Didi’s poser: Why make Bengalis work harder?

Jan 09, 2012 - MANISH ANAND |

Age Correspondent

New Delhi

“Are Bengalis physically more powerful than others, that they need to work 50 per cent harder than people in other states to earn their daily wages?” West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee asked rural development minister Jairam Ramesh in a recent letter. She was referring to people in her state earning daily wages in schemes under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.
She said while in West Bengal a daily wage labourer had “to dig around 99 cubic feet soil to earn his daily wage of `125” under NREGA, “others across the country need to dig only 60 cubic feet” on average.
The “work output norms” for NREGA in West Bengal was fixed at 99 cubic feet, while in other states barring Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Kerala, the requirement is 60 cubic feet on average. It is 100 cubic feet in Kerala and Madhya Pradesh, while in Jharkhand it is 110 cubic feet.
While Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand have been silent on this anomaly, the West Bengal CM is clearly in no mood to do so. In a letter dripping with sarcasm, Ms Banerjee not merely questioned the move to make Bengalis “toil more”, she also demanded this “anomaly be rectified” swiftly. She is also unhappy over the low percentage of women getting work under NREGA.

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