Gujarat removes 22.68 lakh workers from MGNREGA records
AHMEDABAD: Fresh official data tabled in Lok Sabha on 9th December paints an alarming picture of mass deletions under MGNREGA in Gujarat. From 2019-20 to 2024-25, over 7.49 lakh job cards were deleted, and nearly 22.68 lakh workers were removed from job cards, raising serious questions on transparency, eligibility checks, and the future of rural livelihood support in the state. A new data disclosure in Lok Sabha on Tuesday has opened a sharp debate on transparency and accountability in Gujarats implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA). The Union Ministry of Rural Development has reported a massive and accelerating deletion trend, which is reshaping the ground reality of rural employment in the state. The numbers tell a stark story. Gujarat has seen a year-on-year rise in deletion of job cards, beginning with 40,314 deletions in 2019-20, jumping to 1,31,080 in 2020-21, dipping slightly to 40,289 in 2021-22, only to spike again with 1,46,141 deletions in 2022-23. The situation intensified dramatically in 2023-24, where deletions ballooned to 3,38,533 job cards the highest in five years. Even in the ongoing financial year 2024-25, the deletion trend continues with 53,616 job cards already removed, signalling the process is far from slowing. But job cards arent the only concern worker deletion data is even more staggering. Between 2019-20 and 2023-24, Gujarat removed workers linked to job cards at an unprecedented scale: In 2019-20, Gujarat removed 1,54,654 workers from the MGNREGA registry a baseline that almost tripled the following year with 4,35,435 deletions in 2020-21. The trend briefly dipped in 2021-22, recording 1,43,195 removals, only to surge again in subsequent years. By 2022-23, deletions jumped dramatically to 5,59,478, marking a significant expansion in exclusion from the programme. The sharpest rise came in 2023-24, when the number nearly doubled again, reaching 9,75,994 deleted workers the highest point in the five-year dataset. This means worker deletions increased over six times between 2019-20 and 2023-24, creating a pattern that demands deeper scrutiny. Even in a shorter review span between October 10, 2025, and November 14, 2025, Gujarat deleted 5,433 workers, proving that the purge continues. The Central government attempted to justify the deletions, stating they were based on reasons such as fake or duplicate entries, incorrect registration, migration, gram panchayats reclassified as urban, or cases where the sole member listed on the job card had died. Officials further insisted that states must ensure that no eligible or deserving household is excluded, and must follow strict Standard Operating Procedures before deleting any job card or worker record. However, the wider national picture raises more questions than answers. The government admitted that, between 2019-20 and 2024-25, states across India deleted 4.57 crore (457.97 lakh) job cards, even as 6.54 crore (654.22 lakh) new job cards were issued during the same period. This wide replacement pattern suggests either large-scale system corrections or equally large-scale instability in the database and beneficiary continuity. Together, these numbers create a narrative that is both revealing and unsettling. The data indicates a churn rather than a stable beneficiary system, prompting concerns over whether genuine workers are losing access to guaranteed employment a constitutional rural safety net meant to support the most vulnerable.
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