Why in News?
The Rajasthan State recently tabled the Rajasthan Minimum Guaranteed Income Bill, 2023, which effectively seeks to cover the entire adult population of the state with guaranteed wages or pension.

What is the Bill?  
Under the Bill, all families of the state get guaranteed employment of 125 days every year, while the aged, disabled, widows, and single women get a minimum pension of Rs 1,000 per month. 
Importantly, the pension will be increased at the rate of 15 per cent each year.
The Bill has three broad categories: 
·         Right to minimum guaranteed income  
·         Right to guaranteed employment, and 
·         Right to guaranteed social security pension.
The government anticipates an additional expenditure of Rs 2,500 crore per year for this scheme, which may increase with time.
 
What are its major provisions? 
Minimum guaranteed income: 
Each adult citizen of the state has been guaranteed a minimum income for 125 days a year through the Rajasthan government’s flagship Indira Gandhi Shahri Rozgar Guarantee Yojana for urban areas, and through Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in rural areas.
Rajasthan Government had increased the employment guarantee per family from 100 days to 125 days for his urban employment scheme. 
The state will supplement the MGNREGA’s 100 days by providing jobs for an additional 25 days in rural areas.
Next, the government will provide eligible categories with a minimum pension of Rs 1,000.
Guaranteed employment: 
The right to employment states that post the work in urban or rural employment schemes, the minimum wages should be paid “weekly or in any case not later than a fortnight.”
The state will designate a program officer who is not below the rank of Block Development Officer in rural areas and an Executive Officer of the local body in urban areas to implement the Act. 
The Program Officer shall ensure that the work site is within a radius of five kilometres of where the job card is registered in both rural and urban areas.
 
What if one could not get work? 
If the Program Officer fails to provide employment within 15 days from the receipt of the application, the applicant shall be entitled to an unemployment allowance on a weekly basis.
Guaranteed social security pension:
 Every person falling in the category of old age/specially abled/widow/single woman with prescribed eligibility shall be entitled to a pension.
 It will increase over the base rate in two instalments that is   per cent in July and 10 per cent in January of each financial year starting from 2024-2025.
 
Reasons for the Passage of the Bill: 
The Bill is part of a bouquet of schemes and measures undertaken by his government to provide relief from inflation and to promote the ideals of Social and Economic Justice. 
Significance of the Bill:
1. The Bill contains many firsts in the country.
2. It is guaranteeing minimum employment and pensions by law
3. It is different from the cash transfer schemes that various other states have.
4. The Bill is part of a bouquet of schemes and measures undertaken by the Rajasthan government to combat inflation
Challenges towards implementation:
·         Identification of eligible beneficiaries with minimum inclusion and exclusion errors.
·         Financial burden, as the government anticipates an additional expenditure of Rs 2,500 crore per year, which may increase with time.
 It is therefore a moral responsibility of every government to ensure the welfare of vulnerable/ disadvantaged people.
 
Mains Question:
  Q: The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members as said by Gandhiji. In this Context, Examine How far recent Rajasthan minimum income Bill 2023 is successful in achieving Gandhian Aspirations?