The individuals demanding work represented 16.1 million households in August, down 16% from a year before.
Plentiful monsoon showers in August also aided the typical migration of unskilled workers to agriculture during the kharif crop sowing season, reducing demand for unskilled jobs under the NREGS, experts said.
Erratic rains had kept up demand for NREGS work in August 2023, up 19.5% from a year earlier. But the situation reversed this year, with plentiful showers–particularly since July-saw a 7% rainfall surplus so far in the June-September monsoon season.
Sequentially too, fewer people and households sought work this year and their numbers dropped 16.6% and 14.9%, respectively, in August from the previous month.
The International Monetary Fund has forecast India will remain world’s fastest-growing major economy in the current fiscal year and the next, with rates of expansion touching 7% and 6.5%, respectively, more than double the global averages.
Demand slows from key states
Fewer individuals from major beneficiary states sought NREGS work in August. The demand dropped 79% in Jharkhand, 41% in Chhattisgarh and 39% in Madhya Pradesh.