Calcutta HC seeks response of Centre, Bengal on stalled MGNREGS wage payments

News: The Calcutta High Court has called for a response from the Union and West Bengal governments over the stalled payments of unemployment allowance to MGNREGS beneficiaries.

1. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005: It is a centrally sponsored scheme under the Ministry of Rural Development.

2. It is a demand driven scheme that aims to provide at least 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to at least one member of every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.

3. MGNREGS gives priority to women by proposing that at least one third of the beneficiaries should be women.

4. Applicants are entitled to an unemployment allowance if work is not provided within 15 days of applying.

5. The wage rate under MGNREGS is indexed with CPI-AL (Consumer Price Index- Agriculture Labour).