More than 35 lakh MGNREGS job cards were deleted in the current fiscal while over 38 lakh were issued, the government informed the Rajya Sabha on Friday. Job cards cannot be deleted due to non-linkage with Aadhaar, Union Minister of State for Rural Development Kamlesh Paswan further said in his written response. "Under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGS), Aadhar Payment Bridge System is only a mode of payment and job cards cannot be deleted due to reason of non-linking of Aadhaar with bank accounts," he added. Paswan said updation and deletion of job cards was a regular exercise undertaken by states and Union territories. "In the current financial year 2024-25 (as on 16.12.2024), a total number of 35.57 lakh job cards have been deleted," he said. The cards were deleted due to being fake or incorrect, duplicate, households not willing to work, family permanently shifting from gram panchayat and "single person in job card and that per