MGNREGA Demand Falls 26% in August as Kharif Sowing Hits 107Mn Hectares

Demand for work under the flagship Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) fell by 26% in August 2025 as compared to the corresponding month of last year, marking the second consecutive monthly decline, according to Business Standard.

Experts attributed the drop to higher kharif sowing activity, favourable monsoon rains, and a squeeze in funding imposed by the Centre.

Civil society groups said the Centre’s directive to cap MGNREGA labour budget spending at 60% for the first six months may have curbed the demand further.

Funding Squeeze Adds Pressure

Meanwhile, heavy rains in rural regions of the country made several work sites inaccessible, adding to the slowdown. Conventionally, July and August are lean months for MGNREGA as sowing activities are undertaken at full steam across India.

According to India Meteorological Department (IMD), the cumulative all-India rainfall in August was 5.2% more than normal, while north-west India received the highest rainfall since 2001 and 13th-highest since 1901, reported The New Indian Express.

Until August 22, kharif crops have been sown in around 107.39 million hectares (1073.98 lakh hectares), which is 3.54 million hectares more than the area covered during the same period last year, with paddy and maize leading the way.

Rains Boost Crop Planting

The total area sown under kharif crops in India during the current season has surged to 995.63 lakh hectares, marking an increase of 38.48 lakh hectares compared to 957.15 lakh hectares during the same period last year, according to data released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare on August 11.

Rice cultivation has seen significant growth, with 364.8 lakh hectares sown as of August 8 this year, compared to 325.36 lakh hectares during the same timeframe last year. Pulses such as urad and moong are being cultivated on 106.68 lakh hectares, marginally up from 106.52 lakh hectares last year.

Coarse cereals, including jowar, bajra, and ragi, have registered an increase to 178.73 lakh hectares from 170.96 lakh hectares. The sugarcane sown area has also risen to 57.31 lakh hectares from 55.68 lakh hectares.

The expansion in sowing is largely attributed to favourable monsoon rains that have aided planting in unirrigated regions, which make up about half of India’s farmland.

Research firm ICRA said that kharif crops sowing this season may exceed the level of last year by a reasonable margin.

Aided by favourable monsoon so far, kharif sowing has been completed on 76% of the normal sown area and is up by a rise of 4% year-on-year as of July 2025, ICRA stated in its latest report.

Kharif crops are mainly moong, rice and maize, sown during the rainy season months of June and July.

(With inputs from PTI.)