Revised wages will be effective from April 1

NEW-DELHI: The Central government has issued a notification for the increase in daily wages under the rural employment guarantee program i.e. MGNREGA for the financial year 2023-24. The Union Ministry of Rural Development on March 24 issued a notification for changes in wage rates under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. From April 1, the salary hike from Rs 7 to Rs 26 will be implemented.

At present, the highest wage in MGNREGA is 357 rupees in Haryana, the lowest is 221 rupees in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. The notification has been issued under Section 6 (1) of MNREGA, 2005, which states that the wage rates for the workers will be fixed by the Central Government. The increase in wages for the beneficiaries of MGNREGA has been increased from Rs 7 to Rs 26, which will be effective from April 1.  

As per the reports, the Increases in the wages for states range between 2 and 10 percent. The states with the lowest percentage increases include Karnataka, Goa, Meghalaya, and Manipur.

About MGNREGA.....

The MGNREGA stands for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. It is the largest social security scheme in the world that guarantees 100 days of unskilled manual work to all rural households in India. The MGNREGA makes obligatory for the State to give rural households work on demand. The work is usually on projects to build durable assets like roads, canals, ponds, wells etc.

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, initially called National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005, is an Indian labour law and social security measure. The scheme is a flagship programme whose objective is to improve the livelihood security of rural households by offering at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every home with adult members who volunteer for unskilled manual labour.

As per the reports, the Increases in the wages for states range between 2 and 10 percent. The states with the lowest percentage increases include Karnataka, Goa, Meghalaya, and Manipur.

As per the official survey 2022-23, Around 6 crore households demanded work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA). Of these, 6.48 crore households were offered employment by the government and 5.7 crore actually availed it. It showed that the MGNREGA scheme has a positive impact on income per household, agricultural productivity, and production-related expenditure.