MGNREGA - A WAY TO EMPLOYMENT

Devika Ayekpam* and Dr.M.Thamilarasan***Junior Research Fellow and ** Assistant Professor

Department of Sociology, University of Madras, Chennai-600005E-mail:devika.ay@gmail.com

Abstract

One of the crucial problems in rural India is unemploymentwhich has given birth to a number of social problems likepoverty, migration, insecurity, and increase in social vice etc.So, providing employment in the rural areas is the remedialaction to tackle all these social problems. MGNREGA (MahatmaGandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) is an act whichaims for the enhancement of livelihood security of the householdsin rural areas of the country. It provides at least one hundreddays of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year toevery household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilledmanual work and thus, this act constitutes the first step towardsrealizing the right to work as enshrined in the DirectivePrinciples of State Policy in Article 39 in the Constitution ofIndia. The present paper will attempt to access the role ofMGNREGS in providing employment to the rural people. Themethodology adopted in this paper is descriptive and is basedupon the secondary data.

KEYWORDS: MGNREGA, EMPLOYMENT.

MGNREGA - A WAY TO EMPLOYMENT

Devika Ayekpam* and Dr.M.Thamilarasan***Junior Research Fellow and ** Assistant Professor

Department of Sociology, University of Madras, Chennai-600005E-mail:devika.ay@gmail.com

Introduction:

National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) is one ofthe rural development program launched in Feb 2006 with theobjective to free rural India from poverty. It is considered tobe the most successful scheme of the Ministry of Ruraldevelopment and second UPA’s most important scheme. It waslaunched with the objective to emancipate the rural people frompoverty and unemployment by providing 100 days guarantee works ina financial year. It is the biggest poverty alleviation programmein the world which is started with an initial outlay of Rs.11,300 crore in the year 2006-07. It has attained a widespreadrecognition since it is bounded by a Constitutional Act calledNREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act).

The Ministry of Rural development, Mahatma Gandhi NationalRural Employment Guarantee Act (Mahatma Gandhi NREGA) aims atenhancing livelihood security of households in rural areas of thecountry by providing atleast one hundred days of guaranteed wageemployment in a financial year to every household whose adultmembers volunteer to do unskilled manual work. The Mahatma GandhiNREGA has become a powerful instrument for inclusive growth inrural India through its impact on social protection, livelihoodsecurity and democratic governance.

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act isthe first ever law internationally that guarantees wageemployment at an unprecedented scale. The primary objective ofthe act is augmenting wage employment. The auxiliary objective isstrengthening natural resource management through works thataddress causes of chronic poverty like drought, deforestation andsoil erosion and thus encouraging sustainable development. Theprocess outcomes include strengthening grassroot processes ofdemocracy and infusing transparency and accountability ingovernance.

MGNREGA came into force on February 2, 2006 and wasimplemented in a phased manner. In phase I, it was introduced in200 most backward districts of the country. It was implemented inan additional 130 districts in Phase II (2007-08). The Act wasnotified in the remaining rural districts of India from April 1,2008 in Phase III.

Background:

India is considered to be a country of villages since aroundthree-fourth of its population lives in the rural areas.Agriculture, which is the main occupation of the rural people, isnot able to provide gainful employment to all so unemploymentbecame one of the burning problems in the rural areas of India.It is a crucial problem since it has given birth to a number of

various other problems like poverty, migration, insecurity,social disorder etc. To tackle this problem, the Government ofIndia introduced MGNREGS, which is one of the most importantschemes to eradicate rural poverty by providing atleast hundreddays of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year toevery household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilledmanual work.

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment GuaranteeScheme (MGNREGS):

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme(MGNREGS) is one of the programs launched in Feb 2006 with theobjective to provide employment and to free rural India frompoverty. MGNREGS has attained a widespread recognition since itis bounded by a Constitutional Act called MGNREGA (Mahatma GandhiNational Rural Employment Guarantee Act) which was passed on 5September 2005. This act is an important step towards realizationof the right to work as enshrined in the Directive Principles ofState Policy in the Constitution in Article 39.

The impetus for the MGNREGA came from two sources. The firstcomprises social movements such as the right to food that hadbeen agitating for ending hunger by providing employmentguarantees to the poor. This demand was supported by variouscivil society movements such as the right to information thatincorporated such demands in its wider framework. The second andmore direct influence came from the three-decade-long-trackrecord of the Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS) in Maharashtra(Puthenkalam and George, 2012).

Evaluation studies of the Maharashtra EGS showed that the programme had the following strengths:

Reduced extreme levels of deprivation among the poorest sections.

Accounted for between one-tenth and one-third of the number of days of employment of rural workers.

