Wages under the government's flagship rural job guarantee
scheme are set to rise 11.4% from April 1, according to people close to the
development. The rural development ministry has decided to increase wages under
the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme from an average
of Rs 156.4 per person, per day at present to Rs 174.3 in fiscal 2014-15 , the
same persons said.
The proposed wage hike is expected to cost the government
an additional Rs 1,000 crore under the scheme from next fiscal. The government
is spending over Rs 30,000 crore on the scheme in 2013-14 . MNREGS is widely
seen as a plank on which the UPA government returned to power in 2009. The
scheme entitles millions of workers enrolled under it to Rs 100 a day for a
minimum of 100 days of work in a financial year.
On an average, 25% of rural households seek employment
under it every year. The wage revision is based on the rise in the inflation
rate as measured by the consumer price index for agricultural labourers (CPIAL
). The CPI-AL is based on data collated by the 38th round of the National
Sample Survey Organisation's household consumption expenditure survey for
1986-87 . For the first nine months of the current fiscal, inflation based on
CPI-AL stood at 12.4% compared with 12.6% for 2013 (January-December ). The
wage increase will be different for most states.
At Rs 212, Kerala will see the highest increase -- up
17.7% from 2013-14 . This will be followed by Lakshadweep -- up 17.4% at Rs
195. For Bihar, wages will rise 16.6% to Rs 153 while Jharkhand will see a
14.9% increase to Rs 158.
Wages in Andhra Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland , Sikkim and
Tripura will increase 14.8%. In absolute terms, however, Haryana tops the wage
increase list at Rs 236 per person, per day, compared with Rs 214 at present,
followed by Andaman and Nicobar at Rs 228 (Rs 204) and Chandigarh at Rs 227 (Rs
209). At the list's bottom is Bihar at Rs 153. Despite the annual increase in
wages under MGNREGA since 2011, minimum wages in more than a dozen states are
still higher than MGNREGA wages. The government is looking at ways to remove
this disparity.
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