Flagging concern over the low wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), a Parliamentary Panel has recommended raising the wages of the workers.In a report submitted to Parliament on Tuesday, the panel said that since 2008, it found the amount inadequate and not in consonance with the rising cost of living. “Taking up work under MGNREGA is a sort of last resort for many of the poor rural masses who do not have any other option of livelihood or job option to utilise but wages of such nominal nature sometime with delayed payment only discourage them and propel them to migrate and seek work in areas giving better remuneration,” said the panel, headed by Congress MP Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka.It said it has urged the Department of Rural Development to increase MGNREGS wages by linking them to an index commensurate with national inflation, adding that it is ‘intrigued’ by the unrevised base rate to fix rates.
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