Centre approves MGNREGA Labourers Wage Hike

The Central Government has approved a double-digit hike in the wages of manual labourers under Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). The workers will get a wage hike from Rs. 13 to Rs. 34.

This decision of the central government in collaboration with the state governments have come in the wake of the Coronavirus outbreak in the country. It will work directly in the benefit of rural households, SC, ST, marginal and poor households.

An official from Finance Ministry said that the average hike will be by Rs. 20 to Rs. 201 in FY21 as compared to FY20. This new wage hike for manual workers will come in effect from April 1, 2020, in all the States and Union Territories (UTs).

Allocation by Central Government in MGNREGA

The ongoing crisis has led to the economic slowdown which resulted in the increasing demand for work under the scheme. Keeping this in perspective, the central government has jumped from Rs. 60,000 crore to 71,001 crores for MGNREGA allocation in the current financial year. While for FY21-22, Rs. 61,500 crore has been allocated by the government.

States getting the highest and lowest MGNREGA wage hikes:

• Maharashtra and Dadra and Nagar Haveli will see the highest wage hikes. Dadra and Nagar Haveli will get a hike of Rs. 34 (from Rs. 224 earlier to Rs. 258 now) while Maharashtra will see a hike of Rs. 32 (from Rs. 206 earlier to Rs. 238).
• West Bengal (Rs. 191 to Rs. 204), Sikkim, Tripura, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh (Rs. 192 to Rs. 205) are seeing the lowest hikes of Rs. 13.

MGNREGA wage hike across State/ UTs

• Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Nagaland, Sikkim (Rs. 13)
• Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram (Rs. 14)
• Meghalaya (Rs. 16)
• Himachal Pradesh (Rs. 15)
• Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Odisha (Rs. 19)
• Jammu & Kashmir (Rs. 17)
• Kerala & Assam (Rs. 20)
• Punjab (Rs. 22)
• Rajasthan (Rs. 21)
• Bihar & Jharkhand (Rs. 23)
• Daman & Diu, Gujarat and Haryana (Rs. 25)
• Puducherry & Tamil Nadu (Rs. 27)
• Karnataka, Goa, Andhra Pradesh & Telangana (Rs. 26)
• Dadra & Nagar Havelli (Rs. 34)
• Maharashtra (Rs. 32)