UPA to push jobs Bill in winter session

"They (state governments) have to provide employment and the financial aspect will be taken care of by the central government," Singh said on the sidelines of a two-day conference of project directors of district rural development agencies.

"We have sought the views of state governments, including West Bengal, which have objected to the move. This will help us incorporate the necessary amendments when the Bill is moved in the Winter Session of Parliament," Singh said. 

Sources in the government revealed that the Planning Commission is yet to make a fresh assessment of the financial estimates submitted by the National Advisory Council (NAC) along with the draft Bill.

The Plan panel's earlier observation that the high cost of the scheme, between 21,000 crore and 40,000 crore, is prohibitive, has been dismissed by the government on the grounds that a realistic estimate is unavailable as yet.

The government's current rural employment generation schemes have a budgetary allocation of around Rs 11,000 crore. If the Rural Employment Guarantee Act is enacted, sources say, the existing programmes will  be restructured to be part of the larger scheme. At the lower end then, it will require Rs 10,000 crore, the sources added.

Even this amount will not be needed at one go, as the scheme will be phased out over a period of four years.

To ensure the Bill is ready for introduction in the Winter Session of Parliament, the draft has been circulated among the ministries concerned. Their comments along with the revised estimates provided by the Planning Commission are likely to be  referred to a standing committee on rural development.

Besides the financial viability of the scheme, state governments have also questioned its legal implications. The West Bengal government is afraid that the 'legal' guarantee that the government will have to provide 100 days of employment may lead to a slew of litigation against it. As a similar scheme in the state failed due to inadequate funds, the Left Front government considers it a "liability" to pay unemployment allowance and is wary of being dragged to court over any "aberration" in implementation.

The proposed legislation makes it mandatory for the state government to pay daily wages as unemployment dole if the government fails to provide employment within 15 days of a person's application.