Lok Sabha Question No. 2721 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-12-19
Subject: Gender Wage Gap under MGNREGS
Ministry: RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Guman Singh Damor

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

## DEPARTMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

## LOK  SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2721 ANSWERED ON 19/12/2023

## GENDER WAGE GAP UNDER MGNREGS

## 2721. SHRI GUMAN SINGH DAMOR:

Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether there is gender wage gap under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in different States;
- (b) if so, the reasons for difference in wage rate between women and male labourers holding job cards thereunder;
- (c) whether MGNREGS rates will be made uniform in all the States by equalizing the wage rates between women and men;
- (d) whether there is a difference in the cost of houses under Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana - Gramin (PMAY-G) and Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana - Urban (PMAY-U), whereas the cost of construction of houses in rural areas is higher than in the city;
- (e) if so, whether the cost of one house in both the yojanas will be
- the same;
- (f) whether the work of connecting revenue villages has been done under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) but many revenue villages are yet to be connected under this yojana; and
- (g) if so, whether the Government would issue instructions to connect the remaining revenue villages?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (SADHVI NIRANJAN JYOTI)

(a)to(c):        Mahatma  Gandhi  National  Rural  Employment  Guarantee Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGS) is a gender-neutral Scheme. As per the provision of the Act, the State Government shall link the wages, without  any  gender  bias,  with  the  quantity  of  work  done.  Currently, 59.28% of the persondays have been generated by Women Beneficiaries.

(d)&(e):       In order to achieve the target of 'Housing for All' in rural areas,  the  Ministry  of  Rural  Development  is  implementing  Pradhan Mantri  Awaas  Yojana-  Gramin  (PMAY-G)  with  effect  from  1st  April, 2016 to provide assistance to construct 2.95 crore pucca houses with basic amenities by March, 2024. Out of the overall mandated target of 2.95  crore  houses allocated  to  States/UTs  under  the  PMAY-G,  more the beneficiaries and over 2.51 crore houses have already been completed than 2.94 crore houses have already been sanctioned to as on 14.12.2023.

Under PMAY-G, Cabinet has approved the financial Assistance of Rs.1.20 lakh in plain areas and Rs.1.30 lakh in hilly States (including North  Eastern  States  and  UTs  of  Jammu  &  Kashmir  and  Ladakh), difficult  areas  and  Integrated  Action  Plan  (IAP)  districts.  Additional assistance  of  Rs.12,000/-  is  extended  for  construction  of  toilets through convergence with Swacch Bharat Mission - Gramin (SBM-G), Mahatma  Gandhi  National  Rural  Employment  Guarantee  Scheme (MGNREGS)  or  any  other  dedicated  source  of  funding.  Further,  it  is mandatory  to  provide  support  of  90/95  person  days  unskilled  wage for construction  of  his  /her  house  in  convergence  with  MGNREGS.  The PMAY-G  households  are  also  provided  water,  LPG  and  electricity central employment  at the current rates to a PMAY-G  beneficiary connections in convergence with other respective government schemes.

As  per  the  information  shared  by  the  Ministry  of  Housing  and Urban  Affairs  (MoHUA),  they  are  implementing  Pradhan  Mantri  Awas Yojana Urban (PMAY-U) since June 25, 2015 to provide pucca house with basic amenities to all eligible urban beneficiaries. Government of India is providing its fixed share as Central Assistance of ₹1.5 lakh for Beneficiary Led Individual House Construction or Enhancement (BLC) vertical of PMAY-U. Average cost of construction of houses under BLC vertical of PMAY-U is ₹3.72 lakh (ranging from 3.00 to 6.00 lakh) with average State contribution of ₹0.84 lakh (ranging from ₹0.16 to 2.00 lakh) and average beneficiary contribution of 1.35 lakh (ranging from ₹0.50 to 3.75 lakh).

(f)&(g): The primary objective of the PMGSY  is to provide connectivity,  by  way  of  an  all-weather  road  with  necessary  culverts and cross-drainage structures, which is operable throughout the year, to eligible unconnected habitations in rural areas. Habitations with a population  of  500+  in  plain  areas  and  250+  in  North-Eastern  and Himalayan states, Desert areas, Tribal (Schedule V) areas and selected tribal and backward districts as identified by the Ministry of Home Affairs/  Planning  Commission  as  per  Census,  2001  were  to  be covered under the scheme, so that these habitations can have access to basic health services, education and markets for their produce. In the critical Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected blocks (as identified by MHA), additional relaxation has been given to connect habitations with population of 100+ (Census 2001).

The  mandate  of the  scheme was subsequently widened and new interventions viz. PMGSY-II and PMGSY-III were added for upgradation of the existing rural road network which connect habitations to the various facilities and services. Against 1,78,184 eligible habitations of 250+ and 500+ population size  identified  for  coverage  under  the  scheme,  16,086  habitations have  been  provided  connectivity  by  the  States  out  of  their  own resources and 4,868 habitations have either been dropped or have not habitations sanctioned for providing connectivity under the PMGSY, 1,56,516 have already been covered. Thus, as on 13.12.2023, 714 habitations remain been found feasible. Out of the balance 1,57,230 to be connected.

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