Reduced migration to the urban areas. Stabilized employment in the off-peak season. Higher participation of women.

Based on these influences, the government enacted the NREGA on September 2005.

Salient Features of the (MGNREGA) Act:

Registration: Adult members of a rural household willing to do unskilled manual work may apply for registration either in writing or orally to the local Panchayat. The unit for the registrationis a household. Under the act, each household is entitled to100 days of work every year.

Job Card: After due verification of place of residence and age of the adult members, the registered household is issued a Job card.

Application for work: A written application seeking work is to be made to the GramPanchayat or Block office, stating the time and duration forwhich work is sought. The Gram Panchayat will issue a dated receipt of the written application for employment, against which the guarantee of providing employment within 15 days.

Unemployment allowances:In case employment is not provided within 15 days, the statewill pay an unemployment allowance to the beneficiary.

Provision of work: Work is provided within 5 kms radius of the village. In case, work is provided beyond 5 kms, extra wages of 10

percent are payable to meet the additional transportation and living expenses.

Women empowerment: Priority is awarded to women, such that atleast one-third ofthe beneficiaries under the scheme are women.

Wages: Wages are to be paid on a weekly basis and not beyond a fortnight in any case. Payment of the wages is mandatorily done through the individual/joint bank/post office beneficiary accounts.

Planning: Plans and decisions regarding the nature and choice of worksto be undertaken in a nature and choice of works to be undertaken in a financial year along with the order in whicheach work is to be taken up, site selection etc are all to be made in open assemblies of the Gram Sabha and ratified bythe Gram Panchayat.

Cost Sharing: The Government of India bears 100 percent wage cost of unskilled manual labour and 75 percent of the material cost,including the wages of skilled and unskilled workers.

Worksite management: To ensure that the workers are directly benefitted under thescheme, the act prohibits the use of contractors or machinery in execution of the works. Worksite facilities such as crèche, drinking water and shade have to be providedat all worksites.

Transparency:All the records relating to the scheme are to be made available to any person who desires it and can also obtain acopy of such records on demand.

Permissible work:

Water conservation Drought proofing (including plantation and afforestation) Irrigation of canals Minor irrigation, horticulture and land development on the

land of SC/ST-BPL and land reform beneficiary Renovation of traditional water bodies Flood protection Land development Rural connectivity

*Source: www.nrega.nic.in

MGNREGA as a way to Employment:

Mahatma Gandhi NREGA has provided basic income security to alarge number of beneficiaries. The scheme provides employment toaround 5 crore households, on an average, every year. This isalmost one-fourth of the total rural households in the country.Since its inception, Mahatma Gandhi NREGA has generated 1348crore person days of employment.

From financial year 2006-07, upto financial year 2012-13(upto Dec 2012), over Rs 1,29,000 crore has been spent on wages.This is almost 70% of the total expenditure. The scheme’snotified wages have increased across all states since 2006. Theaverage wage earned per beneficiary has risen from Rs. 65 perpersonday in 2006 to Rs. 115 by 2012.

A panel survey conducted by the National Sample SurveyOrganization (NSSO) on the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA in 3 states alsoshows that the scheme provides work at a time when no other workor alternate employment opportunities exist. The scheme has alsocontributed to ensuring greater food security, monthly per capitaexpenditure, savings etc.

In fact, a recent report by a global research organizationindicates that for the first time in nearly 25 years, growth inrural spending outpaced urban consumption in the two yearsbetween 2009-10 and 2011-12. It also concluded that the increasein rural consumption is driven in significant part by the MahatmaGandhi NREGA.

A study conducted by Bebarta (2013), “Impact of MGNREGA inthe lives of Tribal People: A study of Rayagada Block in GajapatiDistrict” shows that majority of the respondents considered the

wage that they have received under NREGA has helped preventinghunger and NREGA work has increased the accessibility andcommunication facility by constructing roads. It was concludedthat the tribal households in the Gajapati district have beenbenefitted from MGNREGA in many ways as it has increased theirsocial and economic life; however there is still a long way tofulfill the purpose and objectives of MGNREGA and ensure thelivelihood security of the rural and tribal households.

A study conducted by Indian Institute of Technology, Madras,Chennai (2009), “Evaluation of National Rural EmploymentGuarantee Act: In Districts: Cuddlore, Dindugal, Kanchipuram,Nagai, Thiruvallar, State: Tamil Nadu” reveals the impact ofMGNREGA in the state of Tamil Nadu by taking 4 GPs into accounteach from 5 districts. The study shows many positive aspects ofthe programme which are mainly:

Villagers consider NREGA is promising to be a boon for improving rural livelihood.

