(a) whether the lack of agricultural labour is being felt in the country during the last few years;
(b) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor;
(c) whether the agricultural labour is migrating for employment to other areas due to implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS);
(d) if so, the corrective measures taken/proposed to be taken by the Government in this regard; and
(e) the details of the success achieved?
MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
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(a) & (b): Registrar General of India compiles data on agricultural labour every ten years and not on yearly basis. The last such data was compiled for Census 2011. There is an increase in figure of agricultural labour in Census 2011(14.43 crore) as compared to that of Census 2001(10.68 crore).
(c) to (e): No such data on migration of agricultural labour due to MGNREGA is maintained. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (Mahatma Gandhi NREGA), 2005, is an Act to provide for the enhancement of livelihood security of the households in rural areas of the country by providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.
As per Section 6 (1) of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (Mahatma Gandhi NREGA), 2005, the Central Government may by notification specify the wage rate for unskilled work for its beneficiaries. Accordingly, the Ministry of Rural Development notifies Mahatma Gandhi NREGA wage rate for every financial year for States/UTs. To compensate the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA workers against inflation, the Ministry of Rural Development revises the wage rate every year based on change in Consumer Price Index for Agricultural Labour (CPI-AL).
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