National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme Research Articles

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.

A structural equations approach to policy evaluation: Case study of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme

In this paper, we aim to present the use of structural equation modeling methodology to evaluate a conceptual model empirically, identifying factors critical to policy implementation. It is based on 311 responses from the mid-level implementers of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), the flagship welfare programme of the Government of India.Our research documents administrative and governance factors, strategic communication, planning, resources, well-defined networks and demographics of the implementers as critical to policy implementation. We expect it will promote the cause of implementation evaluation and encourage interdisciplinary methodologies for public policy evaluation purposes.

Contribution of National Rural Employment Guarantee Program on Rejuvenation and Restoration of Community Forests in India

Sustainable development is one of the ubiquitous paradigms of this century. Poverty, biodiversity loss and climate change are some of the obstacles to achieving sustainable development. To mitigate these encumbrances, countries have painstakingly adopted various policies and interventions. Public work programs, one of the initiatives targeting the construction of strong social safety nets through redistribution of wealth and generation of meaningful employment are increasingly being launched in developing countries. This paper is an attempt to examine the effects of phased implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) on the rejuvenation and restoration of community forests in India. Searches performed in multidisciplinary electronic databases (Web of Science, Scopus, Science Direct, PubMed, Emerald Insight, Google Scholar, Taylor and Francis Online, Wiley Online Library, and Springer Link) indicated that MGREGS is one of the largest labor guarantee schemes ever recorded in India and globally, and has holistically contributed to reforestation and afforestation through its land development themes to reduce vulnerability of rural communities to recurrent droughts, floods and improve soil moisture and fertility. It is evident that MGNREGS in synergy with the government forest development programs have the potential to promote social afforestation, reforestation and biodiversity conservation as witnessed in the Sundarbans. These have the potential to empower local people through creation of income generating activities and provision of local forest goods and services. However, the creation of forests as rural assets necessitates that emphasis should be laid on their maintenance so as to ensure that they are given their due importance for sustainable and long-term benefit of the poor rural households. This study highlights the need to perform a comprehensive assessment of forest assets that has been established through MNREGS across states in India.

Mediating Effects on Poverty Reduction in India Through Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme

The employment opportunities in rural areas have signifi cantly decreased for the last few decades in India. Th erefore, Government of India introduced Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (MGNREGP) to create employment opportunities for ru ral people. Th e Programme is considered as a “silver bullet” for eradicating rural poverty and unemployment in India. Th e purpose of this empirical research study is to develop a new model for poverty reduction in rural India through this Programme. Th e novelty of this article is an attempt to develop an empirical research model that assists the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme when mapping the level of economics service quality and thereby enhance the same. Th is Programme provides an alternative source of livelihood, which will have an impact on reducing migration, restricting child labor, alleviating poverty, and making villages self-sustaining through productive assets creation such as road construction, cleaning up of water tanks, soil and water conservation work, etc. for which it has been considered as the largest anti-poverty programme in the world. Th e paper critically examines the implementation process of this Programme and its impact on tribal livelihoods. Th e following research methodology is used in the article: the data were collected using a structured questionnaire. Th e sampling procedure used for this study is stratifi ed random sampling. Th e stratifi cation is done based on the Taluks are Kumbakonam (Th anjavur District), Keeranur (Pudukottai District) and Nagappatinam (Nagappatinam District) of Tamilnadu state of South-India for the nature of region South, East, Centre, West and North while selecting the MGNREGP Employees from each category, non-probabilistic convenience and judgmental sampling technique is used. Th e fi ndings and conclusions of the study reveal that millions of rural poor with the inclusion of new works under this Programme could able to get some employment which supports their livelihoods. Eff orts are exerted to improve more transparency and accountability in implementing this programme to ensure that the benefi ts reach out to the poor and the needy villagers. Th e regression analysis revealed that the Poverty Eradication on the various dimensions of Economic Development, infl uenced Economic Development followed by Social Development. Th e visual representation of results suggest that the relationships between the dimensions of Economic Development, Social development resulted in a signifi cant impact on the mediated factor ‘Poverty Eradication’. Th e paper suggests the policy framework for the stakeholders in eff ective implementation of the Programme.

