Miffed Aruna Roy opts out of NAC
Miffed at the government for not accepting the demand to link the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) wages with the minimum wages, social activist Aruna Roy has opted out from the National Advisory Council (NAC) headed by the UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. The term of the social activist is expiring on Friday and she has decided not to go for another term at the NAC.
The UPA chairperson has accepted the request of Ms Roy, who in a letter to Mrs Gandhi wanted to work outside the NAC for social campaigns. Ms Roy was apparently unhappy after the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) did not agree to a recommendation of the NAC to link the MGNREGA wages with the minimum wages. She in her letter to Mrs Gandhi had requested that she should not be considered for another term of NAC. The Sonia Gandhi headed council has been instrumental in shaping the draft of a number of entitlement based legislations.
“I am grateful for your accepting my request. I assure you continued support to campaigns for social sector causes outside the NAC,” she wrote to Mrs Gandhi. She termed it “extremely unfortunate” that “the Prime Minister rejected the NAC recommendations on payment of minimum wages to MGNREGA workers”. “The government in place chose to appeal the Karnataka high court judgement ordering payment of minimum wages to MGNREGA workers,” said Ms Roy, while adding: “Even more distressing is the Government’s refusal to pay minimum wages after the Supreme Court refused to stay the Karnataka High Court judgement.”
However, Ms Roy has stated that the effort to persuade the government to respect the minimum wages law must now continue outside the NAC.
A section of officials within the ministry of rural development had raised objection against linking MGNREGA wages with the minimum wages, as they feared that it could lead to state governments indulging in competitive politics over the flagship schemes by hiking their respective minimum wages.
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