The central government on Wednesday announced increase in wages under MGNREGA.
The government has released new wage rates for unskilled manual workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) for the financial year 2024-2025.
Under this, the maximum wages have been increased in Goa. Goa saw a maximum increase of 10.56% on the current wage rate.
Whereas Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state, recorded the lowest increase of 3.04%. Apart from this, an increase of 3.04% has also been made in Uttarakhand. The new wage rates of MNREGA will be effective from April 1, 2024.
According to the notification, the highest rate of MNREGA wages (Rs 374 per day) has been fixed for Haryana, while the lowest (Rs 234 per day) has been fixed for Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland.
Talking about state-wise growth in the current year (FY 2023-2024), Goa has seen the maximum growth of 10.56% (Rs 34).
With this, wages in Goa have become Rs 356 per day for the financial year 2024-2025. At present it is Rs 322 per day. Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana are the other three states that have seen an increase of more than 10% in MGNREGA wages.
In Karnataka, the new MNREGA wage rate will be Rs 349 per day, which is 10.44% higher than the current rate of Rs 316 per day, reports Indian Express.
For Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, MNREGA wage rates have been fixed at Rs 300 per day for 2024-2025, which is 10.29% higher than Rs 272 per day during the current financial year.
There is a uniform wage rate under MNREGA for Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. There is an increase of about 10% in both the states and now it will increase to Rs 243 per day from the current Rs 221.
The wage rate under MNREGA is the same in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand also. In these states, at present the daily wage under MNREGA is Rs 230. But it was increased by 3.04% and it will increase to Rs 237 per day. This is the lowest increase.
Eight other states have seen growth below 5%. These include Haryana, Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Rajasthan, Kerala and Lakshadweep.
Overall, salaries have seen an average increase of about 7%. The current average wage rate has increased from Rs 267.32 per day to Rs 285.47 per day for the financial year 2024-25.
According to the Aadhaar Demographic Verification Status Report on the website of the Union Rural Development Ministry, as of January 1, there are about 14.28 crore active workers under MNREGA.