11/13/2010 Minimum wages for MGNREGA worker…

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Minimum wages for MGNREGA workers soon

Anindo Dey, TNN, Nov 13, 2010, 05.52am IST

JAIPUR: It could be a matter of days before workers under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) are paid
minimum wages as notified under the Minimum Wages Act 1948.

In a significant development, Sonia Gandhi, Congress president and chairperson of the National Advisory Council (NAC), on Friday shot a letter to
the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging him to "examine and give suitable directions" in this regard. The NAC had in its October 23 meeting
forwarded such a proposal to Sonia.

An intense agitation has been going on here since October 2 by hundreds of activists under the banner of the Suchna Evum Rozgar Ka Adhikar
Abhiyan, while chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan have also shot letters to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urging the same.

In the letter, Sonia Gandhi, while referring to the meeting of the NAC, has said there was a general agreement that workers under MGNREGA
need to be paid the minimum wages under the Minimum Wages Act 1948.

"A self-contained note on the subject is enclosed suggestion some solutions. Since the matter is of an urgent and inter-ministerial nature you may
wish to have it examined and give suitable directions," she wrote.

The letter contains a background note on how wages for MGNREGA workers are determined under Section 6 of the Act, the subsequent increase of
minimum wages by some states and the subsequent filing of a PIL by some workers at the Andhra Pradesh High Court after they were not paid the
minimum wages under NREGA.

The letter also contains the legal opinion of Indira Jaising, additional solicitor general of India, in which she reiterates that payment of minimum
wages to NREGA workers is mandatory. Besides, it annexes an open statement by 15 legal experts, including former chief justice of India M N
Venkatachaliah, that says that the Minimum Wages Act must be honoured even in MGNREGA.

In order to avoid a situation where state government arbitrarily raise the minimum wages and force the Centre to foot the bill, Sonia's letter
suggests updating and immediately notifying the current state's minimum wages under Section 6 (1) with a rational and general agreed annual
system for adjusting inflation.

It adds that in order to protect the real wages, the approved minimum wages may be indexed to the consumer price index for agricultural labour as
applicable for each state.

As a first step to ameliorate the crisis, the letter suggests, "An immediate solution could be reversion to Section 6(2) of the Mahatma Gandhi
NREGA. This was discussed in the NAC meeting of October 23rd and is being suggested by the chief ministers. It is in line with the emergency and
final recommendation of the Central Employment Guarantee Council's Working Group on Wages."

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