Thee National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, (NREGA) was notified on September 7, 2005. OBJECTIVE OF THE ACT The objective of the Act is to enhance livelihood security in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. NREGA GOALS . Strong social safety net for the vulnerable groups by providing a fall-back employment source, when other employment alternatives are scarce or inadequate . Growth Growth engine engine for for sustain sustainable able develop developmen mentt of an agricu agricultu ltural ral econo economy my.. Throug Through h the proce process ss of providing employment on works that address causes of chronic poverty such as drought, deforestation and soil erosion, the Act seeks to strengthen the natural resource base of rural livelihood and create durable assets in rural areas. effectively implemented, NREGA has the potential to transform the geography of poverty . Empowerment of rural poor through the processes of a rights-based Law . New New ways ways of doin doing g busin busines ess, s, as a mode modell of gove govern rnan ance ce refo reform rm anch anchor ored ed on the the princ princip iple less of transparency and grass root democracy. ¬
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Thus, NREGA fosters conditions for inclusive growth ranging from basic wage security and recharging rural economy to a transformative empowerment process of democracy
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COVERAGE The Act was notified in 200 districts in the first phase with effect from February 2nd 2006 and then extended to additional 130 districts in the financial year 2007-2008 (113 districts were notified with effect from April 1st 2007, and 17 districts in UP were notified with effect from May 15 th 2007). The remaining districts have been notified under the NREGA with effect from April 1, 2008. Thus NREGA covers the entire country with the exception of districts that have a hundred percent urban population. SALIENT FEATURES OF THE ACT 1. Adult Adult memb member erss of a rura rurall hous househ ehold old,, willi willing ng to do unsk unskill illed ed manu manual al work work,, may may appl apply y for for registration in writing or orally to the local Gram Panchayat 2. The Gram Panchay Panchayat at after due verific verificati ation on will issue issue a Job Card. Card. The Job Card Card will bear the photograph of all adult members m embers of the household willing will ing to work under NREGA and is free of cost 3. The Job Job Card should be issued within 15 days of application. application. 4. A Job Card holder may submit a written application application for employment to the Gram Gram Panchayat, stating stating the time and duration for which work is sought. The minimum days of employment have to be at least fourteen. 5. The Gram Panchaya Panchayatt will issue a dated receipt receipt of the written applicatio application n for employment, employment, against against which the guarantee of providing employment within 15 days operates. 6. Employ Employme ment nt will will be given given withi within n 15 days days of appl applic icati ation on for for work work,, if it is not not then then daily daily unemployment allowance as per the Act, has to be paid liability of payment of unemployment allowance is of the States. 7. Work should should ordinarily ordinarily be provided provided within 5 km radius of the village. village. In case work is provided beyond 5 km, extra wages of 10% are payable to meet additional transportation and living expenses 8. Wages are to be paid according according to the Minimum Wages Wages Act 1948 for agricultur agricultural al labourers labourers in the State, unless the Centre notifies a wage rate which will not be less than Rs. 60/ per day. Equal wages will be provided to both men and women. 9. Wages are to be paid according to piece rate or or daily rate. Disbursement of of wages has to be be done on weekly basis and not beyond a fortnight in any case. 10. At least one-third beneficiaries shall be women who have registered and requested work under the scheme. 11. Work site facilities such as crèche, drinking water, shade have to be provided 12. The shelf of projects for a village will be recommended by the gram sabha and approved by the zilla panchayat. 13. At least 50% of works will be allotted to Gram Panchayats for execution 14. Permi Permissi ssible ble works works predo predomin minantl antly y includ includee water water and soil soil conser conservat vation, ion, affor afforest estatio ation n and land land development works
15. A 60:40 wage and material ratio has to be maintained. No contractors and machinery is allowed 16. The Central Government bears the 100 percent wage cost of unskilled manual labour and 75 percent of the material cost including the wages of skilled and semi skilled workers. 17. Social Audit has to be done by the Gram Sabha. 18. Grievance redressal mechanisms have to be put in place for ensuring a responsive implementation process 19. All accounts and records relating to the Scheme should be available for public scrutiny . RESEARCH PROBLEM--->The Scope of the Research is based on the Comparative study of Minimum Wages (in different states) for unskilled labour, described under Ministry of labour and Employment & Minimum Wages scheduled in MGNREGA Scheme.
