Goemkapronn desk
New Delhi: The Centre on Wednesday notified new wage rates for unskilled manual workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) for the financial year 2024-2025. As per the notification, the highest rate of MNREGA wage (Rs 374 per day) has been fixed for Haryana, while the lowest (Rs 234 per day) has been fixed for Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland. The new wage rates, notified by the Ministry of Rural Development, will become effective from April 1, 2024.
In terms of percentage increase, wage rates in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand have seen the lowest 3 per cent increase in 2024-25 as compared to 2023-24 while that of Goa will see the highest increase of 10.6 per cent, the notification issued late night showed. Bihar and Jharkhand came second in terms of percentage increase in wages, with the rates being hiked by around eight per cent compared to 2022.
Eight other states have seen a hike below 5% — Haryana, Assam, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Rajasthan, Kerala and Lakshadweep.
The MGNREGA scheme is aimed at providing for the enhancement of livelihood security of the households in rural areas of the country by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
As of 2023-24, there were 14.34 crore active workers deployed under the scheme.
