MGNREGA for inclusive development in India: an analysis

Abstract

The rural development strategies in India made remarkable achievements in the long saga of social and economic welfare of people living in rural India. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is considered as a vibrating force for eradicating rural poverty and unemployment, by way of generating demand for productive labour force in villages. It provides an alternative source of livelihood which will have an impact on reducing migration, alleviating poverty, and making villages selfsustaining through productive assets creation such as road construction, soil and water conservation, etc. For which, it has been considered as the largest anti-poverty programme in India. In this paper, an attempt has been made to comprehensively understand the livelihood strategies though rural employment generation. The researcher used qualitative research methodologies to obtain information pertaining to the study through the Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and Key Informant Interviews (KIIs). The study revealed that MGNREGAS generating demand for productive labour force in Indian villages. It provides an alternative source of livelihood which will have an impact on, alleviating poverty, and making villages self-sustaining through productive assets creation under social and physical infrastructure facilities. The study also found that there is a much scope for inclusive development of the social groups. To sum up, it is observed that, the scheme played a vibrant role as a safety net for the unemployed youths in the study area.