Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K.S. Alagiri on Thursday demanded that the BJP government at the Centre provide ₹338 per day as wages under the 100-day Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) as recommended by a committee of the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
He said BJP government was being lax about the scheme right from the beginning.
Consistent increase
He said when the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had introduced the scheme, the wage per day was ₹65, which was consistently increased to ₹148 per day by 2014.
Due to this, 14 crore persons were lifted out of poverty in 10 years, and it was considered as one of the biggest achievements of the UPA government, he added.
When there was inflation, the wage too had to be increased. The committee constituted under the BJP government had recommended ₹383 as the wage per day to be paid under the scheme, but the party was not willing to implement it, Mr. Alagiri said.
“The BJP government has reduced funding for the MGNREGS by 30%. Without increasing the funding, you cannot fulfill the main agenda of the scheme of providing jobs for 100 days. Almost 24 States do not have funds to pay for the scheme. It is the duty of the Central government to implement the scheme and not the States’,” he said.
