Jawahar Rozgar Yojana, Panchayats, and the Rural Poor in India

Abstract

Rural public works are a major component of India's poverty alleviation strategy. The Jawahar Rozgar Yojana (JRY), the largest such program, was launched in 1989 following the merger of the National Rural Employment Program (NREP) and Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Program (RLEGP). Between 1992-95, total allocation for the JRY grew 18%, from Rs 11.3 billion to Rs 13.4 billion (at 1980-81 prices-all government expenditure data are deflated at this level). Person-days of employment generated rose from 782 million to 895 million, implying a growth of more than 14%.1 The JRY aims to alleviate poverty through creating supplementary employment opportunities for the rural poor during agricultural slack periods. Other objectives are creating social assets, such as, roads, public forests, school buildings, and so forth, and increasing agricultural wage rates. JRY employment preference is given (though no specific targets are set) to members of Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) and 30% of the employment opportunities are reserved for women. The central government's assistance to India's states and union territories is allocated on the basis of the proportion of rural poor in a state or union territory to the total rural poor in the country. Within a state, district-wise allocations are based on an index of backwardness that weights equally the proportion of rural