**Executive Summary**
This report, in the form of an answer to an unstarred question in Lok Sabha on 03/02/2026, addresses the deletion of job cards under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). It covers the reasons for deletion, procedures for reinstatement, impact of Aadhaar-based payments, and available grievance redressal mechanisms. The report includes data on job card deletions from FY 2019-20 to 2024-25, along with state and UT-wise details.
**Key Points / Main Content**
* **Job Card Deletion Process:**
* Deletion of job cards is a regular exercise by States/UTs under MGNREGS.
* Job cards are primarily deleted due to fake/duplicate/incorrect cards, family shifting from Gram Panchayat permanently, or Gram Panchayat being classified as urban.
* Deletion due to the worker's reluctance to work is not permitted.
* **Standard Operating Procedure (SOP):**
* Ministry of Rural Development issued an SOP for deletion and restoration of job cards on 25.01.2025.
* The SOP ensures compliance with NREGS guidelines, promotes transparency, protects worker rights, and ensures settlement of pending liabilities before deletion.
* It emphasizes due process, including publication of draft lists, verification at Gram Sabhas, and the right of appeal.
* Mandates linking job cards with Aadhaar to eliminate duplicate and fraudulent entries.
* **Aadhaar-Based Payments (APBS):**
* APBS was made mandatory from January 1, 2024, to ensure timely wage payments and address issues from bank account changes.
* Eligible beneficiaries cannot be excluded due to non-linking of bank accounts with Aadhaar.
* **Grievance Redressal Mechanism:**
* NREGASoft has a dedicated Grievance Redressal Module.
* Workers can lodge complaints and track responses through written means, telephone helplines, and entries in the "Complaint Register" at the GP level.
* The Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) is also available.
* **Data on Job Card Deletions:**
* Total job cards deleted by States/UTs from FY 2019-20 to 2024-25: 457.97 Lakh.
* Total job cards added during the same period: 653.72 Lakh.
* Deletion data by state and UT across financial years can be found in Annexure I and II.
**Impact Analysis**
**Stakeholder: States/Union Territories (UTs)**
* **Impact**: Required to implement the SOP and ensure due process in job card deletions, maintain accurate records, and address grievances.
* **Action Required**: Adhere to the SOP guidelines for deletion and restoration of job cards, ensure proper verification and transparency, and facilitate grievance redressal.
**Stakeholder: MGNREGS Workers/Beneficiaries**
* **Impact**: Ensures fair and transparent deletion processes, protects rights against wrongful deletions, and provides access to grievance redressal mechanisms.
* **Action Required**: Link job cards to Aadhaar, participate in the verification process at Gram Sabhas, and utilize the grievance redressal mechanisms for wrongful deletions.
**Stakeholder: Ministry of Rural Development**
* **Impact**: Responsible for ensuring the effective implementation of NREGS guidelines and SOP, monitoring deletion process, and providing grievance redressal mechanisms.
* **Action Required**: Continue issuing guidelines and SOPs, monitor state and UT implementation, and address any issues related to job card deletions and beneficiary exclusion.
Key Entities Referenced
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS): Aims to provide at least 100 days of wage employment to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.
Ministry of Rural Development: The primary Ministry responsible for overseeing the MGNREGS program and related rural development initiatives.
Standard Operating Procedure (SOP): Document issued by the Ministry of Rural Development providing guidelines for the deletion and restoration of job cards under MGNREGS.
Aadhaar Payment Bridge System (APBS): A system used for the timely payment of wages to beneficiaries under MGNREGS, linking bank accounts with Aadhaar.
Uttar Pradesh: The state specifically mentioned regarding the removal of workers and job cards.
O.I.H.
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT
DEPARTMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 606
ANSWERED ON 03/02/2026
DELETION OF JOB CARDS
606. Shri LaljiVerma:
Shri Kalyan Banerjee:
Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:
(a) the total number of job cards removed under the Mahatma
Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme
(MGNREGS) from the financial year 2019-20 to 2024-25 along
with the reasons for removal, State and year-wise;
(b) the details of workers removed for the period from 2019-20 to
2023-24 for reluctance to work, State and year-wise
particularly in Ambedkar Nagar LokSabha Constituency of
Uttar Pradesh;
(c) whether the Government has issued any guidelines for
reinstatement of wrongly removed job cards or labourers, if so,
the details of process prescribed for reinstatement of genuine
beneficiaries and if not, the reasons therefor;
(d) whetherAadhaar-based payment or authentication compliance
has resulted in exclusion of eligible beneficiaries, if so, the
details thereof, State-wise; and
(e) the details of grievance redressal mechanism available for
wrongful deletions and the number of grievances resolved?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT
(SHRI KAMLESH PASWAN)
(a) to (c): Under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment
Guarantee Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGS) updation/deletion of
Job Cards is a regular exercise undertaken by the States/UTs. Job
cards are deleted mainly for the reasons such as
fake/duplicate/incorrect job cards, family shifted from Gram
Panchayat permanently, Gram Panchayat classified as Urban and
Page 1 of 5there was only one member name in the job card he/she has expired
etc.
