The Centre has notified a hike in wage rates under the rural job guarantee programme for the 2023-24 financial year with Haryana having the highest daily wage at ₹357 per day and Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh the lowest at ₹221.
The Union Ministry of Rural Development issued a notification on the change in wage rates under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) on March 24.
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The notification was issued under Section 6 (1) of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005, that says the Centre may, by notification, specify the wage rate for its beneficiaries.
The wage hikes, which range from ₹7 to ₹26, will come into effect from April 1.
Compared to last year's rates, Rajasthan registered the highest percentage increase in wages. The revised wage for Rajasthan is ₹255 per day, up from ₹231 in 2022-23.
Bihar and Jharkhand have registered a percentage increase of around eight from last year. Last year, the daily wage for a MNREGA worker in these two states was ₹210. It has now been revised to ₹228.
For Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, which have the lowest daily wages at ₹221, the percentage increase from last year was recorded at 17.
In 2022-23, the two States had a daily wage of ₹204.
The increases in the wages for states range between two and 10%. Karnataka, Goa, Meghalaya and Manipur are among the States to register the lowest percentage increase.
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme is a flagship programme aimed at enhancing livelihood security of households in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer for unskilled manual work.