Provision of job within the village is very much encouragingto villagers.

NREGA also ensured gender equality in rural Tamil Nadu. The programme employed a very good proportion of Scheduled

Caste and Backward Caste people. Involvement of SHG members improves people’s awareness and

this is very important for future NREGS planning. Financial inclusion strategies like bank account opening and

rural ATM for NREGS beneficiaries at four villages of Cuddalore block has resulted in multiplier effects of savings, financial safety etc.

Registrations are open throughout the year. Most of the respondents perceived the payment were received

within a week.

There has been a “significant dent” in poverty in rural areasby increasing employment opportunities and proper wage

disbursement through implementation of MGNREGA which hasincreased earning of rural households resulting in an increase intheir purchasing power. During the first year of implementation(2006-07) in 200 districts, 2.10 crore households were employedand 90.5 crore persondays were generated. In 2007-08, 3.39 crorehouseholds were provided employment and 143.59 crore householdshave been provided employment and 216.32 crore persondays havebeen generated across the country. In 2010-11 come down to 5.49crore households have been provided employment (Akhtar, et.al,2011).

Mehotra (2008) in his article, “NREGS Two Years On: Where DoWe Go From here?”, reveals that NREGS includes several vitalfeatures like ensuring right based frame work, legally bindingand time bound programme. It also gives importance totransparency and accountability. NREGS comes as a successful onein the first phase in providing better person days work againstall other employment programme. It provided 43 days of work in2006-07 amid lack of awareness of the programme by the people. Italso created 905 millions of work in 2006-07 and 1437 million in2007-08 which is one of the overwhelming successes against otheremployment programme. The programme is being implemented withmore enthusiasm in states like Chattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh andRajasthan who created good amount of personday’s employment. Theprogramme also gave importance to the marginalized and backwardsection of the society: Scheduled Caste, Schedule Tribe andWomen. The overwhelming poverty striken peoples are from allthese categories that constitute 80 percent of total poor people.NREGA not only creates employment but also creates durable ruralassets which in turn creates infrastructure in rural areas.

A study conducted by Puthenkalam and George (2012) in the fourstates of southern India i.e. Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala andAndhra Pradesh shows that most Panchayats reported that the

economic condition of the wage earners has improved and moreoverthe workers need not to go outside the village to seek work.Another positive finding is that due to MGNREGA, people’s faithin Panchayats has increased. The main benefits reported wereimprovement in socio-economic condition of the workers, landimprovements and soil conservation activities helpingagricultural activities. Increase in irrigation facility andagriculture production, employment generation within the villageand sure payment against workdays.

Loopholes in the Implementation of MGNREGA:

With great hype and hope, Mahatma Gandhi National RuralEmployment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) was introduced in India toemancipate poverty and unemployment in the rural areas. Itintended to provide a basic safety net for the rural poor inIndia. Despite the fact that the act has helped a lot of ruralpoor to get employed and become self-sufficient, there are someloopholes in the implementation of MGNREGS. Some of the mainbottlenecks of the scheme are as follows:

Lack of awareness of the scheme by the beneficiaries. Delays in wage payments. Poor worksite facilities. Violations of the transparency of the records. Corruption. Inadequate training of the functionaries.

Conclusion:

NREGA has great potentials to transform the rurallivelihoods in India. As per the guidelines, it aims to improvethe livelihood security of the rural people by providing 100 daysof guarantee wage employment so it can generate large employment

opportunities and can lead to capacity building and thus to anincrease in the total national income. To conclude, despitevarious obstacles and problems, MGNREGA is making differences inthe lives of the rural people in India to some extent. Thus, wecan infer that MGNREGA has immense potential to provide socialsecurity to the rural masses only if its implementation processis efficiently taken up with the active participation of thepublic or the rural people.

References:

Akhtar, Javed S M, Azeez, N.P. Abdul, Masroor, Md. (2011), “Towards Millennium Development Goals and the Role of MGNREGA”, Kurukshetra, Volume 60, No.2, December 2011.

Bebarta, Prabeena Kumar, (2013), Odisha Review, Vol LXIX NO.7-8,Feb March 2013.

Bagchi, K.K., (2007), Employment and Poverty Alleviation Programmes in India, Abhijeet Publications, Delhi.

Das, Manoranjan, (2009) ‘Problems and Achievements of NREGS in Odisha: A case study’, An unpublished Master of Philosophy in Sociology dissertation submitted to the Department of Sociology, Pondicherry University

Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, Chennai (2009),Evaluation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Act: InDistricts Cuddlore, Dindugal, Kanchipuram, Nagai, Thiruvalallur,State Tamil Nadu.

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