The Rajasthan Minimum Guaranteed Income Bill 2023

What’s in today’s article?

• Why in News?
• What is the Rajasthan Minimum Guaranteed Income Bill 2023?
• Understanding the 3 Broad Categories of the Bill
• Significance of the Bill
• How have Social Activists Reacted?

 

Why in News?

• The Rajasthan government tabled the Rajasthan Minimum Guaranteed Income Bill 2023.
• The Bill aims to provide entitlement-based social security to support the individuals or households with an additional minimum guaranteed income in the form of a guaranteed wage or social security pension.

 

What is the Rajasthan Minimum Guaranteed Income Bill 2023?

• Under the Bill, all families of the state get guaranteed employment of 125 days every year.
• The aged, disabled, widows, and single women will get a minimum pension of Rs 1,000 per month.
• Importantly, the pension will be increased at the rate of 15% each year.
• The Bill has three broad categories: right to minimum guaranteed income, right to guaranteed employment, and right to guaranteed social security pension.
• The government anticipates an additional expenditure of Rs 2,500 crore per year for this scheme, which may increase with time.

 

Understanding the 3 Broad Categories of the Bill:

Minimum guaranteed income:

• Each adult citizen of the state has been guaranteed a minimum income for 125 days a year through -
• The Rajasthan government’s flagship Indira Gandhi Shahri Rozgar Guarantee Yojana for urban areas, and
• The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in rural areas.
• In his budget speech this year, the CM had increased the employment guarantee per family from 100 days to 125 days for his urban employment scheme.
• The state will supplement the MGNREGA’s 100 days by providing jobs for an additional 25 days in rural areas.
• Next, the government will provide eligible categories with a minimum pension of Rs 1,000.

 

Guaranteed employment:

• The right to employment states that post the work in urban or rural employment schemes, the minimum wages should be paid weekly or in any case not later than a fortnight.
• The state will designate a program officer - not below the rank of Block Development Officer in rural areas and an Executive Officer of the local body in urban areas - to implement the Act.
• Among other things, the Program Officer shall ensure that the work site is within a radius of 5 Kms of where the job card is registered in both rural and urban areas.
• If the Program Officer fails to provide employment within 15 days from the receipt of the application, the applicant shall be entitled to an unemployment allowance on a weekly basis and in any case not later than a fortnight.

 

Guaranteed social security pension:

• Every person falling in the category of old age/ specially abled/ widow/ single woman with prescribed eligibility shall be entitled to a pension.
• It will increase over the base rate in two installments - 5% in July and 10% in January of each financial year starting 2024-2025. 

 

Significance of the Bill:

• The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members. (Mahatma Gandhi)
• It is a moral responsibility of every government to ensure that everyone gets justice.
• Therefore, the Bill is part of a bouquet of schemes and measures undertaken by the Rajasthan government to provide relief from inflation with an eye on the polls later this year. 

 

How have Social Activists Reacted?

• The Bill contains many firsts in the country.
• The Bill’s approach, guaranteeing minimum employment and pensions by law, distinguishes it from the cash transfer schemes that various other states have.

 

 Gehlot Govt Tables Bill to Guarantee Minimum Income 

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Q) What is the legal/constitutional status of the right to work in India?

The Indian Constitution does not explicitly recognise the right to work as a fundamental right. It is placed in Part IV (DPSP) of the Constitution under Article 41, which makes it unenforceable in the court of law.

 

Q)  What is the Atal Pension Yojana (APY)?

Atal Pension Yojana, formerly known as Swavalamban Yojana is a government-backed pension scheme in India launched in 2015. It is primarily targeted at the unorganised sector.

 

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Source: Rajasthan minimum income Bill: provisions, what makes it unique