MGNREGA Bibliography

Abstract

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is a public works programme that guarantees 100 days of employment as a right to all rural households in India. This paper presents a political economy explanation for the dramatic decline of MGNREGA in Rajasthan. The paper clarifies that although Rajasthan was originally one of the highest performing states, it has seen a sharp decline from around 2010 onwards in the uptake of MGNREGA. However, in terms of the demand-side explanations, the author refutes the claim that there is a fall in the demand for MGNREGA work in the state. Identically, in examining the supply-side explanations, the document finds that there are specific capacity gaps in Rajasthan that have restricted the MGNREGA from achieving its full potential. Nevertheless, it points that these gaps do not explain the sudden decline in MGNREGA’s performance in the state. All things considered, the author argues that the answers to this sudden decline lie in the sudden decline in the state’s capacity to monitor the programme. Furthermore, she concludes that in countering the current downward trend, the state will need to provide incentives for demand capture, provide the right message to frontline officials and ensure timely and adequate wage payments.

https://www.eldis.org/document/A73150

Wages

Abstract

Jan Kregel’s wide-ranging work has covered many issues of direct and contemporary relevance to developing countries, and is marked by his careful attention to both the broad sweep and the detail of policy interventions. His contributions to the issues of financing development, macroeconomic instabilities generated by financial deregulation, including capital account liberalization and how to alter patterns of development toward diversification to higher value added activities, are all well known. But he has also been an insightful advocate of specific types of demand management policies that can play multiple roles in developing economies. One such strategy is of implementing public works as part of employment guarantees, which can then have positive effects on both the demand side of the labor market and the supply-side of production conditions.

https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137450968_7

Implementation

Abstract

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) has led to the transformation of rural India through the infusion of an unprecedented degree of power and funds for the creation of works which lead to provision of employment while building up the asset base of rural areas, thereby contributing to their long term capacity for sustainable development. In 2013-14, 93.9 lakh works were taken up with a total expenditure of over Rs. 38,678.2 crores.Several studies have pointed out towards the massive potential of these works to build and develop rural India’s natural capital, provide environmental services and contribute significantly towards mitigating climate change. However, whether and to what extent, this potential is being realised has not been adequately answered. This study is a humble attempt to answer this question. And also to provide a methodology for more extensive and widespread studies to answer the same question.

It also attempts to create a Green Index, which could act as a tool for policy makers, planners and communities to assess the environmental impact of NREGA works and help them plan an optimum mix of assets which lead to an overall improvement in natural capital. It departs significantly from previous studies of a similar nature, in realising that the nature of NREGA works is changing, and many of the newly concieved assets are not necessarily ‘environmental’ or ‘natural resource based’ assets and can in fact contribute significantly towards environmental degradation. Even the so-called natural resource based assets, in fact, can sometimes have significant negative effects on some environmental parameters while improving other environmental parameters. It is these realisations, and practical lessons learnt from the ground, which allow us to ‘Go beyond Rhetoric’ and develop practical tools which could help improve the environmental outcomes of NREGA.

https://www.academia.edu/26556115/Environmental_Evaluation_of_NREGA_in...

Environmental Sustainability Implementation Quantitative

Abstract

MGNREGA was initiated in 2005 through a central Act to support poor and vulnerable households with labour oriented jobs. Central government since then has been allocating huge funds to the states to implement MGNREGA in their respective states. Gram Panchayats are expected to identify the vulnerable households most in need of jobs, issue Job Cards and provide households with 100 days of job on their demand. The present study is an attempt to explore the factors that facilitate (or hamper) the uptake of MGNREGA services by Socially Excluded Groups (SEGs) that include Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Muslims.Data from 14,101 households from 720 villages in 42 districts across 7 states of India reveals that the average workdays received by households are 24.4 days (23.8 for non-SEG households). The data also suggests that access to MGNREGA is dependent on several factors including awareness about MGNREGA, participation of households in Gram Sabha proceedings and awareness about NGOs working in their area. Access to MGNREGA is not in favour of Muslims or women headed households. Also, within SEGs, those at the bottom of wealth quintile have less access to MGNREGA jobs as compared to those at the higher wealth quintile.

https://doi.org/10.1177/0973703020140107

Caste Gender Politics Quantitative Wages

Abstract

The critique on the MGNREGA in the context of Biodiversity Conservation (Mathew K Sebastian and P A Azeez, “MGNREGA and Biodiversity Conservation”, EPW, 8 March 2014) points to two critical

https://www.epw.in/journal/2014/12/letters/foreground-local-contexts.h...

