NEW DELHI: The Narendra Modi government wants to improve the dismal payment record of the rural jobs programme by taking over charge of this from states and fight criticism that it’s not doing enough to tackle distress in the country’s villages. More than two-thirds of payments to workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) were delayed in the fiscal year ended March.The government wants to make sure that people get paid in about two weeks. The money will be transferred directly to the beneficiaries by the Centre, which also ties in with the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana under which families excluded from the financial system have been able to open bank accounts.The rural development ministry, which administers the jobs programme, will soon move a cabinet note for changes in the Act governing the scheme to enable this, cutting through the clutter of several layers involving states and gram panchayats.“Timeliness of payments is one of the biggest challenges we are facing. Once this policy is approved it will take away a lot of red tape,” a senior government official told ET.Although the step is contrary to the Modi government’s resolve to further empower states fiscally, with central schemes even being transferred to them, the move is seen as critical in effectively addressing problems faced by the rural economy. In FY15, only 28% of payments were made on time to workers, according to government data.The electronic funds management system will be used to transfer money to bank and post office accounts in 15 days. The process will be initiated once the pay or financial transfer order is generated by the state government.The Centre believes such a switch is feasible, since more than 15 crore new accounts have been opened under the Jan Dhan Yojana.The Modi government has come in for harsh criticism over its handling of farm stress after unseasonal rains caused widespread damage to crops in Madhya Pradesh , Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Rajasthan. Also, the weather office has said the June-September monsoon may be deficient, which would add to the pain if this is actually the case. A number of measures have been announced by the government to provide immediate relief to farmers in the states cited above. Long-term structural reforms will take time to have effect and the government is keen on scaling up the jobs programme to provide support to the rural economy in the intervening period.It is also looking to make the scheme more “green” than “brown” with a greater focus on irrigation and agriculturebased employment opportunities, in contrast with the perception that most of the work involves digging ditches. Besides, bringing an “outcome orientation” to the programme is a major part of a revamp that’s currently underway.“Good assets have to be created such as through agri-based infrastructure, afforestation--it will be a big focus for us going forward,” another senior government official said.The rural development ministry is also trying to align the jobs scheme with other key government programmes such as the Green India mission , the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana for irrigation and the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.“The true test of financial inclusion for the rural population lies with us (the rural development ministry),” the official said. “Greater convergence with schemes around pension, life insurance, banking like the Jan Dhan Yojana has to be an integral part of our functioning.” Employment provided under the scheme has been declining over the past few years.The average days of employment provided per household under the programme dropped to 40.14 in FY15 from 45.97 in the previous year. The programme was launched in 2006 and aims to provide 100 days of paid work in a year.