MGNREGA sees negligible increase in minimum wages in the time of Covid-19

The 4% rise in average all-India minimum wages is almost the same as CPI inflation rate between 2015-16 and 2019-20, meaning that in real terms, the increase has been insignificant

Last week, the Central government notified the minimum daily wages for MGNREGA workers for the 2021-22 financial year.

The average wage increase across the country was just about 4 per cent more than in FY21, which in absolute terms translates to a hike of just around Rs 9.

This, according to some experts, is lower than the average notified wages increase of 11 per cent between 2019-20 and 2020-21.

In some states and UTs, such as Meghalaya, Daman and Diu, Puducherry and Tamil Nadu, the increase was as high as Rs 17-23 per day, but in the big states of