Environmental Sustainability

Abstract

This study has evaluated the differentiating impact of MGNREGA on the extent of fulfilment of the basic entitlements such as days of employment, wages and earnings and the extent of coverage of social groups like dalits, adivasis and women and poverty alleviation. This study has disaggregated state level data to discern the factors that make a difference to the performance. Also some micro level scenarios are presented based on the reports of focus group discussions (FGDs) in the villages of Andhra Pradesh. There is growing evidence of an increase in agricultural wages across the country over the period between 2006-07 and2011-12, in which the impact of MGNREGA is considerable. This review has also revealed a steep increase in female agriculture wage and a substantive decline in the male-female wage gap. The search for information on the impact of MGNREGA on agricultural labor markets leads to some evidence on labor shortage, changes in wages, mechanization, peak season adjustment of work or adoption of MGNREGA calendar and migration. The absolute decline in labor force has tightened the rural labor market leading to shortage of labor for farm operations. Thus labor scarcity has emerged as one of the major constraints to increase agricultural production in India. Furthermore, the tightened labor market has offered, better bargaining power to agricultural laborers, better treatment at the place of work, ability to negotiate the duration of the working day and has initiated a growing shift towards piece rate or contract work on agriculture facilitating change in the number of working days. Based on macro level results and micro level evidence some policy interventions are suggested – such as development of labor saving technologies and machines to mitigate labor scarcity, an inclusive farm mechanization program especially for women and youth, strengthening rural-urban connectivity, social protection for migrant labor and Capacity building programs for skill augmentation. Further, a revision of the time frame of MGNREGA work to create more employment in the lean season has been recommended.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268742735_Impact_of_Mahatma_G...

Gender Poverty Wages

Abstract

This paper has examined the changes in the households’ income and employment pattern and has assessed the impact of MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) -a social-security scheme for the rural poor households launched by India Government (2005). This study refers to an exhaustive survey in three villages in Bankura district, West Bengal, India covering 100 households during the year 2011–12. The impact of MGNREGA focusing employment security, income generation, and its governance and future perspectives were dealt in the study. It was found that MGNREGA covered all poor sections of the rural society irrespective of castes, genders or social orders. It was also observed that this project enhanced income as well as savings of rural households. Further, it was noticed that MGNREGA has created rural employment opportunities.

http://dx.doi.org/10.5958/j.0976-4666.59.2.014

Caste Gender

Abstract

India is the second largest country after China in terms of population and manpower. The haunting problem of unemployment is not confined to any particular class, segment or society as massive unemployment exists among educated, well-trained and skilled people as well as among semi-skilled and unskilled labourers, landless labourers, small and marginal farmers etc. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is an Indian law that aims to guarantee the ‘right to work’ and ensure livelihood security in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. The present study examines the economic empowerment and well being of the rural poor in Karaiyamputhur / Panayadikuppam villages of Puducherry Union Territory. The survey was conducted by use of interview schedule and data were collected from 323 beneficiaries of MGNREGA of the selected villages. The study reveals that there is a significant increase in the welfare of the family for both male and female workers in respect of spending more for family, children’s education and enables them to save in bank / post office after working under MGNREGA. However, the economic well being will be improved still better if 100 days of employment in a year is provided to them.

https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Impact-of-MGNREGA-on-the-Economi...

Caste Poverty Wages

Abstract

The eleventh five year plan marks a significant departure from the conventional way of looking at women in plan document. It tries to mark the centrality of women in all sectors. It explicitly recognizes, probably for the first time, that women are not just equal citizens but agents of economic and social growth. According to UN Women (2013) The Mahatma Gandhi Nation Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in India and the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) in South Africa are examples of important safety nets for women. The study tries to evaluate the impact of MGNREGA on socio-economic empowerment of women in Kalakkanmoi panchayat of Sivaganga district, Tamil Nadu. It further analyses various risk associated with the women during the working time of MGNREGA. The study finds that the MGNREGA increases income and expenditure of the households compared over the pre MGNREGA period and the scheme significantly enhances the social and economic decision making power to women in the men dominated rural society. Hence the scheme ensures improved standard of living of the vulnerable poor, more specifically among women. It also finds that poor worksite facility, hot climate condition and reduction of leisure time put them much hardship during the working hours of MGNREGA.

https://www.internationaljournalssrg.org/IJEMS/paper-details?Id=1

Gender

Abstract

The eleventh five year plan marks a significant departure from the conventional way of looking at women in plan document. It tries to mark the centrality of women in all sectors. It explicitly recognizes, probably for the first time, that women are not just equal citizens but agents of economic and social growth. According to UN Women (2013) The Mahatma Gandhi Nation Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in India and the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) in South Africa are examples of important safety nets for women. The study tries to evaluate the impact of MGNREGA on socio-economic empowerment of women in Kalakkanmoi panchayat of Sivaganga district, Tamil Nadu. It further analyses various risk associated with the women during the working time of MGNREGA. The study finds that the MGNREGA increases income and expenditure of the households compared over the pre MGNREGA period and the scheme significantly enhances the social and economic decision making power to women in the men dominated rural society. Hence the scheme ensures improved standard of living of the vulnerable poor, more specifically among women. It also finds that poor worksite facility, hot climate condition and reduction of leisure time put them much hardship during the working hours of MGNREGA.

https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Impact-of-MGNREGA-on-Women-Empow...

