MGNREGA Bibliography

Abstract

This article assesses the impact on poverty and the likely cost of an employment guarantee scheme providing 100 days of work to the rural people during the lean season. At the current statutory wage rate, the scheme may help reduce rural poverty to 23 per cent (30 per cent year round), at a cost of 1.7 per cent of GDP. But, given the extra cost of the scheme, a greater impact on poverty would be achieved by taking the same fiscal outlay and allocating it equally to everyone, whether poor or not.

https://www.epw.in/journal/2005/31/special-articles/employment-guarant...

Poverty

Abstract

It is a misfortune for both the theory and practice of economic policy in India that we have not yet worked out a coherent scheme about how to take advantage of an expanding domestic market involving the poor and the marginalised in this era of globalisation. The expansion in purchasing power can come from public works financed initially, if necessary, through deficits of central and state budgets. The panchayats must have the full financial authority to design and implement these projects. Transparency and the right to information at all levels would be the mechanism through which our political democracy is brought closer to our as yet grossly distorted economic democracy.

https://www.epw.in/journal/2005/04/commentary/first-priority-guarantee...

Budget Implementation

Abstract

If properly planned and implemented, the rural employment guarantee programme will create favourable conditions for much-needed rural regeneration. But it is also important that the scheme be considered as part of a larger package linked to the objective of improving human development.

https://www.epw.in/journal/2005/42/commentary/linking-guarantee-human-...

Implementation Wages

Abstract

It is imperative that an employment guarantee scheme should be universally operational within a specified time-horizon; it should be fully funded by the centre; it should avoid tokenism (such as very low wages in the name of enlarging the number of beneficiaries) or targeting; and it should not occasion conflicts with other workers, employees or peasants.

https://www.epw.in/journal/2005/03/perspectives/need-providing-employm...

Wages

Abstract

There are essentially two lessons to be learnt from Maharashtra’s Employment Guarantee Scheme. One, the programme was initially very successful because it enjoyed a commitment widely shared across the political spectrum. Second, it needs strong departmental inputs in terms of planning, budgeting and technical supervision, should involve local governments and be responsive to the needs of the poorest. It may be difficult to replicate the same political commitment in the India of 2005. Yet, the case for an employment guarantee remains strong because it is unacceptable that despite the country approaching middle-income status there are 250-300 million people desperate for work and better livelihood.

https://www.epw.in/journal/2005/42/special-articles/political-and-admi...

Challenges Implementation Politics

Abstract

A quantitative assessment of the impact of various rural wage employment schemes during the last two five-year plans and the current one shows that the results in terms of employment generated have been steadily decreasing. Restructuring and consolidation have not helped, and even the central legislation to integrate all programmes into the proposed National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme may achieve nothing more.

https://www.epw.in/journal/2005/18/commentary/rural-employment-schemes...

Quantitative Wages

Abstract

The 2004 Employment Guarantee Bill needs to be modified if its objective is to be realised. The critics and supporters of the programme should be able to reach a compromise on the identification of beneficiaries, coverage and wage rates. However, if the bill in its present form is passed by parliament, this cure could be worse than the disease.

https://www.epw.in/journal/2005/07/commentary/saving-employment-guaran...

Politics Wages

Abstract

The job numbers in the United States and around the globe continue to look bleak. Not only are the absolute numbers dismal, but also job growth has dragged on with no hope for a substantial change in prospects. This situation supports the view that we are facing a long-term problem that requires critical and creative problem-solving responses. Since unemployment is the major cause of poverty, many of our most pressing social problems are directly or indirectly related to joblessness. Forstater argues that not only the quantity but also the quality of jobs is at issue.

https://www.levyinstitute.org/publications/the-case-for-an-environment...

Environmental Sustainability Poverty

Abstract

https://www.epw.in/journal/2005/21/letters/why-employment-guarantee.ht...

