Employment Guarantee Scheme Research Articles

Examining the Impact of Socio-economic, Demographic and Policy Factors on Reverse Migration in India During COVID-19 Pandemic

This article examines the factors that determined ‘reverse migration’ of households from urban locations in India in the aftermath of a series of lockdowns that followed the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Positioning reverse migration as a coping strategy to ameliorate negative consequences of loss of livelihood, food shortages and loss of shelter in urban India, this article examines the factors that led to the utilization of this strategy in the aftermath of lockdown during the pandemic outbreak. The article also tests whether returning to hinterland persisted after the period of lockdowns. The lockdowns had exacerbated living conditions for urban poor. Migration to rural areas continued despite various policies and programmes that the national and state governments instituted to counter the negative impact of lockdowns, particularly on low-income households. Examining the socio-economic, demographic and policy factors, this article provides evidence that family support and rural social institutions such as self-help groups played a crucial role in providing support system during pandemic even to those who migrated back from urban areas. Government programmes such as Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and access to public distribution system were also important for reverse migrants. An important result is that the first wave of reverse migration was due to family and emotional reasons that arose because of lockdowns, the second wave of migration was for economic reasons as households continued to struggle in urban areas, and the migration during the third wave was a usual seasonal migration.

Did the nationwide implementation of electronic fund management in the Indian employment guarantee scheme result in reduced expenditures? A re‐examination of the evidence

AbstractDigital tools are increasingly being used in welfare programmes to reduce corruption and increase transparency. Banerjee et al. (2020, E‐governance, accountability, and leakage in public programmes: experimental evidence from a financial management reform in India. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics. https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20180302) evaluate the effectiveness of one such intervention. In a later section of their paper, they use a Two‐Way Fixed Effects (TWFE) specification to examine the consequences of the nationwide scale of an electronic funds management system in India's workfare programme, and report that it reduced expenditures by 19%. The present paper extends its analysis by (a) exploiting the recent literature that disaggregates the TWFE coefficient in the presence of staggered treatment timing to pinpoint sources of identifying variation and (b) attempting to uncover heterogeneity in treatment effects. We find that certain problematic comparisons have a large weight in the TWFE coefficient. Further, an event study analysis of the six constituent and valid comparisons shows that there is no support for parallel trends, so lag coefficients cannot be vested with causal interpretation. Our results imply that large‐scale evaluations, because of the very diversity they encompass, need to explicitly account for the factors that are responsible for programme effectiveness.

Study of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in Saraipali area

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), a landmark social welfare program launched by the Government of India in 2005, represents a significant initiative aimed at reducing rural poverty and promoting sustainable development across the country. Rooted in Gandhian philosophy and principles of social justice, MNREGA embodies a commitment to provide guaranteed employment opportunities to rural households, thereby improving their economic well-being and contributing to the overall development of rural communities. This study is important as it will provide empirical insight into the grassroots impact of MGNREGA in a specific rural context. By exploring the strengths, weaknesses and possibilities for improvement of the scheme within the Saraipali assembly constituency, the findings of this thesis can inform policy decisions and program adjustments at the local, regional and national levels.

An Analysis of Direct Changes by MGNREGS on the livelihoods of Dalit Women Beneficiaries in Northern Districts of Tamil Nadu

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme is one of the largest social security scheme implemented in the world to ensure food and livelihood security to the marginalized sections of our country. The main objective of this scheme is to provide employment for a minimum of 100 days in a year to every family member willing to do unskilled manual labor in rural areas. The direct changes brought out by MGNREGS on the livelihoods of dalit women beneficiaries was found to be medium in this study. With regard to componentwise direct changes, medium level on total number of man days in a year, two persons being employed in a family, more than seven hours of daily working hours, daily wage rate of Rs. 200-Rs.300, with a medium level of migration after their participation in MGNREGA was reported in this study. Our policy planners at the national and state level, district administrators at the regional level and extension professionals at all levels need to be involved in strengthening this welfare scheme to achieve it’s desired objectives.