Gender

Abstract

The paper attempts to study the impact of MGNREGA on women empowerment through their participation in Odisha. It will highlight some facts about level of participation of women in MGNREGA in Odisha. Further an attempt has been made to have an analysis of impact of such participation on women empowerment in Nelia village of Tangi-Choudwar block of Cuttack district in Odisha. It has been found out that the level of participation of women in MGNREGA in Odisha has been between 35-40 percent over a period of five years (2008-09 to 2012-13). Further it was found out that overall impact of MGNREGA on women’s lives has been quite positive in many ways, whether it is by enhancing their economic independence and self-confidence or by helping them to have greater role in decision making in household. An integrated approach that links equality-based rights to manage productive assets and gender inclusive is the need of the hour for addressing risks arising from MGNREGA fatigue.

https://www.proquest.com/docview/1733218413?sourcetype=Scholarly%20Jou...

Gender

Abstract

I analyze the impact of India’s public employment generation program (NREGS) on entrepreneurship. One of the main barriers to entrepreneurship in India is a lack of access to capital. My hypothesis is that NREGS allows liquidity constrained individuals to accumulate savings, enabling subsequent investment in a risky, but more profitable, venture, and ideally, permanent graduation from poverty. Taking advantage of the quasi-experimental nature of the program, I use a nationally representative data set to estimate the impact of NREGS on selection into entrepreneurship. I find that rates of non-agricultural entrepreneurship increase by 3 percentage points in NREGS districts (increasing rates from 15% to 18%), compared to areas that did not receive the program. This result is robust to various specifications, including two falsification tests. The results suggest that by acting as a source of credit, NREGS impacts household occupational choice, contributing to increased income, and ultimately promoting current and future family welfare.

https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/working_papers/WR1000/WR105...

Poverty Quantitative

Abstract

This paper uses a quasi-experimental framework to analyze the impact of India’s largest public works program, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), on schooling enrollment, grade progression, reading comprehension test scores, writing test scores, math test scores and Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) scores. The availability of pre and two rounds of post-intervention initiation data from the three rounds of the Young Lives Panel Study allow us to measure both the short- and medium-run intent-to-treat effects of the program. We find that the program has no effect on enrollment but has strong positive effects on grade progression, reading comprehension test scores, math test scores and PPVT scores. The average effect size computed over several outcomes is similar to the effects of conditional cash transfer programs implemented in Latin America. These short-run impact estimates all increased in the medium run, that is, there is no decaying of impact but instead medium-run augmentation of the estimated short-run effects. The findings reported here are robust to attrition bias, endogenous program placement, type I errors and type II errors.

https://repository.upenn.edu/entities/publication/5e26a6ab-63c6-4e0a-8...

Quantitative

Abstract

The various activities being promoted under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme such as water harvesting and soil conservations could have high positive results on environment security and biodiversity and environment conservation. While this article appreciates the integration of biodiversity conservation into the MGNREGS, it points out the importance of preparing panchayat-level biodiversity registers, supporting individual and institutional efforts in biodiversity conservation and the formulation of appropriate policies.

https://www.epw.in/journal/2014/10/commentary/mgnrega-and-biodiversity...

Environmental Sustainability

Abstract

Compared to urban sustainability, rural sustainability has traditionally received inadequate attention, especially in developing countries such as India. Because of their symbiotic relation with the local climate and landforms, vernacular structures of rural India are said to be inherently sustainable. However, since 2005, substantial amounts of intervention brought about by the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Generation Act (MGNREGA) have changed this situation. India’s rural landscape is now intersected with numerous built forms, such as road networks, water management systems, and land development. Unfortunately, the MGNREGA’s goal of addressing the substantial void that characterised rural areas and bringing about a sustainable future through the generation of the multiplier effect have not been achieved in most cases. This study was conducted to investigate the reasons for this unexpected outcome. Water management, constituting the major thrust of the MGNREGA, was examined for two purposively selected areas with distinctively different physio-climatological variations at the micro level from the state of West Bengal. The data from the MGNREGA website and from field investigations show a short-term benefit, whereas sustainability issues on a long-term basis remain a concern. Straight- jacketed norms for scheme implementation ignoring physical heterogeneity across the country appear to be a major cause. Reframing and customisation of construction specifications are recommended as a solution.

https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/MGNREGA-and-Water-Management%3A-...

Environmental Sustainability Implementation Urban

Abstract

Towards the attainment of the women empowerment and bridging the gender imbalances at the household and community levels in rural areas, MGNREGA is a great milestone. The gender disparities prevailing in the countryside have been adversely affecting the quality of life of rural women. The gender sensitive, demand-led MGNREGA has the potential to correct the anomalies in labour market along with gender based discrimination. The effective delivery system with pro-women bias may be promising and efficacious to ensure the process of women participation in development programmes and also to have access and control over the use of resources. Andhra Pradesh is one of the few states in the country with high participation of women in MGNREGA. This also underlines the fact that female wages are much higher in the MGNREGA scheme in Andhra Pradesh than the non-public casual works in the state. The paper explores the MGNREGA to look into the status of rural unemployment and poverty rate in Andhra Pradesh with special reference to gender and rationale for the MGNREGA in Andhra Pradesh, to study the role of MGNREGA in providing employment to rural women and offer suggestion and recommendations for more women participation in MGNREGA in Andhra Pradesh.

https://www.indianjournals.com/ijor.aspx?target=ijor:ijmds1&volume=3&i...

