MGNREGA Bibliography

Abstract

This study focused mainly on the impact of MGNREGA on women empowerment in the Warangal district of Telangana State, India. 80% respondents opined that work is not provided on demand and the average wage earned is Rs 60. 98% of the respondents fall Below Poverty Line. On average 30 percent increase in the incomes of the respondents due employment provided by MGNREGS. 99% respondents are carrying out ransaction with banks and other agencies on their own. Cent percent of respondents demand for enhancement of number of days of employment provided under the scheme. Water is not being provided to job seekers instead they were paid Rs 2 each for carrying their own water. It is concluded that the MGNREGA should be implemented in its true spirit by correcting lapses in its implementation at all levels for achieving objectives of the scheme in sustainable manner

https://rdmodernresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/176.pdf

Gender Implementation Poverty Quantitative

Abstract

After the Fourteenth Finance Commission award, aggregate transfers as a percentage of gross domestic product has increased, while grants as a percentage of GDP has declined. The centre is resorting to cess and surcharges that are not shared with the states. This would mean denial of revenue to states, which goes against the spirit of the Constitution. Further, the states have a reduced untied fiscal space, with the union’s share in Centrally Sponsored Schemes in 2016–17 (BE) being reduced. Finally, in the absence of plan transfers, post 2017–18, the focus should be to develop a framework for non-finance commission grants to states which is predictable and certain.

https://www.epw.in/journal/2016/16/budget-2016%E2%80%9317/evolving-cen...

Budget Politics

Abstract

We exploit the implementation of India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme to identify exogenous shifts in mothers’ labor force participation and its impact on their children’s educational outcomes. Using child level panel data, we find that a mother’s participation in the labor force increases her children’s time spent in school and leads to better grade progression. These results account for age cohort trends and for differences in time trends by initial levels of economic development at the district and sub-district levels. We find evidence of greater household decision-making power of working mothers as an explanation of our results.

https://www.jobguarantee.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Afridi-et-al-2...

Gender Implementation Quantitative

Abstract

We exploit the implementation of India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme to identify exogenous shifts in mothers’ labor force participation and its impact on their children’s educational outcomes. Using child level panel data, we find that a mother’s participation in the labor force increases her children’s time spent in school and leads to better grade progression. These results account for age cohort trends and for differences in time trends by initial levels of economic development at the district and sub-district levels. We find evidence of greater household decision-making power of working mothers as an explanation of our results.

https://izajold.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40175-016-0053-y

Gender Implementation Quantitative

Abstract

Public employment programs may affect poverty both directly through the income they provide and indirectly through general equilibrium effects. We estimate both effects, exploiting a reform that improved the implementation of India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) and whose rollout was randomized at a large (sub‐district) scale. The reform raised beneficiary households’ earnings by 14%, and reduced poverty by 26%. Importantly, 86% of income gains came from non‐program earnings, driven by higher private‐sector (real) wages and employment. This pattern appears to reflect imperfectly competitive labor markets more than productivity gains: worker’s reservation wages increased, land returns fell, and employment gains were higher in villages with more concentrated landholdings. Non‐agricultural enterprise counts and employment grew rapidly despite higher wages, consistent with a role for local demand in structural transformation. These results suggest that public employment programs can effectively reduce poverty in developing countries, and may also improve economic efficiency.

https://www.econometricsociety.org/publications/econometrica/2023/07/0...

Implementation Poverty Wages

Abstract

This study was undertaken to assess the impact of the scheme on change in the income, savings pattern and extent of employment after the implementation of the scheme in Kalaburagi district of Karnataka state. Kalaburagi district was covered during the third phase of implementation of MGNREGA which was selected for the study with the pre set objective of analyzing the impact of MGNREGA on the participant households. For evaluating the specific objectives designed for the study, required primary data was collected from the participants for the agriculture year 2013–14. MGNREGA fully implemented village farmers ( 18718/year) were earning significantly higher income (74.48%) than that of partially implemented MGNREGA village farmers ( 4775/year). The average amount of savings made in SHGs was 2, 380, in fully implemented MGNREGA villages, whereas in partially implemented MGNREGA villages it was 1, 543. The savings was made in banks 12, 000 by the participants in fully implemented MGNREGA villages. Whereas, in case of partially implemented MGNREGA villages the savings was made by participants 8, 120 it was less compared to fully implemented MGNREGA villages.

https://www.indianjournals.com/ijor.aspx?target=ijor:eaj&volume=61&iss...

