Rajasthan minimum income Bill: provisions, what makes it unique

Under the Bill, all families of the state get guaranteed employment of 125 days every year, while the aged, disabled, widows, and single women get a minimum pension of Rs 1,000 per month. Importantly, the pension will be increased at the rate of 15 per cent each year.

The Bill has three broad categories: right to minimum guaranteed income, right to guaranteed employment, and right to guaranteed social security pension.

The government anticipates an additional expenditure of Rs 2,500 crore per year for this scheme, which may increase with time.

What are its major provisions?

Minimum guaranteed income: Each adult citizen of the state has been guaranteed a minimum income for 125 days a year through the Rajasthan government’s flagship Indira Gandhi Shahri Rozgar Guarantee Yojana for urban areas, and through Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in rural areas.

In his budget speech this year, Chief Minister Gehlot had increased the employment guarantee per family from 100 days to 125 days for his urban employment scheme. The state will supplement the MGNREGA’s 100 days by providing jobs for an additional 25 days in rural areas.

Next, the government will provide eligible categories with a minimum pension of Rs 1,000.

Guaranteed employment: The right to employment states that post the work in urban or rural employment schemes, the minimum wages should be paid “weekly or in any case not later than a fortnight.”

The state will designate a program officer — not below the rank of Block Development Officer in rural areas and an Executive Officer of the local body in urban areas — to implement the Act. Among other things, the Program Officer shall ensure that the work site is within a radius of five kilometres of where the job card is registered in both rural and urban areas.

If the Program Officer fails to provide employment within 15 days from the receipt of the application, the applicant shall be entitled to an unemployment allowance on a weekly basis “and in any case not later than a fortnight.”

Guaranteed social security pension: Every person falling in the category of old age/specially abled/widow/single woman with prescribed eligibility shall be entitled to a pension. It will increase over the base rate in two instalments — 5 per cent in July and 10 per cent in January of each financial year 24 starting 2024-2025.

Why the Bill?

While announcing the scheme in his budget speech earlier this year, CM Gehlot had said that Mahatma Gandhi’s message, “The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members”, was a focal point of all his government’s policies.

Last week, at an interaction with social security pension beneficiaries, the CM had said, “When the government gives you Rs 1,000, it is not a favour. The one who rules has a moral responsibility that everyone gets justice. And we are bringing in a law so that no one can stop the pension.”

The Bill is part of a bouquet of schemes and measures undertaken by his government to provide relief from inflation with an eye on the polls later this year.

How have social activists reacted?

Social activist Nikhil Dey of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), which had shared a draft of the Bill with the state government, said, “The Bill contains many firsts in the country. It is a very welcome step. We’re really happy that it has come, especially since it has all the essentials.”

He said that the Bill’s approach, guaranteeing minimum employment and pensions by law, distinguishes it from the cash transfer schemes that various other states have.

While the civil society network Soochna Evum Rozgaar Adhikar Abhiyan had submitted a more detailed draft to the government, Dey said that parts which have been skipped can still be included in the rules brought under the Act.