Aadhaar-Based payment Compulsory for MGNREGS from September 1

New Delhi: Aadhaar-based payment system will be the only mode of payment to workers under the MGNREGS from September 1.

In January 2023, Aadhaar-based payment system (ABPS) was made mandatory for the payment of wages to workers enrolled under the MGNREGS. The initial deadline for it was February 1, which was extended to March 31, then to June 30, and lastly to August 31.

According to reports, the rural development ministry is not ready to extend the deadline further as over 90 per cent of active workers’ accounts have already been linked with Aadhaar.

By June out of the total 14.28 crore active MGNREGS beneficiaries, the Aadhaar number was seeded with 13.75 crore.

In May 2023, about 88 per cent of the wage payments were made through ABPS.

The rural development minister Giriraj Singh said in the monsoon session of the Parliament that bank accounts of around 1.13 crore MGNREGS workers, or around eight per cent of the total active workers under the scheme, were not yet seeded with Aadhaar.