Srinagar, 11 December 2025: The Government of India has cancelled 3.6 lakh MGNREGA job cards in Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh as part of an ongoing nationwide verification and cleanup exercise aimed at removing ineligible, duplicate, and inactive beneficiaries from the rural employment database.
According to official data, the cancellations were carried out after field-level verification by district authorities, who were directed to identify job cards linked to non-existent workers, migrated families, deceased individuals, and those who had not participated in any MGNREGA work for an extended period.
Officials said the exercise is part of a broader effort to streamline the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) system and ensure that funds reach genuine beneficiaries. The Centre has asked all states and union territories to complete periodic verification to curb leakages and strengthen transparency in the flagship rural employment programme.
In J&K and Ladakh, authorities found a significant number of job cards that had remained inactive for years, while others were linked to individuals who had shifted to urban areas or taken up regular employment. These cards were subsequently marked for deletion after due process.
The Ministry of Rural Development said the cleanup will help improve the accuracy of the MGNREGA database and ensure better planning of labour budgets. It added that the move is not intended to restrict employment opportunities but to ensure that only eligible rural households receive work under the scheme.
Officials also noted that fresh job cards can be issued to eligible households upon verification, and that the cancellation drive will not affect ongoing works or wage payments for active workers.
