By IANS,
New Delhi : The CPI-M Wednesday opposed the reported attempt to amend the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act that it said will hit hard millions of beneficiaries.
It said the government was in favour of providing for only a one time adherence to minimum wages and a commitment to just provide funds to cover wages up to this extent for all times to come.
“This absolves the central government from providing the full financial outlays for meeting minimum wage payment and will increase the financial burden on state governments for this central programme,” the Communist Party of India-Marxist said.
“The CPI-M has for long been demanding the timely payment of minimum wages and regular price indexation under the scheme…
“This unwillingness of the government to provide minimum wages to the poor demonstrates once again the hollowness of its claim of being with the ‘aam admi’.
“The CPI-M demands that the words ‘for the first time’ be dropped from the proposed amendment.”