The Government of India Would Not Include Khadi Weavers and Spinners Under MNREGA

The Government of India would not include khadi weavers and spinners under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), Parliament was informed, Business Line reported quoting PTI.

In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian Parliament, KH Muniappa, Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), said the Ministry of Rural Development has intimated that inclusion of khadi under MNREGA was not found feasible as the focus of the Act is on unskilled work.

In recent months, there have been demands that Khadi weavers be given wages at par with the MNREGA labourers, which guarantees a daily payment of Rs. 150 for eight hours of work.

It is estimated that spinners at present receive Rs. 3 for each piece of spin-bundle and weavers earn a daily remuneration of up to Rs. 70.

The MNREGA is the flagship employment programme of the Government of India, which aims at enhancing the livelihood security of people in rural areas by guaranteeing hundred days of wage-employment in a financial year to a rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.