MNREGS workers may get rice as wages for the first time ever

Amid signs of rural distress and swelling granaries, the government is considering to provide rice as part of the payment for workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS), Mint reported on Tuesday, June 25.

The consumer affairs ministry, through its food department, has requested the rural development ministry to consider distributing the excess rice available for paying the MNREGS wages, two officials aware of the plans told the newspaper.

MNREGS, a national job guarantee scheme, promises at least 100 days of employment for all the adult members of households who are willing to work as unskilled manual labourers.

The plan to include rice as a measure of payment for MNREGA wages, as reported by the newspaper, comes ahead of the approaching assembly elections in Haryana, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, and Jammu & Kashmir.

Last year, the Centre introduced a series of measures to control the rise in prices and to improve the domestic availability of rice. The measures included a ban on the export of non-basmati rice in July, a floor price for exports of basmati rice in August, and 20% export duty on parboiled rice.

Even though the measures had good intentions behind them, they led to a surplus of 14 million tonnes (mt) of rice stock and increased warehousing costs.

Rice for MNREGS wages? How it will work

One of the officials who spoke to Mint said the government may consider giving some quantity of rice to the MNREGS labour, instead of giving the full value wage in monetary value. “For example, if they work for seven days a week, rice can be given as their wage for some days. That is the kind of thing that can be worked out. Details can be worked out once the decision is made. This is one of the options; there could be various combinations. The wage for one day will definitely be more than ₹200-300. One kilo could be given for one day and the rest will be paid in cash,” the official was quoted as saying.

Signs of rural distress

In FY24, MNREGS recorded 3.05 billion person days of work demand, as compared to 2.94 billion in FY23, indicating persistent rural distress as well as a lack of employment opportunities in cities. The issue of rural distress has been highlighted by major FMCG firms as well.

Notably, the daily wages under MNREGS vary in different states, ranging from ₹234 to ₹374 per day.

In the Union Budget to be presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman next month, it remains to be seen whether the allocation for the MNREGS scheme will be increased. The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), in the pre-budget consultations, has urged the finance minister to increase capex by 25% as against the revised estimate for FY24, in a bid to boost consumption.