**Executive Summary**
This document is a response from the Minister of State in the Ministry of Rural Development to the Lok Sabha regarding the deletion of workers from the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) database. The questions addressed include the number of workers deleted between October 10th and November 14th, 2025, reasons for deletion, details of deletions and additions over the past three years, and the impact of e-KYC requirements on workers. The response states that job card updation/deletion is a regular process and that no one can be denied work or wages due to non-verification through e-KYC.
**Key Points / Main Content**
* **MGNREGS Implementation:**
* Mahatma Gandhi NREGS is a demand-driven wage employment scheme.
* Implementation is the responsibility of State/Union Territory governments.
* **Job Card Management:**
* Updation/deletion of job cards is a regular exercise conducted by States/UTs.
* Job cards are deleted mainly for reasons such as fake/duplicate/incorrect job cards, family permanently shifted, or expired members.
* States/UTs must comply with the Act and Standard Operating Procedure to ensure deserving households are not deleted/canceled.
* **Deletion/Addition Data:**
* State/UT-wise number of workers deleted from job cards between October 10th and November 14th, 2025, is provided in Annexure-I.
* Details and numbers of workers deleted/added in the last three years and the current year, year-wise and State-wise, are in Annexure-II.
* **e-KYC and Job Card Verification:**
* Job card verification is a continuous process, with renewals required every 5 years.
* States/UTs are requested to use the e-KYC feature in the NMMS app.
* e-KYC aims to assist States/UTs in timely, transparent, and efficient job card verification.
* States have been advised to resolve issues like network connectivity.
* Verification using e-KYC started on September 1st, 2025, and is ongoing.
* As of December 11th, 2025, e-KYC of 65.05% of Active workers have been completed.
* No one can be denied work or wages due to non-verification through e-KYC.
**Impact Analysis**
**Stakeholder: State/Union Territory (UT) Governments**
* **Impact**: Responsible for implementing the MGNREGS scheme and managing job card updation/deletion in compliance with the Act and Standard Operating Procedures.
* **Action Required**: Ensure compliance with the Act and SOP while deleting/removing workers/job cards. Utilize the e-KYC feature in the NMMS app for efficient and transparent job card verification and renewal. Resolve network connectivity issues to facilitate e-KYC.
**Stakeholder: MGNREGS Workers**
* **Impact**: Subject to job card verification and potential deletion based on factors like duplicate cards, relocation, or outdated information.
* **Action Required**: Cooperate with e-KYC verification process. No worker will be denied wages due to non-verification through e-KYC.
Key Entities Referenced
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS): A demand-driven wage employment scheme aimed at enhancing livelihood security of households in rural areas of India by providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.
Ministry of Rural Development: The Indian government ministry primarily responsible for implementing rural development programs aimed at poverty reduction and improving rural livelihoods.
States/UTs: The policy implementation of MGNREGS is vested with the concerned States/Union Territories of India.
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT
DEPARTMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT
LOK SABHA
UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2751
ANSWERED ON 16/12/2025
Deletion of Workers from MGNREGS
2751. Com. Selvaraj V:
Shri Subbarayan K:
Shri Anand Bhadauria:
Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:
(a) whether twenty seven lakh workers have been deleted from
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme
(MGNREGS) database from 10th October to 14th November, 2025,
if so, the details thereof, State-wise;
(b) the reasons for such huge deletion from MGNREGS database in
a single month period;
(c) the details and number of workers deleted from MGNREGS
database during the last three years and the current year, year-
wise and State-wise;
(d) the details and number of new workers added in MGNREGS
database during the last three years, year and State-wise;
(e) whether it is a fact that the Centre has mandated e-KYC and any
discrepancy in workers name, photo, Aadhaar card, job card,
bank account etc. is enough to deny work and wages to workers
under MGNREGS; and
(f) if so, the details thereof and the measures taken to help workers
who are not accustomed to all these digital frameworks ?
ANSWER
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT
(SHRI KAMLESH PASWAN)
(a) & (b): Mahatma Gandhi NREGS is a demand-driven wage
employment scheme and the responsibility of implementation of the
scheme is vested with the Government of the concerned States/UTs.
Updation/deletion of Job Cards is a regular exercise conducted by the
States/UTs. Job cards have been deleted mainly for the reasons such
Page 1 of 4as fake/duplicate/incorrect job cards, family shifted from Gram
Panchayat permanently, Gram Panchayat classified as Urban and
there was only one member name in the job card he/she has expired
etc. However, while deleting/ removing workers/Job cards,
States/UTs have to ensure compliance with provisions of the Act and
the Standard Operating Procedure issued by the Ministry to ensure
that no job card of deserving or eligible household is
deleted/cancelled. State/Union Territory(UT)-wise number of workers
deleted from job cards under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS during the
period of 10-10-2025 to 14-11-2025 are given in Annexure-I
(c) & (d): The details and number of workers deleted from Mahatma
Gandhi NREGS database during the last three years and the current
year, year-wise and State-wise; and the details and number of new
workers added in Mahatma Gandhi NREGS database during the last
three years, year-wise and State-wise; are given in Annexure-II.