Implementation Wages

Abstract

This paper studies the impact of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) at the all-India level utilizing nationally representative data from the national sample survey (NSS). We propose an alternative methodology for the proper identification of target households in the baseline period using a secondary data source such as the NSS. The programme is assessed in terms of whether it has been successful in ensuring livelihood security for beneficiary households. The study found that the increase in spending capacity of non-beneficiary households was greater than MGNREGA beneficiary households. Moreover, the overall growth trend in spending capacity over time had a greater effect in improving the livelihood security of the target households than the estimated effect of the programme.

https://doi.org/10.1080/13600818.2016.1246658

Qualitative Quantitative

Abstract

India in general and Karnataka in particular have predominating number of workers in the unorganised sector. The workers in the unorganised sector are denied of basic social security measures such as health facility, income, employment etc. Against this backdrop, the MGNREGA is a refuge for employment source which is ploughed to make significant difference for providing livelihood security in rural areas especially rural poor. The MGNREGA was introduced in Karnataka since 2006 as an additional source of wage employment to eradicate poverty and unemployment. Rural areas of Karnataka have two-pronged issues i.e., poverty and unemployment, marred by low wages, seasonal agricultural employment and informal nature of work. However, it has been observed that the performance under MGNREGA in Karnataka is not inconsonance with the rate of poverty and unemployment in the State. The low performance in Karnataka in MGNREGA compared to many better performing States has been attributed to various programmatic and implementation issues. The paper explores on three objectives viz., (i) to analyse the status of rural poverty and unemployment in Karnataka (ii) to evaluate the performance of MGNREGA in Karnataka since inception and (iii) to examine the issues and challenges in the implementation of MGNREGA in Karnataka and way forward. Overall, the paper assesses the programme on the pre-requisites for an inclusive growth model warranting reductions in unemployment and poverty alleviation in rural areas of Karnataka.

https://www.nirdprojms.in/index.php/jrd/article/view/93269

Challenges Implementation Poverty Wages

Abstract

A large body of economic development literature focusses on risk coping mechanisms in the presence of income volatility. It is shown that despite unstable income among rural households consumption remains mostly smooth over time. Critics highlight the possible bias in the existing literature which utilises self reported income that is likely to contain measurement errors. Accounting for this criticism, this paper tests for consumption smoothing in Indian villages using administrative wage payment details as a proxy for income. Existing research also documents risk coping mechanisms ranging from transfers among relatives to distress sale of assets and buffer stocks. By exploiting the exogenous variation in recorded wage payments this paper examines mechanisms of consumption smoothing. Preliminary findings from household and month fixed effects estimations hint at consumption smoothing via financial market transactions. It is revealed that a 10 percentage point increase in wage payments of a public employment programme leads to 2 percentage point increase in loan repayments. The finding may be interpreted as yet another way of risk coping mechanisms.

https://editorialexpress.com/cgi-bin/conference/download.cgi?db_name=C...

Quantitative

Abstract

Workfare has often seemed an attractive option for making self-targeted transfers to poor people. But is this incentive argument strong enough in practice to prefer unproductive workfare to even untargeted cash transfers? A nonparametric survey-based method is used to assess the cost-effectiveness of a large workfare scheme in a poor state of India with high unemployment. Forgone earnings are evident but fall short of market wages. For the same budget, unproductive workfare has less impact on poverty than either a basic-income scheme or transfers tied to the government’s assignment of ration cards. The productivity of workfare is thus crucial to its justification as an antipoverty policy.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/26365156

Budget Poverty Quantitative Wages

Abstract

Generally, the fiscal implications of social protection programmes are evaluated, but not so much on the economic impacts these schemes have on macro aggregates such as output, employment, income and revenue. This motivated us to evaluate the economic impact of three major social protection programmes, namely, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, Indira Awaas Yojana, and the National Social Assistance Programme in 2011–12 using a social accounting matrix. It is found that these programmes have significant impacts on output across different sectors of the economy, on income generation and distribution of different household classes in urban and rural areas, on employment across different sectors of the economy, and even on government revenue generation.

https://www.epw.in/journal/2016/24/special-articles/macroeconomic-impa...

Qualitative Quantitative Urban Wages

Abstract

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) was implemented and came into force on February 2, 2006. It was the first act of its kind in the world wherein an economic safety net is provided to around 2/3rd of the population through a right to work. The scale on which it has been provided is just mindboggling, engaging around 1/10th of the total world population. It was second in a series of right based policies Government of India has rolled out in the past decade. This research considers the performance of MGNREGA since its inception and examines its objectives, design and the several modifications in it. The purpose is to examine the consistency and effectiveness of this policy. An assessment of the program till date has been performed using secondary data analysis and the intended and non-intended effects and impacts are discussed. It is clear that the program is no silver lining but have several clouts associated with it.

https://www.scribd.com/document/520494768/MGNREGA-IndoreManagementJour...

Implementation

Abstract

https://www.epw.in/journal/2016/42/letters/mgnrega-workers-not-paid.ht...

Challenges Wages

Abstract

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) was enacted in India with the multiple objectives of providing employment in a rights-based framework, addressing rural poverty, checking migration, and building rural infrastructure. As such, every year around 15–20 per cent of households in India overall and 30 per cent in rural India receive some form of employment share under the MGNREGA programme. This volume looks at various aspect of the scheme, its linkage with employment, agricultural wages, livelihood and food security, gender issues, and migration in rural India. It also discusses challenges in implementation, hurdles and the relative successes of the scheme. Based on primary survey data from 16 major states in the country, the findings of the study provide key insights into MGNREGA and assess the implications for other welfare-oriented programmes. Rich in empirical data, this volume will be useful to scholars and researchers of political economy, economics, agriculture, rural development and sociology, as well as policymakers and nongovernmental organisations.

https://www.routledge.com/MGNREGA-Employment-Wages-and-Migration-in-Ru...

