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- Recently, the Aadhaar-based payment system (ABPS) became MANDATORY for MGNREGA workers.
- Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) gives a legal guarantee of a hundred days of wage employment in a year to adult members of a rural household willing for unskilled manual work.
- MGNREGS has utilized APBS since 2017 and is made mandatory now (from 1st January).
- Government may consider exemption on a case to-case basis if any Gram Panchayat has either a technical problem or an Aadhaar-related problem.
- ABPS working
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- ABPS uses the worker’s unique 12-digit Aadhaar number as their financial address.
- To be paid under ABPS,
- A worker’s Aadhaar details must be seeded to her job card;
- Her Aadhaar details must be seeded to her bank account;
- Her Aadhaar must be mapped with the National Payments Corporation of India (NCPI) database.
- Significance of the move
- Curbing corruption by weeding out fake beneficiaries.
- Will ensure speedy payments and reduce rejection (due to change of bank account of beneficiaries).
Other Changes To Make MGNREGS Efficient
- National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS) app for attendance of MGNREGS workers
- SECURE application for estimating preparation and approval for MGNREGS works
- Geo-MGNREGA for geo-tagging of all completed works
- Project “UNNATI” to upgrade the skill base of the MGNREGS workers