Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme labour budget cut to 12 crore person-days in Tamil Nadu
Around 88 lakh beneficiaries of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in Tamil Nadu have to be accommodated, as of now, within the reduced labour budget of 12 crore person-days during 2025-26.
The State government had originally proposed 35 crore person-days, adopting a 'bottom-up' approach from village panchayats.
Centre's nod
However, the Department of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj is optimistic of the Union government's approval for an increase in the labour budget for the State in the course of the current year. The reason is not far to seek.
During 2024-25 too, Tamil Nadu was allotted only 20 crore person-days. Eventually, the Centre gave approval for around 10 crore more person-days, taking the total number of person-days generated to 30.61 crore.
Target and performance of select districts
District Person-days allocated during 2025-26 (in lakh) Person-days generated as on June 6, 2025 (in lakh) Person-days generated during 2024-25 (in lakh) Tiruvannamalai 110 12.26 229.66 Villupuram 81 3.85 178.63 Cuddalore 75 7.65 155.82 Tiruvallur 64 5.5 128.94 Pudukkottai 60 4.99 126.01
Madurai 54 1.41 118.69 Virudhunagar 49 2.95 99.88 Dindigul 46 1.84 97.22 Krishnagiri 44 2.65 100.47 Sivagangai 42 1.72 84.74
An official of the department says that after achieving 9.6 crore (80%) person-days, a proposal will be sent to the Union Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) for an increase in the labour budget.
Delay in wages
Early this year, the delay in the payments of wages made the headlines, prompting Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to take exception. As the MGNREGS is a Central government scheme, the Union government bears the entire wage for unskilled labour. Out of a total unskilled wage expenditure of ₹8,375 crore during 2024-25, the beneficiaries have been paid ₹8,347 crore. A sum of ₹28 crore is yet to be released by the MoRD.
As for the current year, ₹122 crore has been paid to the beneficiaries in wages and ₹170 crore is yet to be credited into their accounts, and it will be done shortly, the official points out, adding that the actual sanction has been taken for ₹944.56 crore.
On Wednesday, the Tamil Nadu government notified the revised schedule of wage, which has been increased from ₹319 to ₹336. The workload has been increased proportionately, according to an order issued by the State Department of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj.
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