Seeing a blip: MGNREGA work demand is down nearly 32%, shows data

Demand for work under the flagship MGNREGA scheme continued to drop for the fifth successive month in this financial year in November 2025 with around 32 percent less household demanding work in November as compared to the same month last year. The data was as seen at 1935 hours on December 1, 2025. In Fy-26, May and June were the only two months so far that saw a slight uptick in work demand under the scheme as compared to their corresponding months of the previous year (FY-25). Some experts said that drop in demand is mainly due to an improvement in economic activity in rural areas. While civil society felt the drop could be due to a squeeze in funding with Centre directing states to cap MGNREGA labour budget spending to 60 per cent in the first six month. Though rains had dried up in November, fewer workers turned up at the worksites demanding work as per the official data.