In a letter to states, the ministry of rural development has asked them to try and ensure that this exercise is over by May end, a senior official told ET.
The government has decided to make the Aadhaar-Based Payment System (ABPS) compulsory for settling wages under the scheme from July 1.
An earlier directive to states to switch fully to the ABPS from February 1 had evoked protests by activists and workers, many of whom claimed that workers were being deprived of payments due to technical glitches.
The rural development ministry then decided to continue to allow payments through both ABPS and the existing electronic payment mechanism via the National Automated Clearing House (NACH) until March 31.
It later extended the deadline to June 30.
The NACH, set up by National Payments Corporation of India, is a fund-clearing platform that facilitates recurring interbank transactions electronically.The ABPS typically uses the Aadhaar number to identify beneficiaries for fund transfer, while the NACH uses their bank account details.
According to the latest official data, there are about 143 million active workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS).
Last month, the ministry had said Aadhaar seeding of 95.4% of these workers had been done in NREGASoft, an e-governance system that captures all the activities under this scheme. Of them, over 100 million workers have been registered under the ABPS.
SMS alerts
The Centre has also decided to introduce a system under which all MGNREGS workers will receive regular SMS alerts on their phones not just after they complete a day’s work but also once the wages are released to their bank accounts, said the official. The SMS will also contain the bank account number to which the payment has been released to help workers having multiple accounts.
It has asked states to update the phone numbers of workers in records.
The move came after senior rural development ministry officials recently held talks with representatives of eight states and 16 civil society and other organisations associated with the MGNREGS to hear their grievances on the operational aspects of the scheme, he added.
Demand for work under the MGNREGS hit a 10-month peak in April, on the back of seasonal factors like subdued agricultural activities. However, on a year-on-year basis, work demand eased over 3% in April, showed the provisional data.