Over objective of research is to compare the wage rate of unskilled labour between MNREGA, Unorganised labour market and the government labour wage policies, so as to focus on the low payment in MGNERAGA are getting as compared to others. Also to suggest why factors like Cost Of Living Index should also be considered while fixing the minimum wages for MGNREGA. According to minimum wage profile, provided by ministry of labour and employment (under minimum wages act 1948) As of now there is no uniform and comprehensive wage policy for all sectors of the economy in India. Wages in the organised sector are determined through negotiations and settlements between employer and employees. In unorganised sector, where labour is vulnerable to exploitation, due to illiteracy and having no effective bargaining power, minimum rates of wages are fixed/ revised both by Central and State Governments in the scheduled employments falling under their respective jurisdictions under the provisions of the Minimum Wages Act,1948 ¬
The National Minimum Wage has been considered at various fora in the past. However, State/UT Governments are not unanimous on the need of a National Minimum Wage as socioeconomic conditions vary from state to state, region to region and also from industry to industry due to different geographical, topographical and agro-climatic factors.
For example the Minimum wages to be provided for Skilled, Semiskilled & Unskilled labor
For the construction & maintenance of dam, embankments, irrigation projects, sinking of wells and tanks in respective states are Category of Labor Skilled Labor-
UTTAR PRADESH (In Rs.) 184.72
UTTARAKHAND (In Rs.) 149.58
Semiskilled Labor-
166.41
140.73
Unskilled Labor-
145.98
131.88
AN UNSKILLED LABOUR IN UNORGANISED SECTOR -Rs. 150 to Rs.180 (a day for the same work) AN UNSKILLED LABOUR UNDER MNREGA ACT---------Rs. 100
(a day for the same work)
On 1st Jan. 2009 central government has issued a notification where state governments are allowed to raise wages upto Rs. 100/= per day (if they were less than that on June 2009). This new policy effectively activates section 6(1) of the act, which involves a potential, if not actual overwriting the minimum wages act 1948.
Independent social auditors doing research on NREGA had also been asking for indexing the wages on the basis of Inflation, Farm wage Index, CPIAL(consumer price Index for agricultural
labours) and CLI (cost of living Index). The reason behind this is that there is a vast diversity in cost of living across various socio-geographical and various economic areas of the country, which may result in variation in cost of living accordingly.
* The Labour Bureau has switched over to the new series of CPI Numbers for Agricultural Labourers on base 1986- 87=100 replacing the old series (1960-61=100) w.e.f. November, 1995. In order to maintain the continuity of index numbers series for Agricultural Labourers the linking factor for all-India General Index has been derived at 5.89 @ Figures estimated on the basis of linking factor for percentage variation. The index for the month of November, 1995 on old base was 1414 Source: Labour Bureau, Shimla/Chandigarh For example the transportation cost for 5km. in a motor vechile in hilly regions of Uttaranchal where as the cost for the same distance in U.P. is Rs.5. This variation may alter the cost of living if a index is made on this basis.
A working group on wages for NREGA workers set up under central employment guarantee council under economist and council member JEAM DREZE has said that wages should be linked to consumer prise index for agricultural labour( CPIAL) with April 2009 as base so that the real value of wage is at least Rs.100 per day as April 2009 prises. As long as MGNREGA wage rate are set by the central govt., they should be promptly revised upwards every six months, or at most every 12 months in line with CPIAL. The incentives MNREGA provides have not been able to counter the gigantic impacts on Neoliberal policies in the labour market. There also has been a parallel rise in unemployment which has created a growing reserve of cheap and unorganized labour that can be used as per market terms and conditions.
Accordingly MNREGA is meant to improve rural people purchasing power, primarily semi or unskilled workers irrespective of their positioning above or below poverty line But the big question is how the objectives of MNREGA can be achieved in view of variations in cost of
living in different states as the wage rate under MNREGA is Uniform at Rs. 100 only, that is too less than the wages prevalent in unorganized sector.
Researchers has suggested:1Flexibility in terms of payment to workers under MGNERAGA vis-à-vis to area specific cost of living and expenditure pattern. 2 3Minimum wages should be fixed according to minimum wages act 1948 4 5If we are on- to unskilled agricultural labour under MGNREGA, wages should be indexed with CPIAL of that particular state.
1The Wages could also be linkerd with CLI of each states and fixed accordingly 2 3The central/ state govt. should revise some min. wage on base of Inflation at least every six month or a year. 4 5If worker demands so, he can barter his value of wage to food grains (like done in Antroday Ann Yogna). For this process PDS could be of great help.
