Jairam Ramesh sympathises with Nitish Kumar on rural wages scheme

NEW DELHI: Not wanting to lose any opportunity to reach out to Janata Dal (United), the government expressed its willingness to consider Bihar's demand to ensure parity between wages under the rural employment scheme and minimum wage rates in the states.

"I can perfectly understand Nitish Kumar's sentiments and concerns. I sympathise with Nitish Kumar, because under the Minimum Wage Act in Bihar, the minimum wage is Rs 162 and the MNREGA wage is Rs 138," Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said.

Bihar Chief minister Nitish Kumar has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh informing him that the state government plans to pay the workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme at the same rate as the minimum wage for agricultural labour as “no state can undermine its own statute”.

The Centre notifies MNREGA wage rate. Kumar is of the view that paying MNREGA workers less than the wage rates notified by the state dilutes the spirit of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005.

The Bihar government’s decision will mean an additional expense of Rs 500 crore per year. Kumar has argued that since the law requires the Centre to bear all expenditure for the programme, the additional money should be provided by the central government.

The government has linked the MGNREGA wage to the consumer price index and revises it on April 1 of every year. At present, MNREGA wage rate is lower than the minimum wage rate in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram.

Kumar has asked the prime minister to take the appropriate steps to ensure that wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act are as per the minimum wage rate notified by the state under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948.

“I sincerely urge you to consider the issue and advice of the ministry of rural development to take appropriate measures for ensuring MGNREGA wages as per the wage rate notified by the state government,” Kumar wrote.

Ramesh said the only solution to the issue is to amend wage rate provision of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. The formulation suggested by Ramesh underlines a five-year baseline for fixing wage rate under the rural job guarantee scheme and the minimum wage for unskilled agricultural workers prevailing in the respective states.

"Amendments are ready, government has to agree. This proposal is under active consideration," a rural development ministry official said.