Is the Rajasthan Minimum Guaranteed Income Bill a “Historic Step”?
Soochna Evam Rozgar Adhikar Abhiyan, a grass-root level civil society organisation working for the right to information and employment-related campaigns in Rajasthan, in a statement, has termed the implementation of the The Rajasthan Minimum Guaranteed Income Bill, 2023 (the Bill) a “historic step”.
The Bill was passed on July 21 by the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly through a voice vote.
The Bill broadly covers three categories of legal entitlement, namely, the “right to guaranteed employment”, the “right to minimum guaranteed income” and the “right to guaranteed minimum social security pension”.
Upon the passing of the Bill, Rajasthan has become the first and only state in India to guarantee “entitlement-based social security” with an additional “minimum guaranteed income” in the form of a “guaranteed wage” or “social security pension” to support individuals and households across rural and urban areas.
The Bill was implemented in consonance with Articles 39(a) (that the citizens, men, and women equally, have the right to an adequate means of livelihood), 41 (right to work, to education and to public assistance in certain cases) and 43 (living wages, etc. for workers) of the directive principles of the state policy under the Constitution.
About the Bill
Section 3 of the Bill guarantees the “right to minimum guaranteed income”.
According to the Section, the State shall provide a minimum guaranteed income through the Mahatma Gandhi Minimum Guarantee Income Yojana by providing employment in urban areas under the Indira Gandhi Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme (IGUEGS).
The IGUEGS was announced by the Chief Minister of Rajasthan Ashok Gehlot, last year. Under the scheme, 100 days of employment is provided annually to the families residing in urban areas.
Section 4 of the Bill guarantees 25 additional days of minimum employment to every adult person residing in the rural areas upon completion of the maximum days of employment prescribed by the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA).
The MGNREGA guarantees minimum employment of 100 days.
For the adults residing in urban areas of the state, a right to employment of at least 125 days in a financial year is guaranteed by the social legislation.
Notably, the Bill designates programme officers for both rural and urban areas to provide minimum employment.
As per the Bill, if the programme officer fails to provide employment within 15 days from the receipt of the application for minimum employment, the applicant is entitled to receive unemployment allowance on a weekly basis as per Section 6.
Rajasthan has also become the first state to guarantee a universal minimum pension to old age, specially abled, widow and single women, as per the criteria laid down under Section 7.
Right to dignified work
Soochna Evam Rozgar Adhikar Abhiyan, while commenting on the legislation, stated that the legislation is a “strong response” to the ongoing political discourse pushed by the Union government, which equates welfare rights to “doles” and “freebies”.
As per the organisation, the legislation is a step forward in demand of the “right to work campaign” and “pension parishad” that the organisation has been advocating for over the past two decades.
The organisation, while explaining their advocacy for the right to work campaign, added that they had demanded for universal urban and rural employment programmes.
“While the [right to work] campaign gained a victory during the passage of MNREGA in 2005, the demand for a legal entitlement to urban employment remained unfulfilled,” the statement by the organisation avers.
The organisation has further pointed out that the Covid pandemic and lockdowns revealed a dire need to have income-based social security for urban workers.
During the pandemic, many states like Jharkhand, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Odisha and Tamil Nadu introduced urban employment schemes guaranteeing a minimum of 100 days of employment.
Further, the organisation has underlined the provision for pensions in the Bill.
“Since the formation of pension parishad in 2009, we have been campaigning for a legal entitlement for a pension that is universal, indexed to inflation and amounting to half the minimum wage through continual dharnas (protests)”, the statement avers.
However, as per the organisation, the Union government remains insensitive to these demands and the plight of elderly. The organisation has said: “It has been evident with their allocation to the National Social Assistance Programme being limited to ₹200 per month for below poverty line families since 2007”.
The organisation has added “the [Rajasthan Minimum Guarantee Income Act] doubles the minimum pension to ₹1000 per month, with an inbuilt guaranteed annual increment of ₹15 percent per year”.
According to the statement by the organisation: “The legislation is a significant breakthrough for SR Abhiyan’s continual advocacy over the past decade, which can be summarised in our slogan ‘Har haath ko kaam do, kaam pa poora daam do, budhaape me aaram do, pension aur samman do!’ [Give work to every hand, give full value for work, give rest in old age, give pension and respect]”.
(Gursimran Kaur Bakshi is a staff writer at The Leaflet. Courtesy: The Leaflet, an independent platform for cutting-edge, progressive, legal & political opinion, founded by Indira Jaising and Anand Grover.)
