About 198.4 million person-days of work were generated in February, down 4.1% from 206.9 million in January, showed data compiled by the rural development ministry. However, on a year-on-year basis, February’s work generation figure was down by 25.5%.
The latest data shows that between April and February this fiscal, the generation of person-days hit 2739.8 million, down 19.1% from a year ago. This fiscal year, the generation of person-days was driven substantially by six states: Rajasthan (336.8 million), Tamil Nadu (298.4), Uttar Pradesh (298 million), Bihar (221.5 million), Madhya Pradesh (221.1 million) and Andhra Pradesh (220 million). However, the work generation until February this fiscal was still higher than the pre-pandemic level (up to the same month in FY20) by close to 16%.
Having hit an FY23 peak of 435.1 million in May 2022, the generation of person-days under MGNREGS eased to as low as 162.3 million in October. It once more inched up to 244.8 million in December before falling for two straight months to 198.4 million in February, data showed.