An Analysis of Direct Changes by MGNREGS on the livelihoods of Dalit Women Beneficiaries in Northern Districts of Tamil Nadu

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme is oneof the largest social security scheme implemented in the world to ensure foodand livelihood security to the marginalized sections of our country. The mainobjective of this scheme is to provide employment for a minimum of 100 days ina year to every family member willing to do unskilled manual labor in rural areas.The direct changes brought out by MGNREGS on the livelihoods of dalit womenbeneficiaries was found to be medium in this study. With regard to componentwisedirect changes, medium level on total number of man days in a year, twopersons being employed in a family, more than seven hours of daily workinghours, daily wage rate of Rs. 200-Rs.300, with a medium level of migration aftertheir participation in MGNREGA was reported in this study. Our policy plannersat the national and state level, district administrators at the regional level andextension professionals at all levels need to be involved in strengthening thiswelfare scheme to achieve it’s desired objectives.

Welfare Benefits and Personal Connections in a Democracy: The Case of Muslims in West Bengal

We study the association between social connections of Muslim households and their access to welfare benefits distributed by local governments in rural West Bengal. Using household data from selected villages in West Bengal, we find that Muslim households with higher outdegree centrality are associated with 2 percentage points probability of receiving a higher fraction of benefits from the local government than Hindu households with similar networks. This association is positive and significant for the benefits under housing and toilets. However, for the allocation of work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Hindu households with larger networks obtain more benefits. The results show that poorer Muslim households with a larger spread of network are associated with receiving more benefits.

MGNREGP - PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES IN ARUNACHAL PRADESH

ABSTRACT The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme was introduced in 2005 under National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), 2005. On 2nd October’2009, NREGA has been renamed as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Act (MGNREGA). MGNREGA provides 100 days of guaranteed employment opportunities in a financial year to any rural household whose adult members are willing to do unskilled manual work at the statutory minimum wage. It is an important step towards the realisation of the Right to Work. It is also expected to enhance People’s livelihoods on a sustainable basis by developing the economic and social infrastructure in rural areas. The MGNREGP is different from earlier wage employment programmes because of its legal and demand-driven framework. However, there is no denying fact that there have been many problems in infusing the system with the new culture of demand-driven, right-based and decentralized decision making. The present study was carried in Lohit district of Arunachal Pradesh where the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (MGNREGP) was initiated in second phase in the financial year 2007-08.

The Role of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the coronavirus, is a global crisis that has brought unprecedented changes worldwide, including India. It has exacerbated India's social and economic crises. To combat this crisis, most countries, including India, had no choice but to impose lockdowns to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. As a result, a climate of fear and nationwide lockdowns emerged in our country, leading to a halt in industrial activities in urban areas and the loss of jobs for many, causing widespread unemployment. In such a situation, people migrated from urban areas to their native villages. This had a severe impact on the livelihoods of millions of migrant laborers in India. Most of these migrant laborers relied on daily wages, and the prolonged absence of work made it difficult for them to sustain their livelihoods. As a result of this reverse migration, there was increased pressure on the government to provide employment opportunities. In response, the government issued directives and allowed work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to ensure livelihood security in rural areas. During the COVID-19 pandemic, this scheme emerged as a protective shield for affected individuals, increasing the relevance and significance of the program. Therefore, in rural India, the MGNREGA scheme is often referred to as the lifeline of the poor.
 Abstract in Hindi Language:
 कोविड-19 महामारी कोरोना वायरस से उत्पन्न एक वैश्विक महामारी है जिसने भारत सहित समूचे विश्व में अभूतपूर्व परिवर्तन लाया है। इसने भारत के सामाजिक-आर्थिक संकटों को बढ़ा दिया है। इस संकट से बचने के लिए दुनिया की सभी अर्थव्यवस्थाओं में कोरोना वायरस को रोकने के लिए लॉकडाउन लगाने के सिवाय कोई और विकल्प नहीं बचा था इसलिए अधिकांश देशों ने लॉकडाउन लगाया जिसके कारण हमारे देश में भय का वातावरण होने के साथ-साथ राष्ट्रव्यापी तालाबंदी की स्थिति पैदा हो गई और शहरी क्षेत्रों में औद्योगिक गतिविधियां ठप्प हो गयी, लोगों की नौकरियां समाप्त होने लगी परिणाम स्वरूप बड़े पैमाने पर लोग बेरोजगार हो गए। ऐसी स्थिति में शहरी क्षेत्रों से अपने मूल गाँवों की ओर पलायन हुआ। इससे भारत में लाखों प्रवासी श्रमिकों की आजीविका को गंभीर झटका लगा। भारत में अधिकांश प्रवासी श्रमिक दैनिक वेतन भोगी हैं, और लंबे समय तक काम की अनुपस्थिति के कारण जीवन-यापन का खर्च वहन करना मुश्किल हो गया। इस प्रकार रिवर्स माइग्रेशन के कारण सरकार के ऊपर रोजगार का दबाव बढ़ने लगा जिसके कारण सरकार द्वारा दिशा-निर्देश जारी करके मनरेगा के अंतर्गत काम करने की अनुमति प्रदान की गयी ताकि ग्रामीण क्षेत्रों में आजीविका को सुरक्षित किया जा सके। इस प्रकार कोविड-19 महामारी के दौर में इस योजना ने प्रभावित हुए लोगों के लिए सुरक्षा कवच के रूप में उभर कर सामने आयी जिससे इस योजना की प्रासंगिकता और अधिक बढ़ गयी। इसलिए ग्रामीण भारत में मनरेगा योजना को गरीबों की जीवन रेखा कहा जाता है।
 Keywords: मनरेगा, कोविड-19, लॉकडाउन, आजीविका, रिवर्स माइग्रेशन एवं ग्रामीण विकास

