Rural job scheme rejig to be a tough task for Centre

The Government’s effort to rejig the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act has raised questions about the future of the UPA Government’s favourite scheme.

While the Government has stressed that the effort is to give more freedom to the States and to ensure quality asset creation, the Opposition feels that there is an attempt to change the programme into a State Plan scheme.

The latest debate is on revising the workers’ wages. A recent Supreme Court verdict told the Government that the notified wage rate for workers under the MGNREGA shall not be less than the minimum wage for agricultural workers fixed by States. An official said that the Centre is likely to move a review petition against this verdict, as implementing it will place an additional burden of ₹2,000 crore on the Government.

The Government is also likely to overlook the recent recommendation of the Mahendra Dev Committee on MGNREGA Wage Rate Indexation. The committee had recommended that the baseline for MGNREGA wage indexation from 2014 may be the current minimum wage rate for unskilled agricultural labourers fixed by the States under the ‘Minimum Wages Act’ or the ‘current MGNREGA wage rate’, whichever is higher. It said the Consumer Price Index for Rural (CPI-Rural) may be considered as the appropriate index for protecting the wages against inflation and as such the CPI-Rural be adopted for revising wage rates every year under the MGNREGA. There have been widespread protests against lower wages under the scheme, where wages are paid on task basis. Activists have complained that in States such as Rajasthan wages are as low as ₹20 a day in some cases.

“The labourers are squeezed between the States and the Centre – the Centre wants the States to bear the funds for ensuring minimum wages, while States fear that the liability will be on them,” said social activist Nikhil Dey. Stating that no compromise is possible on the wages issue, he said “The Centre will have to pay the minimum wages. Infrastructures like village roads and check dams, constructed under the MGNREGA, will also have to be seen.”

The Centre, however, made it clear that it has no plans to change the scheme. “What we are trying to make it more productive,” the official added.

The schedule of the Act has recently been amended envisaging that the district programme coordinator should ensure that at least 60 per cent cost of the works taken up should be used to create assets in the agriculture sector.

The Centre is citing Andhra Pradesh’s example, where 11 lakh acres of land were brought into fresh cultivation due to the efforts of the MGNREGA. The Government believes that linking the scheme with agriculture will help to address the criticism that MGNREGA wages are resulting in high inflation, and also increase agriculture production.

“It will enhance the supply side. Higher production of vegetables, pulses and milk will reduce the prices,” the official added.

A recent letter by Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia recommending conversion of the programme into a scheme and the marginal increase in the allocation to the scheme in the Budget have also raised eyebrows. Agricultural workers are planning to launch agitations against the Centre’s move to change the trajectory of the MGNREGA.

“The UPA Government had tried to kill the scheme. Now, the BJP Government is also making all efforts to stop the scheme. We will launch a ‘save MGNREGA campaign’ in August,” general secretary of All India Agricultural Workers Union A Vijayaraghavan said.

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