Implementation Politics Poverty Qualitative Wages

Abstract

The government of India provides a minimum of 100 days of employment through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). This act will reduce migration and increase purchasing power parity. Based on the number of work days generated in a household, they can get the returns in terms of wage income. There is no wage discrimination between males and females in this work. The MGNREGA helps the livelihood in rural areas in general and particularly in a drought-prone state like Karnataka. Under this scheme, most of the women, Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) people participated and benefited. Mysuru district was selected for the study. Thirty beneficiary households were selected through interaction with local officers throughout our field visits. Most of the poor, landless labours, marginal and small farmers participated in the MGNREGA scheme. All beneficiaries were having fewer economic assets, and low or marginalized communities participated in the scheme during our study. Among the social groups, SC female average income is higher than the other groups. The overall macro picture says that ST person days are very less as a proportion to their population. The study finds that the majority of the households informed that the participation of females in MGNREGA work is sufficient.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2455328X221146611

Caste Gender

Abstract

Budget 2016-17 recognises that the rural economy is in crisis; however, it fails to address this with sufficient targeted rural spending. A perusal of budget documents reveals exaggerated expenditure claims, achieved through reclassification of budget heads. There has been an enduring neglect of agriculture, which is further exacerbated by this year’s reduced subsidies for fertiliser and food. This will induce further vulnerabilities in the rural economy.

https://www.epw.in/journal/2016/16/budget-2016%E2%80%9317/rural-push-b...

Budget Environmental Sustainability Quantitative Wages

Abstract

This paper uses a large national household panel from 1999/2000 and 2007/08 to analyze the short-term effects of India’s Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme on wages, labor supply, agricultural labor use, and productivity. The scheme prompted a 10-point wage increase and higher labor supply to nonagricultural casual work and agricultural self-employment. Program-induced drops in hired labor demand were more than outweighed by more intensive use of family labor, machinery, fertilizer, and diversification to crops with higher risk-return profiles, especially by small farmers. Although the aggregate productivity effects were modest, total employment generated by the program (but not employment in irrigation-related activities) significantly increased productivity, suggesting alleviation of liquidity constraints and implicit insurance provision rather than quality of works undertaken as a main channel for program-induced productivity effects.

https://elibrary.worldbank.org/doi/abs/10.1596/1813-9450-7665

Quantitative Wages

Abstract

Given the reverses the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) suffered in 2014–15, it seemed likely that the programme may be shut down. However, following vehement protests both within and outside Parliament, the Government of India decided to finally throw its full weight behind the programme. Nevertheless, should not development economists address the critiques against the programme and assess whether it is really worth spending such large sums of money on it every year? This paper responds to the various facets of the critique against MGNREGA. In the very nature of our response to the critique lies a vision for the programme going ahead. Our response can be sustained only on the basis of that vision. The paper provides a detailed explanation of why we reject the fundamental critiques of MGNREGA. At the same time, we accept many of the internal critiques as extremely important. The MGNREGA may be described as “both a major success and a huge failure”. But it would be wrong, therefore, to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Rather, the key is to learn from the successes of MGNREGA through a careful analysis of the conditions that have made these successes possible. The paper ends with an outline of the unfinished agenda for MGNREGA reform, without which its true potential will continue to remain unfulfilled.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41027-016-0044-1

Budget Challenges

Abstract

Behind India’s high recent growth rates lies a story of societal conflict that is scarcely talked about. Across production sites, state institutions and civil society organisations, the dominant and less well-off sections of society are engaged in a protracted conflict that determines the material conditions of one quarter of the world’s ‘poor’. Drawing on more than a decades worth of field work in rural South India, the book uses a ‘class-relational’ approach that focuses on ‘the poor’s’ iniquitous relations with others. It explores continuity and change in three related arenas: the worksites of India’s rural labouring class, social policy and local state institutions, and organisations of ‘the poor’. Although the book shows that the dominant tend to maintain and advance their position, it also argues that a combination of state welfare programmes and organisations of the labouring class have some potential for redistributing power and resources in favour of ‘the poor’, and opening up the possibility of more broad-based change.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1b349ps.12

Poverty

Abstract

Although the MGNREGS seems to be reaching many more rural households than before, urban opinion on the programme is sharply divided, both in the mainstream and social media. Even the Narendra Modi government seems divided on the programme, with the ministry of rural development declaring that the 10th anniversary of the programme was a matter of “national pride” barely a year after Modi had derided the programme as a ditch-digging exercise on the floor of Parliament. Academic opinion on the MGNREGS, however, appears far more favourable than is evident from the public discourse on the issue. A growing body of research on the MGNREGS suggests that it has helped dent poverty, reduced distress migration and raised the bargaining power of rural labourers, especially among lower castes and women, the biggest beneficiaries of the programme.

https://www.livemint.com/Sundayapp/ueWD2KvNelmsOGEupZND6K/The-economic...

