra Pradesh, on the other hand, has provided 10 lakh jobs, though it is still lower than the 25 lakh jobs provided last April. In the light of government failure to provide sufficient work at a time when