New Delhi : The Centre has decided to discard the caste-based payment method for the people working under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act Scheme. This comes amid complaints from State Government.
In an order dated November 1, the Finance Ministry directed the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) to ârevert to the previous system of generating single muster, single Fund Transfer Order (FTO) and transferring money into a single National Electronic Fund Management System account.â
Now a new revised accounting procedure will be implemented for the expenditure to be captured under three Minor Heads for Scheduled Castes and Tribes and others, through a single FTO, said the order. The MoRD has been told to set a date on which the new process will come into effect.
According to reports Centre planned to revoke its controversial caste-based wage system after the State Governments warned of rising social tensions in an October 11 meeting.
The contentious directive issued on March 2 by MoRD, on instructions from the Finance Ministry, had asked the States to generate three separate FTOs for each of the three caste groups for every muster roll at an MGNREGA worksite. Three sanctions would then be generated and then payments would be made into three separate accounts of the State Government.
In a meeting with the Finance Secretary and Expenditure Secretary on October 11, MoRD Secretary N.N. Sinha said that âmany States have conveyed difficulties being faced by them due to the new processâ, said a note attached to the Finance Ministry order. âThis has not only multiplied the work at all levels but also resulted in payments going at different times to different communities,â it added.
In many villages, there were social frictions among communities who got paid as much as two months later than others from the same muster roll, according to reports from workersâ unions. A study by LibTech India analysing 18 lakh FTOs over the last six months in 10 States found that SC and ST workers were getting paid significantly faster than those from other communities. Several State governments, including Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, raised the issue with the Central government.
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