A parliamentary panel has questioned why MGNREGS compensation is not tied to an inflation index, citing low wages. It has also requested the Union Rural Development Ministry to design a mechanism for increasing wages under the scheme.
Headed by Congress MP Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, in a report tabled in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, rapped the ministry and said there had been no noticeable change in its stance.
It has been sending "stereotype responses" regarding revision of wages, the report said.
"Rising inflation and cost of living, be it in urban or rural settings, have risen manifold and are evident to all. Even at this moment, going by the notified wage rates of MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act), the per-day wage rate of around Rs 200 in many states defies any logic when the same state has much higher labour rates," the panel said in its report.
"It becomes inexplicable as to why wages under MGNREGA still can't be linked to a suitable index commensurate with the existing inflation. Aware of the demand for an increase in wages under MGNREGA from various quarters, the committee urges the DoRD (Department of Rural Development) unequivocally to revisit its stand and devise a mechanism for raising the wages under MGNREGA," the panel said.
It asserted the disparity in wages in different states was another matter of concern.
Clause (d) of Article 39 of the Constitution that directs certain principles of policy to be followed by the state provides that there is a provision of equal pay for equal work for both men and women, it added.
"Hence, under the directive, there cannot be different wages for different states under MGNERGA. In view of Article 39 of the Constitution and to have parity in wages, the committee strongly recommends that MGNREGA beneficiaries must be paid wages without any disparity in order to bring equality in wages under MGNREGA across all states/Union territories urgently," the report said.
The committee also recommended that the department spruce up its financial management of the scheme and tighten its grip on the fallacies that might have crept up in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) at the ground level for the earliest eradication of pendencies in wages and material components.
The committee also recommended an increase in the number of days of work sought under MGNREGS from 100 to 150 days.
The scheme—often called MGNREGA or NREGA—aims to enhance the livelihood security of rural households by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.
Wages under MGNREGS were last revised in April, with hikes ranging between four and 10 percent for different states.
According to a government notification, Haryana pays the highest wage for unskilled workers under the scheme, Rs 374 per day, while Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland pay the lowest, Rs 234.
An expert committee under the chairmanship of Anoop Satpathy, in a report released in 2019, had recommended that wages under MGNREGS should be Rs 375 a day.
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