Sonia Gandhi demands raising minimum wages, guaranteed workdays under MGNREGA

New Delhi: Accusing the Narendra Modi government of "systematically undermining" the MGNREGA, top Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday demanded the raising of minimum wage under the rural job guarantee scheme to Rs 400 per day and the number of guaranteed workdays from 100 to 150 a year.

Raising the issue during Zero Hour in Rajya Sabha, she said the scheme faces multiple challenges, including the "exclusionary" Aadhaar Payments Bridge System (APBS) and the National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS), persistent delays in wage payment and wage rates not adequate to compensate for inflation.

Recalling that the UPA government under the then prime minister Manmohan Singh enacted the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 2005, she said the "landmark" legislation has been a "crucial safety net" for millions of rural poor.

"However, it is deeply concerning that the present BJP government is systematically undermining the scheme. The budget allocation remains stagnant at Rs 86,000 crore, a 10-year low as a percentage of GDP. When adjusted for inflation, the effective budget declines by Rs 4,000 crore. Estimates suggest nearly 20 per cent of the allocated funds will be used to clear pending dues from previous years," she said.

Demanding that adequate financial provisions be made to "sustain and expand the scheme", she also said minimum wage should be increased to Rs 400 per day along with their timely disbursement as well as raising the number of guaranteed workdays from 100 to 150 per year.

She also called for the removal of the APBS and NMMS and said these measures are essential to ensure that MGNREGA provides dignified employment and financial security. The National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS) app permits taking real-time attendance of workers at MGNREGA worksites along with geotagged photographs.

This is the second time that Sonia has raised an issue during the Zero Hour since she was elected to the Rajya Sabha last April. During the first leg of Budget Session on February 10, she had urged the government to conduct the much delayed decennial Census at the earliest so that around 14 crore more people who are now left out of the mandatory food security net could be brought under it.

Congress Media and Publicity Department Chairman Pawan Khera claimed that the union government is cutting funds, forcing states to bear the burden and leaving millions of job-seekers helpless, despite rising demand for work.

“From Aadhaar-linked wage payments to app-based attendance, artificial obstacles are being used to push out those who need MNREGA the most like marginalized laborers, Dalits, Adivasis, and women. Why is the Modi government punishing the poor while writing off lakhs of crores in loans for its billionaire friends?...Congress will fight for MNREGA, and we will not allow the BJP to destroy it,” he said.