Parliament Question: Deletion of Job Cards under MGNREGS

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 133 ANSWERED ON 28/07/2026 DELETION OF JOB CARDS UNDER MGNREGS *133. Shri K C Venugopal: Shri Anto Antony: Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state: (a) the details and total number of households demanding work under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) between June 2025 and June 2026, State and UT-wise including Chhattisgarh; (b) the details and number of job cards and workers deleted or cancelled under MGNREGS along with the specific technical or administrative key reasons recorded for such deletions/cancellations since 2021, State, UT and year-wise; (c) whether the Government has conducted any assessment regarding the impact of reduction in annual wage income of rural households arising from suspension of wage-employment works for up to sixty days under Section 6 of the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rojgar and Aajeevika Mission Gramin (VB- GRAMG) Act, if so, the details thereof including income required in tribal dominated regions of Chhattisgarh; (d) the corrective steps being taken to ensure that genuine beneficiaries do not face exclusion due to digital compliance or authentication issues; and (e) the details of MGNREGS-supported agriculture and allied works discontinued or removed from the permissible work list along with the reasons therefor during the last five years? ANSWER MINISTER OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (SHRI SHIVRAJ SINGH CHOUHAN) (a) to (e): A statement is laid on the Table of the House. Page 1 of 6STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) to (e) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *133 TO BE ANSWERED ON 28.07.2026 REGARDING “DELETION OF JOB CARDS UNDER MGNREGS” (a): The details of the households demanded employment under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) during the period from June, 2025 to June, 2026, State/UT-wise, including Chhattisgarh, is given at Annexure-I. (b): The Mahatma Gandhi NREGS is implemented by the respective State Governments/Union Territory Administrations, which are responsible for issuing Job Cards, including their verification, updation and deletion. To ensure a fair, transparent and uniform process across the country, the Ministry vide letter dated 25.01.2025 had issued a detailed Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) prescribing the due process and safeguards to be followed before any Job Card or worker record is deleted. Any deletion can be undertaken only after due verification by the concerned State Government/UT Administration in accordance with the prescribed procedure. State/Union Territory and year-wise number of Job Cards and number of workers involved in deleted Job Cards under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS from 1st January 2021 to current financial year 2026-27 (as on 22.07.2026) is given at Annexure-II. It is pertinent to mention here that during the same period,From FY 2021–22 to FY 2026–27 (as on 22.07.2026), a total of 5.00 crore households and 8.30 crore workers have been included under the Mahatma Gandhi NREGS. (c): Section 6 of the Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Aajeevika Mission (Gramin): VB–G RAM G Act, 2025 provides for a pause in programme implementation for an aggregate period of 60 days during the notified peak sowing and harvesting seasons. The provision has been introduced to maintain balance in the rural economy and to support agricultural operations, which remain the primary source of livelihood for a large proportion of rural households, particularly small and marginal farmers. Accordingly, the respective State Governments are empowered to notify such period based on local agro-climatic conditions and agricultural calendars so as to ensure adequate availability of labour for timely agricultural operations. The statutory guarantee of 125 days of wage employment under the Act remains unchanged, and rural households may