MGNREGA

• Recently, the Ministry of Rural Development has notified fresh wage rates under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) for financial year 2022-23.
• The wage rates are notified under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005.
• The MGNREGA wage rates are fixed according to changes in the CPI-AL (Consumer Price Index-Agriculture Labour), which reflects the increase in the inflation in rural areas.
• 21 out of 34 states and Union Territories getting less than 5 % increase and 10 states getting more than 5 % hike.
• Of the 31 states and UTs, which saw a hike in wages, the maximum 7.14 % has been recorded in Goa.
• The lowest increase of 1.77 % is in Meghalaya.
• There is no change in the wage rates of three states – Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura.

MGNREGA

• MGNREGA is one of the largest work guarantee programmes in the world.
• The primary objective of the scheme is to guarantee 100 days of employment in every financial year to adult members of any rural household willing to do public work-related unskilled manual work.
• Unlike earlier employment guarantee schemes, the act aims at addressing the causes of chronic poverty through a rights-based framework.
• At least one-third of beneficiaries have to be women.
• Wages must be paid according to the statutory minimum wages specified for agricultural labourers in the state under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948.
• The most important part of MGNREGA’s design is its legally-backed guarantee for any rural adult to get work within 15 days of demanding it, failing which an ‘unemployment allowance’ must be given.
• This demand-driven scheme enables the self-selection of workers.
• There is an emphasis on strengthening the process of decentralisation by giving a significant role in Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in planning and implementing these works.
• The act mandates Gram sabhas to recommend the works that are to be undertaken and at least 50% of the works must be executed by them.

Issues Associated With Implementation of Scheme

• Most states have failed to disburse wages within 15 days as mandated by MGNREGA. In addition, workers are not compensated for a delay in payment of wages.
• This has turned the scheme into a supply-based programme and subsequently, workers had begun to lose interest in working under it.
• There is ample evidence by now, including an admission by the Ministry of Finance, that delays in wage payments are a consequence of insufficient funds.
• There were significant variations in delays by caste. While 46% of payments to SC (Scheduled Caste) workers and 37% for ST (Scheduled Tribes) workers were completed in the mandated seven-day period, it was a dismal 26% for non-SC/ST workers.
• The negative impact of caste-based segregation was felt acutely in poorer States such as Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal.
• With very little autonomy, gram panchayats are not able to implement this act in an effective and efficient manner.
• There has been a delay in the completion of works under MGNREGA and inspection of projects has been irregular. Also, there is an issue of quality of work and asset creation under MGNREGA.
• There are several issues related to the existence of fake job cards, the inclusion of fictitious names, missing entries and delays in making entries in job cards.

Way Forward

• There is a need for better coordination between various government departments and the mechanism to allot and measure the work.
• Some discrepancies in the payouts need to be addressed, too. Women in the sector, on an average, earn 22.24% less than their male counterparts.

SOURCE: THE HINDU,THE ECONOMIC TIMES,MINT