MGNREGA Job Card: The central government has issued a major update for the crores of workers covered under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA). The government has described e-KYC as the most accurate and easy method of job verification.
According to the Ministry of Rural Development, its purpose is to implement the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in a transparent and effective manner, so that rural families can benefit from it. Approximately 99.67% of active MNREGA workers are already linked to Aadhaar. It should be noted that 2.69 lakh gram panchayats are covered under the MNREGA scheme, in which there are more than 26 crore registered workers.
Renewal required every 5 years
According to the Union Ministry, job card verification is an ongoing process, although job card renewal is mandatory once every five years. To facilitate and support these legal processes, states and union territories have been requested to use the e-KYC feature already available in the NMMS app (National Mobile Monitoring System) for job card verification and subsequent renewal, following the existing process. This simple measure aims to help states complete verification in a timely, transparent, and efficient manner.
Since 99.67% of active workers are already seeded with Aadhaar, the e-KYC feature can be used as a simple, reliable, accurate, and efficient way to verify job cards. During e-KYC, the Village Employment Assistant/Worksite Supervisor/Mate/any other GP level employee takes a photo of the MNREGA worker (through the e-KYC feature on the NMMS app), which is digitally verified with his/her Aadhaar details in real time.
This process is completed in one minute by a single worker. The Ministry stated that the government is fully committed to ensuring transparency and accountability in implementing the scheme at the ground level and protecting the rights of every genuine worker so that they can continue to receive their rightful wage under the Act without any hindrance.