NREGA wages "abysmally low" at Rs 179 per day: Demand to increase them to Rs 600

Counterview Desk
In a letter Prime Minister Narendra Modi, NREGA Sangharsh Morcha secretariat, representing a collective of civil society organizations and independent activists working on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) across the nation, has regretted that “NREGA wages have been abysmally low at a national average of Rs 179 per day”, violating the Minimum Wages Act (MWA), 1948.
Insisting that NREGA wages have been illegally delinked from MWA, the Morcha has said, alongside, one sees is “unpredictable delays in payments” forcing workers to turn away from this programme, “jeopardising growth and development in the country.” It demands, that the MGNREGA wage rates “in all states should be raised to Rs 600.”

Text of the letter:

NREGA has been a lifeline for the poor, with one in every three rural households working in it. About 5 crore households access some employment under this Act every year. Even though most households are able to access their full guarantee to employment under NREGA, the programme has played an important role in increasing rural incomes, women’s labour force participation and financial inclusion.
Notwithstanding several positives, the NREGA wages have been abysmally low at a national average of Rs 179 per day. In as many as 18 states, NREGA wage rates are lower than the corresponding state minimum wage rate This is a gross violation of the Minimum Wages Act (MWA) 1948.
The illegal delinking of NREGA wages from the MWA was reported by two committees -- the Central Employment Guarantee Council (CEGC) in 2010 and the Mahendra Dev Committee (MDC) in 2013. Both these committees had representatives from the government, civil society groups and academics.
Moreover, as the MDC noted, NREGA wage rates, indexed using the Consumer Price Index for Agricultural labourers (CPI-AL) fails to accurately represent the current consumption basket of rural households. The wages need to be indexed with the CPI-R. In real terms, NREGA wages have been steadily stagnating making it an unfeasible option for those on the margins of subsistence.
The recommendations from both these committees have been ignored. Instead, the Ministry of Rural Development constituted the Nagesh Singh Committee that included only government representatives that suggested delinking NREGA wages from the Minimum Wages Act. However, it did recommend indexing NREGA wage rates to the Consumer Price Index for Rural Workers (CPI-R).
Former Additional Chief Secretary of Jharkhand, NN Sinha, a member of the Nagesh Singh Committee, wrote a dissent note in which he stated that “MGNREGA work is the last recourse while seeking work”, and that lower payment would push the worker and his family into “sub-human existence”.
This dissent note along with the recommendations of CEGC and the MDC are in line with the Supreme Court judgement of Sanjit Roy Vs State of Rajasthan (1983) case. The SC ruled that “if anything less than the minimum wage is paid to him, he can complain of violation of his fundamental right under Article 23 [Right against Exploitation] and ask the Court to direct payment of the minimum wage to him”.
Thus, the low NREGA wages and the Nagesh Singh Committee report are not just in contravention of the MWA but are also unconstitutional as per the above SC judgement.
On January 17, 2017, the Ministry of Labour and Employment set up an “Expert Committee on Determining the Methodology for Fixing the National Minimum Wage” under the chairmanship of Anoop Satpathy. Using a per head requirement of 2400 calories, 50 grams of protein and 30 grams of fats per day, the Expert Committee has recommended a national floor minimum wage at Rs 375 per day.
On the other hand, according to the 7th Pay Commission, "...recommendations of Dr. Wallace Aykroyd,the noted nutritionist, which stated that an average Indian adult engaged in moderate activity should, on a daily basis, consume 2700 calories comprising 65 grams of protein and around 45-60 grams of fat."
Using this approach, the daily minimum wages for an NREGA worker comes to Rs 600 per day. It must be kept in mind that NREGA work peaks in the pre-monsoon season when the work conditions are the most taxing. Thus nutrition intake must be commensurate to produce a more dignified and healthier work force. As a positive spillover effect, this will also lead to a more productive labour force.
Such low wages, coupled with long and unpredictable delays in payments have forced workers to turn away from this programme. Even a rapid survey would show that the NREGA wages are not commensurate with the quantity of work done thereby causing a blow to the asset building goals too.
Furthermore, the strategy to link NREGA to other asset creation programmes have further reduced the scope of additional availability of work in the villages. NREGA workers form the core of the rural labour force in the country which has tirelessly contributed towards nation building.
There is well documented evidence demonstrating the positive impact they have made towards making durable assets pertaining to water and soil conservation among several others. Their contribution to infrastructure building has led to higher growth of farmers in the country.
However, abysmal wage rates would deter them to take up NREGA work thereby jeopardising growth and development in the country. NREGA Sangharsh Morcha would therefore demand that the MGNREGA wage rates in all states should be raised to Rs 600. We also request that the Government of India should index NREGA wage to CPI-R to make an economically and morally sound country.

