States fail in payment of unemployment allowance under NREGA

No state government has given mandatory unemployment allowance to registered workers under NREGA, except for Madhya Pradesh which doled out compensation for a marginal period.
    
As per provisions of the NREGA, if employment is not provided to a registered worker within 15 days of the receipt of job application, the government concerned has to pay daily unemployment allowance at its own cost, an official in the rural development ministry said.
    
The rate of the allowance is fixed by state governments in consultation with State Councils. But, it should not be less than one-fourth of the wages for the first 30 days of unemployment and half of the wages beyond this, he added.
    
In terms of grant of allowance, Madhya Pradesh has cleared its dues for only a week while payment for more than 13,000 days has still not been made to the beneficiaries.
    
According to the statistics with the ministry, Nagaland tops the list followed by Karnataka which have not yet paid unemployment allowance to a single beneficiary.
    
Allowance payment in Nagaland is due for a total of 6,28,975 days, the highest in the country, in the current financial year. Karnataka has not paid it for 2,54,352 days.
    
While West Bengal has held it up for 1,61,051 days, Orissa has a due of 1,14,045 days, statistics reveal.
    
A total of 92,562 days of unemployment is featured against Gujarat. Assam government has not paid the allowance for 73,336 days while Maharastra's due is for 56,518 days.