Govt mulls hike in MNREGA wages

NEW DELHI: The government is mulling changes in MNREGA to increase daily wages under the rural job guarantee scheme in places where the rate was less than that offered by the states, the Lok Sabha was informed today.

"Government is contemplating amending MNREGA to remove the difference between wages offered by the state governments and the wages under MNREGA," Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said during Question Hour.

He said the wages under MNREGA are revised every year and denied that allocation under MNREGA has been decreased.

"Allocation has not been lessened. It is done on demand," Ramesh said, adding that the Finance Minister has promised that allocation will be done as per requirement and the government is bound by that.

Ramesh said there was a difference between the legal minimum wage and actual minimum wage and claimed that a "positive impact" of MNREGA has been that states like Kerala have started giving more wages to workers.

He said the revised wage rates under MNREGA are effective from April 1, 2012.