Centre increases NREGA wages, Karnataka gets second lowest, Rajasthan highest

Goa has received the lowest hike of 2.22%, from Rs 315 in 2022-23 to Rs 322 per day for 2023-24

The Centre has notified a hike in wage rates under its rural job guarantee programme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS), for the 2023-24 financial year, with Haryana to get the highest daily wage at Rs 357 per day and Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh the lowest at Rs 221.

In percentage terms, Goa and Karnataka have received the lowest hike with an increase of a mere two per cent. Rajasthan has received the maximum gain, with wages increasing by 10.39 per cent from April 1 over the current wage rate. Wage rates in Rajasthan stand increased to Rs 255 per day for 2023-24, up from Rs 231 in 2022-23. Bihar and Jharkhand have registered an increase of 8.57 per cent.

Goa has received the lowest hike of 2.22 per cent, from Rs 315 in 2022-23 to Rs 322 per day for 2023-24. Karnataka follows Goa closely, where the MNREGS wage rate has registered a hike of 2.27 per cent, increasing from Rs 309 in 2022-23 to Rs 316 in 2023-24.

Read | Karnataka yet to recover Rs 127 crore under MGNREGA: Data

Seven other states have received less than a 5 per cent increase in wage rates for 2023-24 over the current (2022-23) rates. These are Meghalaya (3.4 per cent), Manipur (3.59 per cent), Arunachal Pradesh (3.7 per cent), Nagaland (3.7 per cent), Assam (3.93 per cent), Tamil Nadu (4.63 per cent), and Puducherry (4.63 per cent).

The Union Ministry of Rural Development notified the amended wages on March 24. The revised wages were notified under Section 6 (1) of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005, which says the Centre may, by notification, specify the wage rate for its beneficiaries.

In the Union Budget 2023-24, the Centre slashed the MGNREGA allocation to Rs 60,000 crore, the lowest in the past four years, a 17.8 per cent cut. Recently, a parliamentary standing committee also flagged the cut in the allocation. It also asked the Centre to take steps to resolve the problem that NREGA subscribers, some of the poorest of people, are facing because of the National Mobile Monitoring Software (NMMS) App.