Twenty four-year-old Sonu Salvi of Bhilwara district in Rajasthan aspires to be a teacher. She has just completed her Bachelors in Arts and is hoping to do Bachelors in Education next, except that she doesn’t know how to pay for her further education. She had been funding her studies through wages she earned as a ‘Mate’ or site supervisor under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). However, since December 2021, she hasn’t received her wages.
“I had to take a loan of ₹10,000 to pay the tuition fee for myself and my younger sister for the last year of BA course. I have forgotten the number of applications I have written and the several rounds of the panchayat office that I have made. Each time, I get a stock reply - “You will get the payment when Centre pays”,” Ms. Salvi said.
Ms. Salvi's example is just one of the many among the Mates in Rajasthan, whose wages have been inordinately delayed. Rajasthan is also not the only State to face this problem.