Caste Gender Urban

Abstract

A decade after coming into force, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act is suffering from a decline in employment, budget caps, delays in wage payments and rampant violations of workers’ entitlements. An examination of the case of Jharkhand points to reasons for this crisis, including the absence of a strong grievance redressai system, weak financial institutions, acute shortage of functionaries and indiscriminate use of technology. However, some initiatives taken by the state government and civil society in the recent past open up new possibilities for improving the programme.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/44004323

Budget Wages

Abstract

More than 1,00,000 wells were sanctioned for construction under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in Jharkhand during the last few years. This study evaluates the outcome of this well-construction drive through a survey of nearly 1,000 wells in 24 randomly selected gram panchayats. A majority of sanctioned wells (60% with parapet and 70% without) were completed at the time of the survey. Nearly 95% of completed wells are being utilised for irrigation, leading to a near tripling of agricultural income of those in the command area. The real rate of return from these wells in Jharkhand is estimated to be close to 6%, a respectable figure for any economic investment. However, well construction involves some out-of-pocket expenses and this investment is risky: nearly 12% of the wells were abandoned midway.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/44003475

Implementation Qualitative

Abstract

The eleventh five year plan marks a significant departure from the conventional way of looking at women in plan document. It tries to mark the centrality of women in all sectors. It explicitly recognizes, probably for the first time, that women are not just equal citizens but agents of economic and social growth. According to UN Women (2013) The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in India and the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) in South Africa are examples of important safety nets for women. The study tries to evaluate the impact of MGNREGA on socio-economic empowerment of women in Sedam taluka Kalaburagi district, Karnataka.

https://www.worldwidejournals.com/paripex/article/women-empowerment-th...

Gender

Abstract

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) of India is most progressive legislation enacted by parliament. This is the flagship program introduced by United Progressive Alliance Government and implemented by the Ministry of Rural Development with primary objective of providing livelihood security to rural poor of Below Poverty Line (BPL) families by providing them at least 100 days guaranteed unskilled manual work in a year. The Act has become the fact of life of rural poor and with the stipulation that 33 percent of the total work will be given to the women it provides the means to raise the socioeconomic status of the rural women from BPL families. In this paper by conducting a survey of rural areas of district Aligarh (Uttar Pradesh) and by the in-depth interview of women beneficiaries it is tried to find out that up to what extent MGNREGA is helpful for women empowerment by raising their standard of living through the provision of 100 days guaranteed employment. The paper also highlights the factors influencing the participation of women in the scheme and needs for assessment of institutional and governance system related to the implementation of the scheme particularly the ways through which employment opportunities are offered to women.

https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/%E2%80%9CMahatma-Gandhi-National...

Gender Implementation Politics Poverty

Abstract

https://www.academia.edu/26556118/ALLS_WELL_THAT_ENDS_IN_A_WELL_AN_ECO...

Environmental Sustainability

Abstract

In an efort to tackle drought and increase access to irrigation in rural areas, the Government of Jharkhand decided to focus resources accruing from the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) for the construction of irrigation wells on private lands. In 2010, it ordered the construction of 50 irrigation wells in each Panchayat under NREGA. By November 2013, nearly 1,15,000 wells were sanctioned for construction. According to gov- ernment data, 80 per cent of these wells have so far been completed and work is ongoing on another 15 per cent.

This study atempts to verify the truth in these claims. Physical visits to 926 NREGA wells across six randomly selected districts in Jharkhand re- vealed that nearly 60 per cent of the sanctioned NREGA wells were actually complete. The completion rate rose to 70 per cent if the wells complete till the ground level (that is, without a parapet) were included. This is similar to the rate of completion obtained by using data from the NREGA MIS, ac- cording to which nearly 66 per cent of the sanctioned wells in the sample panchayats were complete. Thus, the completion rates obtained through the NREGA MIS can be said to be fairly accurate.

This study also atempts to compare the actual status of the wells with the ‘oicial’ status of the wells as mentioned on the oicial NREGA web- site (www.nrega.nic.in). Nearly 75 per cent of the ‘oicially’ complete wells were found to be actually complete, with the igure rising to 83 per cent if the wells complete till the ground level (without parapet) were consid- ered to be complete. Therefore, most wells mentioned as ‘completed’ on the NREGA MIS were actually found to be completed. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of wells categorised as ‘ongoing’ or as ‘suspended’. We found that only around one-third of the wells categorised as ‘ongoing’ can actually be said to be ‘ongoing’.

https://www.academia.edu/26556118/ALLS_WELL_THAT_ENDS_IN_A_WELL_AN_ECO...

