Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the State Government has decided to provide minimum wages to all workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme in Keonjhar district.

To help the rural poor cope with the immediate economic impact of the pandemic and prevent them from falling deeper into poverty, all MGNREGA workers in Keonjhar district would be paid the minimum wage during the FY 2020-21, a release by Office of the District Information & Public Relations Officer on Thursday stated.

The District Mineral Foundation (DMF) would provide the minimum wages to all MGNREGA workers by increasing the wage rate from Rs 207 to Rs 298, a rise of about 44%, for the same number of days as notified by the Labour & ESI Department, said Collector-cum-Chairman and Managing Trustee of DMF Ashish Thakare.

Implemented at a cost of Rs 95 crore under the DMF during FY 2020-21, more than 3.78 lakh active workers in the district are expected to directly benefit from the initiative. A rural household that completes 100 days of wage employment would now be able to earn as much as Rs 29,800 a year under the MGNREGA.

With this step, Keonjhar becomes the first and only district in the country to provide minimum wages to all MGNREGA workers by utilising the opportunity offered by the DMF.

Notably, the MGNREGA is the largest wage employment programme in the world and aims to enhance the livelihood security of households in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment a year to every household whose adult members volunteer to work.