The payment of nearly ₹7,340 crore in wages to unskilled labour in Tamil Nadu under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) during 2021-22, marking one of the highs in the country, illustrates the State’s performance in tackling poverty when the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Week is being observed globally.
(According to an official of the Rural Development Department, the amount of wages paid to unskilled labour last year was around ₹7,340 crore and the expenditure towards materials and skilled labour was ₹3,427 crore.)
As the State was in the midst of the virulent second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic last year, the effective implementation of the MGNREGS, which meant the completion of around 4.87 lakh works and the provision of jobs to almost 80 lakh individuals, had ensured numerous families in rural parts stayed above the poverty line. There were issues concerning the disbursal of wages in view of the time taken for the fund transfer from the Centre to the State. Yet, the State got around ₹1,000 crore more last year than in 2020-21.