Constraints Experienced by the Paddy Farmers in Three Agroclimatic Zones of Telangana State, India

The present investigation was conducted during 2021-22 to assess the constraints experienced by the paddy farmers in three agroclimatic zones of farming sustainability in Telangana state. Findings revealed that, constraints such as high cost of seed varieties (I), lack of knowledge and skill for determining economic threshold level of pests and diseases (II), labour scarcity due to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (I), labour scarcity during peak operations (II), insufficient finance with farmers (I), high rental charges for farm machinery (II), lack of new technologies and uneconomically viable solutions for residue management (I), lack of knowledge about input management (II), lack of information about government schemes (I), lack of information about recent pest-management strategies (II) were the first and second priority constraints under ecological, social, economical, technical and institutional dimensions respectively. Accordingly, Government organisations, NGO’s, ATMA, KVK’s, DAATC’s, SAU’s should look after certain issues such as providing seeds at affordable cost , Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme must give prioritize to agricultural field operations along with other activities, crop loan must be sanctioned to every farmer by considering crop yield assurance and bring out new technologies like happy seeder to remove residues but also allows the farmer to seed the new crop without involving manual labour, which saves time and money for the farmers. Extension education functionaries and line departments experts must use the Situation Based Extension with Participatory Approach (SBEA) in order to effectively overcome constraints and get feedback, which act as source for ATMA action plans to implement at grass root level.

Analysis of Employment Generation through Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in Uttar Pradesh Pre and Post Covid-19 Pandemic Issues and Challenges

This study analyses the employment generation trends through the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The study is primarily based on secondary data to examine the performance and effectiveness of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in providing employment to rural people who are willing to do unskilled manual work. The study examines the categorizes-wise employment demanded by households and employment offered to household from 2014-15 to 2022-23. The study shows that MGNREGS provided the highest employment during covid 19. Approximately 12.05 crore people got the job, that has been declined to 77.43 lakh in 2022-23. It also examines the SCs and STs employment status and shows that 29.10 lakh SCs population and 91.72 thousand STs got the job in 2020-21. This study also examines employment provided to disabled persons and shows that 17.43 thousand people got the job in 2020-21 and 14.06 thousand people got the job in 2021-22, and 14.03 thousand people got the job in 2022-23.

