Rural job bill hits wage wall

Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh says: ‘‘On our part, we are ready to bring it (the bill) in the first week of the session. We are determined to make it pro-poor, but it is not practicable to impose uniform minimum wages across the country.’’ He points out that Northeastern states have the lowest minimum wage of Rs 40 per day; Kerala has a minimum wage of Rs 120.

The Standing Committee has recommended that minimum wages should take into account the national minimum wage requirement. ‘‘The recommendation is that (the) minimum wage should be fixed on the basis of whichever is higher — a particular state’s (wage) or the national,’’ a panel member said.

The Ministry is also reluctant to hand over the entire implementation of the bill to the panchayats without Central supervision because it feels panchayats are not bound to be accountable.

Differences also persist over the aim of the bill. The Standing Committee has recommended that panchayats be allowed to select the work through which employment is to be generated. But the Ministry says the Bill’s goals — providing employment guarantees to unskilled workers and generating production assets for the country—would be defeated if it is left to panchayats to select the work.

Nor does the Rural Development Ministry intend to give up its supervisory role or discretionary power when it comes to selecting work.

‘‘We are not restricting the panchayats from generating work, but our permission should be taken for specific works which would be outside the ambit of the bill. The Centre’s (read Ministry’s) approval would be required for work not prescribed in the Bill,’’ Singh said.