Comments

World Bank clarifies: Its 26th rank to India not for universal access to power but for ease of doing business

By Our Representative
In a major embarrassment to the Government of India, the World Bank has reportedly clarified that it has not ranked India 26th out of 130 countries for providing power to its population. The top international banker’s clarification comes following Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal’s claim that India has “improved to 26 position from 99” in access to electricity in just one year.

"Misleading" satellite images being shared on Balakot surgical strike on Jaish camp

By Dr Vinay Kate*
With every passing day more questions are being raised about the surgical strike India did in Balakot as a response to Pulwama attacks. So far the Indian media has claimed mass casulaty of 300+ terrorists of Jaish-e-Mohammad in this surgical strike, but there is hardly any report from foreign media about the same.

Extreme repression, corporate loot, cultural genocide "characterise" India's tribal belt

Counterview Desk
As Lok Sabha polls approach, there is considerable ferment in one section of the population -- India's Adivasis, forming about 8.6 per cent of India's population. Things became particularly critical following the February 14, 2019 Supreme Court order, allegedly seeking to evict lakhs of tribals from their forest lands.

Industry in India "barely growing", export growth 0%, whither moral anchors?

Counterview Desk
In a sharp critique of the Modi government, the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A), one of world renowned economist Prof Kaushik Basu, who is Professor of Economics and Carl Marks Professor of International Studies at Cornell University, has told students at the IIM-A’s 54th Annual Convocation on March 16, 2019 that they have a “special responsibility” on their shoulders, “the responsibility to reject narrow sectarianism, uphold scientific thinking, openness to new ideas, and freedom of speech.”

Gujarat model? Industrial effluents "invade" borewells, discharge coloured water in farms

By Rajiv Shah
In a major embarrassment for Gujarat model, of the 21 samples taken by officials of the state government's environmental watchdog Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) in two villages of Vadodara district and analyzed by its laboratory in Gandhinagar, the state capital, to find out pollution level in groundwater, 16 were assessed as highly contaminated – these were, in fact, found to be discharging reddish, brownish, reddish, or yellowish water.

Refugees as criminals? US govt report blames Amit Shah for calling Bangladeshis termites

Counterview Desk
The chapter “Freedom of Movement” of the US State Department’s “India 2018 Human Rights Report”, released recently, has criticized BJP chief Amit Shah for terming alleged Bangladeshis who may be in Assam as “termites”, because their names were struck down from the list of National Register of Citizens, under preparation in the state.
Pointing out that four million residents were excluded from Assam’s final draft list, leading to “uncertainty over the status of these individuals, many of whose families had lived in the state for several generations”, the report regrets, the Indian law does not even contain the term “refugee,” treating refugees like Rohingiyas as “any other foreigners.”
“Undocumented physical presence in the country is a criminal offense. Persons without documentation were vulnerable to forced returns and abuse”, the report says.
Text of the Freedom of Movement chapter: The law provides for freedom of internal movement, foreign travel, emigration, a…

Congress would win just 9 of 26 Lok Sabha seats: Gujarat Assembly segment-wise analysis

By Rajiv Shah
Even as the Congress plans its first working committee meet in Gujarat on February 28 after an almost 58 year gap, there is reason to wonder what is in store for India’s grand old party in a state which has been long been a BJP bastion – in fact ever since mid-1990s. Ahead of the then assembly polls in late 2012, talking with me, a senior Gujarat Congress leader, currently Rajya Sabha MP, frankly said he saw no reason why Congress would win.

"Pro-corporate" Supreme Court order on FRA would further marginalize Adivasis

By VS Roy David, JP Raju*
For millions of Adivasis and other traditional forest dwellers February 13, 2019 will go down in history as the day of apocalypse. This is like the proverbial Black Friday where millions of most marginalized people of India were ordered by malicious anti-people draconian Supreme Court order depriving them the life and livelihood by evicting them from their habitats.

Financial inclusion? Not micro-loans; India's poor "need" investment in health, education

By Moin Qazi*
India has grown into a global powerhouse. Its economy is soaring but the picture on the ground is still quite arid. The green shoots that you see are only a patch of its landscape. Most Indians are hapless victims of inequity. India is one country where intense poverty abounds in the shadow of immense wealth.

India, Pakistan told to eliminate nuclear weapons: N-war "would kill" 2 billion

Counterview Desk
The International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), a non-partisan federation of national medical organizations in 64 countries, representing tens of thousands of doctors, medical students, other health workers, and concerned citizens, claiming to share the common goal of creating a more peaceful and secure world freed from the threat of nuclear annihilation, has warned that “an unprecedented global catastrophe” awaits the globe against the backdrop of warmongering in India and Pakistan.

Counterview

Search This Blog