An Analysis of Determinants of Employment Benefits in MGNREG Scheme: Evidence from Haryana, India

The main aim of the study is to identify various factors determining the employment benefits received by households and individual workers in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREG) scheme during 2019-2020. This study is based on primary data collected from the selected districts of Haryana. The findings reveal that households belonging to SC/ST and OBC castes and possessing BPL cards work for more days under the scheme. It confirms that MGNREGS guarantees livelihood security to the marginalised and poorer sections of society. It is also found that households engaged in wage labour as their primary occupation work longer under the scheme than in other occupations. Further, female workers get employment for a longer duration than male workers. It is also seen that persons with low formal education receive more employment under MGNREGA.

Family and Social Condition of the Beneficiaries of Mgnrega in Mahendergarh District, Haryana

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (Act) Scheme which is a collaborative partnership between the Centre Govt., the State Govt., the Panchayat and the local Community was launched in the State in 2006 in three phases to achieve the basic objective of the scheme i.e. to improve living standard in rural area by providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. The study revealed that many activities are being taken under MGNREGA to achieve the cent-percent employment in rural area. However during the survey, some shortcomings were noticed in implementation of the scheme for which suggestions/ recommendations have been given for making further improvement in the process of implementing the scheme.

REGRESSION ANALYSIS OF ENTREPRENEURIAL BEHAVIOUR OF SWEET ORANGE GROWERS

A sweet orange (Citrus sinensis L.) is an important fruit crop of Maharashtra state of India. It is grown on an area of 55,000 ha. The area under this fruit crop is increasing rapidly as a result of dynamic employment guarantee scheme launched by the Government of Maharashtra for fruit crops. Sweet Orange is a major fruit crop in Marathwada region of the State. 0.77 lakh hectares area is under this crop (Anonymous, 2014a). The development of any nation depends primarily on the important role played by entrepreneurs. Hence, the part played by entrepreneurs is of vital importance in a developing country like India. Thus in all economic development activities more attention is being given to entrepreneurship development. An entrepreneur is primarily concerned with changes in the formula of production over which he has full control. Further, it is commonly believed that an entrepreneur is basically an intelligent person and has a definite ability to create something new to prove its worthiness. The Ex-post-facto research design was used for the present study. The study was conducted in Aurangabad district. Three tahsils namely, Aurangabad, Paithan and Kannad were selected purposively on the basis of the maximum area under sweet orange cultivation. The main objective of this study is to study the regression analysis of entrepreneurial behaviour of sweet orange growers. It is revealed from that coefficient of determination (R2) of the independent variables was 0.5040. It means that 50.40 per cent of the total variation in entrepreneurial behavior of sweet orange growers was explained by the selected 10 independent variables i.e. Farming experience, Education, Family size, Occupation, Land holding, Annual income, Social participation, Mass media use, Economic motivation and Market orientation. The present study was used as a multistage sampling procedure. Collected data were classified, tabulated and analyzed by using multiple regression.

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme: Challenges and Opportunities

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme: Challenges and Opportunities

A Study on National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme with Special Reference to Banglore

A Study on National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme with Special Reference to Banglore

General Equilibrium Effects of (Improving) Public Employment Programs: Experimental Evidence From India

Public employment programs may affect poverty both directly through the income they provide and indirectly through general equilibrium effects. We estimate both effects, exploiting a reform that improved the implementation of India's National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) and whose rollout was randomized at a large (sub‐district) scale. The reform raised beneficiary households' earnings by 14%, and reduced poverty by 26%. Importantly, 86% of income gains came from non‐program earnings, driven by higher private‐sector (real) wages and employment. This pattern appears to reflect imperfectly competitive labor markets more than productivity gains: worker's reservation wages increased, land returns fell, and employment gains were higher in villages with more concentrated landholdings. Non‐agricultural enterprise counts and employment grew rapidly despite higher wages, consistent with a role for local demand in structural transformation. These results suggest that public employment programs can effectively reduce poverty in developing countries, and may also improve economic efficiency.

