Parliament Question: Monitoring of MGNREGS in Kerala

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1419 ANSWERED ON 09/12/2025 MONITORING OF MGNREGS IN KERALA 1419. Dr. ShashiTharoor: Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state: (a) the details and total number of cases of financial misappropriation detected under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in Kerala during the last three financial years and the total amount misappropriated; (b) the details and total number of fake job cards deleted in Kerala during the last three financial years; (c) whether the Ministry has conducted any social audits in Kerala to assess the implementation of MGNREGS, if so, the findings thereof; (d) the steps taken to recover misappropriated funds in Kerala, and the amount recovered so far; and (e) the measures implemented to strengthen monitoring and accountability in the implementation of MGNREGS in Kerala, including the use of technology and social audits? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (SHRI KAMLESH PASWAN) (a): As per the information furnished by the Government of Kerala, the details of cases of financial misappropriation detected under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGS) during the last three financial years are as under: Financial Number of cases of financial Amount Year misappropriation Identified Rs 2022-23 394 27,90,206 2023-24 2185 54,68,709 2024-25 5732 51,49,568 Page 1 of 6(b): Details of fake job cards deleted in Kerala Mahatma Gandhi NREGS during the last three financial years are given below: Financial Year Number of fake job cards deleted* 2022-23 1471 2023-24 316 2024-25 108 * As per the information received from the Kerala Government, since at the time of deletion of job cards, there was no option available in the NREGA Soft to mark the job card as duplicate hence, the Gram Panchayat officials have deleted the duplicate job cards by giving the reason of fake job cards. (c): An independent Social Audit Unit has been established in the state of Kerala for conducting Social Audit. This audit process is conducted once in every six months for all works taken up under the scheme. The details of Social Audit conducted in the last three financial years are given at Annexure-I. (d): Action has been taken to recover the amount involved in the financial misappropriation cases. The details of the amount recovered so far given below. Financial Year Amount recovered (in Rs.) 2022-23 27,90,206 2023-24 54,68,709 2024-25 51,49,568 (e): Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGS) is a demand-driven wage employment Scheme. The Scheme is implemented on an end-to-end integrated transaction-based Management Information System (MIS) platform called NREGASoft. Through this, all aspects relating to planning, administrative and technical approval of the scheme, issue of job cards, acceptance of demand, issue of muster roll, measurement of work, approval of payment and finally payment to the beneficiary through a Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT)-Public Financial Management System (PFMS) platform are monitored. Page 2 of 6Transparency and accountability are the prime focus of the scheme. Ministry of Rural Development has adopted robust process for ensuring transparency and accountability in the implementation of the scheme across the States/UTs. A brief note on the various monitoring and evaluation arrangements, including technological interventions made for ensuring proper utilization of the funds released under the scheme is given at Annexure-II. ***** Page 3 of 6Annexure-I Annexure referred to in reply to part (c) of LokSabhaUnstarred Question No. 1419 dated 09.12.2025. Financial Total No. of GPs No. of Audit Financial Major Findings in Social Audit Year No. of where observations Misappropriation GPs Social Audit Recoveries done conducted 2022 – 23 941 936 6,894 27,90,206  Issues related to Citizen Information Board Installation.  Measurement related 2023 - 24 941 941 14,968 54,68,709 issues.  Wages were paid to workers who marked attendance in NMMS but were marked absent in the manual muster roll.  More labour days were 2024 – 25 941 941 48,420 51,49,568 provided for LIFE/PMAY houses than the stage of completion warranted.  Overwriting/corrections in the entries recorded in the M-Book.  Worksite facilities are not fully provided.  RozgarDiwas is not being conducted regularly. Page 4 of 6Annexure-II Annexure referred to in reply to part (e) of LokSabhaUnstarred Question No. 1419 dated 09.12.2025. i. Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT): Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) system in wage payment has been adopted under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGS). The payment of wages to the bank/ post office accounts of Mahatma Gandhi NREGS workers is through National Electronic Fund Management System (NeFMS)/Electronic Fund Management System (eFMS). ii. National Mobile Monitoring Service (NMMS): It enables capturing of attendance of workers at Mahatma Gandhi NREGA worksites (except for individual beneficiary works) along with geo-tagged photographs twice in a day. This app aids in increasing citizen oversight of the programme. This is one more step towards transparency and accountability. iii. Area Officer Monitoring Visit Application: This App facilitates the officials of the State/UT to record their field visit findings online. The App also allows the officials to record time- stamped and geotagged photographs for all the schemes launched by the Department of Rural Development. Also, this App helps in developing hassle-free reporting of the field visits. This app records the field visit findings and views the field visit outcome report by the senior officials. iv. GIS based plan: Use of Space Technology: GIS based GP level plan (ridge to valley approach) preparation using Remote Sensing technology in a saturation mode for all the GPs of the country. v. Yuktdhara: GIS based planning tool – To simplify the GIS based planning at GP level under Mahatma Gandhi NREGA “Yuktdhara” a Geospatial planning portal is developed in collaboration with ISRO-NRSC. vi. SECURE: Software for Estimate Calculation for using Rural Rates for Employment :-Application is being used to estimate the cost of works to be undertaken under the scheme. vii. GeoNREGA: the app has been developed by using Space Technology to track the creation of assets by geotagging it, at “Before”, “During” and “After” stages of the asset creation. viii. JALDOOT App: JALDOOT app has been developed to enable monitoring of ground water tables across the country. The Page 5 of 6Jaldoot app enables Gram RojgarSahayak (GRS) to measure the water level of selected wells twice a year (pre- monsoonand post-monsoon). ix. JANMANREGA app: this app helps in proactive disclosure of information to its citizens in reference to the implementation of Mahatma Gandhi NREGS. Citizen awareness is a key to efficient, effective, and transparent execution of the scheme. x. Ombudsperson App: An Ombudsperson App has been developed for smooth reporting and categorization of grievances received from various sources viz. physical, digital and mass media related to the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi NREGS, easy tracking and timely passing of awards on each case as per the guidelines and easy uploading of quarterly and annual report on the website. xi. Social Audit: As per the mandate of the Act, the Ministry has laid emphasis on the setting up of an institutional structure at the States/UTs level for facilitating social audits of all the Gram Panchayats at least twice a year. With the consistent efforts by Ministry, a total of 27 States and 1 UT have established Independent Social Audit Units. Further, monitoring by National level monitors, regular and special monitoring, monitoring by team of central government officers, monitoring visits by Common review Mission teams, monitoring through use of Area Officers app is being conducted for better implementation of the programme. Also, State/UT specific reviews are also undertaken from time to time. ***** Page 6 of 6