(Shutterstock)The proposed national minimum wage, if accepted, will pose a major challenge to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), whose wage rates are much lower in all states. The national minimum wage has been conceived under the Wage Code Bill, which has been introduced in Parliament. The states too will have to increase the amounts if the national minimum wage is accepted. Economist Abhijit Sen, who had been a member of the erstwhile Planning Commission, said the national minimum wage would be binding on the MGNREGA if the Wage Code Bill is passed. “The MGNREGA will have to follow the NMW (national minimum wage) rate once the Wage Code Bill is enacted.

Source: The Telegraph February 17, 2019 21:33 UTC