Caste Challenges

Abstract

This document discusses the legal and constitutional challenges posed by India’s proposed National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2004. It examines how the Act defines a right to employment that is more proactive than protections in the Indian Constitution. It also analyzes how the Act’s definition of a household may not align with the reality of household sizes in rural India. Specifically, it questions whether the minimum wages provided would actually be enough to support the basic needs of larger households, as they are based on a concept of a “typical” small family. However, the Act helpfully does not place a limit on household size. Overall, the document raises issues around how the Act’s provisions may interact with legal precedents and standards regarding employment, wages.

https://www.scribd.com/document/50485764/Kamala-Sankaran-on-EGA-2004

Challenges Gender Wages

Abstract

A report of a round-table discussion held in Mumbai in November on the proposed employment guarantee programme. The Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR) organised a one-day round table on Employment Guarantee for Rural India on November 6, 2004 against the background of the proposed enactment of an Employment Guarantee Act by the government of India. The purpose was to discuss in an interactive manner various issues relating to the employment guarantee programme. There was an overall agreement in the round table on the need for such a programme and on its feasibility in the current Indian context. This note is based on the deliberations at the round table but goes a bit beyond the discussions.

https://www.epw.in/journal/2004/51/commentary/employment-guarantee-rur...

Implementation

Abstract

There is no doubt that employment generation has emerged as not only the most important socio-economic issue in the country today, but also the most pressing political concern. The mandate of the recent elections is clear on this: the people of the country have decisively rejected policies that have implied reduced employment opportunities and reduced access to and quality of public goods and services.

https://doi.org/10.2307/3518258

Implementation

Abstract

A rural employment guarantee programme will yield immense benefits. Labour-intensity can be high in watershed development, land regeneration, and prevention of soil erosion. A jobs programme that focuses on such work would not only protect the environment, it would enhance land productivity and promote rural employment in the future. Such a plan would also have positive second-round effects on household incomes, by raising agricultural wages and investment in human capital. Besides, improving watershed development could reduce damage to life and property caused by frequent flooding. To argue against the employment guarantee is therefore being penny wise and pound foolish.

https://www.epw.in/journal/2004/51/commentary/job-law-can-sharply-cut-...

Environmental Sustainability Poverty

Abstract

The proposed employment guarantee programme will generate work for the poorest; it is also an opportunity to revive public investment in agriculture, tackle the prevailing environmental crisis that is gripping rural India and galvanise the panchayat raj institutions. The proposed legislation should not put in place a weak and diluted jobs programme.

https://www.epw.in/journal/2004/50/commentary/national-rrural-employme...

Environmental Sustainability Politics Poverty

Abstract

The employment guarantee plan announced in the common minimum programme has been designed to protect the interests of the poor by detailing the rules of the guarantee and imposing penalties for non-complianace. It has also drawn heavily on the Maharashtra Employment Guarantee Act, which has been in operation for 30 years. However, two major drawbacks of the proposed programme are its unrealistic underlying assumptions and short-term vision. The provisions of the employment guarantee programme should be strengthened to achieve the objectives of poverty reduction, construction of productive assets and promoting mainstream employment.

https://www.epw.in/journal/2004/48/special-articles/providing-employme...

Challenges Qualitative

Abstract

The Maharashtra Employment Guarantee Scheme stands out among rural public works programmes in developing countries for its size, longevity, the generosity of its funding arrangements, and the political sophistication of its design. Its mission is highly ambitious: to supply employment flexibly and rapidly by opening and closing public works in response to local, unpredictable weather variations in a poor agrarian economy. We explore the political factors that account for changes in its performance over more than 30 years, and identify the political lessons for the design of similar programmes elsewhere.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00220380600930598

Abstract

The 2003-04 Budget fails to address the major problems of agriculture, employment generation and the social sector.

https://www.epw.in/journal/2003/14/budget-specials/agriculture-employm...

Budget

Abstract

https://www.epw.in/journal/2002/51/current-statistics/employment.html

Quantitative

Abstract

Abstract

In a country as large, poor and populous as India a scheme like Maharashtra’s Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS) is of great interest. After examining the administrative and finance mechanisms of the working of the ECS in Maharashtra, the paper argues that the EGS is a response to the conditions obtaining in the Maharashtra countryside, themselves a result of the state’s history. The broad socio-economic aspects of the EGS are then examined and the shift of emphasis from village to watershed level is seen as a step in the right direction. With the co-operation of other rural development agencies and in a proper developmental framework a national ECS is seen as feasible.

https://www.epw.in/journal/1977/29/special-articles-special-articles/m...