Economic Impact of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme on Rural Women Labourers of Tamil Nadu

This study analyzed the economic impact of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (MGNREGP) on women labourers in rural Tamil Nadu. MGNREGP benefits the rural poor by providing equal wages to both men and women, guarantees 100 days of employment, and provides worksite facilities. This study was conducted in the newly established Tirupattur District of Tamil Nadu in 2018-2019. Tirupattur is one of the 20 blocks in the Vellore District. In Tamil Nadu, MGNREGP was implemented in three phases. In the Vellore district, MGNREGP was implemented under the third phase. A multistage random sampling technique was employed to collect the data from 99 sample households in Karupanur village panchayat. The findings revealed that all women labourers participated in the programme irrespective of their age groups, and the majority of them belonged to the economically weaker sections of society. The study showed that generally, the married women participated in the programme since their husbands could not manage the home with their little earnings. The majority of them, around 93.94 percent, were unaware of the worksite facilities like drinking water, rest shed, first aid box, and creche for their children. The sampled women labourers were unaware of compensation for injuries at the worksite and ex-gratia payment for death and disability. The majority of the scheduled caste women labourers spent their income on children's education. The Chi-square test revealed that women labourers found MGNREGP was very useful irrespective of their communities.

Ad Hoc Rationing, Capacity Bias, Information Asymmetry and Elite Capture of MGNREGA in Karnataka: Policy Perspectives on Poverty and Regional Balance

Poverty is related to, yet distinct from, inequality. Inequality is unevenly distributed across social groups, geography, gender and age cohorts, resulting in regional imbalance across states and regions within states and causing concentration of poverty in certain social groups, gender and age cohorts. National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme is a flagship poverty elimination programme, which should essentially address both poverty and inequality at both interpersonal and regional levels. But does a rights-based, demand-driven, universal workfare programme having self-selection paradigm address poverty and regional imbalance in practice? This question requires to be thoroughly examined to draw policy lessons.

ROLE OF MGNREGA PROGRAMME IN DEVELOPMENT OF AGRICULTURE IN KARNATAKA: EMERGING ISSUES AND EVIDENCE

Agriculture is the one of the most important sectors in our economy as well as country. Most of the peoples have depended on agriculture works. Nowadays, agriculture contribution of towards GSDP has been continuously declined from 28.1 per cent in 1999-2000 to 14.7per cent in 2014-15. The MGNREGA has become a world largest public wage employment programme. This scheme is also tool for inclusive growth and sustains agriculture. The present study explores the role of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme in Development of Agriculture in Karnataka: Emerging Issues and Evidence. The study is mainly based on secondary data sources. The data has been taken from the year 2013-14 to 2018-19. In this study intended to know the agro-climatic zonal level MGNREGA towards contribution of agriculture development works and expenditure and also to know the status of agriculture productivity in terms of total area under cultivation, cropping intensity, irrigation intensity and food grain production and wage rate in Karnataka. As compared to the other years, the study found that in the year 2016-17 all category works and all zones has better performed and most of the works and utilization of fund have done in arid and coastal zone in Karnataka. As compared to the after MGNREGS implementation, on an average there has been increased total area under cultivation (124.39 in lakh, ha), cropping intensity (122.81 per cent), irrigation intensity (32.28 per cent) and food grains (117.53lakh tonnes). but drastically low in before MGNREGS implementation in Karnataka. Gender difference in agriculture field labour has been declined from 8 rupees in 2005-06 to 4 rupees in 2009-10, then it was increased from 5 rupees in 2010-11 to 44 rupees in 2014-15, it means high gender difference in agriculture wage rate. But MGNREGA it provides equal wage for male and female in rural Karnataka and India and also intervention of MGNREGS has to be hike agriculture wage rate. Therefore, the study suggests distribute equal expenditure on natural resource management works, water related and plantation works and to suitable steps towards timely work completion and convergence of MGNREGA with development programmes is should be ensured in respective all zones in Karnataka and India. To focus on productive assets and land development works for especially SCs/STs and small and marginal farmers should be given more priority and should be made to provide full 100 days employment to these households. KEY WORDS: MGNREGA, Utilization of Fund, Agriculture, Wage rate and Employment.

Focusing on the status and constraints of women participation in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme

Focusing on the status and constraints of women participation in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme

The Association Between Participation in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Program and Smoking in India.

