Answer: Option B
Answer: (b)
Wage rates for workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005 are notified and revised annually based on Consumer Price Index-Agricultural Labourers (CPI-AL) by the Central Government in accordance with the provisions of Section 6(1) of the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA. The revised wage rates are made applicable from 1st April of the year.
A Committee under the chairpersonship of former Additional Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development was constituted to study among other things the appropriate index for revising MGNREGA wages. The Committee recommended using Consumer Price IndexRural instead of the existing CPI-AL for revising MGNREGA wages every year.
The Committee also recommended the use of annual average instead of the existing practice of using the December month index only. The recommendations of the Committee are under consideration in consultation with the Ministry of Finance (This is the status as of January 2019. No information is available whether it has been approved or not, that’s why I am assuming that till now it has not been approved).
Different states can have different MGNREGA wages depending on their minimum wages. The prevailing rates for unskilled agricultural workers are between 347-383 per day, depending on the region of employment.