Mgnrega

Parliamentary panel raises concern over low MGNREGS wages, asks for raise

Flagging low wages under MGNREGS, a Parliamentary panel has questioned why the remuneration under the flagship scheme was not linked to an inflation index. It has also urged the Union rural development ministry for devising a mechanism for raising wages under the scheme. Headed by Congress MP Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, in a report tabled in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, rapped the ministry and said there had been no noticeable change in its stance. It has been sending "stereotype responses" regarding revision of wages, the report said. "Rising inflation and cost of living, be it urban or rural setting, has risen manifold and is evident to all. Even at this moment, going by the notified wage rates of MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act), per day wage rate of around Rs 200 in many states defies any logic when the same state has much higher labour rates," the panel said in its report.

More funds sought for MGNREGA if budget falls short: Shivraj Singh Chouhan

Civil society says claims of timely release, funds increase misleading; threaten protest from December 6

MGNREGA work demand up 4% in November as farm sowing ends, shows data

According to some experts, the increase in demand may be attributed to workers returning to worksites after completing sowing activities on farms

Rajasthan govt to train NREGA, agricultural workers for better livelihoods

Under the scheme, one adult member from families who have completed at least 100 days of employment under the NREGA programme would be trained

MGNREGA participation dipped in first 6 months this FY compared to last

The analysis showed that while 8.5 million workers were deleted, only 4.5 million workers were added to the list of registered MGNREGA workers, thus taking the net deletion to 3.9 million

Centre to integrate EPFO, e-Shram database to track workforce formalisation

Move aims at tracking workforce formalisation in India

Is the drop in MGNREGA work demand a sign of improving rural job markets?

Civil society activists and people working on the ground, however, believe that the decline in work demand is artificially created due to fund shortages for the programme

Rural job market improving in FY25 but lags behind pre-pandemic levels

The work completed by July in the 2024-25 fiscal year is 230 million person-days fewer than in the same period last year under MGNREGS, signalling some improvement in traditional centres of employment

MGNREGA living monument of PM Modi's betrayal of rural India, says Kharge

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday slammed the Centre over its handling of the MGNREGA, alleging that the present state of the scheme is "a living monument of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's "betrayal" of rural India. Kharge recalled that in 2005, on this day, the then Congress-led UPA government enacted the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to ensure 'Right to Work' to crores of people in rural India. In a post on X, he said at present, there are 13.3 crore active workers who depend on the MGNREGA, despite low wages, abysmal work-days, and facing deletion of job cards. In the guise of using technology and Aadhaar, the Modi government has deleted over seven crore workers' job cards, cutting these households off from MGNREGA work, the Congress president claimed. This year's Budget allocation for the MGNREGA is just 1.78 per cent of the total budgetary allocation, which marks a 10-year low in the scheme's funding, he said. The lower allocat

MGNREGA work demand 'not linked' to rural distress: Economic Survey

Data does not show that states with more poverty and higher unemployment rates use more of the scheme's funds, it says

Hopes in the balance: How much can the Budget do for the rural sector?

The government will have to tweak the demand for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and may retain the demand for PM Kisan to not allow fiscal slippage

Rising focus: Budget push likely for social sector to lift rural demand

Bumper RBI dividend may help govt increase funding

FY25 begins with tepid work demand under MGNREGA, shows govt data

In April 2024, around 21.51 million households sought work under the scheme, which was 10.59 per cent lower than the number of households who sought work under the scheme in April 2023

Will stock market crash if BJP gets less than 270 seats in Lok Sabha polls?

In the worst case scenario where the NDA is unable to secure a majority (seats less than 272), analysts at Bernstein expect 'heavy profit booking' in the markets with low or negligible returns

Zero electricity bill, tax tweaks: Govt's 100-day agenda, budget wish list

From a long-term perspective, however, the focus, Mirae Asset said, would be on infrastructure development, farm laws, skill development, and creating employment

Voter's choice: Mediocrity or prosperity?

The present day voting population is deciding whether economic transformation will determine its electoral choice

Wages to workers: MGNREGA's fluctuating fate during Modi government

The rural employment scheme's nature and the objective had come in for strong criticism and plans were afoot to change its characteristics, according to civil society activists

CPI releases manifesto; promises to scrap CAA, 50% cap on reservation

The Communist Party of India (CPI) released its manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections on Saturday, promising to scrap the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, remove the 50 per cent cap on reservations for SCs, STs and OBCs, and enhance the daily wage under MGNREGA to Rs 700. The Left party called for the defeat of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to save secular democracy. It said the 10-year BJP rule has proven to be a disaster for the country. If elected to power, the CPI promised to scrap the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, remove the 50 per cent cap on reservations, conduct a caste census, introduce taxation measures such as wealth tax and inheritance tax, increase corporate tax, introduce reservation in the private sector, and raise the daily wage under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) Rs 700. "General elections for the 18th Lok Sabha are going to be very crucial and critical for our secular democratic republic, its future and to our ...

Over 80 million people worked under MGNREGA in FY24, shows data

It is the lowest number of beneficiaries to have accessed employment under the scheme since the Covid-19 pandemic

Salaried workers' real wages dropped between 2012 and 2022: ILO study

The average real monthly wages of a regular wage worker dipped to Rs 10,925 in 2022 from Rs 12,100 in 2012