avail the guaranteed employment during the remaining period of the financial Page 2 of 6year in accordance with the demand-driven provisions of the Act. The provision relates only to the timing and sequencing of works and does not reduce the employment rights under the Act. (d): The technology-enabled governance framework under the Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Aajeevika Mission (Gramin): VB–G RAM G Act, 2025 has been designed to strengthen transparency, accountability and efficient service delivery, while ensuring appropriate legal, administrative and technical safeguards for the protection of workers' data. To ensure that genuine beneficiaries are not excluded on account of digital compliance or authentication-related issues, the operational framework provides for robust exception-handling mechanisms. Appropriate alternative procedures are available in genuine cases, including those arising due to poor network connectivity, technical glitches, device-related issues or other exceptional circumstances, so that willing workers are able to access employment and related benefits in accordance with the provisions of the Act. (e): No agriculture or allied work permissible under MGNREGS was discontinued or removed from the list of permissible works during the last five years. With the implementation of the Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Aajeevika Mission (Gramin): VB–G RAM G Act, 2025 with effect from 1st July, 2026, the list of permissible works has been comprehensively revised and expanded to align with the objectives of the new Act. The revised framework accords greater emphasis on Water Security, Core Rural Infrastructure, Livelihood- related Infrastructure and Mitigation of Extreme Weather Events, while continuing to support agriculture and allied sector activities through an expanded and integrated list of permissible works. ***** Page 3 of 6Annexure-I Annexure referred to in the reply to part (a) of Lok Sabha Starred Question No. 133 dated 28.07.2026. State/Union Territory wise including Chhattisgarh details of households that demanded work under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS during the period from June, 2025 to June, 2026 Number of Households who SI. State/UTs demanded work No. 2025-26 2026-27 1 Andaman and Nicobar 2483 1696 2 Andhra Pradesh 4716063 4221178 3 Arunachal Pradesh 342529 95969 4 Assam 1719592 1128071 5 Bihar 4853076 3662830 6 Chhattisgarh 2458225 1967253 Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman 7 and Diu 4593 3942 8 Goa 2055 974 9 Gujarat 612295 384910 10 Haryana 304036 53926 11 Himachal Pradesh 511189 114658 12 Jammu and Kashmir 772149 205039 13 Jharkhand 2344645 767985 14 Karnataka 2040109 1158712 15 Kerala 1252276 814400 16 Ladakh 33475 15167 17 Lakshadweep 5 18 Madhya Pradesh 4105797 1574555 19 Maharashtra 3562236 1810075 20 Manipur 544265 448788 21 Meghalaya 505755 207881 22 Mizoram 216101 208902 23 Nagaland 286636 138208 24 Odisha 2575357 903059 25 Puducherry 47700 24457 26 Punjab 646201 302196 27 Rajasthan 4565574 3113132 28 Sikkim 55635 3566 29 Tamil Nadu 5874658 3455887 30 Telangana 2016432 2442742 31 Tripura 589152 504010 32 Uttar Pradesh 5378482 1625846 33 Uttarakhand 389517 103603 34 West Bengal 3 13720 Total 5,33,28,291 3,14,77,342 Page 4 of 6Annexure-II Annexure referred to in the reply to part (b) of Lok Sabha Starred Question No. 133 dated 28.07.2026. State/Union Territory and year-wise details of Job Cards deleted under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS from 1st January 2021 to current financial year 2026-27 (as on 22.07.2026). SI. Number of Job Cards deleted State/UTs No. 