Quantitative

Abstract

In India, a lack of accountability is considered the key reason for the failure of most development programs. Most poverty alleviation programs are riddled with inefficiency, absenteeism, incompetence, and corruption. This has resulted in poor service delivery, and to ordinary citizens losing trust. This paper examines whether Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is accountable to ordinary citizens, and civil society’s role in making the Act viable. This study draws upon empirical evidence from two states of India – Andhra Pradesh (AP) and Uttar Pradesh (UP). The findings suggest that this Act has been implemented relatively well in AP, despite the state’s dismal performance in the implementation of most welfare programs. The political class in AP has taken a keen interest in the Act, rather than in using it to amass wealth for their political activities. Social audits have been institutionalized with the help of civil society organisations, providing a platform to the beneficiaries to voice their concerns and negotiate their entitlements with the state machinery. But implementation has lagged in a politically vibrant state like UP where local leadership, is accountable neither to citizens nor to elected representatives, misappropriating resources from developmental funds and nurturing factional politics. This has resulted in poor participation in rural institutions and loss in faith on the part of citizens.

https://www.econstor.eu/handle/10419/108736

Implementation Politics

Abstract

The literature on India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) has tended to focus on institutional and technical issues more than on the social relations of production. This paper argues for a class-relational approach to NREGS and, by extension, to social policy more generally. By locating NREGS in a broader context of antagonistic class relations, it becomes clearer why, where, when and how it either contributes to pro-labouring-class change or to reproducing the position of the dominant class. This is particularly important in the South Indian state of Karnataka, where (i) national sample survey data indicates that NREGS has performed relatively badly and (ii) the recent rate of decline of poverty has been amongst the slowest in the country. Based on longitudinal fieldwork in villages in two North Karnataka districts, this paper’s class-relational approach explains significant differences in NREGS outcomes across time and place – primarily with regard to intra- and inter-class relations, which are interlinked with caste and gender relations. In one fieldwork district, high levels of implementation have declined due to increased (but uneven) dominant class control over the scheme. In the other, initial subversion of the scheme has been partially challenged by collective labouring-class action.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/joac.12127

Caste Gender Implementation Poverty

Abstract

In this paper, I direct attention to the role of class politics in shaping the outcomes of social protection interventions. I highlight the ways in which class politics is constituted by the interaction of class relations and the balance of substantive class power in a polity. I demonstrate the ways in which variations in class politics influence outcomes of a large social protection programme in India, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). In localities where either of the elite classes has successfully co-opted or eliminated the other, their stark contradictions against the interests of agricultural labourers result in them sabotaging the labour-friendly MGNREGA or implementing it half-heartedly. On the other hand, in localities characterised by an overarching framework of contest between the precarious classes and the entrenched classes, dominant class hostility to agricultural labourers is dissipated and labour-friendly programmes such as the MGNREGA have a chance of being implemented. However, the transformative aspect of the programme’s intent, in terms of dissolving the relations of power that bolster poverty, appears to be more in evidence in localities where emergent classes with precarious surpluses, together with agricultural labourers, challenge the influence of the entrenched classes. In these localities, the implementation of the programme, even where fraught with difficulties, contributes to dissolving hierarchical relations and establishing egalitarian ones.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2597964

Caste Implementation Politics

Abstract

In this paper, I direct attention to the role of class politics in shaping the outcomes of social protection interventions. I highlight the ways in which class politics is constituted by the interaction of class relations and the balance of substantive class power in a polity. I demonstrate the ways in which variations in class politics influence outcomes of a large social protection programme in India, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). In localities where either of the elite classes has successfully co-opted or eliminated the other, their stark contradictions against the interests of agricultural labourers result in them sabotaging the labour-friendly MGNREGA or implementing it half-heartedly. On the other hand, in localities characterised by an overarching framework of contest between the precarious classes and the entrenched classes, dominant class hostility to agricultural labourers is dissipated and labour-friendly programmes such as the MGNREGA have a chance of being implemented. However, the transformative aspect of the programme’s intent, in terms of dissolving the relations of power that bolster poverty, appears to be more in evidence in localities where emergent classes with precarious surpluses, together with agricultural labourers, challenge the influence of the entrenched classes. In these localities, the implementation of the programme, even where fraught with difficulties, contributes to dissolving hierarchical relations and establishing egalitarian ones.

https://ideas.repec.org/p/bwp/bwppap/esid-046-15.html

Implementation Qualitative

Abstract

The present paper is an attempt to analyze the status of women empowerment in Chhattisgarh through MGNREGA using various indicators like women’s household decision making power, financial autonomy, freedom of movement, political participation, exposure to media, access to education, experience of domestic violence etc based on data from different sources. The study reveals that women of India are relatively disempowered and they enjoy somewhat lower status than that of men in spite of many efforts undertaken by government. MGNREGA by adopting Inclusive participatory growth is playing a major role brining the women of the society into the productive zone. Rural women are more prone to domestic violence than that of urban women. A large gender gap exists in political participation too. The study concludes by an observation that MGNREGS has lead to women empowerment through active participation of women in MGNREGS works.

https://www.worldwidejournals.com/indian-journal-of-applied-research-(...

