Agriculture Secretary P K Basu had written to the Rural Development Ministry to this effect recently.
He had sought amendment in the job guarantee scheme so that agriculture is not effected particularly during sowing and harvesting period, sources in the Rural Development Ministry said.
The letter had pointed out that the ministry’s assessment based on field visits, inputs from farmers and reports from the states, shows that ever since MGNREGA Act came into force, the cost of agricultural labour has gone up substantially.
Punjab and Haryana known as "food basket of India" were particularly hard hit by shortage of labourers during agri seasons.
Reports from the two states suggest that labourers particularly from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, who used to flood the two major agri states in the past, were conspicuous with their absence due to availability of work under MGNREGA scheme in their native places.
The Agriculture ministry has therefore suggested MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) be suspended during the period of high-crop activity so that labour can engage in sowing, transplantation and harvesting activities.
The Rural Development Ministry expressed inability to accept the request.
"In our reply to the letter we said that the MGNREGA Act necessitates to provide 100 days of employment to the beneficiaries and it cannot be suspended," a senior officer of the Rural Development Ministry said.
"Besides, we told the Agriculture ministry that MGNREGA scheme encompasses work like land development and strengthening of irrigation which would help farm sector", he added.