Sonia Gandhi calls for MGNREGA wage hike, increased workdays

Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson and Rajya Sabha member Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday called for raising the MGNREGA wages to Rs 400 per day and increasing the number of days of work allocated to people under the scheme to 150 from the existing 100.

Speaking during Zero Hour in the Rajya Sabha, the Congress MP said the employment guarantee scheme (MGNREGA), introduced by the UPA government in 2005, has emerged as a "crucial safety net" for the rural poor.

Sonia Gandhi accused the BJP government of "systematically undermining the scheme”.

Stating that allocation for the scheme had remained stagnant, she said that if inflation was taken into account, then the fund allocated for it in the Budget was Rs 4,000 crore less than the last financial year. Moreover, she said that 20 per cent of the fund allocated for the scheme would be spent on paying last year's dues to the workers. Sonia Gandhi also alleged that the "exclusionary" AADHAR-based system of payment introduced by the BJP had further added to the woes of those who relied on the scheme for financial support.