PM Manmohan Singh, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh had strong views on MNREGA wages

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh took strong positions on the issue of wages paid under the flagship employment scheme MNREGA before the minister yielded to the PM's instructions to challenge a Karnataka High Court order in the Supreme Court.

According to the centrally funded MNREGA, the payment is Rs 100 per person per day with a committed employment for 100 days in an year.

Some state governments have increased the minimum wages much higher than the stipulated amount under the flagship employment scheme.

On September 23 last year, the Karnataka High Court had struck down fixation of wages saying rates shall be decided in such a manner that they are not less than the minimum wages fixed by the state governments for agricultural labour in their areas.

Expecting a similar judgement from the Andhra Pradesh High Court, the Centre had decided to challenge the decision in the Supreme Court through a special leave petition (SLP) which was opposed by Ramesh.

Ramesh had opposed the SLP move on three grounds -- an earlier opinion of Attorney General dated December 7, 2010, Chairman of National Advisory Council (NAC) Sonia Gandhi's letter to PM on November 11, 2010 and his own views which supported changes in MNREGA and Minimum Wages Act to bring consonance in them.

After much deliberation, the government filed an SLP but the Supreme Court on January 23 this year refused to stay the High Court order.

Behind the SLP is a chain of letters and meetings between Singh and Ramesh where their strong positions on the issue are quite evident.

The letters, revealed under the Right to Information Act to activist Subhash Agrawal, show that the Centre wanted to challenge the High Court order.