With the Central government asking the States to exclude people over 55 years from Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), various labour associations have urged the Rural Development Department to provide relief assistance to the workers whose livelihoods were affected.
P.L. Sundaram, president of Erode District Rural Workers Association, in a letter to the Secretary, Rural Development Department, said that the Central government had on April 19 sent a circular to the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department asking not to employ persons above 55 years. The Project Officer, District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) was asked to enforce the order.
The letter said that all precautionary measures were taken by the workers to prevent the spread of the virus and no COVID-19 cases were reported at the workplace so far. “But denying jobs to persons above 55 years will leave them without income”, the letter added.
He said that it is the only income for most of the people in rural areas and also for differently-abled persons. “Over 50% of the workers will lose their livelihood”, he said and added that Section 7 (3) of MGNREGA, 2005 makes the State government liable to pay unemployment allowance to a household during any financial year, if they were denied jobs.
