The 21 States and Union Territories which paid less than ₹300 per day under MGNREGA have had their wage rates jacked up to this level, while States who already pay more than ₹300 have seen more minimal hikes. Representational file image.
| Photo Credit: ARUN KULKARNI
The Union government has fixed a floor wage of ₹300 per day under the Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-GRAM G) Act, 2025, which came into effect on Tuesday, replacing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005.
The 21 States and Union Territories which paid less than ₹300 per day under MGNREGA have had their wage rates jacked up to this level, while States who already pay more than ₹300 have seen more minimal hikes.
Range of wage hikes
For instance, four major Hindi-belt States saw significant wage increases — ₹48 in Uttar Pradesh, ₹45 in Bihar, ₹39 in Madhya Pradesh and ₹19 in Rajasthan — compared with the last MGNREGA rates set in 2025-26. Other northern and northeastern States which saw wage hikes above 15% to reach the ₹300 level include Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Assam, Tripura, Sikkim, and West Bengal.
Barring the special rate of ₹450 applicable to certain gram panchayats in Sikkim, Haryana continues to have the highest wage rate at ₹409, but recorded one of the lowest increases of just 2.25%. Barring the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, where wages remain unchanged from MGNREGA levels, Telangana recorded the lowest increase of just ₹1, with wages rising 0.33% from ₹307 to ₹308. Other southern States which were already above the ₹300 level also saw minimal hikes, including Andhra Pradesh (1.6%), Tamil Nadu (2.7%), and Karnataka (3.2%).
Haryana (₹409), Goa (₹406) and Kerala (₹401) are the only States with wage rates above ₹400.
‘Snub to workers’
Congress general secretary and former Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh criticised the notification, saying the wages remain “unjustifiably low”. He reiterated the Congress’s demand, made during the 2024 Lok Sabha campaign under its Shramik Nyay programme, for a national daily minimum wage of ₹400 for all workers in Indias, including MGNREGA workers.
“The Expert Committee headed by Dr. Anoop Satpathy, set up by the Modi government, had also recommended a national minimum wage floor of ₹375 per day in 2019,” he said.
Mr. Ramesh noted that the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development, chaired by Congress MP Saptagiri Ulaka, had also consistently recommended higher wages for MGNREGA workers.
Given the “widespread minimum wage protests in industrial hubs like Noida, and at a time when the stagnation of rural wages is widely recognised as a key constraint on our economic growth”, the notification was both a “snub to India’s workers and an unwise economic policy,” he said. “A just minimum wage for India’s workers would adopt Dr. Satpathy’s recommendation and accommodate the increase in prices since then,” he added.
Burden on States
Mr. Ulaka said his party had opposed the VB-GRAM G Act “from the streets to Parliament” and would continue to do so. “We appeal to the government that the VB-GRAM G be repealed and a strengthened MGNREGA be brought back,” the Congress MP said at a press conference here. He criticised the shift from the rights-based, demand-driven MGNREGA to what he described as a supply-driven, government-driven VB-GRAM G.
Mr. Ulaka said a key concern was the new cost-sharing arrangement. Under MGNREGA, the Centre bore almost the entire labour cost, while material costs were shared in a 60:40 ratio. Under VB-GRAM G, however, the combined labour and material expenditure is now subject to the 60:40 ratio, he said.
“If additional work needs to be provided beyond this, the financial burden will fall on the State government,” he said, adding that the burden on States could exceed 40%.
Published – July 01, 2026 10:16 pm IST
