Justice N Ramamohana Rao of the High Court on Monday directed the central government to explain within one week as to how it could say that the wages payable to the workers under the NREGA scheme can be lower than the wages fixed as per the Minimum Wages Act. The judge was dealing with a writ petition and a resultant contempt case filed by one Ajay Kumar of AP Vyavasaya Vruthidarula...

The controversy over the refusal of Ministry of Rural Development to pay minimum wages under Mahatma Gandhi NREGA is now bothering even the Congress-ruled States including Andhra Pradesh which has sought the intervention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K. Rosaiah has been forced to write to the Prime Minister in the wake of the MORD not complying with the orders of the A.P. High Court suspending the...

Rajasthan wiling to pay enhanced wages to workers ‘Demand justified as CPI has risen to 924 points' Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has accepted in principle the demand for enhancement of the wages of workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme as per the recently revised minimum wage rates in the State. However, the catch is that the Centre holds the key to any hike in the job scheme...

The Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council has asked the government to ensure that over one crore workers enrolled under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) should get wages as per minimum wages applicable in different states. As of now, those enrolled in the world’s biggest job guarantee scheme in 19 states get wages less than what has been prescribed under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948. In some states,...

Can the government break its own laws? That seems to be the case when it comes to minimum wages in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), which makes the government the employer of the world’s largest workforce of close to 35 million job-card holders. In 19 states, the workers are getting less than the minimum wages in their areas, with the rural development ministry and the labour ministry looking the...