Ever since the current BJP-led central government initiated caste-based payments to workers under the Mahatma Gandhi Employment Guarantee Act, only 26% of the workers from the ‘Other’ category got their payments in the mandated seven-day period and only 51% payments in 15 days.In case of Schedule Caste workers, 46% of payments were completed within seven-day period by the Central government and payment for 80% of payments to SCs was done in 15 days. This was 37% and 63% for workers from Schedule Tribes. For the ‘Other’ category, only 26% payments were completed in 7 days and only 51% payments in 15 days. This differential payment has triggered caste-based and religious tensions among MGNREGA workers. This differential payment system comes at a time when rural India particularly has been reeling under the double whammy of Covid-19-triggered job losses and inflation. The non-uniform disbursal of payments has affected the most vulnerable section of the people even as it strikes at the universality of the Mahatma Gandhi Employment Guarantee Act. Moreover, it is against the MGNREGA Act to be biased while providing equal work and wages. All MGNREGA workers have the same entitlements, including the right to payment within fifteen days. For each day’s delay, the workers are entitled to a delay compensation of 0.05% per day of the wages earned. At least 14.64% of total payments for the first six months of 2021 are pending to be paid by the union government.In the study released by LibTech India on Friday, October 29, it was revealed that even during these pandemic times, the union government delayed 71% of the MGNREGA payments and 44% of the transactions exceeded 15 days.
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