Abstract
This paper explores the performance of the world’s largest employment guarantee program, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in India, both nationally and through a sub-national-level comparison based on key performance indicators viz. (i) financial indicators, (ii) physical performance indicators, and (iii) inclusiveness indicators. The paper is based on administrative data taken from the Ministry of Rural Development from 2006 to 2019. Despite sharp increases in fund allocation, total expenditures, and utilization rates, there was deceleration in majority of physical performance indicators after 2016, including total person-days employment and person-days of employment per household, with wide variation in sub-national level implementation capabilities. The finding also rejects the falsity of saturation of MGNREGA work in the rural areas, which is reflected in a strong positive correlation between fund allocation and employment generation. Its broader objective of social safety net for vulnerable people in rural areas shows an achievement, although with some gaps in implementation. JEL classification: H53, J43, P25
Highlights
According to the United Nation’s Millenium Development Goal (MDG) program, 270 million, or 21.9% of people out of 1.2 billion Indians, lived below the poverty line of $1.25 in 2011–2012 (United Nations, 2015)
Given the complexities involved in the implementation of a rights-based program of the scale of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and the differential implementation capabilities and success achieved by different sub-national (India was divided into 28 states) levels over time (Chopra, 2019; Das & Maiorano, 2019; Fischer & Ali, 2019; Narayanan et al, 2017; Varman & Kumar, 2020), this study explores the question of how the program has been performed since the time of its inception till date
In terms of money wage paid to MGNREGA workers, which works as an output indicator, the person day wage showed an increasing trend over the years, while the trend in real wage remained almost stagnant (Figure 2)
Summary
According to the United Nation’s Millenium Development Goal (MDG) program, 270 million, or 21.9% of people out of 1.2 billion Indians, lived below the poverty line of $1.25 in 2011–2012 (United Nations, 2015). (as % of total expenditure) Average wage paid per person-day (₹) (ii) Physical indicators Total job cards issued (in Crore) Households provided employment
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