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 Grand Total Andaman and 1 464 37 135 330 539 396 1901 Nicobar Andhra 2 110254 702856 2692922 202941 736913 28141 4474027 Pradesh Arunachal 3 9460 8398 14450 13557 11758 4735 62358 Pradesh 4 Assam 71556 174286 259381 552030 92615 145237 1295105 5 Bihar 1506995 4355680 2975277 1803457 200539 578942 11420890 6 Chhattisgarh 168500 158058 357730 401379 165532 233707 1484906 Dadra and Nagar Haveli 7 2 11 12 25 and Daman and Diu 8 Goa 11 13 30 55 12 4 125 9 Gujarat 52655 130808 364903 74152 35242 153188 810948 10 Haryana 11936 12234 7026 7829 4191 18358 61574 Himachal 11 10768 16810 16822 5527 24488 34711 109126 Pradesh Jammu And 12 60659 28696 52478 63650 118700 83227 407410 Kashmir 13 Jharkhand 209927 560061 775582 192565 57250 252262 2047647 14 Karnataka 33770 125942 196372 26538 120962 1177174 1680758 15 Kerala 25468 51740 174164 199304 32952 5889 489517 16 Ladakh 975 1167 1150 545 830 1480 6147 17 Lakshadweep 6 8 29 37 111 1 192 Madhya 18 1196818 287916 701156 179684 34435 310722 2710731 Pradesh 19 Maharashtra 30107 53840 54521 22144 72683 148518 381813 20 Manipur 5985 2599 5745 7351 3116 12119 36915 21 Meghalaya 6821 3797 14213 14180 3442 948 43401 22 Mizoram 11957 4466 4953 9758 19125 13207 63466 23 Nagaland 1052 3250 2796 8515 33916 23500 73029 24 Odisha 680594 1194762 1887015 354181 149642 526893 4793087 25 Puducherry 227 2453 2574 463 367 1576 7660 26 Punjab 56827 221293 199426 21981 51497 253894 804918 27 Rajasthan 137456 306512 655687 156202 58388 329419 1643664 28 Sikkim 1350 1433 2202 2116 1499 6161 14761 29 Tamil Nadu 166552 168258 606832 838966 81414 424121 2286143 30 Telangana 13111 139085 432828 109470 121072 17727 833293 31 Tripura 5802 5192 16680 8853 15070 19112 70709 32 Uttar Pradesh 1210002 3887312 4806792 147079 74574 738800 10864559 33 Uttarakhand 27940 114100 79736 46868 43336 113626 425606 34 West Bengal 16996 270106 2091078 8568 1764 229490 2618002 Total 5843001 12993168 19452687 5480286 2367986 5887285 52024413 Page 5 of 6State/Union Territory and year-wise details of workers involved in deleted Job Cards under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS from 1st January 2021 to current financial year 2026-27 (as on 22.07.2026). Number of workers deleted SI. State/UTs Grand No. 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 Total Andaman And 1 464 37 135 330 539 396 1901 Nicobar Andhra 2 441138 2026754 6678263 580400 1848755 95868 11671178 Pradesh Arunachal 3 33205 29578 62988 53417 43608 15160 237956 Pradesh 4 Assam 285265 667370 702306 1714944 336746 399765 4106396 5 Bihar 2280557 6680185 4472109 2823377 284491 787934 17328653 6 Chhattisgarh 589548 714084 1618613 1573608 634652 935621 6066126 Dadra and Nagar Haveli 7 121 181 201 80 583 and Daman and Diu 8 Goa 24 16 34 78 16 6 174 9 Gujarat 197540 490349 1028657 249566 122635 476809 2565556 10 Haryana 22525 19307 15666 20090 16031 51042 144661 Himachal 11 46251 73112 76658 33879 95566 126980 452446 Pradesh Jammu And 12 165544 81039 144184 189805 289816 229871 1100259 Kashmir 13 Jharkhand 445025 1086773 1689406 377830 122807 411160 4133001 14 Karnataka 199713 496583 910210 226677 813882 3991094 6638159 15 Kerala 65984 160817 468284 484768 92258 15404 1287515 16 Ladakh 2720 5720 4248 2517 3638 5313 24156 17 Lakshadweep 10 19 88 122 405 3 647 Madhya 18 4752899 1154825 2607403 781119 172276 1226223 10694745 Pradesh 19 Maharashtra 251024 313148 328275 151005 382822 630822 2057096 20 Manipur 44969 80903 113860 113215 56418 72601 481966 21 Meghalaya 23230 19459 111848 81801 20657 5710 262705 22 Mizoram 26423 10747 14163 27656 47984 36175 163148 23 Nagaland 4016 13050 13180 73920 246886 71004 422056 24 Odisha 2086641 3680990 5764789 1300435 457918 1477562 14768335 25 Puducherry 1518 23879 27747 2205 1040 3362 59751 26 Punjab 104831 370925 355225 45075 94144 435627 1405827 27 Rajasthan 815214 1564983 3071371 948226 319962 1110566 7830322 28 Sikkim 4392 4521 8512 8548 6312 17471 49756 29 Tamil Nadu 441804 436932 1560278 2150608 211089 903738 5704449 30 Telangana 58244 474901 1441792 431798 539444 78370 3024549 31 Tripura 28222 31682 92800 42512 79903 77170 352289 32 Uttar Pradesh 2027871 6400127 7937280 255864 138504 1252519 18012165 33 Uttarakhand 63287 267799 173441 163584 115392 284297 1067800 34 West Bengal 107188 1160743 7810027 34724 8322 914954 10035958 Total 15617286 28541357 49303961 14943884 7605119 16140677 132152284 ***** Page 6 of 6