Four BJP-ruled states among those paying lowest wages to rural workers, reveals RBI data

A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi touted 'Rozgar mela' as a benefit of a 'double engine sarkar', which refers to the BJP ruling in a state and at the Centre, it has come to the fore that four out of five poorly performing states in terms of payment to daily wage workers/farmers in rural areas are ruled by his party.  

According to data compiled by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), while male farmers/agricultural workers in Madhya Pradesh got a daily wage of just Rs 217, in Gujarat they received Rs 220 in the year ending March 2022.  

In Tripura and Uttar Pradesh, farmers/agricultural workers received a wage of Rs 270 and Rs 288 respectively. 

The list of poorly performing states includes Bihar and Maharashtra also.  

While the BJP formed a government in Maharashtra in coalition with the Shiv Sena faction led by Eknath Shinde after toppling the Uddhav Thackery-led MVA government in September this year, it ruled Bihar till August as part of the NDA government led by Nitish Kumar.    

According to data compiled by the RBI, Maharashtra paid Rs 284 to farmers/daily wage workers per day in FY 22, while Bihar did slightly better at Rs 290 per day. 

RBI’s data shows that Kerala tops the list of states which pay the highest wages. The LDF-ruled state pays the highest wages to farmers/agricultural workers in rural areas in the country followed by Jammu-Kashmir and Tamil Nadu. 

 As per the RBI data, an agricultural worker received a daily wage of Rs 726 in Kerala in 2022 which is higher than the national average of Rs 323.  

Kerala also leads the non-agricultural segments with a daily wage of Rs 837 per person.

Kerala was followed by Himachal Pradesh, while Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat remained the lowest payers.