Despite significant political controversy surrounding recent changes to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), the performance of the rural jobs scheme in Punjab has been notably underwhelming. The state's outcomes have consistently fallen short of both national and regional standards, according to a fresh analysis.
Political Pushback and Poor Performance
The introduction of the Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Aajeevika Mission (Gramin), which replaced MGNREGA, sparked sharp criticism across Punjab's political spectrum. Both the ruling Aam Aadmi Party government and the opposition condemned the central move, leading the state government to convene a special session of the Vidhan Sabha specifically to debate the amended scheme's provisions.
However, this political friction unfolded against a backdrop of already lackluster results. Data from an SBI Research analysis for the financial year 2025-2026 reveals a stark gap: Punjab provided an average of just 27 days of employment per household, which is significantly lower than the all-India average of 36 days.
Benchmarking Punjab's Lagging Indicators
A comparative look at other states highlights Punjab's position. While neighbouring Himachal Pradesh provided 35 days of work per household and Haryana offered 23 days, national leaders like Kerala, Jammu and Kashmir, and Odisha far outperformed them with 48, 47, and 42 days respectively.
The scale of implementation was another weak spot. Only about seven lakh households in Punjab worked under the scheme, generating 199 lakh person-days. This pales in comparison to states like Uttar Pradesh (1,854 lakh person-days) and Andhra Pradesh (1,610 lakh person-days). Even Himachal, with a smaller population, generated 166 lakh person-days.
A critical measure of success is the number of households receiving the full 100 days of guaranteed work. Here, Punjab's record was particularly poor, with only 4,091 households reaching the 100-day mark. This is far behind Himachal's 13,153 and a fraction of Maharashtra's 1,47,831 and Uttar Pradesh's 88,565.
Wages High, But Asset Creation Minimal
On one positive note, Punjab fared better on wage rates. The state's average daily wage stood at Rs 340, above the national average of Rs 267 and Himachal's Rs 300, though below Haryana's Rs 389.
However, the scheme's other core objective—creating durable rural assets—saw minimal progress in Punjab. The state reported individual asset creation of a mere 0.1 lakh, drastically lower than states like Bihar and Chhattisgarh, each at 5.5 lakh. This indicates a weak alignment of MGNREGA works with building productive infrastructure.
The assessment pointed to systemic inefficiencies, estimating that Punjab could have employed around 11.1 lakh households based on expenditure benchmarks, but actually employed only 8.3 lakh. This implies a shortfall of about 2.8 lakh households in a single year, representing a significant loss of potential employment.
Nationally, 5.78 crore households worked under MGNREGA in 2025, with an average expenditure of Rs 14,755 per household. States like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala have set a high benchmark in converting funds into employment and assets, a standard Punjab has yet to approach effectively.