Implementation Of MGNREGS In India Special Reference To The State Of Kerala

This paper examines the role and impact of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in state of Kerala. This scheme implemented in February 2, 2006 in 200 backward districts. In Kerala, the Scheme was implemented in three phases. Kerala was located on southern part of India. Any government scheme has certain aims, like the MGNREGS scheme also have certain aims. Major aims and objectives of MGNREGS are as follows:

Effectiveness of post-disaster coping strategies among the farming households in the coastal districts of Odisha, India

Farmers in developing countries generally faced vulnerability in consumption due to income shocks caused by crop damage, price falls, disasters, etc. The ability to respond to such income shocks is determined by their asset structure labour endowment, access to credit and so on. Using information from 459 sample households in the three coastal districts of Odisha; India, this paper examines the effectiveness of ex-post coping strategies adopted by the farming households in the study regions. Based on wealth index score, we classified the sample households in to poor, medium and rich income groups for a deeper understanding of the impact floods on their consumption patterns. Ordinary least square (OLS) regression model was used for examining the effectiveness of post disaster coping strategies adopted the sample households. The results of regression model show that the practice of borrowing money from formal/informal sources is one of the most effective strategies resorted by the sample households in the study regions. Seasonal migration is an alternative strategy followed by poor and middle-income households in the study regions, whereas accessing to government or non-governmental assistance measures is an effective strategy on the part of richer households. Among the socio-economic characteristics, the educational attainment of household heads and the landholding size possessed by households have had a significant influence on narrowing down the consumption gaps. In this scenario, along with an effective implementation of welfare and employment generation programmes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), a widen access to the formal loan market helps farmers reduce migration and provide a secure income to the people which, in turn, helps them reduce their relative consumption gaps.

Land Use/ Cover Change Detection in High-Altitude Mountain Landscapes: A Case of Pangi Valley, Western Himalaya (India).

Recently, mountains are going to widely threatened by developmental activities and global climate change leading to changing shift of land uses/covers across the globe. The present study area has witnessed very significant changes in land use and land cover (LULC) especially after the implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) in the form of rapid developmental and constructional activities. As a result, rapid local roads and infrastructure construction has lead to increased hazards further putting pressure on the fragile physical landscape. Therefore, the present study is an attempt to evaluate changes and transformation in the LULC patterns in the Pangi valley, Western Himalaya (India). The LULC has been analyzed using remote sensing imagery from LANDSAT for the period 1992-2021. We conduct a supervised classification by using Maximum Likelihood Classifier (MLC) to prepare LULC maps. In short, seven LULC classes have been delineated. The result shows that barren land, built-up land, water bodies and agriculture land have increased by 97.5 per cent, 98.5 per cent, 14.4 per cent and 13.2 per cent, while snow cover pasture land and forest cover have drastically decreased by 68.1 per cent, 21.1 per cent and 20.9 per cent respectively. The LULC transformation result illustrates that the area under snow cover, pasture land and forest cover converted into barren land by 217.8 km2, 175.3 km2 and 47.3 km2 respectively out of the total 1520 km2 area of the Pangi valley. It reflects human influence in terms of developmental activities and impact of global climate change in the transformation of the physical landscape in the study area. The outcome derived from the current research will be helpful for policy makers and spatial planners for sustainable landscape planning and management of the high-altitude mountain landscapes.

Impact of Nutrition Intervention Among Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) Women Beneficiaries in Salem District, Tamil Nadu, India

The study was undertaken to understand the impact of MGNREGS on the livelihood and nutritional status of women in Salem District, Tamil Nadu, India. The primary aim was to assess the socio-demographic, anthropometric, biochemical, clinical and dietary aspects. After non-formal nutrition education all parameters were re-assessed for impact analysis. The cross-sectional research design was utilized to estimate the prevalence of the outcome of interest for a given population. Among 1000 selected MGNREGS women beneficiaries, 500 were taken as samples by random sampling technique in 20 rural development blocks aged 20 to >60 years. A structured questionnaire was used to collect all the information. The data were analyzed for mean, standard deviation and two-tailed test with statistical significance level of (p<0.05) by SPSS 14.0 software. After intervention, improvement in waist-hip ratio was proven to be statistically significant (p=0.044); Comparing the percentage of each physical sites assessed clinically before and after nutrition intervention, Z-test was taken to ensure where the improvement was statistically significant (p<0.05). Nutritional intervention was carried out in their workplace, it is a cost-effective, feasible method and good option to create a higher level of awareness and standard of living among MGNREGS women beneficiaries.