House panel moots uniform MGNREGS wages in all states

NEW DELHI: Even as negligible MGNREGS wage increases have sparked outrage, a parliamentary committee has further roiled the issue of remuneration under the job scheme by demanding that it be uniform nationally as against the present system where it varies in states.
Well-placed government sources, however, ruled out any tweak to the formula in either of the cases — raising annual wages or notifying state-wide wages based on change in Consumer Price Index (agricultural) there.
“These issues were settled with great care by framers of the Act. We don’t expect any change on these fronts,” a senior government source said.
The parliamentary standing committee on rural development, in its report on demand for grants for 2021-22, termed the varying MGNREGS wages across states as “wage disparity”. “It is still beyond comprehension as to how it is possible that a single scheme has different yardsticks when it comes to payment modalities across the length and breadth of the country,” the panel said, even arguing that Article 39 of the Constitution guarantees equal pay for equal work.
“Hence, there can’t be different wages for different states under MGNREGS... the committee recommends that MGNREGS beneficiaries must be paid wages without disparity in order to bring equality in wages across states/UTs,” it said.
Sources said uniformity of wages across states was not “practical as states’ economic levels and expectations from MGNREGS were different”. An official said minimum wages could not be paid under MGNREGS because it guarantees work to all who seek employment, as against agriculture or any activity where demand decides employment.