Gender Wages

Abstract

India’s scheduled tribes are among the most deprived socio-economic groups and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme has great potential in tribal areas. While the Andhra Pradesh government has made an effort to ensure implementation of the scheme in the scheduled areas, the gap between administrative orders and the grass-roots level is wide. This article lists measures that could radically improve implementation of the scheme in tribal areas.

https://www.epw.in/journal/2014/51/commentary/mgnrega-andhra-pradeshs-...

Caste Implementation Poverty

Abstract

India’s scheduled tribes are among the most deprived socio-economic groups and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme has great potential in tribal areas. While the Andhra Pradesh government has made an effort to ensure implementation of the scheme in the scheduled areas, the gap between administrative orders and the grass-roots level is wide. This article lists measures that could radically improve implementation of the scheme in tribal areas.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/24481143

Caste Implementation

Abstract

This study reports on a survey of 4,881 users of more than 4,100 works created under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in Maharashtra. It provides evidence that MGNREGA works support agriculture, and benefit a large number of small and marginal farmers. An overwhelming 90% of the respondents considered the works very useful or somewhat useful, while only 8% felt they were useless. Further, most works continue to be maintained and are in a good condition. Overall, this study suggests that the widespread perception that the MGNREGA does not create anything productive appears to be misplaced, although there is scope for improving the choice of works, their design, and their execution.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/24481747

Quantitative

Abstract

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is a flag ship programme of the government of India. It has two views among the farmers and labour in rural areas i.e., pessimistic and optimistic respectively. The data were collected during May to October, 2011 in Banda and Hamirpur district of Bundelkhand region, Uttar Pradesh. Interviewed 120 each small, medium and large farmer in three villages in each districts located in different distances. Thus, 60 farmers from each village have been selected randomly for the study purpose. Qualitative data were also collected through focus group discussion. Study shows that main cause of labour shortage is rural out-migration and MGNREGA work. The consequence of labour shortage in agriculture is changes in cropping pattern and land market. The farmers have adopted various strategies to overcome labour shortage in agriculture such as use of family labour, increased use of machinery and hired labour from outside the village. Farmers (especially small and medium farmers) unable to pay wage rate as equal to the MGNREGA wage rate due to low income from agriculture. As MGNREGA is a labour bank in the rural areas, these labour should involve in agricultural work in the field of farmers that the best strategy to overcome labour shortage in agriculture. Another strategy is implementation of cooperative farming in the study areas.

https://journals.esciencepress.net/index.php/IJAE/article/view/656

Environmental Sustainability Implementation Qualitative Wages

Abstract

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act is an epoch making event in the history of independent India. There is much that the NREGA promises from the perspective of women’s empowerment as well. Most boldly, in a rural milieu marked by stark inequalities between men and women in the opportunities for gainful employment afforded as well as wage rates NREGA represents action on both these counts. The act stipulates that wages will be equal for men and women. Andhra Pradesh and Panchayat have been very vigilant in spreading awareness about NREGA through radio, poster, television, notice board on gram sabhas Vision Mahatma Gandhi NREGA seeks to enhance the livelihood security of the women’s in rural areas of the country by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to every women whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work., etc. The manifold functions taken up by MGNREGA members range from identification of projects to supervision of works and submission of records for wage disbursement. The objective of the Study is to enhance livelihood security in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every poor women’s whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. This work guarantee can also serve other objectives generating productive assets, protecting the environment, empowering rural women, reducing rural urban migration and fostering social equity, among others. The main of objective of the paper is to study the performance of women labourers in generating employment in the study area.

https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/MGNREGA%3A-Making-Way-for-Social...

Gender Wages

Abstract

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) was enacted on 23rd of August 2005 and got presidential assent on 5th of September 2005 expressing the consensus of the State to use fiscal and legal instruments to address the challenges of unemployment and poverty. Today the problem of unemployment is the single largest puzzle of Kerala which is the highest unemployment rate among the states of India which accounts 25.5 percent. But most of the unemployed are educated. The worsening unemployment situation is obviously related to the inability of the economy of the State to generate any fresh employment during the last decade. While this phenomenon of “Jobless Growth” is observable in all the States in the country, the situation in Kerala appears to be particularly distressing because most of the labour intensive/labour absorbing traditional industries depending on exports is facing a survival crisis in the liberalized trade environment. Unemployment and under employment among workers in traditional sectors are indeed of major concerns.

