Mandatory Aadhaar-eKYC for wages excludes over half of 53 lakh job-card holders in the state; only 48.5 per cent completed it by October 2025 due to poor connectivity, device issues, and migrant challenges.

The rural employment emergency safety net in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is showing alarming signs of strain in Telangana. According to a fresh analysis by LibTech India covering April to September 2025, the number of work-days generated under MGNREGA in the state fell by 47.6 per cent compared to the same half-year period in 2024, far outpacing the national decline of 10.4 per cent.

This fall does not reflect just a small hiccup – what the report calls a sharp “systemic contraction” in the guarantee of employment for rural households in Telangana.

Steep Decline in People and Work-days

The LibTech India briefing shows that in April–September 2024, roughly 25.33 lakh unique households in Telangana participated under MGNREGA. But in the same period in 2025, that number dropped to 19.94 lakh – a decline of 21.3 per cent.

Further, average person-days per household plunged from around 41 days to just 27 days.

Although the daily wage rate under MGNREGA in Telangana was raised from ₹300 to ₹307 in 2025–26, this did nothing to offset the drastic drop in days of work. As a result, average household income from MGNREGA work in the state fell by about 19.4 per cent – from ₹8,690 in FY 2024–25 to ₹7,004 in FY 2025–26.

In effect, households lost nearly ₹3,515 in potential income because fewer work-days were provided.

Broad-based Across Districts and Communities

The decline is not limited to a few pockets. Every one of the state’s 32 districts recorded a drop in person-days. The steepest were in Medchal (-92.8 per cent), Jogulamba Gadwal (-72.6 per cent), Kamareddy (-68.7 per cent) and Nizamabad (-67.1 per cent).

From a social-category perspective, the work-day shortfall affected all groups: Scheduled Caste households (-48.3 per cent), Scheduled Tribe households (-41.7 per cent), and other households (-49.5 per cent).

The report points to administrative bottlenecks and digital compliance triggers as key drivers of the drop. Notably, Telangana hasn’t carried out a large‐scale renewal of job-cards in recent years; during the earlier introduction of Aadhaar‐based payments in 2022-23 more than 5.1 lakh job-cards were deleted.

In the most recent cycle, the introduction of mandatory Aadhaar-eKYC for wage disbursement is flagged as a barrier. Of approximately 53 lakh registered job-card holders in the state, only 48.5 per cent had completed e-KYC as of October 2025, meaning over half remain unverified and risk exclusion from work and payments. Field notes in the report mention problems such as weak connectivity, device compatibility, and migrant workers being unable to complete verification from remote locations.

Why This Matters

For Telangana’s rural households, particularly those reliant on MGNREGA as a buffer during lean agricultural and non-farm seasons, the sharp drop in available workdays signals a deepening of livelihood vulnerability. The decline emerges at precisely the time when jobs are most needed (April and May) and the data show there was no recovery through June to September.

Lower household incomes, reduced access to work and increased risk of exclusion due to digital barriers may push marginalised families into distress migration or deeper debt, the report suggests.

LibTech India urges both the Central and State governments to act swiftly. Key recommendations include:

• Initiate a dedicated programme to restore deleted or inactive job-cards and ensure registration of eligible households.
• Link work allocation across districts to actual demand and local economic conditions rather than arbitrary ceilings.
• Temporarily remove or relax the mandatory e-KYC requirement for wage access until the verification machinery is strengthened, especially given the high risk of exclusion.
• Focus targeted intervention in districts showing the steepest falls and lowest digital verification (e.g., Medchal, Jogulamba Gadwal, Kamareddy, Nizamabad).

Government Response

As of this reporting, the Telangana state government has not publicly responded in full to the LibTech India briefing. Officials in the rural development department acknowledge the drop in workdays is a concern, but attribute part of it to reduced demand from households that secured alternative employment or migration. Analysts caution however that these explanations may obscure structural issues in the scheme’s implementation and eligibility management.

The 100-day guarantee offered by MGNREGA has long been positioned as a stabiliser during non-farm and lean periods. But if Telangana continues with such large drops in workdays, the guarantee becomes hollow for many of its intended beneficiaries.

As the next phase of the programme launches into the lean season, monitoring of whether workdays rebound and whether e-KYC-induced exclusions escalate will be essential. Civil-society groups in Telangana are mobilising to survey affected households and flag grievances, but unless state and central authorities respond with decisive corrective action, thousands of rural families may find themselves locked out of the very safety net designed for them.