To streamline the process of deletion of Job cards, Ministry of
Rural Development has issued a Standard Operating Procedure
(SOP) vide letter dated 25.01.2025 to all States/Union Territories,
with clear guidelines for deletion and restoration of job cards. The
SOP ensures compliance with the Mahatma Gandhi NREGS
guidelines, promotes transparency, protects the rights of workers
by defining conditions for deletion, setting up a grievance redressal
mechanism, and ensure the settlement of pending liabilities if any
before deletion/cancellation. Here it is stated that as per guidelines
issued by this Department name of worker cannot be removed for
the reason of reluctance to work.
The SOP emphasizes the importance of due process, including
the publication of draft lists of job cards marked for deletion,
verification at Gram Sabhas, and the right of appeal for affected
workers. It also mandates the linking of job cards with Aadhaar to
eliminate duplicate and fraudulent entries. These measures are
aimed at preventing misuse of job cards while ensuring that genuine
beneficiaries are not excluded.
States/UTs-wise number of job cards deleted from Mahatma
Gandhi NREGS since 2019-20 to 2024-25 is given at Annexure-I.
Further, State/Union Territory (UT)-wise details of number of
workers deleted from job cards under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS
during the financial years 2019-20 to 2023-24 are given at Annexure-
II.
Note: As per NREGASoft, during the FY 2019-20 to 2024-25, total
number of job cards deleted by the States/UTs was 457.97 Lakh
while, in the same period total number of job cards added by the
States/UTs was 653.72 Lakh.
Number of workers deleted from job cards in Ambedkar Nagar
and Ayodhya district of Uttar Pradesh part of which is in Ambedkar
Nagar LokSabha Constituency during the same period are given
below:
District 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24
Ambedkar Nagar 4757 5384 7934 150137 109539
Ayodhya 719 1976 1684 44361 62877
Total 5476 7360 9618 194498 172416
Page 2 of 5(d): To ensure timely payment of wages to the beneficiaries under
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme
(Mahatma Gandhi NREGS) and to address the issues arising due to
frequent changes in bank account numbers of the beneficiaries and
subsequent non-updation, it was decided to implement
AadharPayment Bridge System (APBS). This has been made
mandatory with effect from 1st January 2024. Here, it is stated that
of eligible beneficiaries cannot be excluded due to reason of non-
linking of bank accounts with Aadhar.
(e): The Annual Master Circular provides for a dedicated Grievance
Redressal Module in NREGASoft, which allows workers/citizens to
lodge complaints and track responses, in addition to written
complaints, telephone helplines and entries in the “Complaint
Register” (one of the seven mandatory registers at GP level). The
Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System
(CPGRAMS) is one of the major grievance redressal mechanisms
available for lodging complaint.
*****
Page 3 of 5Annexure-I
Annexure referred to in reply to parts (a) to (c) of
LokSabhaUnstarred Question No. 606 dated 03.02.2026.
States/UTs-wise number of job cards deleted from Mahatma Gandhi NREGS
since 2019-20 to 2024-25
Number of Job-Card deleted
SI.