The significance of MGNREGA lies in the fact that it creates a right- based framework for wage employment programmes and makes the Government legally accountable for providing employment to those who ask for it. In this way, the legislation goes beyond providing a social safety net towards guaranteeing the right to employment. In Kerala, the program was initiated in February 2006 in the rural areas of two districts – Palakkad and Wayanad. The programme was extended to Kasaragod and Idukki by February, 2007 in second phase and to the remaining 10 districts by January 2009 in third phase. This programme came to be known as a Kerala State Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. The responsibility has been assigned primarily to Local-Self Governments. Despite high levels of unemployment in Kerala, the high levels of literacy mean that unemployed men are educated and even though many men signed up initially and had job cards made, they do not want to do unskilled manual work and therefore have not applied for work on the scheme. While women too are educated they have not felt it to be below their dignity and in fact women frequently said that NREGA work, being ‘government work’, gave them a higher status. There are several constraints which hinder the effective implementation like difficulty in identification of sufficient number of projects, lack of staff at Gram Panchayat level, lack of participation of male members, lack of provisions for undertaking schemes require material and skilled labour cost , lack of awareness among various stakeholders , lack of capacity among the supervisors and monitors, reluctance in collaborating with the NGO sector in the state, lack of cooperation and collaboration between the project staff and Panchayat functionaries at various levels, lack of interest among the elected representatives, etc.

This paper analyse the performance of employment generated by MGNREGS in kerala, participation of under privileged class like SCs, STs and women and analyse various issues related with this programme in Kerala. The notable feature of this scheme is high participation of women which constitute about 90 percent that is why this programme is also known ‘Women Programme’.

https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3523065

Challenges Environmental Sustainability Gender Implementation Wages

Abstract

The research on the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act across India has bypassed Kashmir and what little analysis there is, is limited to official statistics. This article looks at how the official figures correlate with the impact of the policy on the socio-economic vulnerabilities in the state. The outcomes in the sample area are primarily rooted in the weak contextual design and a venal institutional apparatus, which are not captured by official figures. A comprehensive understanding of the outcomes of such schemes thus depends on analysis of ground-level data rather than official figures alone.

https://www.epw.in/journal/2014/52/notes/nrega-kashmir.html

Implementation Qualitative

Abstract

Enimala Ggopal is excited. Ignoring the scorching sun, he runs from one plant to the other. He has planted 160 mango saplings on his land. “Come, see this,” he calls out to his wife, Yerramma, scooping out some wet soil from underneath a plant. Gopal had never imagined in his wildest dreams that he would be able to grow a fruit orchard on his parched land.

His village Madiguba falls in the Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh, which remains forsaken both by the monsoon and government’s irrigation facilities. The government has categorised the district as a desert. So like many other farmers in the region, Gopal had allowed his one hectare to remain fallow for years and somehow pulled through by working as a daily wager under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). “Early this year, for the first time, we harvested a tonne of tomatoes. If these mango saplings survive and grow into trees, our struggle will come to an end,” Yerramma says with a hearty smile.

https://www.downtoearth.org.in/coverage/orchards-in-desert-46915

Environmental Sustainability

Abstract

This dissertation examines the gradual process of democratic deepening in several villages of the Indian Himalayas. In recent decades, democratic decentralization has become a popular policy reform around the world, yet the actual scope of citizen participation in local governance is often limited. In many contexts, elites continue to wield disproportionate power over local decision-making processes, while underlying forms of social exclusion remain intact. Nevertheless, there is growing evidence that new democratic institutions can, under certain circumstances, provide space for local democracy to mature. Through an ethnographic account of political transformation in several villages in the Indian Himalayas, this dissertation theorizes a recursive process of social and institutional change that has led to the emergence of more responsive and accountable public authority. Three central themes guide this inquiry. First, I trace how the establishment of formal elected institutions followed by their endowment with significant resources to undertake particular types of development has reshaped the terms of local political practice.

Second, I examine how new political institutions intersect with a longer trajectory of social change, which shapes the character of citizen engagement in emerging democratic spaces as well as the effects of these engagements on local social power. Third, I explore how previously marginalized individuals use emerging political spaces to pursue multi-faceted agendas-both to direct state resources toward particular development objectives and in pursuit of broader projects of representation and recognition. These themes are interwoven in several empirical chapters. I document how the consolidation of local democratic institutions is (a) reshaping traditional authority structures in common-pool irrigation management systems and expanding the influence of marginal social groups within them, (b) giving rise to a new class of local elected leaders drawn from diverse social backgrounds, and (c) providing space for marginal social groups to mobilize against entrenched social and political subordination and to claim a more equitable share of power within society. Finally, I draw insights from this material to explore the implications of decentralization for development, democracy, and citizenship in contemporary India.

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/items/72935

Environmental Sustainability Implementation Politics

Abstract

Abstract

The rural proletariat constitute a substantial proportion of the global poor. Leading better lives is central to their political practices. In this paper, I aim to elaborate the political practices that attend to these aspirations, interrogations and contests. I examine existing approaches to studying political practices of the rural proletariat. I do this with a focus on India, where the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) is in force since 2005. I locate the program against the backdrop of neoliberal transformations in India. I then examine the ways in which the rural proletariat engage with the program, even when other opportunities in the agricultural sector are available. Based on these examinations, I argue that the practices spawned by the program are to be understood as ‘encroachments’ into the extant social customs, norms and habits of rural India. This perspective, I contend, is more fruitful than locating the rural proletariat’s engagement with the NREGA as a coping strategy or a tactic of resistance against rural elites. The data which this paper draws on include official sources, in-depth interviews with workers in rural Bihar and West Bengal and ethnographic observations.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03066150.2014.922551

