Rajasthan: CM Gehlot approves new guidelines for implementation of urban employment scheme

Rajasthan government has already issued registration cards to over a lakh of youth who would be provided jobs in towns and cities of the state under the Indira Gandhi Urban employment guarantee scheme which is going to be launched soon.

According to urban development and housing secretary, Joga Ram, the youth would get a wage rate of Rs 259 per day.

Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has approved the new guidelines for the implementation of the Indira Gandhi Urban employment guarantee scheme on similar lines to MNREGA which was launched by the UPA government to provide employment in the rural areas.

Chief minister Ashok Gehlot , who also holds the finance portfolio had made a budgetary announcement to provide for 100 work days per annum to the families residing in the urban areas. A budgetary provision of Rs 800 crores was made for this scheme.

According to Joga Ram the wage rate of Rs 294 per day has been decided as per the minimum wage fixed by the labour department for the unskilled laborers. The beneficiaries of this scheme would be residents in the urban areas covered by the municipalities and corporations. The District Collector is the project coordinator for each district and the action plan and identifications of various works are done by the district authorities.

Water and environment conservation, plantation, nurseries, cleaning and sanitation, heritage conservation, and removal of encroachments are some of the works to be undertaken under this scheme.

According to Joga Ram the registration for this job is being done online and individuals will have to provide the details to the local municipalities with all personal details. Families residing in the urban areas who have Jan Aadhaar card and aged between 18 to 60 could apply for the job. Each individual will be provided with 100 days guarantee per annum. The jobs would be provided within 15 days after registration.

The state government is currently providing an average wage of Rs 190.89 per day person to the rural persons employed under MNREGA. The wage provided under MNREGA has touched an all-time high as compared to previous years.

In the year 2021-22, the average wage was Rs 182.62,in 2020-21 it was Rs 169.51, Rs 144.87 in 2019-20, and Rs 137.24 in 2018-19.

According to the secretary of the rural development, K K Pathak,strict monitoring of thee MNREGA activities in the district and panchayat level has resulted in high average wages in Rajasthan. The increase in MNREGA wages was also caused by the increase in the minimum wages by the Union government. The minimum wage rate was increased from Rs 221 to Rs 231,thus the wages under MNREGA were also increased by Rs 10 per day.

Rajasthan which is a high-performing state under the MNREGA has topped the country in the implementation of the National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS) launched by the Union government. Under this programme, regular checks on various works are undertaken by the use of mobile Apps. The irregularities in work and in attendance have stopped because of the mobile Apps that have cut down on corruption.

The state government has provided for 20 crore person-days for the year 2022-23. The state government has so far generated 7.57 crore which is considered high performance.