Qualitative

Abstract

In spite of the limitations in its design and implementation the EGS has made positive impact on the levels of living of the rural poor in Maharashtra. However, the EGS alone cannot remove the poverty in rural areas of the state. And any replication of the scheme in other states should involve prior establishment of decentralised district planning and implementing body, and assurance of adequate funds through additional taxation.

https://www.epw.in/journal/1995/41-42/special-articles/alleviating-pov...

Challenges Implementation Poverty

Abstract

If the Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS) genuinely meets the unmet needs of employment some concentration of EGS employment may be expected to occur, because it is unlikely that the unmet needs of employment are evenly distributed. This article looks at the geographical distribution of EGS employment in Maharashtra in order to examine to what extent the scheme has been responsive to the unmet employment needs reflected in the agro-ecological and other economic conditions effecting their employment opportunities relative to the growth of their labour force.

https://www.epw.in/journal/1990/26/review-agriculture-uncategorised/ma...

Implementation Quantitative

Abstract

While the new central government has done well to reiterate its commitment to the right to work, a deeper understanding is required of the immense constitutional implications of, and the economic underpinnings required for, securing this right.

https://www.epw.in/journal/1990/2/roots-specials/securing-right-work-s...

Politics Wages

Abstract

The Employment Quarantee Scheme in Maharashtra, which came into existence in 1972-73, b similar to the Rural Works Programme, the subsequent Pilot Intensive Rural Employment Programme and the Crash Scheme for Rural Employment. The EGS is however, the only programme that has been implemented intensively on a state-wide basis for such a long duration. Besides, it is unique as it recognises the right of the rural unemployed to get unskilled manual work on demand. It thus has a number of important lessons for employment generation and anti-poverty programmes as well as rural development in general. This paper examines the provisions of the Scheme and discusses some of the important issues involved in its planning and implementation which have a bearing on the realisation of its objectives.

https://www.epw.in/journal/1984/37/special-articles/employment-guarant...

Implementation Poverty

Abstract

The Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS) generated an employment for 3.9 lakh person years in rural Maharashtra. Thus it provided employment to 10 per cent of the 41 lakhs of workers among the weaker sections of Maharashtra. The 32nd round of National Sample Survey (NSS) too indicates that EGS offered an employment of more than 3 lakhs person years. Thus the two independent estimates more or less agree. On an average, the EGS worker worked for 160 days a year for about Rs 3 a day. Wheat distribution on EGS, through the Food For Work (FFW) programme raised the wages to Rs 4 a day. In spite of EGS, however, 90 per cent of the households of EGS workers lived below the poverty line, To raise them above the poverty line, EGS workers would have to be provided work for 300 days, rather than the present 160 days or so, on a wage rate of Rs 4 a day. A husband and wife totally depending on such wages could earn Rs 2,400 a year maintaining only 1.3 dependents above the poverty line, since Rs 720 a year per capita were needed for the very minimum food needs. A wage rate of Rs 6 for 300 days done could help the couple to bear the present load of family of five, above poverty line. The Food for Work programme in 1978-79 helped to get an increase of 33 per cent and more in the EGS earnings of the workers and was considered the greatest attraction of EGS.

https://www.epw.in/journal/1980/15/special-articles/employment-guarant...

Poverty Quantitative Wages

Abstract

https://www.epw.in/journal/1980/47/special-articles/employment-guarant...

Quantitative

Abstract

https://www.epw.in/journal/1980/32/our-correspondent-columns/maharasht...

Environmental Sustainability Wages

Abstract

The NREGA promises the largest ever employment program in human history. This film takes you on a fascinating jounrey through space and time. It traces the historical roots of NREGA to the Great Depression of the 1920s. It brings to you myriad voices of the peopel of India’s remote rural hinterlands who speak of the distress that led to the enactment of NREGA, the problems facing the implementation of the program and their efforts to make it a success on the ground. Implemented well, the NREGA can regenerate the environment and create millions of sustainable livelihoods, thereby kick-starting a stagnant rural economy. The Film provides powerful visual evidence of the enormous potential of NREGA and outlines the reforms required to help realize this potential.

https://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/7585/NREGA-Reforms---Building-Ru...

Environmental Sustainability Implementation