Qualitative

Abstract

In 2006, India embarked on an ambitious attempt to fight poverty by attempting to introduce a wage floor in a setting in which many unskilled workers earn less than the minimum wage. The 2005 national rural employment guarantee act (NREGA) creates a justiciable “right to work” by promising 100 days of wage employment in every financial year to all rural households whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. In attempting to fight poverty in poor places with weak administrative capabilities, the idea of “rights” has often been invoked. This book aims to contribute to the understanding of the efficacy of poor states in fighting poverty using an ambitious rights-based program – the largest antipoverty public employment program in India, and possibly anywhere in the world. The program authors study is India’s Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), which was launched to implement the NREGA. This book presents survey-based estimates for India as a whole as well as results for Bihar. Results for India are based on the 2009-10 national sample survey. Two surveys were carried out in 2009 and 2010 and spanned 150 villages spread across all 38 districts in Bihar. These data are supplemented by qualitative research in six districts to better understand supply-side challenges. A distinctive feature of the methodology is that the authors identify the key counterfactual outcomes of interest – that is, what Bihar Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (BREGS) participants will have done in the absence of the program – by directly asking individual BREGS participants. The advantage of this approach is that it produces an individual-specific estimate of impact – exploiting the information available for each participant – rather than delivering only a mean impact. The authors find compelling evidence that the scheme is reaching relatively poor families. It is important that reform efforts for MGNREGS work on both of these aspects – a stronger, more capable, local administration, plus more effective participation by civil society.

https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/docum...

Challenges Poverty Quantitative Wages

Abstract

This paper examines the effects of India’s Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, currently the world’s largest public employment program, on household consumption and poverty rates in rural India. Combining regionally coded data from consumption surveys with information on the district-wise rollout of the program, we employ a regression discontinuity design to estimate program efects during the years 2007 and 2008. We find large, season-specifc efects among a traditionally deprived sub-group of the rural population, whose incomes are particularly dependent on agricultural wage labor. We find that for this group of households, which accounts for thirty percent of Indiaís rural population, employment opportu- nities under the scheme have cut poverty during the agricultural lean season by as much as one half while we find no effect during the agricultural peak season. In a cost-benefit analysis we find that consumption increases among this group of households are of the same order of magnitude as the wage outlays of the program. We document that consumption among this group of households had previously exhibited severe systematic seasonal fluctuations and conclude that the employment program has had a lasting effect on consumption smoothing across agricultural seasons.

https://ideas.repec.org/p/awi/wpaper/0564.html

Poverty Quantitative Wages

Abstract

This paper examines the effects of India’s Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, currently the world’s largest public employment program, on household consumption and poverty rates in rural India. Combining regionally coded data from consumption surveys with information on the district-wise rollout of the program, we employ a regression discontinuity design to estimate program effects during the years 2007 and 2008. We find large, season-specific effects among a traditionally deprived sub-group of the rural population, whose incomes are particularly dependent on agricultural wage labor. We find that for this group of households,which accounts for thirty percent of India’s rural population, employment opportunities under the scheme have cut poverty during the agricultural lean season by as much as one half while we find no effect during the agricultural peak season. In a cost-benefit analysis we find that consumption increases among this group of households are of the same order of magnitude as the wage outlays of the program. We document that consumption among this group of households had previously exhibited severe systematic seasonal fluctuations and conclude that the employment program has had a lasting effect on consumption smoothing across agricultural seasons.

https://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/volltextserver/16875/

Implementation Quantitative

Abstract

Recent pronouncements of the new government make it clear that it is seeking to alter the essential character of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). Among these prescriptions are that 60% of the works in each district should be devoted to agriculture and that a greater share of the cost of a work be devoted to material. This was followed by an explicit intent to restrict the MGNREGA to a few “needy” areas. These are based on an ill-founded premise that the MGNREGA is neither useful nor relevant in its current form. They ignore the growing evidence on the usefulness of MGNREGA works where the Act has been implemented well.

https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/hz2CLtVBL7q45SrIfg1BfL/Saving-peoples...

Implementation

Abstract

In spite of widespread acclaims of social audits as low-cost and powerful participatory tools that can bolster awareness and improve public service delivery, a key policy question is what such audits have achieved so far. Using a unique panel data set assembled from official social audit reports, we study the impact of these audits on MGNREGA delivery in Andhra Pradesh, India. Within a dynamic conceptual framework where beneficiaries, auditors and transgressors interact and learn and where beneficiary stakes vary across programme outcomes and irregularity types, we find a positive but insignificant impact of audits on employment generation and a modest decline in the leakage amount per labour related irregularity. These are outcomes with high beneficiary stakes. The latter occur alongside an increase in ‘harder to detect’ material-related irregularities with lower beneficiary stakes. Although we find evidence suggestive of beneficiary ‘learning’ from audit participation and of audit effectiveness in detecting irregularities, repeated audits did not deter irregularities.This highlights the need for a time bound process where transgressors are punished and responsibilities for follow-up of social audit findings are laid out and credibly enforced. Our findings suggest a changing anatomy of corruption, where transgressors keep one step ahead of auditors and respond to more intense scrutiny by locating new avenues for rent extraction.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2424194

