New Delhi: There has been no increase in MGNREGA wages in Kerala and Lakshadweep while Meghalaya has recorded the highest increase of Rs 23, from Rs 203 in 2020-21 to Rs 226 2021-22, according to a report in the Indian Express.
According to the state-wise wage rate for unskilled manual workers notified by the Ministry of Rural Development, Rajasthan witnessed an increase in wages of Rs 1 and Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand registered an increase of Rs 3.
With the exception of Meghalaya, all states and Union Territories have recorded a lower hike in MGNREGA wages, which will be effective from April 1, for 2021-2022 in comparison with the increase announced for 2020-2021.
After Meghalaya, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry recorded the second-highest rise in wages of Rs 17, from Rs 256 in 2020-21 to Rs 273. In poll-bound West Bengal, the rate has been increased by Rs 9 from Rs 204 to Rs 213.
While 22 states and UTs have seen a hike of less than Rs 10, 12 states and UTs have registered a hike of over Rs 10 this time.
The MGNREGA wage rate for Jharkhand and Bihar has been increased by Rs 4 from Rs 194 in 2020-21 to Rs 198 in 2021-22. The wage rate in Gujarat, on the other hand, has been increased by Rs 5 from Rs 224 to Rs 229 for the next financial year. Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab have witnessed an increase of Rs 6 in the wage rates.
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Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura have seen an increase of Rs 7, while Andhra Pradesh, Mizoram, Odisha and Telangana have registered a hike of Rs 8.
The marginal increase in MGNREGA wages comes at a time when a large number of migrant workers, who lost their employment and means of livelihood after the COVID-19-induced lockdown and returned to their villages, have come to rely on the rural job guarantee scheme. According to the national daily, as of March 16, 7.42 crore households or 10.92 crore individuals have already availed of the job guarantee scheme. Furthermore, over 367 crore person-days have been generated under the jobs guarantee scheme in the current financial year.
Under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, the Centre decides the state-wise wage rates for unskilled manual workers who work under the rural job guarantee scheme. The wage rates are fixed as per changes in the Consumer Price Index- Agriculture Labor, which reflects inflation in rural areas.
As of last month, the number of rural households that depend on the rural job guarantee scheme in December 2020 and January 2021 were nearly the same as those who had been signed up for it during August and September, 2020, when the employment crisis owing to the outbreak of COVID-19 was at its height.
The budgetary allocation for the 2020-2021 financial year (FY) for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme was only increased marginally, from Rs 60,000 crore to Rs 61,500 crore. This increase, however, when compared with the revised estimate of FY 2019-20, is actually 9.1% less. In 2019-20, the revised estimate was Rs 71,002 crore.