This paper examines whether participating in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Program (NREGA) is associated with the likelihood of smoking among program participants in India. We use two-stage residual inclusion (2SRI) estimation method and two waves of India Human Development Surveys completed before (2005) and after (2012) NREGA implementation. The likelihood of smoking increased with NREGA participation. For every 10% increase in NREGA income, the likelihood of smoking bidis (but not cigarettes) increased by 0.88 percentage point. A bidi, a stick of unprocessed tobacco wrapped in temburini leaves, is a significantly cheaper alternative to cigarettes. Nonparticipants who had a comparable increase in income between the two India Human Development Survey waves did not show an increase in likelihood of smoking. The heterogeneity in NREGA treatment effect shows that smoking tendency is not influenced by caste/religion or literacy. NREGA, as the largest workfare program, most certainly has had a significantly positive influence on the rural poor in India. The findings highlight its small but meaningful influence of a negative health behavior, greater likelihood of uptake of smoking bidis/hookah among program participants. Existing studies have found mixed evidence of an exogenous increase in income among low-income adults and its impact on smoking. No studies to date have tested the influence of workfare programs in rural areas of developing countries, where unemployment rates are higher and a substantial share of population in those areas is poor. Based on participation in employment guarantee programs as a proxy for exogenous increase in guaranteed income among rural population in India, we find that participants in the program were more likely to smoke bidis/hookah but not cigarettes.

The Performance of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme in Andhra Pradesh, India

The Performance of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme in Andhra Pradesh, India

National rural employment guarantee programme and marginal farmer households: An assessment

Abstract. An important objective of National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (NREGP) is to create durable community asset and private asset which can enhance agricultural production as well profitability of the farmers through increasing their Gross Cropped area. It can also help the farm households to generate few extra incomes through seeking employment in this programme. An investigation is here done to evaluate the impact of this programme on marginal farmer households of West Bengal. On the basis of difference-in-difference method, it has shown that rapid expansion of NREGP indicates more asset creation in a village economy which becomes helpful for the marginal farmer households to enhance their net farm income and overall income. Keywords. National rural employment guarantee progarmme, Marginal farm households, Impact evaluation, Difference-in-difference method, Gross cropped area, Net farm income, Total income. JEL. Q12, R28, C33, C36, C93.

The Effect of Employment Guarantee Program on Smoking

We test whether employment guarantee programs increase the likelihood of taking up or increasing intensity of smoking? Continuing from income elasticity and health behavior studies on low-income adults in developed countries, we provide a causal test of whether smoking is a normal good for low-income adults in developing countries. Our identification relies on staggered implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Program (NREGA) from 2006 to 2009 in different states in India and controls for self-selection into the program. Based on 2005 and 2012 waves of India Human Development Survey (IHDS) that were conducted before and after implementation of NREGA and using two-stage residual inclusion (2SRI) estimation method, NREGA participants are at least 9.75 percentage point more likely to smoke than those that did not participate in NREGA. The results are robust to alternate specifications. Our study is the first to highlight negative health behaviors resulting from participation in employment guarantee programs.

Strategies for Synergy in a High Modernist Project: Two Community Responses to India’s NREGA Rural Work Program

Summary This article asks what led to the successful implementation of the National Rural Employment guarantee program (NREGA) in Andhra Pradesh. In particular, the article ethnographically examines the implementation of the program in two different village panchayats (Dalit and Tribal) in Andhra, with a focus on underprivileged communities and it finds dramatic differences in the outcomes of the program. Both outcomes can be considered successful for the workers of the NREGA, although perhaps in ways that could not have been anticipated by the planners of the program. Theoretically, the analysis is situated between two strands—pessimistic critiques of the high-modernist state and more optimistic visions of state-society synergy. The pessimistic analysis underestimates the possibility a community will take advantage of the opportunities that a high-modernist state can provide. On the other hand, the overly optimistic account of the state-society literature assumes what I am calling “joint intentionality” between state and community is necessary for success, and empirically rules out successes that do not have such joint intentionality. The article shows that high-modernist state actions can create a structural context that opens up avenues for local successes, while local factors—namely the caste, class and livelihood strategy of villagers—determine the distinct avenues through which success is achieved. Top-down centralized implementation characterized by a high-modernist state does not rule out the realization of local goals. State and society can interact to produce positive outcomes even if these outcomes are not jointly intended.

