Khadi weavers and spinners across the country will not be included under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), Parliament was informed on Wednesday.
“Ministry of Rural Development has intimated that inclusion of khadi under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) was not found feasible as the focus of the Act is on unskilled work,” Minister of State for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) K H Muniappa said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.
Industry bodies have been demanding that Khadi Kutir Udyog workers should be given wages at par with the MNREGA labourers, entailing a job guarantee with a daily payment of Rs 150 for eight hours of work.
At present spinners get Rs 3 for each piece of spin-bundle and weavers earn a daily remuneration up to Rs 70, according to some industry estimates.
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