State 2019- 2020- 2021-
No. 2022-23 2023-24 2024-25
20 21 22
Andhra
1 24248 3426 185079 2882724 370326 148478
Pradesh
Arunachal
2 7311 6151 9596 8875 12869 15651
Pradesh
3 Assam 65699 96586 76244 157138 282142 576220
4 Bihar 77290 182407 1273514 5870225 2112092 981284
5 Chhattisgarh 129658 170304 139660 264839 294544 399026
6 Goa 1 8 11 21 24 53
7 Gujarat 40314 131080 40289 146141 338533 53616
8 Haryana 5083 15413 8531 11028 8834 6237
Himachal
9 4057 8000 10351 18119 15543 4559
Pradesh
Jammu And
10 33032 94078 37635 38388 73015 30123
Kashmir
11 Jharkhand 50568 89427 228674 954252 324524 176956
12 Karnataka 27534 7197 41843 203185 96036 27286
13 Kerala 17725 23773 27340 110722 218752 89300
14 Ladakh 675 1336 889 1421 897 452
Madhya
15 513979 1062861 1100109 366349 695278 51890
Pradesh
16 Maharashtra 22105 48460 28201 72863 37625 26449
17 Manipur 3961 11126 4449 3153 5778 6395
18 Meghalaya 8017 8119 5449 3832 15375 13181
19 Mizoram 6607 9896 8580 4149 4902 9988
20 Nagaland 9999 1136 1797 2528 3759 8999
21 Odisha 121028 313621 793292 2370031 523622 286009
22 Punjab 16675 14330 65858 340659 69225 20981
23 Rajasthan 80406 117660 129285 634800 393797 55563
24 Sikkim 1302 784 1343 1409 2133 1969
25 Tamil Nadu 33148 126017 155065 315049 653677 633820
26 Telangana 4084 5282 15976 510683 84744 80166
27 Tripura 8571 8684 5951 5938 20798 8742
28 Uttar Pradesh 99849 201871 582074 4858064 3315158 91568
29 Uttarakhand 7370 16508 26004 148098 44229 45150
30 West Bengal 10554 19374 27741 2177536 169691 9026
Andaman And
31 1930 1528 448 143 70 308
Nicobar
Dn Haveli And
32 0 0 0 0 2 14
Dd
33 Lakshadweep 2 1 8 18 52 37
34 Puducherry 126 245 258 4394 606 480
Total 1432908 2796689 5031544 22486774 10188652 3859976
Page 4 of 5Annexure-II
Annexure referred to in reply to parts (a) to (c) of
LokSabhaUnstarred Question No. 606 dated 03.02.2026.
State/Union Territory(UT)-wise number of workers deleted from job cards
under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS during the financial years 2019-20 to 2023-24.
SI. Number of workers deleted
State
No. 2019-20 2020-21 2021-22 2022-23 2023-24
1 Andhra Pradesh 211267 181014 618582 7517856 1096736
Arunachal
2 28621 23422 35053 34433 58257
Pradesh
3 Assam 227261 268422 345666 608253 792138
4 Bihar 147381 267823 2002521 8900402 3178680
5 Chhattisgarh 501629 639811 540686 1186037 1395412
6 Goa 2 14 22 24 34
7 Gujarat 154654 435435 143195 559478 975994
8 Haryana 14281 30479 17023 17997 18939
Himachal
9 18855 34197 45819 78439 77015
Pradesh
Jammu And
10 92619 255607 112814 107120 212281
Kashmir
11 Jharkhand 109402 182440 462251 2030163 654727
12 Karnataka 123550 57101 250665 855967 547661
13 Kerala 49287 55289 72189 348598 540033
14 Ladakh 2480 3303 2686 7130 3209
15 Madhya Pradesh 1813001 3823679 4540607 1471373 2698235
16 Maharashtra 98526 210868 229270 428628 227851
17 Manipur 29830 64315 54240 90027 127349
18 Meghalaya 34042 31556 20707 20466 118486
19 Mizoram 31245 35061 20414 10269 15010
20 Nagaland 41988 4934 7630 15155 21754
21 Odisha 441314 1097748 2605164 7686413 1499868
22 Punjab 35200 33095 128296 598046 127741
23 Rajasthan 537168 818142 793487 3046893 2151059
24 Sikkim 3638 3122 4623 4528 8792
25 Tamil Nadu 121125 417563 440825 782200 1690416
26 Telangana 11135 129577 61278 1723810 302478
27 Tripura 29185 35817 29874 37486 103710
28 Uttar Pradesh 202170 398460 1097908 8024982 5600653
29 Uttarakhand 18523 48363 66235 355786 124556
30 West Bengal 93725 130301 157309 8340066 603689
Andaman and
31 3394 3324 909 320 190
Nicobar
32 Dn Haveli And Dd 0 0 0 0 145
33 Lakshadweep 2 2 11 63 86
34 Puducherry 683 1374 1865 49528 2068
Total 5227183 9721658 14909824 54937936 24975252
*****
Page 5 of 5