Gender Politics

Abstract

A method of measuring corruption in MGNREGS is to compare the aggregate levels of employment reported in official data (MPR or MIS) with independent measures based on household surveys (Bhalla 2011, Himanshu 2010, Imbert and Papp 2011). We follow this method here and compare MGNREGS employment in official reports to the estimated number of days spent by rural adults on any public works estimated based on NSS Survey data. The results, presented in Table 1, reveal that in 2007-08 only 51% of reported MGNREGS employment is independently confirmed by the survey data. This is despite the fact that our survey measure includes employment on any public works project. The gap between official and survey measures suggests large leakages of MGNREGS funds. Interestingly, this gap appears to narrow over time to 71% in 2009-10 and 80% in 2011-12. This is consistent with survey reports which indicate that corruption in MGNREGS decreased, due to improved monitoring and successive reforms in the payment of MGNREGS wages (Dreze 2014, Muralidharan, Niehaus and Sukhtankar 2014, Banerjee, et al. 2014).

https://riceinstitute.org/research/estimating-leakages-in-indias-emplo...

Corruption Quantitative Wages

Abstract

A method of measuring corruption in MGNREGS is to compare the aggregate levels of employment reported in official data (MPR or MIS) with independent measures based on household surveys (Bhalla 2011, Himanshu 2010, Imbert and Papp 2011). We follow this method here and compare MGNREGS employment in official reports to the estimated number of days spent by rural adults on any public works estimated based on NSS Survey data. The results, presented in Table 1, reveal that in 2007-08 only 51% of reported MGNREGS employment is independently confirmed by the survey data. This is despite the fact that our survey measure includes employment on any public works project. The gap between official and survey measures suggests large leakages of MGNREGS funds. Interestingly, this gap appears to narrow over time to 71% in 2009-10 and 80% in 2011-12. This is consistent with survey reports which indicate that corruption in MGNREGS decreased, due to improved monitoring and successive reforms in the payment of MGNREGS wages (Dreze 2014, Muralidharan, Niehaus and Sukhtankar 2014, Banerjee, et al. 2014).

https://www.jobguarantee.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Imbert-and-Pap...

Implementation Quantitative

Abstract

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (NREGA) renamed as Mahatma Gandhi NationalRural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is the most pragmatic approach to the problems of rural poverty and unemployment. In fact, the Scheme ensures the economic security of the rural poor by providing guaranteed wage employment. MGNREGA has positive impact on employment pattern of women. MGNREGA works are largely focused on land and water resources which include: water harvesting and conservation, soil conservation and protection, irrigation provisioning and improvement, renovation of traditional water bodies, land development and drought proofing. The study is an attempt to assessment the impact on implementation and effectiveness of the Act in district Pauri Garhwal, Uttarakhand, during the financial year 2013-14.

http://ijmcr.com/impact-assessment-of-mgnrega-study-of-pauri-garhwal-d...

Environmental Sustainability Gender Implementation Poverty Wages

Abstract

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) of India is most progressive legislation enacted by parliament. This is the flagship program introduced by UPA government and implemented by the Ministry of Rural Development with primary objective of providing livelihood security to rural poor of BPL families by providing them at least 100 days guaranteed unskilled manual work in a year. The Act has become the fact of life of rural poor and with the stipulation that 33% of the total work will be given to the women it provides the means to raise the socioeconomic status of the rural women from BPL families. In this paper by conducting a survey of rural areas of district Aligarh (Uttar Pradesh) and by the in-depth interview of women beneficiaries it is tried to find out that up to what extent MGNREGA is helpful for women in raising their standard of living through the provision of 100 days guaranteed employment. The paper also highlights the factors influencing the participation of women in this scheme and assess the institutional and governance system related to the implementation of the scheme particularly the ways through which employment opportunities are offered to women. The results suggest that MGNREGA has positive impact on the quality of life of women in rural areas but there is also a need for immediate rectifications of some of the flaws observed during the survey to make MGNREGA more effective.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342878974_Impact_of_Mahatma_G...

Gender Implementation Poverty

Abstract

MGNREGA, introduced by the Government of India in 2005, is a revolutionary programme enacted by law which guarantees hundred days of employment in a year to each rural household who are willing to provide unskilled labour. The secondary objective of the programme is creating sustainable assets in rural India which in turn strengthen natural resource management and help address the issues of chronic poverty in the long run. The programme has created ample opportunity for wage employment among rural masses and set a number of examples in building quality, durable and sustainable asset base in rural India though there are many criticisms. A number of studies have been conducted to review the performance of the programme across periphery from different perspectives. This paper is an attempt to study the performance of the programme in terms of wage employment generation and asset creation. Secondary data available from the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India and other study reports have been used for the review. This paper has critically analyzed the progress of the programme nine years after introduction. Analysis of data reflects that the programme has created huge employment opportunities in rural India but has not been showing progressive trends from last couple of years. It has not been successful to include socially excluded families especially Scheduled Tribes significantly though participation of women is showing satisfactory trend. In terms of asset creation, where the plan has been prepared in a participatory manner, actual need of people has been captured and technical designs are taken into consideration, qualities of assets created proved to be durable and sustainable. The paper concludes with some suggestions for improvement for the both aspects.

https://www.indianjournals.com/ijor.aspx?target=ijor:ijmss&volume=3&is...

