English Typing
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Even
though
lakhs
of
landless
agricultural
workers,
cane
cutters
and
marginal
farmers
are
desperately
looking
for
work,
the
number
of
individuals
who
actually
got
work
under
MGNREGA
last
year
was
just
70,000
people
or
fewer
in
each
district.
The
only
exception
was
in
Beed,
where
1.19
lakh
individual
workers
got
work.
This
month,
when
demand
is
at
its
peak,
the
average
figure
in
each
district
is
just
4,000.
Officials
tell
you,
off
the
record,
that
the
main
reason
is
the
Central
government's
refusal
to
release
adequate
funds.
For
the
State
as
a
whole,
the
funds
from
the
Centre
in
2015-2016
have
been
less,
by
Rs.212
crore,
than
what
was
spent
in
the
pre-drought
year
of
2012-2013.
What
is
equally
appalling
is
that
even
those
who
got
work
did
not
get
wages.
Beed
district,
with
a
comparatively
better
record
of
providing
work,
was
the
worst
in
terms
of
the
disbursal
of
wages.
Last
year,
the
government
owed
workers
Rs.5.58
crore
in
terms
of
wages
in
this
district.
At
a
worksite
where
we
met
Ms.
Korde
in
her
village
of
Takarwan,
150
workers
had
not
been
paid
even
a
paisa
since
the
project
began
a
month-and-a-half
ago.
In
the
searing
heat,
with
scarce
drinking
water,
the
women
are
expected
to
dig
and
carry
5,000
kg
of
mud
in
a
single
workday
of
eight
hours.
Can
there
be
a
more
inhuman
work
norm
than
this?
It
is
an
impossible
task.
Officials
admit
that
because
of
the
drought,
the
soil
has
become
hard
and
stony.
But
the
schedule
of
rates
that
is
the
work
norms
which
determine
the
piece-rated
wages
has
not
been
changed.
As
a
result,
workers
will
get
around
30
per
cent
less
than
the
minimum
wage,
unless
they
extend
the
workday
to
11
or
12
hours.
Ms.
Korde
has
been
fighting
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