Demand for work under MGNREGA falls 35% in October, shows data

Demand for work under the flagship Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme continued to drop for the fourth successive month with 35.3 per cent less households demanding work in October as compared to the same month last year.  Some experts attributed the drop in demand to an improvement in economic activity in rural areas. While civil society was of the view that the drop could be due to a squeeze in funding after Centre directed states to cap MGNREGA labour budget spending to 60 per cent in the first six months.  The incessant rains in rural parts of the country that continued in October as well made several work sites inaccessible for labourers and could have contributed to halting the field work.