Government proposing to raise workdays under MNREGA to 150 days

New Delhi, Feb 26: The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government is looking to make its employment guarantee scheme more attractive ahead of elections for the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe beneficiaries, hoping it would fetch it good dividends as in 2009.

The Union Cabinet is expected to take up a proposal on Friday to increase the number of work days under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) by 50 days to 150 days for the SC and ST beneficiaries. The Cabinet is also likely to consider a 10 per cent increase in the dearness allowance of central government employees and take up a finance ministry proposal to withdraw conciliation offer made to Vodafone regarding the tax demand on its 2007 acquisition of Hutchison E ..

The government's biggest social welfare scheme, at present, offers at least 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to a rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. The scheme, launched in February 2006, is widely credited with returning the UPA to power in 2009 elections. The interim budget for 2014-15 has set aside about Rs 34,000 crore for the scheme in the coming fiscal, same as the allocation last year.

The government's biggest social welfare scheme, at present, offers at least 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to a rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. The scheme, launched in February 2006, is widely credited with returning the UPA to power in 2009 elections. The interim budget for 2014-15 has set aside about Rs 34,000 crore for the scheme in the coming fiscal, same as the allocation last year.

The increase in the number of days for SC and ST is not likely to make a material dent in the expense because the spending has usually been below allocation. According to the government, 155.9 crore person days of work was generated under the scheme up to February 7, which means the full year (2013-14) is likely to fall short of 230.2 crore person days generated in the previous fiscal. The strengthening of the scheme comes even as the rural development ministry has accepted a high-level panel's ..

The increase in the number of days for SC and ST is not likely to make a material dent in the expense because the spending has usually been below allocation. According to the government, 155.9 crore person days of work was generated under the scheme up to February 7, which means the full year (2013-14) is likely to fall short of 230.2 crore person days generated in the previous fiscal. The strengthening of the scheme comes even as the rural development ministry has accepted a high-level panel's ..

The new formula proposed by the Mahendra Dev committee will allow the ministry to use minimum wages offered under the Minimum Wages Act as the base to be annually revised on the basis of CPI- rural inflation index. Considering the high rural retail inflation, 9.4 per cent in January, the wage revision is likely to be steep for the scheme that is already blamed for causing a spike in rural wages and higher inflation by setting a floor on wages.

The Cabinet will also consider the finance ministry's proposal to withdraw the conciliation offer made to Vodafone after the telecom major did not accept the terms of the offer. The government had offered a non-binding conciliation under the Indian arbitration law regarding the Rs8,000-crore demand slapped on the company in respect of its 2007 acquisition of Hutchison Essar in a transaction executed outside India.

The Cabinet will also take up a proposal for a 10 per cent increase in dearness allowance of central government employees. The dearness allowance is benchmarked to inflation and is given in installments in July and January.