Sep 11 2014 : The Times of India (Delhi)
Govt to change wage norms in MGNREGS
Subodh Ghildiyal
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New Delhi
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The Centre may retain the 20-point preference for employment over material cost for a bulk of work under the job guarantee scheme despite saying that the lopsided weightage for wages was behind MGNREGS’s (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) failure to create durable assets.The rural development ministry has announced that the mandatory 60:40 wage to material ratio would be changed to 51:49 to allow higher spending on construction material like cement etc for creation of durable assets. The BJP government has been critical that MGNREGS had become a ditch-digging scheme with the high outflow of funds showing little for output.
The scheme has been allocated Rs 33,000 crore for 2013-14. But according to sources in the ministry, the alteration could hurt the objective of the job scheme — employment. A higher expenditure on material would come at the cost of jobs offered for a work undertaken. Given the sensitivity of the issue, the 60:40 ratio could be retained at the gram panchayat level. The works done in the villages are wage-oriented and low on expertise.
In contrast, sources said, the altered ratio that puts wages and material almost at par could be used at the district level. Here, agencies other than gram panchayats take up works which are based on expertise like construction and conservation.
Departments like agriculture, irrigation, PWD, sericulture and land resources are involved in roads and water conservation among other works.
“We feel such an approach would keep the sanctity of the objective behind MGNREGS while also leading to quality assets at the level where they matter,” an official said. This approach, still under discussion, means the bid to pare down the employment budget in favour of raw material used under MGNREGS could be limited in terms of funds and works. According to the Act, 50% of the works under the scheme have to be taken up at the gram panchayat level.
The proposed change in the wage-material ratio has left another ticklish issue to be resolved. Given that the demand for jobs must be fulfilled, any increase in spending on material would shrink the money available for wages at the current level of jobs sought, resulting in the need for higher budgetary allocation. Sources said the financial implications may require a nod from the finance ministry.
The scheme has been allocated Rs 33,000 crore for 2013-14. But according to sources in the ministry, the alteration could hurt the objective of the job scheme — employment. A higher expenditure on material would come at the cost of jobs offered for a work undertaken. Given the sensitivity of the issue, the 60:40 ratio could be retained at the gram panchayat level. The works done in the villages are wage-oriented and low on expertise.
In contrast, sources said, the altered ratio that puts wages and material almost at par could be used at the district level. Here, agencies other than gram panchayats take up works which are based on expertise like construction and conservation.
Departments like agriculture, irrigation, PWD, sericulture and land resources are involved in roads and water conservation among other works.
“We feel such an approach would keep the sanctity of the objective behind MGNREGS while also leading to quality assets at the level where they matter,” an official said. This approach, still under discussion, means the bid to pare down the employment budget in favour of raw material used under MGNREGS could be limited in terms of funds and works. According to the Act, 50% of the works under the scheme have to be taken up at the gram panchayat level.
The proposed change in the wage-material ratio has left another ticklish issue to be resolved. Given that the demand for jobs must be fulfilled, any increase in spending on material would shrink the money available for wages at the current level of jobs sought, resulting in the need for higher budgetary allocation. Sources said the financial implications may require a nod from the finance ministry.
