Parliamentary panel voices shock at low rates of NREGA wages despite rise in cost of living

New Delhi, Feb 8 : A parliamentary committee has voiced shock at the low rates of MNREGA wages, ranging from as low as Rs 193 per day in Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh and Rs 198 per day in Bihar, with the rate in majority states being below Rs 250 per day, at a time when the cost of living is increasing every day, and the beneficiaries need it to make ends meet.

“Taking up works under MGNREGA is a sort of last resort for the rural masses when they don’t have any other option to utilize, but wages of such nominal nature only discourage them and propel them to seek work in areas giving better remuneration or force them to migrate to urban locales,” said the Standing Committee on Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Critical Evaluation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Act (MGNREGA) 20th report.

It said that one of the objectives of MGNREGA was definitely to provide work at or nearby places of habitation of the poor and downtrodden and not to cause them to move longer distances. But, it observed that the low wages offered under MGNREGA are “surely working as a deterrent”.

It said the number of households that were provided employment under MGNREGA in 2018-19 was 526.61 lakh but households that completed 100 days of employment stood at only 52.58 lakh. In 2019-20, only 40.60 lakh completed 100 days of work out of 548.23 lakh households. For 2020-21, the figure is 72 lakh out of 755.36 lakh, while as on 31.08.2021, for financial year 2021-22 the figure is even poorer, at only 7.76 lakh households completing 100 days work out of 537.78 lakh.

The Committee said that MGNREGA is a demand driven scheme. But the “abysmally low” figures definitely points towards low wage rates as being one of the major reasons for the workers to opt out of MGNREGA, hampering the percentage of work completed under the scheme. It said the Committee has time and again urged the Department of Rural Development, the nodal agency for MGNREGA, to increase the wage rates by linking it with an index commensurate with inflation.

It said despite the recommendation to use the Consumer Price Index – Rural in place of Consumer Price Index – Agricultural Labour (CPI-AL) for indexation of wages, the the Ministry of Rural Development has decided to continue with the existing index CPI-AL for wage rate revision under MGNREGA. The Committee strongly recommend that the Ministry review its stand concerning with the wages once again. It also found baffling the difference in the wage rates under MGNREGA in the States and Union Territories, though it is a Centrally sponsored scheme with the wages of unskilled labour being released through the Central Share.

It said the Department of Rural Development, being the nodal implementing agency, should fix a single unified wage rate at the start of every financial year applicable for all the States/UTs of the Country. Wage rates fluctuating from Rs. 193/ per day to to Rs. 318/ per day (in Sikkim, Haryana) across the different States/UTs in no way seems justified. The committee also strongly recommended increasing the number of guaranteed working days under MGNREGA to at least 150 days from the current 100 days.

Among other recommendations was revising the nature and number of works under MGNREGA, to include works that are felt necessary at the local levels like construction of bunds to stop land erosion/cutting due to flow of rivers during the time of floods, or boundary works for croplands/agricultural fields in order to protect them from grazing animals. It also criticized the abysmally low figures in the compensation paid for delay in payment of wages under the scheme.

“The experience of the Committee through its interaction with local populace and the sentiments echoed by the MPs reflect clearly that the picture regarding payment of wages is very grim. There is inordinate delay in payment of wages and despite that, the payment of delay compensation allowance (at the rate of 0.05% of the unpaid wages per day for the duration of delay) is not at all adhered to strictly at majority of the places in the country.” The committee “vehemently recommends” the Department of Rural Development to ensure stricter compliance of the provision of MGNREGA Act, 2005 in payment of compensation so that delay compensation is paid immediately without any further lapse, it said.

It also voiced shock at the Department of Rural Development not paying the unemployment allowance under the MGNREGA Act, which envisages that if an applicant for employment under the scheme is not provided employment within 15 days, he/she shall be entitled to a daily unemployment allowance. According to data, only Rs. 0.12 lakh in 2019-20, Rs. 0.03 lakh in 2020-21 and Zero amount in 2021-22 as on 05.11.2021 had been paid in the name of unemployment allowance. “This is a shocking revelation to say the least and the Committee is dumbfounded at the state of affairs”, it said and slammed the nodal agency, the Department of Rural Development, “for merely ‘passing the buck’ and moving one’s face in the opposite direction”. “The Scheme is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme with all its modalities being supervised by the Department of Rural Development. In such scenario, the role of nodal agency is definitely of paramount importance and any inaction shows it in very poor light,” it said in critical comments. The Committee, “while taking very strong notice of the dire situation firmly calls upon the Department of Rural Development to shed its lackadaisical manner and ensure that the provisions of MGNREG Act, 2005 do not remain unheeded but are implemented in true ‘letter and spirit’ on the ground level.”