NEW DELHI: In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the job guarantee programme is over-performing in giving work but is providing succour to very few people, pointing to the challenges that lie ahead as the government seeks to tap the scheme to help the pandemic-hit jobless with wage employment.MGNREGA has generated 3.59 crore persondays of work in the country in the financial year 2020-21. An overwhelming chunk of work can be attributed to the nine days since April 20 when the scheme resumed following the nationwide lockdown. However, it has provided jobs to just around 49 lakh people.It presents a stark contrast to the pattern witnessed in 2019-20. April 2019 generated 91 lakh persondays of work, much lower than the corresponding month this year already – which points to high demand in the wake of the coronavirus lockdown and job losses. However, when MGNREGA generated 264 crore persondays in the whole of 2019-20, as many as 7.87 crore people had participated – pointing to the vast catchment area of the employment programme which caters to distressed labour.The pattern this year, thus, points to intense exploitation of job scheme in a few states even as it has seriously failed to take off in many large states. The skewed graph indicates that MGNREGA is providing jobs to a smaller slice of rural households in need.One reason appears to be that the job scheme is doing well in states where coronavirus has had limited impact while it is facing serious hurdles in states hit hard by the pandemic. Andhra Pradesh leads the chart with 111 lakh persondays of work followed by Chhattisgarh which has provided 80.74 lakh persondays. Bihar has generated 36.93 lakh persondays, West Bengal 30.37 lakh, Karnataka 26.71 lakh and Odisha has 23.22 lakh persondays.Among the biggest failures appears to be Uttar Pradesh which has managed just 6.05 lakh persondays of work despite its large rural poor populace. Madhya Pradesh has generated only 9.73 lakh persondays while Tamil Nadu has 2.88 lakh persondays. Rajasthan has 9.22 lakh persondays and Maharashtra has 6.70 lakh persondays. Gujarat has managed just 63,000 persondays.It remains to be seen how the scheme performs in laggard states once the lockdown begins to be lifted in phases after May 3.Given the circumstances and the spread of the pandemic, states like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan may continue to see extended restrictions and thus depressed work under MGNREGA. It would increase the pressure on the governments to sustain the poor through doles.