Corruption Politics

Abstract

This article reviews the impact and effectiveness in implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) at state level as well as at village level with focus on inclusiveness, rural labor markets and agriculture. The paper finds that some states are more effective in implementation then others. The states which effectively integrated MGNREGA works with local planning gained much in terms of employment generation and asset creation leading to increased agricultural potential. The scheme is more inclusive of vulnerable sections of the society including scheduled castes and tribes and also women. Study also highlight the village level differences in implementation and effective implementation leads to reduction of hunger and poverty. More importantly the scheme increased bargaining power of rural laborer in agricultural sector, resulted in higher wage rates, better work environment and less exploitation.

https://doi.org/10.1080/14736489.2014.937271

Caste Environmental Sustainability Gender Implementation Wages

Abstract

This article reviews the impact and effectiveness in implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) at state level as well as at village level with focus on inclusiveness, rural labor markets and agriculture. The paper finds that some states are more effective in implementation then others. The states which effectively integrated MGNREGA works with local planning gained much in terms of employment generation and asset creation leading to increased agricultural potential. The scheme is more inclusive of vulnerable sections of the society including scheduled castes and tribes and also women. Study also highlight the village level differences in implementation and effective implementation leads to reduction of hunger and poverty. More importantly the scheme increased bargaining power of rural laborer in agricultural sector, resulted in higher wage rates, better work environment and less exploitation.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14736489.2014.937271#:~:t...

Environmental Sustainability Implementation Poverty

Abstract

Implementation Poverty

Abstract

This article aims to assess the type of social contracts that led to the passage of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) by analysing the debates prevalent during the Act’s formulation, and the underlying beliefs about the existing social contract. The article argues that while existing social contracts shape the design of social policies, each policy may also have an aspiration of a particular type of social contract built into its design. Accordingly, it analyses the nature of social contract envisioned in the design of the MGNREGA, and the extent to which this social contract is being realised through the Act’s implementation.

https://doi.org/10.1057/ejdr.2014.6

Implementation

Abstract

We deserve to be told why the MGNREGA has been singled out for the axe, if for no other reason than to inform our views about future programmes, writes Abhijit Banerjee.

https://www.hindustantimes.com/columns/what-s-the-plan-for-mnrega-modi...

Challenges

Abstract

India’s new government has apparently decided to restructure the United Progressive Alliance’s flagship anti-poverty programme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). The scheme confers the right to every rural household to be employed in public works for 100 days per year.

https://www.indiaspend.com/why-150-million-rural-indians-could-be-affe...

Challenges

Abstract

One knows who will suffer if the Narendra Modi government succeeds in weakening MGNREGA.

https://www.epw.in/journal/2014/43-44/editorials/why-attack-mgnrega.ht...

Challenges Corruption Implementation Wages

Abstract

Empowerment brings betterment, improvement or tremendous changes in the present position compared to previous position. Earlier women, especially the rural poor women second consideration behind women. With the passage of time the position and condition of women changed. Literacy programmes, awareness programmes and different kinds of employment generating programme the condition of women has improved a lot. The concept of women empowerment got wider popularity and acceptance with launching of decentralized planning in Jammu and Kashmir. Rural women are traditionally homebound; the employment guarantee act played a significant role for curbing gender discrimination and empowering rural women. The national rural employment guarantee act 2005 or NREGA was brought into force by the union government in February 2006 a different scheme for the betterment of women empowerment and development of rural population. The scheme is attractive especially for women because it stipulates that one third of the total workers should be women. Hence this study aims at analyzing the women participation on MGNREGA special reference to Shahabad block of Anantnag Districts, J& K.

https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/WOMEN-EMPOWERMENT-THROUGH-MGNREG...

Gender

Abstract

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act that guarantees employment of every rural household for 100 days has different progressive provisions to incentivise participation of women in the programme. Official data suggest that 47% of all MGNREGA workers are women. The extent to which the programme is inclusive of women, with a particular focus on sub-populations of women such as widows and mothers of young children who typically face serious constraints in the context of labour market participation, is examined in this study using data from the National Sample Survey. The study finds that while the MGNREGA has indeed been inclusive of women, the substantial variations both across states and the exclusion of vulnerable groups of women demand attention.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/24480958

Gender Quantitative

Abstract

This paper used a gender and development GAD approach and explores how M G NREGA is opening a new window for the ease of livelihood for rural women in India MGNREGA is the first right based and demand driven employment generating act of the country which ensures some special provisions for rural women. The focus of the act is to mainstream the rural women into the contemporary discourse of economic development MGNREGS is the outcome of this act. This paper keeps an inner look about the expectations from this scheme for the development of women livelihood in rural areas and the challenges in ground level implementation. The problem addressed in this paper is the women work issues generating with the successful implementation of the scheme It is important to find out how the full benefits of the scheme can be explored. This exploration is needed for a large societal benefit and improved rural livelihood. For entire study a twofold approach is taken First is the analysis of available literatures to understand the possible outcomes of the scheme with current discourses of economic development. Second analysis of primary and secondary data for revealing the characteristics of the problem based on gender dynamics of the region. This study relates findings from the field survey of 210 samples in the state of West Bengal India Intensive field study has identified several positive outcomes like saving of time for domestic works mainstreaming of women labour generation of income and livelihood security for village women reorganization of women s work etc with wide regional variations. The study has identified major challenges to get these benefits. The result drawn from the study is general and regionally applicable.

