From people’s scheme to tech quagmire: How digital ‘surgical strike’ hits MGNREGA workers

In a post-budget statement by the Peoples’ Action for Employment Guarantee (PAEG) and NREGA Sangharsh Morcha (NSM), activists and academics hit out against the low allocation for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) this year.

“Instead of adequately funding the programme, the Union government has repeatedly resorted to needless technical tinkering. The National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS) application for capturing workers’ attendance, mandated in the current FY, is one such anti-worker intervention,” they said.