(e) & (f): Job card verification is a continuous process, as job card
renewal is required to be done once in 5 years under Mahatma
Gandhi NREGS. To simplify and support these statutory
processes, States/UTs have been requested to utilize the e-KYC
feature already available in the NMMS app (National Mobile
Monitoring System) for job card verification and subsequent renewal
after following extant processes. This is intended to assist
States/UTs in carrying out job card verification in a timely,
transparent, and efficient manner. As 99.67% active workers’
Aadhaar have already been seeded, e-KYC feature could be used as
a simple, reliable, accurate and efficient way of verification of job
cards. States have been advised to take necessary measures to make
the process as smooth as possible by resolving issues like network
connectivity etc. e-KYC can be done anywhere as decided by the
State such as- at worksite, special camps organised by the Gram
Panchayat etc. This is a progressive step aimed at strengthening
transparency, efficiency, and ease of service delivery under the
Mahatma Gandhi NREGS. The ground level functionaries have been
adequately oriented, sensitized and trained through various fora to
make the verification process as smooth as possible. Verification of
job cards using e-KYC started from 01.09.2025 and it is still going on.
So far e-KYC of 65.05% of Active workers have been completed as on
11.12.2025. It is stated that no one can be denied work or wages due
to non verification through e-KYC.
*****
Page 2 of 4Annexure-I
Annexure referred to in reply to parts (a) & (b) of Lok Sabha Unstarred
Question No. 2751 dated 16.12.2025.
State/Union Territory(UT)-wise number of workers deleted from
Mahatma Gandhi NREGS during the period of 10-10-2025 to 14-
11-2025.
Sl. No. State/UTs Number of workers deleted
1 Andaman And Nicobar 130
2 Andhra Pradesh 1107339
3 Arunachal Pradesh 896
4 Assam 6920
5 Bihar 9610
6 Chhattisgarh 65619
7 Goa 2
8 Gujarat 5433
9 Haryana 309
10 Himachal Pradesh 9877
11 Jammu And Kashmir 79070
12 Jharkhand 2724
13 Karnataka 27004
14 Kerala 20124
15 Ladakh 604
16 Lakshadweep 18
17 Madhya Pradesh 5327
18 Maharashtra 15061
19 Manipur 1111
20 Meghalaya 532
21 Mizoram 1480
22 Nagaland 1254
23 Odisha 80896
24 Puducherry 3
25 Punjab 16898
26 Rajasthan 13701
27 Sikkim 1543
28 Tamil Nadu 33090
29 Telangana 95084
30 Tripura 6341
31 Uttar Pradesh 17236
32 Uttarakhand 6526
Grand Total 1631762
Page 3 of 4Annexure-II
Annexure referred to in reply to parts (c) & (d) of Lok Sabha Unstarred
Question No. 2751 dated 16.12.2025.
2022-2023 2023-2024 2024-2025 2025-2026
Sl.
No. of No. of No. of No. of No. of No. of No. of No. of
No States/Uts
workers workers workers workers workers workers workers workers
.
deleted added deleted added deleted added deleted added
ANDHRA
7517856 420892 1096736 545193 461733 647818 1838628 466136
1 PRADESH
ARUNACHAL
34433 31492 58257 32907 58854 34487 31788 27285
2 PRADESH
3 ASSAM 608253 1117601 792138 442061 1819212 629904 109634 1097275
4 BIHAR 8900402 1360719 3178680 1185465 1561159 10134595 113296 1758713
5 CHHATTISGARH 1186037 302701 1395412 300728 1489327 502830 492178 502120
6 GOA 24 789 34 462 73 534 12 999
7 GUJARAT 559478 320480 975994 301571 174331 1077181 68031 174782
8 HARYANA 17997 73693 18939 125142 18466 147281 10793 196117
HIMACHAL
78439 84467 77015 93968 29714 108638 65797 35302
9 PRADESH
JAMMU AND
107120 105093 212281 74125 103808 185737 241590 98971
10 KASHMIR
11 JHARKHAND 2030163 555847 654727 996998 363396 640445 54112 380195
12 KARNATAKA 855967 860226 547661 577386 243101 458579 536372 339390
13 KERALA 348598 180684 540033 149608 213578 154436 80517 145488
14 LADAKH 7130 2713 3209 1544 2342 1364 3378 2154
MADHYA
1471373 1099487 2698235 887779 224539 1006749 69874 641711
15 PRADESH
16 MAHARASHTRA 428628 869634 227851 1357519 156962 1291870 276271 3658135
17 MANIPUR 90027 29996 127349 52178 93300 63004 40784 52734
18 MEGHALAYA 20466 47838 118486 59420 76109 71766 16628 45759
19 MIZORAM 10269 9959 15010 12102 28339 21118 21781 20622
20 NAGALAND 15155 29402 21754 26295 90310 76118 225264 63368
21 ODISHA 7686413 627397 1499868 601525 1122016 1283764 346144 446436
22 PUNJAB 598046 145722 127741 131897 45142 238015 64448 112911
23 RAJASTHAN 3046893 587522 2151059 651639 313844 1032942 183202 389222
24 SIKKIM 4528 4630 8792 4491 9200 3843 4828 2977
25 TAMIL NADU 782200 361637 1690416 438711 1716015 256050 141364 109197
26 TELANGANA 1723810 157046 302478 263883 335382 233119 500698 57841
27 TRIPURA 37486 56381 103710 47169 44239 63607 63131 37576
UTTAR
8024982 1132879 5600653 842136 154356 2593617 72352 1249392
28 PRADESH
29 UTTARAKHAND 355786 53883 124556 54818 169132 56553 59524 29983
30 WEST BENGAL 8340066 405325 603689 14072 38642 10692 103 11335
ANDAMAN AND
320 912 190 1146 765 784 1096 897
31 NICOBAR
DN HAVELI AND
0 265 145 1224 172 7809 186 4600
32 DD
33 LAKSHADWEEP 63 193 86 394 137 71 345 89
34 PUDUCHERRY 49528 2131 2068 7752 2267 3075 568 2134
Total 54937936 11039636 24975252 10283308 11159962 23038395 5734717 12161846
*****
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