https://socialscienceresearch.org/index.php/GJHSS/article/view/1063

Challenges Gender Implementation

Abstract

While developed countries are increasingly leaning on workfare programmes as a means to reduce work disincentives provoked by their far reaching social security systems, the concept of cash-for-work has gained importance in less developed countries as well. Looking back to a long history of food-for-work programmes in times of economic distress, developing countries increasingly run public works programmes not only to better target benefits to the poor (vis-à-vis welfare programmes) but also to use the emerging labour force to build up the rural economic infrastructure. India implemented the ambitious Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) in 2006, and since then, each rural household is guaranteed 100 days of unskilled wage employment per year within proximity of their residence.

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/workfare-as-an-effective-way-to-fig...

Poverty Wages

Abstract

This study seeks to shed light on issues that have not been addressed thus far by previous evaluations. It assumes an effective implementation of the programme under the NREGA— i.e. that the programme is effectively creating jobs for poor people in rural areas, that workers are being paid the official programme wage and that the nation’s castes and tribes are being employed in proportions similar to those stated in the programme’s official figures. With these assumptions, we address the macroeconomic and distributional implications of running an employment generation programme such as the NREGA, including the indirect employment effects it has through its secondary effects on other sectors. Second, we look at the programme’s impact on prices and hence on the cost of living of rural households. Third, we consider the programme’s economic and distributional effects when land productivity increases. Finally, we briefly discuss the extent to which leakages, in the form of hiring non-poor workers, would change the programme’s economy-wide impact, as well as the impact of changing the size of NREGA through a contraction/expansion of its budget.

https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/publications/SPG&E_...

Budget Gender Poverty Quantitative

Abstract

The MGNREGA was introduced in 2005 to meet the challenges of poverty and unemployment in rural India. This paper attempts to exercise a comparative study of asset-creation through MGNREGA among the tribal and non-tribal people in the state of Tripura. The objective was to find out to what extent the distribution of assets is justified in regard to income generation in rural Tripura. The study is based on secondary data and primary data. To carry out the study three (3) Autonomous District Council (ADC) and three (3) non-ADC blocks (a collection of villages) were chosen from this state. The required secondary data for this study were collected from sources such as various Govt. organization like panchayats (local Government at village level), Blocks, District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), District Magistrate (DM) Offices etc. The required data for the study was also collected from various websites and different publications of Govt. of Tripura and Govt. of India.

https://www.journalijar.com/article/482/a-study-on-the-impact-of-mahat...

Caste Quantitative

Abstract

This study quantifies the environmental and socio-economic benefits generated by the works implemented under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and assesses the potential of these benefits to reduce vulnerability of agricultural production and livelihoods of the beneficiaries, post-implementation (2011-12) as compared to pre-MGNREGA (2006-07), to current climate variability. Agricultural and livelihood vulnerability indices developed showed reduction in vulnerability due to implementation of works under the Act and resulting environmental benefits.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/24477901

Environmental Sustainability Implementation Quantitative

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the assets creation through employment generation by MGNREGA, in economic progress. MGNREGA has been one of the largest employment programmes in India over a decade. A micro level study of Ajmer district of Rajasthan is undertaken. Use of both primary and secondary data is collected with a help of interview schedule, from implementing agencies and websites. Stratified random sampling is used to select the sample size. The period of study is 2011-12 to 2012-13. Pooled regression analysis has been used to assess the asset creation through employment (mendays, womendays) contributing in economic progress of the sample unit. Result shows that in few permissible works, there has been an asset creation in which role of women has been dominating. This has led to improved status and role of decision making power of women in the family. Enrolment of children in school has also increased during the study period. A small effort of this study reveals that for proper utilisation of fund and economic progress of the district through asset creation is that the permissible work undertaken should match the geographical, economical and social requirement of that specified area.

https://iiste.org/Journals/index.php/JEDS/article/view/9792/0#google_v...

Gender Quantitative

Abstract

The study examines the role of the largest public works program in the world—the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS)—in buffering the negative effects of early childhood exposure to rainfall shocks on long-term health outcomes. Exploiting the spatial and temporal variation in NREGS coverage, the study estimates the extent to which nutritional shocks in early childhood can be offset by access to the program. The study employs a unique identification strategy by integrating detailed administrative records of drought shock and phased rollout information of NREGS with household-level panel data—the Young Lives survey—conducted over three waves (2002, 2007, and 2009–10) in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. Using individual fixed effects estimation, the study finds that while the policy does not help correct for long-term past health deficiencies it is useful in buffering recent drought shocks, which vary by policy relevant subgroups.

https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/691992?journalCode=e...

Quantitative