Wages under national rural jobs scheme may be revised

NEW DELHI: The government may consider revising wages under the flagship Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) following persistent demand for aligning wages under the scheme to minimum wages of individual states closer to the general elections next year.

Last time the two wages were aligned in 2009 after which there has been a divergence because several states have arbitrarily increased their minimum wages.

Daily wages under MGNREGS for unskilled workers range between Rs 168 in Bihar and Jharkhand to Rs 281in Haryana. However, minimum wage in Bihar, effective from April 2018, is Rs 237, Rs 210 in Jharkhand and Rs 326 in Haryana.


A high-level committee of chief ministers headed by Shivraj Singh Chauhan of Madhya Pradesh is likely to deliberate on the quantum of hike and its financial implications for the centre, a senior government official told ET. According to the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the issue of lower wages came up at the regional conferences Niti Aayog had undertaken for the high-level group set up to lay out a roadmap for convergence of MGNREGS and agriculture.

“This is one of the top most issues raised at the regional meetings held. The committee will look into it,” the official added.

In the last four years the government set up two committees on MGNREGS wages –under Prof Mahendra Dev in 2013 and Nagesh Singh in 2016. The Dev committee recommended MGNREGS wages to be minimum wage fixed by the respective state or the current wage as per the consumer price index for agricultural labourers (CPI-AL), whichever is higher.

However, the Singh committee said there was no need for aligning the two wages.

The financial implication on the centre on aligning the two wages was estimated at Rs 4,500 crore by the Singh committee while shifting the index of calculation from CPI-Agriculture to CPI-Rural would put an additional burden of Rs 2,500 crore on the union. Government allocated Rs 55,000 crore under NREGS for 2018-19.

The scheme, launched by UPA government is 2006, has seen 2637 crore persondays generated and total expense at Rs 4,76,718 crore since inception. The scheme, executed by rural development ministry under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, provides minimum 100 days of employment out of 365 days in a year to every rural household willing to do unskilled manual work.