Wages

Abstract

As majority of women live below the poverty line and are engaged in subsistence struggle, macro-economic policies and poverty alleviation programmes are to address the pitiful problems of poor women. Steps are being taken for mobilization of poor women, convergence of wide range of economic and social options along with support services to enhance their capabilities. Women’s perspective is being included in designing and implementing macro-economic and social policies by institutionalizing their participation in the process. One such programme focusing on unskilled based wage-employment is Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) [1]. The Ministry of Rural Development, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (Mahatma Gandhi NREGA) aims at enhancing livelihood security of households in rural areas of the country by providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. The Mahatma Gandhi NREGA has become a powerful instrument for inclusive growth in rural India through its impact on social protection, livelihood security and democratic governance. Mahatma Gandhi NREGA is the first ever law internationally that guarantees wage employment at an unprecedented scale.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/285384496_Inclusion_of_Female...

Gender Implementation Poverty Wages

Abstract

National Rural Employment Grantee Act (NREGA) is one of the progressive and transformative legislation passed by Indian Parliament in the year of 2005 by UPA government for ensuring employment guarantee and livelihood security to each rural household. In year 2007 it is renamed as Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). The fundamental goal of this right based policy initiative is to provide employment guarantee and promote infrastructural development in the villages for the well-being rural household, it has also been considered as an integrated approach for rural poverty eradication and sustainable development. Since, nine years MGNREGA is being implemented in all 623 districts of the country, but it has not shown the result which had been expected and even put forward in MGNREGA objectives. Most of the evaluation studies shown that the scheme is not working properly at ground level because of its poor implementation. There are many issues and challenges are coming up in its implementation. It is observed that very few states like Andhra Pardesh, Rajasthan, etc. where programme is being implemented in successive mode. Maharashtra state is mile stone in MGREGA, the origin Of EGS scheme is a backbone of this act. In 1974, the Maharashtra state government had started Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS) and it was put into operation for entire year. At present the previous employment guarantee scheme has merged into MGNREGA guideline issued by the central government. Though the state has reach experience of EGS implementation, but the present merged MGNREGA programme is not working properly at ground level. There are many issues are coming up in its implementation process which are caused by different factors such as demand of work, identification of work site and planning, complicated administrative structure with less competent staff, delay in payment, lack of human resources. The author has made an attempt to analyze these factors based on case study of two villages, named Kashod Shivpur and Bhilkhed in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra. FGD and interview schedule was used for data collection. This paper also trying to highlights if the act has implemented with spirit and commitment how it can help to regenerate the village resources to achieve the prime goals of sustainable development.

http://www.publishingindia.com/ijsd/88/issues-and-challenges-in-implem...

Challenges Implementation Poverty

Abstract

India has initiated massive economic development and safety net pro- grammes over the past two decades. It has, for example, moved from universal food subsidies to targeted food subsi- dies and back again to a near-universal programme. Some programmes have been able to target beneficiaries more easily, for example conditional cash transfers for hospital delivery. And oth- ers have been ambitious in their design, scale and reach, as for example the rural safety net provided by the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), a nation- wide rural public works programme that costs India about 1 percent of GDP and works on the principle of self-selection (workers have access to 100 days of public employment a year when they choose).

when such programmes are initi- ated, there is often tremendous politi- cal pressure for a quick rollout, and only over time is the need for evaluations felt. But by then evaluations can be dif- ficult since for comparison purposes the data collection for evaluation should ideally start before the programme starts. In such situations, household surveys can tell us how beneficiaries have responded and whether the pro- gramme has had its intended effect.

Household surveys by the National Council of Applied Economic Re- search have been filling this need since NCAER’s inception in 1956. The India Human Development Survey (IHDS), the basis for this report on MGNREGA, is particularly useful because it is a panel survey, periodically interviewing the same households. Conducted in 2004– 05 and 2011–12 (with earlier partial data available for 1993–94), the IHDS is a col- laboration between the National Coun- cil of Applied Economic Research and the University of Maryland. The data are released to the scientific community through the Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Science Research (www.icpsr.umich.edu).

https://www.ncaer.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Complete-report.pdf

Quantitative

Abstract

https://3ieimpact.org/sites/default/files/2019-02/mgnrega_wage_payment...