Impact of MGNREGA on Tribal Migration in Sarenga Development Block

<em>Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme is one of the most important and largest public programme in India. The main objective of this programme is to provide 100 days of assured employment to rural household and to create sustainable asset. In this paper we have studied the secondary objective of MGNREGA that is to reduce migration and creation of sustainable asset in light of tribal perspective. In this paper we work in migration data for July 2007 to June 2008 NSSO & Census of India, 2011 data. By our analysis we find that Migration is a complex process, it is not always done due to poverty and desperate situation, but complex factors (facilities, education). People especially tribals are migrating due to lack of adequate agricultural land, inadequate agricultural production, less irrigation facilities, and acute water scarcity and stringent enforcement of Forest Laws before implantation of Forest Act. At the macro level analysis, correlation between migration and MGNREGA is very weak. From the literature as well as supported by the micro-assessment, MGNREGA is helping poor and weaker section of the community by providing employment at critical period of a year (seasonal migration). In principal, MGNREGA can help to reduce temporary migration but is ineffective in long period, when several factors would change together.</em>

Impact of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (MGNREGP) on the Rural Poor-A Simple Theoretical Discourse

The basic objective of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (MGNREGP) is to provide safety net for the rural poor and to stabilize agricultural production through creating productive assets via employing labourers. Two important linked aspects are worth noting in respect of implementation of the programme. Implementation of MGNREGP in multiple cropping areas can increase the employment opportunities among the landless agricultural labourers and thus has inevitably raised their bargaining power particularly during the time of second crop i.e. post rainy season cultivation. Besides this, Government of India has persistently been hiking per man-day MGNREGP wage. Both these instances undoubtedly increase the reservation wage in agricultural labour market which in turn may have an adverse effect on the farm income in the multi-cropping areas. In this paper, maximum possible per man-day MGNREGP wage is determined at which the corresponding agricultural wage can help the marginal farmers to sustain their net farm income at least at subsistence level. This paper also establishes the fact that as a result of the hike of MGNREGP wage, sustenance of subsistence net farm income may lead to price hike in agricultural sector. The study also attempts to analyze the results in respect of aggregate net pecuniary benefits of the rural poor in the light of MGNREGP considering different agricultural frameworks.

The Unorganized Workers Social Security Act, 2008 - An Approach to Provide Basic & Contingent Social Security to the Unorganized Workers in India

The Unorganized Workers Social Security Act, 2008 - An Approach to Provide Basic & Contingent Social Security to the Unorganized Workers in India

Linkage between Microfinance Participation and Securing Employment through MGNREGP

In this paper, the relationship is assessed between participation in microfinance program under SGSY scheme through forming Self-Help Groups and getting employment through Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Program (MGNREGP). Using Tobit Model with endogenous covariate method, it was established that participation in microfinance program operating through joint liability credit contract helps the rural households, mainly the women, to generate more social capital than the non-participant households. Participation in the microfinance program ultimately helps them to get more information about different developmental programs like MGNREGP initiated by the Government. Hence, it was observed that microfinance participant member households got more number of man-days of employment through MGNREGP than the non-member households. It was also established that households with higher average monthly income and less dependency ratio were less prone to demand employment under MGNREGP.

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme and Dalit Development

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme and Dalit Development

Social safety nets and nutrient deprivation: An analysis of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Program and the Public Distribution System in India

Using primary data collected during 2007–08 we examine nutritional status with respect to two macronutrients as well as various micronutrients of rural households in three Indian states: Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan and find serious deficiencies in regard to these nutrients in all three states. The impact of two policy interventions (NREG and PDS) on nutrient intake is considered and significant impacts are discovered. The impact effects of a change in these policy measures are also computed. Finally, to assess the impact on undernutrition, both the nutrient-income relation and how the proportions of undernourished vary are considered.

National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme in Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan: some recent evidence

This paper presents results on the participation of rural workers in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme based on a pilot survey of three villages in the Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh (AP), India. These villages are Kaligiri, Obulayyapale and Reddivaripalle, and they were surveyed in December 2007. In contrast to an earlier study of ours on Rajasthan, Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) participated in higher numbers in AP, but in both states these groups participated for slightly lower spells than the residual group of ‘Others’. We find that AP performed better than Rajasthan in terms of targeting poorer caste and income groups such as SCs, STs and landless households. The number of days worked on average was much higher than suggested by other assessments. Our econometric analysis further reinforces the view that disadvantaged groups are not only more likely to participate but also for longer spells. Thus the performance of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme has been far from dismal.