SRINAGAR: A significant proportion of MGNREGA job cards in Jammu and Kashmir remained unverified as of March 2024, raising concerns over the integrity of the beneficiary database, while audit also found deficiencies in the maintenance of records and physical job cards, according to the Composite Audit Report (Civil) for the period ended March 2024.
The audit found that of 13,73,322 households that applied for job cards, 13,36,699 households, or 97 per cent, had been registered and issued job cards by March 2024, indicating a high level of registration.
However, only 10.68 lakh of the 13.37 lakh job cards, or about 80 per cent, were shown as verified on NREGAsoft by March 2024. This left around 2.69 lakh job cards unverified, accounting for 20 per cent of the total.
The shortfall was higher in the five districts selected for audit. Of 5,08,630 job cards in the sampled districts, only 3,94,360 had been verified, leaving 1,14,270, or 22 per cent, unverified.
Among the sampled districts, Anantnag had 1,06,824 job cards, of which 90,349 were verified, leaving a 15 per cent shortfall. In Kupwara, 78,946 of 1,01,287 cards were verified, a shortfall of 22 per cent. Poonch recorded 66,543 verified cards out of 85,534, also leaving a 22 per cent gap.
In Rajouri, 94,783 of 1,30,392 job cards had been verified, resulting in the highest shortfall among the sampled districts at 27 per cent. In Jammu 20,854 of 63,739 cards were verified, with the shortfall standing at 25 per cent.
The audit noted that the MGNREGA Operational Guidelines, 2013 require job cards to remain valid for five years, with provisions for adding or deleting eligible household members. They also require Gram Panchayats to undertake annual updating of job cards and provide for the maintenance of a job card application register at Gram Panchayat and block levels.
Despite an order issued by the J&K Government in June 2020 directing verification of job cards in mission mode, the audit found that the exercise remained incomplete. It said the 20 per cent shortfall at the Union Territory level and 22 per cent gap in the sampled districts raised concerns about the reliability of the MGNREGA beneficiary database.
The audit also found that the job card application register was not maintained in 40 sampled Gram Panchayats during 2019-24. As a result, auditors could not establish whether applicants had been registered or whether job cards had been issued within the prescribed 15-day period.
In its reply in August 2025, the Department said J&K had undertaken intensive campaigns over the preceding three years to verify and update job cards. It said 1.42 lakh job cards had been deleted for legitimate reasons, including household migration, delimitation of Gram Panchayats and villages, and the death of job card holders.
The Department attributed the remaining verification gap to families migrating outside their panchayats, deaths of job card holders and the physical absence of beneficiaries. The audit, however, pointed out that 2.69 lakh job cards were still unverified as of March 2024.
A survey of 400 beneficiaries across 40 sampled Gram Panchayats also highlighted shortcomings in the physical maintenance of job cards. As many as 125 beneficiaries, or 31 per cent, did not possess physical job cards, while 275 had them. Of those 275 cards, six, or two per cent, did not carry photographs.
The audit further found that 158 beneficiaries, or 40 per cent of those surveyed, received their job cards after the prescribed 15-day period. Since the required records had not been maintained, auditors could not determine the reasons for the delays.
Physical verification of the 275 job cards in possession of beneficiaries also found that 109 cards, or 40 per cent, had no work entry recorded, while 108 cards, or 39 per cent, had no payment entry.
The findings underline gaps not only in the verification of the MGNREGA beneficiary database but also in record-keeping and the maintenance of job cards at the grassroots level.
