Chapter III EMOPLOYMENT GUARANTEE SCHEMES AND UNEMPLOYMENT ALLOWANCE

1. (1) For the purposes of giving effect to the provisions of section 3, every State Government shall, within six months from the date of commencement of this Act, by notification, make a Scheme, for providing not less than one hundred days of guaranteed employment in a financial year to every household in the rural areas covered under the Scheme and whose adult members, by application, volunteer to do unskilled manual work subject to the conditions laid down by or under this Act and in the Scheme: Provided that until any such Scheme is notified by the State Government, the Annual Action Plan or Perspective Plan for the Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY) or the National Food for Work Programme (NFFWP) whichever is in force in the concerned area immediately before such notification shall be deemed to be the action plan for the Scheme for the purposes of this Act.
2. (2) The State Government shall publish a summary of the Scheme made by it in at least two local newspapers, one of which shall be in a vernacular language circulating in the area or areas to which such Scheme shall apply.
3. (3) The Scheme made under sub-section (1) shall provide for the minimum features specified in Schedule I.

1. (1) The State Government may, without prejudice to the conditions specified in Schedule II, specify in the Scheme the conditions for providing guaranteed employment under this Act.
2. (2) The persons employed under any Scheme made under this Act shall be entitled to such facilities not less than the minimum facilities specified in Schedule II.

1. (1) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 (11 of 1948), the Central Government may, by notification, specify the wage rate for the purposes of this Act: Provided that different rates of wages may be specified for different areas: Provided further that the wage rate specified from time to time under any such notification shall not be at a rate less than sixty rupees per day.
2. (2) Until such time as a wage rate is fixed by the Central Government in respect of any area in a State, the minimum wage fixed by the State Government under section 3 of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948 (11 of 1948) for agricultural labourers, shall be considered as the wage rate applicable to that area.

1. (1) If an applicant for employment under the Scheme is not provided such employment within fifteen days of receipt of his application seeking employment or from the date on which the employment has been sought in the case of an advance application, whichever is later, he shall be entitled to a daily unemployment allowance in accordance with this section.
2. (2) Subject to such terms and conditions of eligibility as may be prescribed by the State Government and subject to the provisions of this Act and the Schemes and the economic capacity of the State Government, the unemployment allowance payable under sub-section (1) shall be paid to the applicants of a household subject to the entitlement of the household at such rate as may be specified by the State Government, by notification, in consultation with the State Council: Provided that no such rate shall be less than one-fourth of the wage rate for the first thirty days during the financial year and not less than one-half of the wage rate for the remaining period of the financial year.
3. (3) The liability of the State Government to pay unemployment allowance to a household during any financial year shall cease as soon as--
   • (a) the applicant is directed by the Gram Panchayat or the Programme Officer to report for work either by himself or depute at least one adult member of his household; or
   • (b) the period for which employment is sought comes to an end and no member of the household of the applicant had turned up for employment; or
   • (c) the adult members of the household of the applicant have received in total at least one hundred days of work within the financial year; or
   • (d) the household of the applicant has earned as much from the wages and unemployment allowance taken together which is equal to the wages for one hundred days of work during the financial year.
4. (4) The unemployment allowance payable to the household of an applicant jointly shall be sanctioned and disbursed by the Programme Officer or such local authority (including the Panchayats at the district, intermediate or village level) as the State Government may, by notification, authorise in this behalf.
5. (5) Every payment of unemployment allowance under sub-section (1) shall be made or offered not later than fifteen days from the date on which it became due for payment.
6. (6) The State Government may prescribe the procedure for payment of unemployment allowance under this Act.

1. (1) If the Programme Officer is not in a position to disburse the unemployment allowance in time or at all for any reason beyond his control, he shall report the matter to the District Programme Coordinator and announce such reasons in a notice to be displayed on his notice board and the notice board of the Gram Panchayat and such other conspicuous places as he may deem necessary.
2. (2) Every case of non-payment or delayed payment of unemployment allowance shall be reported in the annual report submitted by the District Programme Coordinator to the State Government along with the reasons for such non-payment or delayed payment.
3. (3) The State Government shall take all measures to make the payment of unemployment allowance reported under sub-section (1) to the concerned household as expeditiously as possible.

An applicant who--

1. (a) does not accept the employment provided to his household under a Scheme; or
2. (b) does not report for work within fifteen days of being notified by the Programme Officer or the implementing agency to report for the work; or
3. (c) continuously remains absent from work, without obtaining a permission from the concerned implementing agency for a period of more than one week or remains absent for a total period of more than one week in any month,shall not be eligible to claim the unemployment allowance payable under this Act for a period of three months but shall be eligible to seek employment under the Scheme at any time.