-Business Standard Despite the drop, however, demand is almost 71% more than July 2019 After seeing a surge in May and June, demand for work under Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) tapered a bit in July as casual labourers returned to work in farms for sowing kharif crops. However, demand was still much higher compared to the previous years, underlining the scheme’s vital role in providing employment to the rural poor,...

-Down to Earth Villagers gain employment through the job guarantee scheme, used as a means to revive rural infrastructure like reservoirs, cattle sheds Thirty-one-year-old Ram Ratan was employed as a ‘saksham’ teacher at a government school in Haryana’s Kurukshetra district till March 18, 2020. Ratan was hopeful about his job and — armed with a Masters in psychology and a diploma in guidance and counselling which he completed in February — pursued...

-Press release by Peoples' Action for Employment Guarantee, dated 29th July, 2020 The present Covid -19 crisis has brought to the fore the importance of MGNREGA in providing employment to rural workers as well as to those urban workers who due to lack of employment opportunities in urban areas were forced to migrate back to their villages. The Central Government is planning to launch an urban employment guarantee (UEG) programme at...

-Business Standard Wants one-third of beneficiaries to be women, says wages should not be less than urban state minimum pay, with provision to revise in line with cost of living Civil society activists have recommended mandatory 100 days of guaranteed employment for urban unemployed under any Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme planned by the government. In a letter to union urban development minister Hardeep Puri, People’s Action for Employment Guarantee, (PAEG) which had worked...

-The Tribune The job guarantee scheme kept the rural sector afloat during the pandemic-induced lockdown. The number of people employed under MGNREGA in Punjab has gone up considerably. AMID the Covid crisis, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) has sustained thousands of villagers who had been rendered jobless across Punjab. These also include the youth who returned to villages after they lost their jobs in towns and cities. After the...