A lifeline, interrupted –

A lifeline, interrupted –

Context

Government is prioritizing savings over MGNREGA and rights of the poor

Author’s contention

There are prominent ways in which it is evident that the government is prioritizing saving at the cost of its poorest people — a breach of the law and the Constitution

Present situation

• In 2017, more than 80 per cent of the budgetary allocation was spent in the first four months
• The ministry of rural development’s (MoRD) request for an additional Rs 17,000 crore has so far been ignored. Currently, with only about 5 per cent of the allocation remaining, there is a sharp rationing of expenditure and work
• Liabilities for work already completed mount on a daily basis. There are states where the central government has failed to clear wages for over two months

Sanjit Roy v. the State of Rajasthan

In 1983, in Sanjit Roy v. the State of Rajasthan the Supreme Court stated, “where a person provides labour or service to another for remuneration which is less than the minimum wage, the labour or service provided by him clearly falls within the meaning of the words ‘forced labour’

• If anything less than the minimum wage is paid to him, he can complain of violation of his fundamental right under Article 23 and ask the Court to direct payment of the minimum wage to him
• There are now at least 14 states where the state MGNREGA wage is less than the minimum wage

Mahendra Dev committee: Baseline for MGNREGA wage

The Mahendra Dev Committee set up by UPA 2 unequivocally stated that “The baseline for MGNREGA wage indexation from 2014 may be the current minimum wage rate for unskilled agricultural labourers fixed by the States under the Minimum Wages Act or the current MGNREGA wage rate, whichever is higher”

Breach of constitution

As a part of a judgment in an ongoing case in the SC, Justice Lokur and Ramana built upon the Sanjit Roy judgment and stated: “It is quite clear, therefore, that when the rights of tens of thousands of people are affected by delayed payment of their legitimate dues, there is a clear constitutional breach committed by the State — be it the Government of India or a State Government.”

A conscious denial

A recent independent study by three social scientists in two phases, traces the central government’s conscious delay in wage payments and the deliberate denial of responsibility to pay compensation

• Data Sample: Analysing over 90 lakh transactions in the MGNREGA Management Information System (MIS) for 3,446 gram panchayats for FY 2016-17 and 45 lakh transactions in 3,603 gram panchayats in FY 2017-18,
  • False claims: It shows that only 32 per cent of payments are being made in time, against the government claim of 85 per cent
  • In the sample, compensation due is a willfully under-calculated by 86 per cent. Only about 6.5 per cent of what should be paid as compensation has been paid so far.

Acceptance by MoF

The first phase of the study was reviewed internally by the Ministry of Finance, which accepted that “In cases of delays in making large number of payments, it has been found that funds have not been available either of Centre and State shares… It was found that the delay in payment to states was mainly due to infrastructural bottlenecks, availability of funds and lack of administrative compliance.”

Conclusion

India’s high levels of rural distress in the last few years can be partially addressed by the MGNREGA — a potential lifeline for rural workers. For MGNREGA workers to state that they are going through “a living death” is the most disturbing judgement that can be delivered.