Calling merely Rsone increment it MGNREGA wage for financial year 2017-18 as highly disappointing, Jharkhand has requested to the Centre to relook into the matter.
In a letter written to Union Rural Development Ministry Secretary Amarjeet Sinha on March 15, Chief Secretary Rajbala Verma has requested him to revise upgraded MGNREGA rate for financial year 2017-18 of Rs168 after increment of Re one to take up to at least the level of minimum agriculture rate of the State.
“We in Jharkhand are very disappointed to learn that the State’s MGNREGA wage rate has been increased by a mere Rsone to Rs168 for the financial year 2017-18. It is extremely worrying that the real wage of MGNREGA workers has remained stagnant in the last two years and, in fact, has decreased compared to last year. I would also like to point out that while the average national real wage of the country has risen by more than 20 percent in last 10 years, the increase for MGNREGA workers has only been 4.7 percent in the corresponding period,” the CS said in her letter.
The letter also mentioned that the revised MGNREGA wage rate for financial year 2017-18 was Rs56 less than the State’s minimum agricultural wage. It said that the State’s minimum wage had increased be 212 percent between 2007 and 2017, whereas the corresponding increase in MGNREGA wage had been only 94 percent.
In fact, the State has also found it disappointing, and rightly so, because Jharkhand still finds itself among poorest states of the country in terms of per capita income, and MGNREGA has played a crucial role in providing economic security to the poorest rural households of the State.
“I would, therefore, request you to kindly consider the matter of revising Jharkhand’s MGNREGA wage rate to Rs224, equivalent to the State’s minimum agricultural wage rate. Such a level of wage rate will go a long way of offering a decent and non-exploitative wage to MGNREGS job-seekers as well as in meeting the Government of India’s aim of achieving poverty-free Gram Panchayats and sustainable development in Jharkhand,” the letter concluded.