World's biggest employment guarantee scheme Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREG) has ensured better wages for rural women.

In a survey report, the National Sample Survey (NSS) organisation has found that disparity in wages between male and female workers in rural India has reduced between 2004-05 -- when there was no MGNREG, and 2007-08 -- when the scheme was introduced in most parts of rural India.

Now, the rural women working in MGNREG areas are get- ting 54 per cent higher wages than casual women workers in urban areas.

Traditionally, wages in rural areas have been less than those in urban areas but MGNEGS has changed the trend.

So, as compared to an aver- age daily wage of Rs 48.5 for a woman in urban areas, women enrolled under the scheme get Rs 79 every day in rural India.

Introduction of the scheme in rural India has also helped reduce the wage difference between men and women workers. This disparity, in turn, has increased in urban India, where there is no job guarantee scheme.

Despite the scheme ensuring higher wages to workers, the NSS survey has found the wages being given are still less than Rs 100 a day stipulated by the government.