The Centre has made it mandatory for the attendance of MGNREGA labourers to be registered on a mobile app twice daily, prompting civil society organisations to flag connectivity gaps and express fears about an attempt to drive down the volume of payouts.

The mobile app was put in place in May last year but it was voluntary then. Last month, the Centre made it mandatory for officials overseeing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) schemes at the panchayat level to upload photographs of the labourers at the worksites twice a day.

The People’s Actions for Employment Guarantee and the NREGA Sangharsh Morcha on Tuesday alleged that the online registration of attendance was being severely incapacitated by feeble Internet connectivity in rural areas.

“Earlier, gram panchayats used to maintain attendance in physical form. That has been discontinued from January 2023. Photographs of workers have to be taken twice a day at the worksites and uploaded on the MGNREGA website immediately. Connectivity is poor in many rural areas. Even though they work, their attendance is not getting registered,” said Vijay Ram of the People’s Actions for Employment Guarantee.

Social activist Nikhil Dey said the government “has come up with different tactics to suppress the expenses under the MGNREGA so that its low allocation can be justified”.

Nearly 9 crore workers are active under the MGNREGA. If they work 100 days a year, the government’s outgo will be Rs 2.72 lakh crore. However, the government allocated around Rs 73,000 crore in 2022.