The Union government has recently announced a hike in wage rates for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA) for the 2023-24 financial year. The program aims to provide at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer for unskilled manual work, thereby enhancing livelihood security of households in rural areas.
The revised daily wage rates will come into effect from April 1, 2023, and vary from state to state. Haryana has the highest daily wage at Rs 357 per day, while Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh have the lowest at Rs 221. The wage hikes range from Rs 7 to Rs 26, with Rajasthan registering the highest percentage increase in wages compared to last year’s rates. The revised wage for Rajasthan is Rs 255 per day, up from Rs 231 in 2022-23.
Bihar and Jharkhand have registered a percentage increase of around eight from last year. The daily wage for a MNREGA worker in these two states was Rs 210 last year, which has now been revised to Rs 228. For Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, which have the lowest daily wages at Rs 221, the percentage increase from last year was recorded at 17. In 2022-23, the two states had a daily wage of Rs 204.
The increases in the wages for states range between two and 10 per cent. Karnataka, Goa, Meghalaya and Manipur are among the states to register the lowest percentage increase. The hike in wages is expected to benefit households in rural areas and provide them with a better livelihood.
