Tamil Nadu bucks national trend, steep increase in demand for jobs under MGNREGS

Chennai

While bucking the nationwide trend, Tamil Nadu’s few districts witnessed a sharp rise in the demand for jobs last month.

Villupuram district has seen 100 per cent growth with 3.03 lakh persons demanding work in May compared to 1.51 lakh in the same month last year, as per the data of MGNREGS. The Cauvery delta districts Nagapattinam and Tiruvarur saw an increase in the demand for rural jobs. In Nagapattinam, 2.11 lakh workers sough job under the MGNREGS while 1.37 lakh in Tiruvarur. Madurai, Sivaganga and Tirunelveli districts in south Tamil Nadu also witnessed increase in the work. Villupuram MP and VCK general secretary D Ravikumar said with 86 per cent of the district being rural-based, there was always a demand for the jobs under the central scheme. “Earlier, the State allocated less fund compared to the demand for the work in the district. This year, the allocation was higher and hence the officials have shown the real work demand figure,” he said, adding with no other industries, only jobs available for the local people are agricultural-based which also getting reduced over the years.

When asked why the State bucked the national trend in the job demand, a senior official at the State Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Directorate opined that the State had always generated a record number of the person days and provided jobs to all those who had demanded.

Tamil Nadu Vivasaigal Sangam general secretary P Shanmugham said that the agricultural workers would normally migrate to the neighbouring districts including Kerala and Karnataka after the harvesting season ends in February and March. “Due to the lockdown, the majority of the workers were not able to visit the neighbouring states for agricultural works. Hence the demand for jobs might have gone up under the MGNREGS,” he said.

With the State government directing not to allow persons over 55 years to be engaged in the rural jobs, he said several families were finding themselves jobless with the family members below 55 years of age did not have job cards.