Rajasthan Minimum Guarantee Bill

• The Rajasthan Minimum Guaranteed Income Bill 2023 was tabled in state legislature recently.
• 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.
• The government anticipates an additional expenditure of Rs 2,500 crore per year for this scheme, which may increase with time.

MAIN PROVISIONS OF THE BILL

• The Bill largely covers three broad areas: Right to Minimum Guaranteed Income, Right to Guaranteed Employment and Right to Guaranteed Social Security Pension.
  1. 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 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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 of Rs 1000/month.
     • It will increase over the base rate in two instalments – 5% in July and 10% in January of each financial year starting 2024-2025.