Jharkhand will soon send a proposal to the Centre to revise the minimum wage rate and the CFT (cubic feet) provision per man-day for labourers working under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), rural development officials said on Thursday.
Labourers working under the MGNREGS get a much lower minimum wage than the state’s minimum wage rate. The state’s minimum wage is ₹283, while a MGNREGS labourer gets ₹194, officials said.
Similarly, a worker’s man-day under the Centre’s scheme is considered after he digs 73 cubic feet soil in Jharkhand. A worker gets a minimum wage of ₹194 after he digs 73 CFT soil in Jharkhand, while MGNREGS labourers in Andhra Pradesh get the minimum wage after digging a mere 28 CFT. In Chhatisgarh, the criterion is 48 CFT, officials said.
Chief minister Hemant Soren, while reviewing the progress of the rural development department on Wednesday, directed officials to write to the Centre for a hike in the minimum wage rate of MGNREGS workers.
The chief minister said, “The wage rate under MGNREGS is still less than the minimum wage rate of the state. In such a situation, a hike in MGNREGS rate is needed to reduce the difference. The department should take steps towards obtaining consent from the central government in this regard.”
{{/usCountry}}The chief minister said, “The wage rate under MGNREGS is still less than the minimum wage rate of the state. In such a situation, a hike in MGNREGS rate is needed to reduce the difference. The department should take steps towards obtaining consent from the central government in this regard.”
{{/usCountry}}Soren said the MGNREGS is a multi-dimensional scheme, which has immense potential to create large-scale employment in rural Jharkhand.
State rural development secretary Aradhana Patnaik said, “We would send a proposal to the Centre soon for revision in the minimum wage of MGNREGS labourers. We are also making efforts for revision in CFT provision, which will help in enhancing man-days as well as labourers’ earning under the Centre’s scheme.”
She said for a revision in the CFT rule, a time-motion study is begin carried out in Jharkhand by the National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj.