-The Hindustan Times   After poverty line, the government and the civil society may converge on bringing crores of workers enrolled under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) under the Minimum Wages law. The government had earlier rejected demand by civil society members and Sonia Gandhi-headed National Advisory Council of paying wages to MGNREGA workers as per notified Minimum Wages of states. The reason given was that states could hike minimum...

The Central expenditure on the job guarantee scheme may shoot up with civil society pressure that wages under the MGNREGAshould be governed by the Minimum Wages Act. NAC member Aruna Roy on Saturday urged Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi to implement the Karnataka high court order which has struck down the government order that wages under the scheme could be lower than the Minimum Wages in the state. The HC order...

When activists of the Right to Food campaign attacked Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia over the Rs 32 per capita per day cut-off for poverty line, Vijay Jawandhia — a farm activist from Vidarbha — asked a counter question: “Why are you happy with a minimum wage of Rs 100 per labourer per day under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), when salaries have been revised several...

-The Economic Times   Government's flagship rural job guarantee scheme, MGNREGA, has led to labour shortages for the industry resulting in increased wage costs and hampering production, Ficci said today. The chamber, which has done a survey on the impact of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) on the industry and the farm sector, has suggested that the scheme should be stopped during the peak agricultural season. Besides, "the...

After firefighting the controversy over poverty line cut-off, the Congress-led UPA government may find itself in trouble on the matter of NREGS wages. In a judgment late last month, the Karnataka High Court ruled that wages under the UPA’s flagship rural job guarantee scheme “shall not be” less than the Minimum Wages fixed by state governments under the Minimum Wages (MW) Act. The decision will re-open the tussle between Sonia Gandhi-led National...