Demand under rural jobs scheme eases again in May
Demand for work under the government's flagship rural job guarantee scheme fell for a seventh straight month through May, indicating stronger economic conditions at the start of the new financial year.
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Work demand under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) drops when better-paying employment opportunities are available.
According to preliminary data compiled by the rural development ministry, about 37.46 million individuals sought work in May under the scheme, down 12.1% from a year earlier. Similarly, members of 27.18 million households sought work in May, representing a 14.3% drop from a year before.
While work demand under the scheme tends to peak during the summer months, heat waves over vast swathes of India last month have weighed on demand, experts said.
«Elections may not have impacted demand much. During the last general election (in April-May 2019), MGNREGS work demand had risen from the previous year. Economic activity, or lack of it, is usually the biggest driver of such a demand,» said an official.
Heat waves and possible temporary delay in fund flow during elections may have impacted work demand last month, apart from strong economic activity, said NR Bhanumurthy, vice chancellor of BASE University in Bengaluru and lead author of a study in 2012-13 on unspent MGNREGS allocations. The preliminary data
