• Standard wages for all development programmes
• Tea gardens to come under NREGA
• Migration continues despite NREGA
• NREGA beneficiaries pay a cut to local party workers
• Workers prefer NREGA to industry

Standard wages for all development programmes

The Centre has asked all states to set wages paid under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and other development programmes in accordance with the minimum wages fixed under the Minimum Wages Act. Encouraging a judicious use of Central grants for states, Union minister for rural development Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said that minimum wages should be similar to the wages paid to agricultural labourers for unskilled work, and must be at par with the payment made for other development works carried out by government agencies.

^top

Tea gardens to come under NREGA

The Centre has announced the inclusion of tea garden workers, who have been rendered jobless due to the closure of tea gardens in West Bengal, under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA).

Earlier, NREGA was not applicable to tea gardens since they did not come under panchayats. A total of 33 tea gardens have been closed across India, of which 14 are in West Bengal. Of the rest, 17 are in Kerala and two in Assam. Ailing tea gardens have created a large and unemployed workforce.

Under this programme, 18,817 job cards have been issued and 9,12,600 man-days have been created among plantation workers of closed tea gardens in North Bengal. The district administration has provided employment in the nature of constructing drains, making trenches to block elephants from entering human habitation, developing land and building roads.

^top

Migration continues despite NREGA

The Ranchi administration has sought a revision of wage structure of labourers employed under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). Despite being provided employment, villagers choose to migrate to bigger towns and cities. The reason for this is that labourers are paid just Rs 76 per day for digging 100 cubic feet of the region’s hard soil. Most of them migrate and look for jobs in urban areas, which pay them Rs 120 a day.

Ranchi district magistrate Kamal Kishore Soan says that a ‘time and motion study’ conducted by the administration recommends that labourers should be paid Rs 100 a day for digging 100 cubic feet of soil. Without a panchayti raj system in place, the district magistrate has requested the state government to appoint a “mate” in each block to measure the work done by workers every day.

^top

NREGA beneficiaries pay a cut to local party workers

Villagers employed under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) in Rajasthan’s Udaipur district pay Rs 2 from their day’s earning of Rs 60 to local party workers as a job guarantee. Earning an average Rs 150-200 every fortnight, the toll levied by party workers ensures a steady flow of work for the villagers.

District administration officials support this trend. “Since NREGA is directly implemented by government agencies, there is no scope for calling tenders or giving the jobs on a contract basis,” says an official.

^top

Workers prefer NREGA to industry

Villagers in Dungarpur, Rajasthan, prefer to work under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) rather than at local industries. Numerous factors are responsible for this trend. These include work security, regular pay, closer proximity to villages and hassle free work conditions offered by NREGA.

Urban homes, which previously hired domestic help from this region, are also being affected as a result. Despite companies and individuals offering double the amount of what is being given under the government scheme, villagers prefer to work under NREGA. Local industries have now been employing workers from the adjoining states of Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat.

According to district collector Niraj Kumar Pawan, “Local employers have been conducting camps in various villages to mobilise the work force. Some have also increased the minimum daily wages to almost double of what we are giving under the scheme.” But, even that has not been good enough to lure the villagers employed under NREGA.

^top