Between October 10 and November 14, 2025, around 27 lakh workers were removed from the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) database across India. This came as electronic Know Your Customer (e-KYC) became compulsory for all active workers, causing concern among rural communities, activists, and opposition parties. The number of workers deleted is far higher than the 10.5 lakh new names added in the same period, leading to a net loss that has reversed several months of growth in rural job numbers.

Sudden Reversal in Rural Employment Growth

For the first half of the financial year 2025-26, MGNREGA saw healthy expansion. Between April and September, there was a net addition of 83.6 lakh workers. The system had added 98.8 lakh new workers, while 15.2 lakh were deleted. However, by mid-November, net additions sank sharply to 66.5 lakh, meaning a loss of 17 lakh workers in a single month. Strikingly, six lakh among those deleted were active workers who had availed of employment under the scheme in the last three years. The deletions were not just numbers—they were names of real individuals depending on this job lifeline.​

e-KYC Mandate

The government made e-KYC compulsory from 1 November. The new process requires MGNREGA field supervisors to capture workers’ photographs twice each day using the National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS), with those images linked to Aadhaar records for verification. The authorities state that the system is meant to weed out duplicates or ineligible beneficiaries, but reports from the ground reveal many genuine workers facing hurdles. In some cases, technical mismatches, outdated Aadhaar information, and the NMMS app’s teething problems contributed to wrongful deletions, according to activists and researchers.

Andhra Pradesh, which achieved a 78.4 percent e-KYC completion rate, reported the highest deletions at around 15.92 lakh. Similar trends were seen in Tamil Nadu (30,529 deletions, 67.6 percent e-KYC) and Chhattisgarh (1.04 lakh deletions, 66.6 percent e-KYC). This shows a clear pattern: where digital verification has moved faster, the number of deletions has been steeper.​

Official Stand

Government officials have defended the digital push, saying that deletion of job cards is a standard routine, managed by states and not directly tied to the e-KYC process. The Ministry asserts that the e-KYC is only to ensure genuine beneficiaries, remove “ghost” workers, and enhance transparency. Standard procedures, such as public notice and a chance for appeal, must be followed before deleting any job card.

However, opposition leaders have called this a systematic weakening of the rural jobs scheme. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh questioned the act, calling it an “attempt to deny India’s rural poor their legislative right to employment.” He demanded an immediate stop to mandatory digital technologies, such as the Aadhaar-Based Payment System (ABPS) and the NMMS. Critics point to previous years: over 5.48 crore workers’ job cards were deleted in 2022-23, a sharp rise from earlier years, indicating a deepening issue.​

Widespread Impact on Rural Livelihoods

These changes matter profoundly for rural India. The MGNREGA remains a crucial source of guaranteed employment, promising up to 100 days of wage work each year for rural households. A mass removal of workers, especially those who are still active, threatens the core aims of the scheme. Many who fail digital authentication or struggle with app-based processes risk being left out despite genuine need and eligibility.

Researchers and activists warn that technology-driven exclusion could hurt vulnerable people, especially women, the elderly, and those in remote regions with patchy internet or documentation issues. Several states have seen dramatic declines in job numbers and total workdays since the digital changes came in.

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