Role of Women Participation in MGNREGA: A Study in Kethupura Gram Panchayat in Mysuru District, Karnataka

Abstract

The government of India provides a minimum of 100 days of employment through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). This act will reduce migration and increase purchasing power parity. Based on the number of work days generated in a household, they can get the returns in terms of wage income. There is no wage discrimination between males and females in this work. The MGNREGA helps the livelihood in rural areas in general and particularly in a drought-prone state like Karnataka. Under this scheme, most of the women, Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) people participated and benefited. Mysuru district was selected for the study. Thirty beneficiary households were selected through interaction with local officers throughout our field visits. Most of the poor, landless labours, marginal and small farmers participated in the MGNREGA scheme. All beneficiaries were having fewer economic assets, and low or marginalized communities participated in the scheme during our study. Among the social groups, SC female average income is higher than the other groups. The overall macro picture says that ST person days are very less as a proportion to their population. The study finds that the majority of the households informed that the participation of females in MGNREGA work is sufficient.