AIAWU Condemns ‘Insufficient’ wage Revision under MNREGA for 2025-26

The All India Agricultural Workers’ Union (AIAWU) has condemned the nominal wage revision for workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) for the financial year 2025-26. The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) has issued a notification revising wage rates, but the increase remains marginal, ranging from 2% to 7% on average. The Union has said that this “hike” is not only disrespectful to rural workers but also raises serious concerns about their survival amid rising inflation and economic distress.

In an statement Union president A Vijayaraghavan and General Secretary B. Venkat said, the persistent refusal to significantly increase wage rates is part of the broader attack on MGNREGA. Low wages discourage workers from participating in the scheme, undermining its core objective of providing rural employment. The Standing Committee on Rural Development and Panchayati Raj has also highlighted that the insufficient wage rates are a key reason for the declining participation of workers. 

Currently, MNREGA wages are revised based on the Consumer Price Index for Agricultural Labourers (CPI-AL), using a base year of 2009-10. However, the Parliamentary Standing Committee has strongly criticized this outdated methodology, stating that using 2009-10 as the base year is obsolete and fails to reflect the present cost of living and inflation. The Mahendra Dev Committee had also recommended shifting the baseline for MGNREGA wage indexation to 2014. The Standing Committee further suggested that revising the base year and adjusting the wage calculation methodology is essential to address the issue of low wages. As per the statement, despite these recommendations, the Central Government has deliberately ignored its own standing committee’s findings, exposing its anti-worker policies and lack of commitment to ensuring dignified wages for rural workers.

The lowest wage hike was seen in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana which is only 2.33%. In both the states the wages have increased by only 7 rupees. Their total wage for one day’s work now stands at Rs 307. As per the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey of 2023-24 by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), the monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE) of a rural household is Rs. 4122 which now should have further increased. 

This wage notification is an extension to the budgetary allocations made for this year by the BJP-led government. Already in the budget, the allocation for MGNREGA was lesser compared to the last year even after the Parliamentary committee’s recommendation to increase the budgetary allocation to MGNREGA. Just like this year’s budget, BJP continues to expand its pro-corporate, pro-rich, pro-upper caster agenda at the cost of the rural poor and agricultural workers. 

The Union claims that earlier MGNREGA workers received special allowances to compensate for the hardships faced during the summer. However, the government has scrapped all such allowances in recent years. This clearly demonstrates a lack of commitment to upholding the spirit of MGNREGA. The continuous dismantling of MNREGA is a systematic attack on the hard earned right to work by the people of India. AIAWU strongly condemns this action and calls upon its units to protest against this anti-worker decision of the central government.