NREGA per se: Rationale and Structure
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA/NREGA) recognizes the legitimate role of Panchayats in addressing their fundamental duty as expressed in the 73th Constitutional Amendment of providing economic development and social justice in their area. NREGA, 2005 guarantees 100 days of employment in a financial year to any rural household whose adult members are willing to do unskilled manual work. The Act has come into force in 200 districts of India from 2nd February, 2006. It is expected to enhance people’s livelihoods on a sustainable basis, by developing the economic and social infrastructure in rural areas. The rationale behind the NREG scheme is to increase the marginal productivity of the disguisedly unemployed sections of the society.
Anam Shaikh Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies
ECONOMICS
NREGA and Unemployment
as a triple bonus for them: apart from providing local employment, it enables them to tend to their own fields, spend more time with their families and reduces the problems of excessive population pressures on Indian cities. According to a survey conducted in Pati block, (Madhya Pradesh- a hub of out-migration) where the NREGA has been deployed in a big way, 92% of the sample workers felt that migration had gone down. NREGA offers a unique employment opportunity for rural women, wherein they earn the same as men. According to the NREGA survey of 2008, 79% of women workers collect their own wages and 68% keep them. Widows and single women were especially appreciative of this opportunity to earn close to their homes. National Reports (2010-2011)
Un
employment is the one of the most important neglected and burning problems of our country. In the last six decades, a number of Employment and Development Schemes have been introduced with minimal impact. A longstanding struggle of social activists demanding right to life resulted in the first round of success through the enactment of National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREG) Act. The programme was seen as a significant opportunity by the Government as well as civil society organizations as a way to transform rural economy. The article aims to understand the rationale behind NREGA and its basic structure. It first provides a summary of progress in certain areas and then highlights specific weaknesses. Most importantly it looks at the road ahead for NREGA as a means to revive the economy as it can potentially be a self targeting, self adjusting, and self liquidating project.
http://www.nrega.nic.in/netnrega/home.aspx In addition to the above, a mutually reinforcing relationship between investments and income is catalysed by NREGA. Farmers have started coming back to the land that they had long abandoned and investing in it their surplus earnings made during the lean season. Effectively a wage employment programme can thus be transformed into a source of sustainable livelihoods generating self-employment. NREGA: A lifeline for the rural poor Proportion (%) of sample workers who stated that: NREGA is very important for them NREGA has helped to avoid hunger NREGA has helped to avoid migration NREGA has helped their family to cope with illness NREGA has helped them to avoid demeaning or hazardous occupations Source: NREGA survey 2008 71 69 57 47 35
India’s Unemployment Status
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