The Government of India amended the payment procedure for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) some time ago. Due to this, MGNREGA workers in the states and Union territories faced a delay in their wage payment. This delay came at a time when the second wave of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was wreaking havoc across the country.
MGNREGA was started in 2006. Economist and honorary professor at the Delhi School of Economics, Jean Dreze played a pivotal role in preparing the draft of the scheme. Down to Earth spoke in detail with Dreze. Edited excerpts:
Down To Earth: The government has brought in a new notification for MGNREGA, which classifies workers into Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, backward and general categories and gives them work and money accordingly. What problems arise and how may this hinder achieving MGNREGA’s basic objective?
Jean Dreze: Currently, I am not informed about why the central government brought such a notification and what it wants to achieve from it. But it is certain that many people are getting affected. I am going to do a detailed study about this and will share all the information related to it with you very soon.
— source downtoearth.org.in | Jean Dreze | 12 Jul 2021