New Delhi: The parliamentary panel on rural development has flagged low wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and has asked the rural development department to increase wages in the scheme by linking it to a suitable index commensurate with the existing inflation.

“Rising inflation and cost of living, be it in urban or rural setting, has risen manifold and is evident to all. Even at this moment, going by the notified wage rates of MGNREGA, per day wage rate of around Rs. 200 in many states defies any logic when the same State has much higher labour rates,” said the panel on rural development, reported Financial Express.

The panel is headed by Congress MP Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka. The department has been sending “stereotype responses” regarding the revision of wages, the panel has said in its report.

“It becomes inexplicable as to why wages under MGNREGA still can’t be linked to a suitable index commensurate with the existing inflation. Aware of the demand of increase in wages under MGNREGA from various quarters, the committee urges the DoRD (Department of Rural Development) unequivocally to revisit its stand and devise a mechanism for raising the wages under MGNREGA,” said the panel.

At present, Haryana has the highest wage for unskilled workers under MGNREGA at Rs 374 a day while Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland have the lowest at Rs 234, according to a government notification.

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