Working Group pitches for MNREGS wage raise

In a set of 32 recommendations that if implemented would have a far-reaching impact on the working of the MNREGS...

In a set of 32 recommendations that if implemented would have a far-reaching impact on the working of the MNREGS,one of the six working groups set up by the Central Employment Guarantee Council to monitor and review the working of the rural employment guarantee scheme has made a case for a drastic review in the amount paid as wages.

The group has painted a grim picture of the impact of the price-hike on wages paid to those employed under the scheme. It wants participants compensated for the erosion in money that the price-rise has meant for them.

The Working Group on Wages,headed by Jean Dreze,the Belgium-born activist,economist and a member of the National Advisory Council in both its terms,has made a case for making sure that the real,and not just nominal wages paid each day to those working are at least Rs 100 a day.

Taking account of the inflation having impacted on the purchasing power of the Rupee,Drezes group has concluded: NREGA wage levels should be immediately indexed to the price level using the Consumer Price Index for Agricultural Labourers with April 1,2009 as the base8230;. It also recommends that the wages should be revised upwards annually,if not once every six months.

There are emergency recommendations in the report,and one argues for a reduction in the man-hours worked each day. The Working Group recommends that they be brought down from nine hours to seven hours each day. The group has also urged that the wages paid must under no circumstances be allowed to dip below the minimum wages in the state something already stipulated by the Act.

Other recommendations include transparency in the way muster rolls are kept and in the way participants are paid. The Working Group also concludes that there is a need to set up a NREGA Workers Compensation Fund at the district level,to enable financial compensation for participants if payments are delayed. It also says that till the bank payment systems are better regulated,NREGA workers should be paid an extra day of wages every two weeks,to compensate them for the time and money spent in collecting their wages from banks or post-offices.

It has also recommended caution before switching to biometrics and smart cards. It says the new technology should be tried and tested comprehensively before being made the norm. While the recommendations made by a Working Group,having a member of the NAC as the head,would serve as a powerful pressure-group,there are those in government who are concerned with balancing the need to protect the poor from the price-rise,versus the burden on the exchequer a rise in wages would mean.

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Ultimately,it would be a political call that would have to be taken by the UPA chairperson and the Prime Minister.