No employment without participation: An evaluation of India's employment programme in eastern Uttar Pradesh

Abstract

SummaryMotivationThe Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) provides 100 days of employment a year at the legal minimum wage to every rural household. At the national level, the programme has been highly successful in providing an income safety net to small peasant farmers and landless workers.PurposeAn analysis of bottlenecks in supply and demand in the implementation of NREGA in the poorer states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Jharkhand. This research aims to understand how public participation and local political economy factors attenuate the guarantee of public employment and equal wages for the most marginalized groups.Methods and approachEvidence from field research in the Mirzapur district of Uttar Pradesh was used to conduct an empirical analysis of the functioning of NREGA.FindingsOur research shows how awareness among programme beneficiaries of their legal entitlements and awareness at various levels of government about the programme determine the provision of NREGA employment in one of the poorest regions of the country.Policy implicationsOur findings suggest that patron–client exchanges between the local elite and NREGA beneficiaries determine the provision of public employment and generate rents for the local elite. There is, therefore, an urgent need to increase transparency in NREGA provision and create mechanisms to hold elected representatives and government functionaries accountable to NREGA beneficiaries.