MGNREGA wage-material ratio to be maintained at dist level,

The government today said it has decided to maintain a 60:40 wage-material ratio for the MGNREGA now at the district level instead of the panchayat level as was the case earlier even as the move drew criticism from activists.
"The ministry has decided to maintain a 60:40 wage- material ratio at the district level now to ensure creation of good quality assets in rural areas," the Rural Development Ministry said in a statement.
Criticising the move, social activist Nikhil Dey, who is associated with organisations like Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, Suchna Evum Rozgar Adhikar Abhiyan and NCPRI, said the move will result in "discrimination" and "discourage" employment-related works.

"This compromises the basic framework of MGNREGA. It means that in certain panchayats, you can do 100 per cent material work while in other panchyats, you can do hundred per cent labour work. This will create a set of politically powerful panchayats.
"Asset creation is required in all panchayats and so is employment. That is why MGNREGA stipulated the 60:40 wage- material ratio for all panchayats. This decision will lead to discrimination among panchayats. In the panchayats where the material component is very high, contractors will not care about providing employment," he said.
According to sources, the understanding in the government is that while some panchayats may require intensive labour- oriented work, there may be some others where asset creation has to be prioritised. Hence, computation of the wage-material ratio at the district level will facilitate both.

There was a controversy in 2014 when the then Rural Development Minister Nitin Gadkari had announced that the government will increase the proportion of the material component in the scheme to up to 49 per cent to enable creation of large, durable assets like check dams, etc.

Those favouring change in the ratio between expenditure on
labour and material believe it is needed for creating "durable and productive" assets.
Taking over from Gadkari as the rural development minister, Birendra Singh, however, sought to put speculation to rest and promised that his government would ensure that the 60:40 wage to material ratio is maintained at the gram panchayat level.

Guidelines issued in 2013 on the wage-material ratio states that the 60:40 ratio should be maintained at the gram panchayat level for all works to be taken up by it. For works by all other agencies, the ratio should be maintained at the block/intermediate panchayat level.
Section 16 of the MGNREGA states that the gram panchayat shall be responsible for identification of projects in its area to be taken up under a scheme as per the recommendations of the gram sabha and ward sabhas and for the execution and supervision of such works.