Wages

Abstract

This study reports on a survey of 4,881 users of more than 4,100 works created under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in Maharashtra. It provides evidence that MGNREGA works support agriculture, and benefit a large number of small and marginal farmers. An overwhelming 90% of the respondents considered the works very useful or somewhat useful, while only 8% felt they were useless. Further, most works continue to be maintained and are in a good condition. Overall, this study suggests that the widespread perception that the MGNREGA does not create anything productive appears to be misplaced, although there is scope for improving the choice of works, their design, and their execution.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/24481747

Quantitative

Abstract

India is mainly an agricultural country in which the strength of rural unskilled labour is very high and majority of the rural poor depends mainly on the wages they earn through unskilled, casual, and manual labour. The main significance of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is to improve the livelihood conditions of the rural poor by providing 100 days of employment to any rural household whose adult members are willing to do unskilled manual work. The Act provides an opportunity to work in the lean season, which helps rural poor to maintain the consumption level and strengthen the livelihood resource base during this critical time period. Only the growth of economy cannot create social justice and balanced development unless, it is attached with poverty alleviation and employment generating opportunities for deprived and marginalised section of the society. Thus, a study on MGNREGA as a hope to reduce rural poverty has been taken in the village Shanoo of district kupwara of state Jammu and Kashmir.

https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/MGNREGA%3A-A-New-Hope-to-Reduce-...

Poverty Wages

Abstract

Statements made by the Union Ministers and other officials concerned regarding the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Generation Scheme (MGNREGS) in the recent past have aroused doubts about the future of the Scheme among different sections of people. A group of economists has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, expressing their deep concern about the future of MGNREGS. The PM in the recent Budget Session stated that he would not commit the political mistake of discontinuing the Scheme but would continue it to highlight the failure of the past Government. This raises doubt whether new government will implement the Scheme in both letter and spirit.

https://www.thehansindia.com/posts/index/News-Analysis/2015-03-06/MGNR...

Budget Challenges

Abstract

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme–despite its failings and dismissals by prominent economists as a “dole”–is in consonance with the idea of sustainable development whose important cardinal components are economic, social and environmental sustainability.

https://www.epw.in/journal/2015/23/notes/national-rural-employment-gua...

Environmental Sustainability

Abstract

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme—despite its failings and dismissals by prominent economists as a “dole”—is in consonance with the idea of sustainable development whose important cardinal components are economic, social and environmental sustainability.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/24482292

Environmental Sustainability

Abstract

The performance of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in Rajasthan was debated for its stupendous performance in the initial years of the scheme, but also for the relative sharp decline after 2010. Based on a large representative primary survey, this paper argues that the decline in performance of this scheme in Rajasthan is not entirely due to the lack of demand. Instead, the supply-driven top-down nature of the programme has led to a “discouraged worker” syndrome with workers showing disinterest in demanding work and passively waiting for availability of NREGS work. Strengthening the demand-based nature of the NREGS may reduce the need for rationing. Simple temporal tracking of NREGS outcomes at the village level along with proper recording of demand through the Management Information System may well help detect discrimination within panchayats.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/24481364

Implementation

Abstract

Even if we concede that the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme is designed as a demand-driven programme, and that local residents desire to have work projects in their area, whether it translates into effective demand, and whether the work projects actually get initiated depends very much on the dominant voices in local power structures. As this study shows in the case of Maharashtra, however progressive the design of modern democratic institutions, traditional caste hierarchies will try to sabotage their working by using their standing clientelist structures, with class and caste coming together to make this possible.

https://www.epw.in/journal/2015/26-27/review-rural-affairs-review-issu...

Caste Challenges

Abstract

This dissertation grapples with the questions: Does transparency lead to accountability? Is it possible to “democratize” surveillance, turning surveillance into an instrument of democratic control over state bureaucracy? Can a state bureaucracy combine visions of surveillance within the state and “openness” to citizens to help police itself? To address these questions, I studied an “open governance” project located in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and involving the countrywide National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). I raise the questions about transparency and accountability at two different levels: first at the level of the bureaucracy, and second at the level of the citizens themselves. Looking at the two inevitably raises further questions of the power relations both within the bureaucracy and between the state apparatus and the citizens it is intended to serve. Looking within the bureaucracy, I show that local bureaucrats and politicians have discovered ways to subvert these formal efforts of control through informal norms. Looking at relations between the state apparatus and the citizens, I examine the recruitment of citizens in two different social contexts, a class/caste-divided village and a tribal community. Between the bureaucracy and the citizenry, I argue that the state has attempted to construct a state-civil society “sandwich” to squeeze the lower-level bureaucrats both from the top, using information technology, and from the bottom, getting testimonies from workers by opening government records. Here, I find that expectations of participation from below in response to transparency from above are not met because workers fail to participate as expected. A central part of what follows explores and delineates the multiple, complex reasons for this failure of the “public sphere.” Overall, these findings illustrate how hard it is to actually eliminate last-mile corruption, even with sophisticated technological and social strategies. (Nonetheless, I also find and lay out numerous potential benefits to this program.) In conclusion, I argue that instead of the prevalent metaphor of “sunlight,” open governance is better thought of as a “flashlight” and that people embrace openness and reject surveillance depending on whether they are the subject or the object of the “flashlight.” This shift in metaphor helps to raise more directly the inevitable issues of power.

https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3805n440

Caste Challenges Corruption Implementation