The Congress-ruled Rajasthan on Friday became the first and the only State in the country to give social security guarantee to the people with the passage of the Minimum Guaranteed Income Bill in the Assembly. The Assembly also passed an Amendment Bill for enhancing the punishment up to life imprisonment for leaking question papers of recruitment exams.
The Rajasthan Minimum Guaranteed Income Bill, 2023, passed with voice vote, gives a guarantee for giving 125 days of employment in a financial year to all families residing in the rural and urban areas and a minimum pension of ₹1,000 every month to the elderly people, specially abled people and widows and single women.
There will also be guarantee of 15% annual increase in these pensions under the legislation. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shanti Dhariwal defended the provisions for entitlement-based social security in the Bill while replying to the debate in the House, during which the Opposition BJP MLAs suggested several amendments and sought circulation of the Bill to elicit public opinion.
‘Combined relief’
Mr. Dhariwal said the two main components of the Bill, devoted to employment guarantee and social security, would provide a “combined relief” to the people reeling under the impact of inflation. Besides, the comprehensive package of essential services offered by the Congress government was promoting the welfare of public at large, he said.
The families residing in the villages will get 25 days of additional employment under the Chief Minister’s Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme after completing 100 days in the Union government’s MGNREGS. In the urban areas, the employment of 125 days per family will be given through the Indira Gandhi Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme.
If the government authorities fail to provide employment within 15 days from the receipt of application, the applicant will be entitled to get unemployment allowance on a weekly basis and in any case not later than a fortnight, according to the Bill.
The Centre is at present giving social security pension of ₹200 to ₹300 per month, which has been stagnant since 2007. In Rajasthan, the pension amount was last increased in 2019, while under the new law, the base rate of ₹1,000 will automatically increase by 15% every year. The increase will be 5% in July and 10% in January, starting from 2024-25.
Gehlot’s message
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, recovering from injury in his toes, released a video message to the people of the State before the Bill was taken up for discussion in the Assembly. Mr. Gehlot said the path-breaking legislation would “create history” by giving a legal right to the people to get social security, as it was brought on the lines of the Nyuntam Aay Yojana proposed by the Congress in the 2019 Lok Sabha election manifesto.
Mr. Gehlot urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to enact a Central law on the right to social security to bring relief to the people across the country. “As far as we are concerned, we have left no stone unturned for public welfare and good governance,” he said.
Leader of the Opposition Rajendra Rathore and the BJP MLAs earlier said in the House that arranging finances for implementing social security as a legislative right would pose a challenge before the State government. Mr. Rathore said the ruling Congress would have to ensure that the proposed legislation did not turn out to be an “eyewash”.
The House also passed by voice vote the Rajasthan Public Examination (Measures for Prevention of Unfair Means in Recruitment) (Amendment) Bill, 2023, for enhancing the maximum sentence for the crime of paper leak from 10 years’ jail to life imprisonment. The Act making paper leak in the government recruitment exam a punishable offence was passed last year.
The BJP MLAs earlier staged a walkout while alleging corruption in the State government’s Annapurna food packet scheme to provide free ration kits to more than one crore people every month ahead of the Assembly election. Deputy Leader of the Opposition Satish Poonia said during the Zero Hour that the scheme was meant to entice the voters and promote corruption by giving benefits to the select people.
