The Union Ministry of Rural Development has informed the Lok Sabha that Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh witnessed the deletion of more than 3.6 lakh MGNREGS job cards between 2019-20 and 2024-25.

The Ministry also confirmed that 79 thousand 674 workers were removed from the rolls during a one-month verification window from October 10 to November 14, 2025. The official data reveals Jammu and Kashmir accounted for 3 lakh 06 thousand and 271 job card deletions, with yearly figures ranging from 33 thousand and 32 in 2019-20 to 73 thousand and 15 in 2023-24.

The Ministry further said the deletions were part of routine verification to remove fake, duplicate or incorrect entries, families that have permanently shifted, and cases where the lone job card holder had passed away. During the targeted verification drive held between October 10 and November 14 this year, 79 thousand 70 MGNREGS workers were removed in Jammu & Kashmir as these deletions were not linked to the National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS) or Aadhaar-based payment mechanisms.

The Ministry urged the states and UTs to ensure no eligible household is wrongly removed, including women workers who form a significant portion of the rural labour force under MGNREGS.