The Rajasthan Legislative Assembly on Friday passed legislation by a voice vote to provide a minimum guaranteed income of Rs 1000 per month in the form of a guaranteed wage or social security pension, and an entitlement-based social security to support the individuals and/or household of the state.
Defending against the objections and proposed amendments by the Opposition members, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shanti Dhariwal told the House that Rajasthan has now become the first state in the country to guarantee social security to every citizen in the state.
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The state government is providing a comprehensive package of essential services to promote the welfare of the citizens of Rajasthan, he claimed.
Elaborating on the reasons for bringing the Bill, Dhariwal said, “The employment guarantee of 125 days in a year will be available in urban and rural areas for unemployed people. Old age, specially-abled, widow and single women will get a minimum pension of one thousand rupees per month and a provision for automatic increase of 15 per cent in pension every year.”
The minister said after the implementation of this Act, all the rural families of the state will get additional 25 days of employment under the Mukhyamantri Gramin Rozgar Guarantee Yojana after completing 100 days of employment under the MGNREGA scheme.
He said, “Under the Indira Gandhi Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme, urban families will also be guaranteed 125 days of employment.”
He said that old people, specially or differently-abled people, widows and single women will get guaranteed minimum pension of Rs 1,000 per month in the state. Along with this, a provision has been made for 15 per cent automatic increase, which will be at the rate of 5 percent in July and 10 percent in the month of January, he added.
The base amount of this increase will be Rs 1000, he clarified and added, “After the law is made, the above provisions will be available to the public as a right. With this unique and historic law, the common man will also get relief from the skyrocketing inflation”..
Earlier, the proposal to circulate the bill to know the public opinion was rejected by the house by voice vote.
According to the provision of the Bill, the state government will constitute an advisory board, headed by Chief Secretary and five other members to regularly monitor and review the implementation of the provisions. All payments of wages, compensation and unemployment allowances and pension will be made directly to the account of the applicant through the Direct -Benefit Transfer Mechanism.
The new Act is in addition and not in derogation of, any rights or entitlement guaranteed under any Central or the state laws.
