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Journalism of Courage
The Bill to introduce the Employment Guarantee Act is set to be tabled in Parliament next week but the Government has indicated that it could be difficult to fund it in the form proposed by the National Advisory Council.
According to the gist of provisions sent on November 27 to the NAC by the Rural Development Ministry, it may not be possible to ensure that the beneficiaries get minimum wage. And it may not be possible for the government to implement it across the country within the stipulated five years.
Instead, the government has said, the Act will come into force “on such date and for such period as may be notified by the Central government.’’ And that wages under this law can be set “notwithstanding anything contained in the Minimum Wages Act, 1948.”
Explaining these changes, Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said that both the Finance Ministry and the Planning Commission were consulted and concerns were raised about the cost factor. Introducing the law across the country could cost Rs 40,000 crore each year.
On the issue of minimum wage, Singh told The Indian Express: ‘‘We are serious about implementing the Act. This is only to give states the flexibility to set their own wages which vary from Rs 40 a day in Assam to Rs 120 in Karnataka. How can the Centre impose a single wage?”
Singh said the original proposal was unrealistic and a balance had to be struck. “It is a Bill that needs to be passed in Parliament and yet has to be in a shape that can be implemented on the ground.”
For Jean Dreze, a member of NAC and one of the people who helped craft the original proposal, however, this is a matter of concern. ‘‘The absence of a time frame bothers me,” said Dreze. ‘‘And the government has even given itself the licence to set the wage at any level that pleases them.”
Said Dreze: ‘‘It is outside our hands now. We have communicated our concerns but it is up to the government.”
Under Dreze’s draft, the government would give a legal guarantee to provide at least 100 days of employment at minimum wages to one person in every rural household. If it failed to do that, the unemployed would be entitled to an allowance. The NAC had suggested that the law be imposed across the country within five years.
