0 Comment(s) *
* The moderation of comments is automated and not cleared manually by indianexpress.com.
Out of 15.52 crore active workers registered under the MNREGA, 20.12% fall in the SC group and 16.06% are STs (File) In a report tabled in Parliament on Wednesday, a Parliamentary Standing Committee asked the Rural Development Ministry to roll back its caste-based wage payment system for MNREGS workers. The Committee also asked the ministry to restore the earlier mechanism of generation of single Fund Transfer Order without “any sort of segregation on the basis of caste”.
The new caste-based wage payment system
On March 2, 2021, the Rural Development Ministry sent an advisory to states asking them to take necessary action for payment of wages to MNREGS workers as per categories SC, ST & Others from financial year 2021-22. Under the new system, if 20 people (6 SC, 4 ST & 10 Others), for example, work together at an MNREGS site, a single muster roll is issued but the payment is done through three separate Fund Transfer Orders (FTOs) for the three categories.
Soon after the system came into effect from April 1, 2021, complaints started coming from MNREGS beneficiaries about not receiving wages on time. Workers from General and OBC categories often ended up getting delayed wages.
Civil society activists have been criticial of the step, and now the Standing Committee has also flayed segregation over wage payment. The committee, headed by Shiv Sena MP Prataprao Jadhav, said in its report that MNREGS workers are “economically weak and can come from any religion/caste”. “Creation of such a payment system wherein one specific community is preferred over the other solely on the ground of caste will only give rise to resentment and create rift among the beneficiaries of MGNREGA.”
The reasoning behind the change
According to the Rural Development Ministry, the category-wise wage payment system was introduced to “accurately reflect, on the ground, flow of funds to various population groups”. In October last year, it said it was undertaking “streamlining” of the new system.
The committee’s report
It called a segregated payment system “startling” and “audacious”. “The Committee was taken aback and aghast… Belying all logic and employing such modality, surpasses any prudence whatsoever. The Committee finding themselves at a total ‘loss of words’ could not fathom the rationale behind such idea,” it said.
The committee added: “The scheme of MGNREGA draws its origin from a statutory source, i.e. MGNREG Act, 2005. Such absurdity is nowhere mentioned in the Act and digressing from the basic tenets of treating all the MGNREGA beneficiaries at par calls for sternest possible criticism.”
The demographic composition of MNREGS beneficiaries
Out of 15.52 crore active workers registered under the MNREGA, 20.12% fall in the SC group and 16.06% are STs. Of the 341.97 crore persondays generated under the MNREGA till March 17 2021-22, SC and ST categories comprised 19.23% and 18.49% respectively.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.
© The Indian Express (P) Ltd