This document presents the Indian Ministry of Rural Development's response to Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 342, answered on July 22, 2025, regarding the cancellation of fake job cards under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). The response provides state/union territory-wise data on the number of fake job cards deleted over the past three financial years (2022-2023, 2023-2024, and 2024-2025).
Key findings include:
* A total of 759,362 fake job cards were deleted in 2022-2023.
* A total of 289,626 fake job cards were deleted in 2023-2024.
* A total of 58,826 fake job cards were deleted in 2024-2025.
* The state of Uttar Pradesh reported the highest number of fake job cards deleted across the three years.
The Ministry clarifies that the responsibility for implementing MGNREGS and addressing irregularities, including investigating and taking criminal action against those responsible for fake job cards, rests with the State Governments/Union Territories, as per the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and related guidelines. The Ministry does not maintain data on the number of persons arrested for violations related to fake job cards.
Key Entities Referenced
MGNREGS: Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, a rural employment program.
SMT. MALA ROY: Member of Lok Sabha who asked the unstarred question.
SHRI KAMLESH PASWAN: Minister of State in the Ministry of Rural Development who answered the question.
Mahatma Gandhi NREGS: An alternate name for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme
Lok Sabha: The lower house of the Parliament of India, where the question was raised.
Andhra Pradesh: A state in India where fake job cards were cancelled.
Bihar: A state in India where fake job cards were cancelled.
Uttar Pradesh: A state in India where fake job cards were cancelled.
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT
DEPARTMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 342
ANSWERED ON 22/07/2025
CANCELLATION OF FAKE JOB CARDS UNDER MGNREGS
342. SMT. MALA ROY:
Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:
(a) the details and number of fake job cards cancelled during the
last three years in the country, year & State-wise; and
(b) the details and number of persons arrested in scam, State-
wise?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT
(SHRI KAMLESH PASWAN)
(a): State/Union Territory(UT)-wise number of fake job cards
deleted under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS during the last three
financial yeas is given at Annexure.
(b): Since responsibility of implementation of the Scheme vests
with the State Governments and provisions for proper
implementation have been laid down in the Mahatma Gandhi
National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, operational guidelines,
Annual Master Circular etc, primarily the concerned States/UTs are
required to take appropriate action in case of any irregularities in
the implementation of the scheme,which may include investigation
and criminal action based on the seriousness of the issue, as per
law.
The data related to persons arrested for the violation of the
provision of the Act like fake job cards is not maintained in the
Ministry.
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Page 1 of 2Annexure
Annexure referred to in reply to part (a) of LokSabhaUnstarred
Question No.342 dated 22.07.2025.
State/Union Territory(UT)-wise number of fake job cards deleted under
Mahatma Gandhi NREGS during the last three financial yeas
Number of Job Cards deleted with
reason 'Fake Job Card'
Sl No State/UTs 2022-2023 2023-2024 2024-2025
1 ANDAMAN AND NICOBAR 0 0 2
2 ANDHRA PRADESH 46690 4164 2158
3 ARUNACHAL PRADESH 656 901 626
4 ASSAM 8040 7465 7341
5 BIHAR 81742 17641 8111
6 CHHATTISGARH 14647 8445 6888
7 GOA 0 1 0
8 GUJARAT 3843 1761 988
9 HARYANA 139 123 157
10 HIMACHAL PRADESH 586 209 65
11 JAMMU AND KASHMIR 1700 1623 871
12 JHARKHAND 70754 17264 5892
13 KARNATAKA 4111 2461 384
14 KERALA 1548 401 133
15 LADAKH 46 28 12
16 LAKSHADWEEP 1 0 3
17 MADHYA PRADESH 27885 23029 804
18 MAHARASHTRA 4143 1458 1401
19 MANIPUR 21 10 7
20 MEGHALAYA 124 136 121
21 MIZORAM 56 18 16
22 NAGALAND 35 22 47
23 ODISHA 114454 22264 7566
24 PUDUCHERRY 25 2 8
25 PUNJAB 3822 777 317
26 RAJASTHAN 45793 20362 2734
27 SIKKIM 15 3 2
28 TAMIL NADU 5639 7831 6000
29 TELANGANA 16091 2206 2213
30 TRIPURA 255 354 283
31 UTTAR PRADESH 299354 147397 3421
32 UTTARAKHAND 1884 551 253
33 WEST BENGAL 5263 719 2
Total 759362 289626 58826
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