MGNREGA Bibliography

Abstract

An analysis of the National Sample Survey data for 2009-10 confirms expectations that poorer states of India have more demand for work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. However, we find considerable unmet demand for work on the scheme in all states, and more so in the poorest ones, where the scheme is needed most. Nonetheless, the scheme is reaching the rural poor and backward classes and is attracting poor women into the workforce.

https://www.epw.in/journal/2012/16/special-articles/does-indias-employ...

Gender Poverty Qualitative

Abstract

In 2005 India introduced an ambitious national anti-poverty program, now called the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. The program offers up to 100 days of unskilled manual labor per year on public works projects for any rural household member who wants such work at the stipulated minimum wage rate. The aim is to dramatically reduce poverty by providing extra earnings for poor families, as well as empowerment and insurance. If the program worked in practice the way it is designed, then anyone who wanted work on the scheme would get it. However, analysis of data from India’s National Sample Survey for 2009/10 reveals considerable un-met demand for work in all states. The authors confirm expectations that poorer families tend to have more demand for work on the scheme, and that (despite the un-met demand) the self-targeting mechanism allows it to reach relatively poor families and backward castes. The extent of the un-met demand is greater in the poorest states — ironically where the scheme is needed most. Labor-market responses to the scheme are likely to be weak. The scheme is attracting poor women into the workforce, although the local-level rationing processes favor men.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2026807#:~:text=If...

Caste Environmental Sustainability Gender Poverty Quantitative Wages

Abstract

Malnutrition is a major risk factor for mortality in children aged 1–12 months in India. Macroeconomic and social policies are determinants of both health and health inequalities. Therefore, policies targeting poverty and food insecurity might reduce infant malnutrition. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, a wage-for-employment policy of the Indian Government, targets deprivation and food insecurity in rural households. The Act could prevent malnutrition in children by improving household food security or increase the risk of malnutrition by reducing the time devoted to infant care or feeding if mothers are employed. We analysed the effect of household’s and mother’s participation in the scheme on malnutrition of children aged 1–12 months and studied how this effect occurred. We did a quantitative cross-sectional study (single-stage cluster sampling) and qualitative focus group discussions (nested sampling) in Dungarpur district in Rajasthan, India. We randomly selected (with Stata; version 10.1) 44 villages from the five administrative blocks of the district. All households with infants aged 1–12 months (identified with records of the local village nurse and community health worker) in each of these villages were asked to participate in the study. We measured three indicators of malnutrition: underweight, stunting, and wasting (WHO criteria). We used multivariable logistic regression modelling with a hierarchical approach. We analysed focus group discussions to generate themes, and quantified theoretical pathways by path analysis. We included 528 households with 1056 participants. Between August, 2010, and September, 2011, 281 households took part in the scheme, and 247 did not. Mothers were employed in 51 (18%) households in the scheme. Prevalence of wasting was 39% (n=206), stunting 24% (n=129), and underweight 50% (n=266). Households in the scheme were less likely to have wasted infants (odds ratio [OR] 0·58, 95% CI 0·38–0·90; p=0·016) and less likely to have underweight infants (OR 0·47, 95% CI 0·30–0·74; p=0·002) than were households not in the scheme. Stunting did not differ significantly between groups (OR 0·79, 95% CI 0·54–1·16; p=0·222). We did 11 focus group discussions with 65 mothers. Although the scheme reduced starvation, it did not provide the amount of benefit claimed by the programme because of lower than standard wages and delayed payments. Participants generally agreed that mother’s employment was detrimental to infant care and feeding because of a lack of facilities at worksites for child care and breastfeeding. Results from path analysis did not support existence of an effect through household food security and infant feeding but did suggest a pathway of effect through low birthweight. The probability of being born with low birthweight (<2·5 kg) was lower in participating households than in non-participating households, which reduced the risk of infant malnutrition in the participating households. The probability coefficients of the Act's effect on each indicator were for wasting: indirect path −0·21 (p=0·074), direct path −0·23 (p=0·216), total −0·44 (p=0·016); for underweight: indirect −0·25 (p=0·051), direct −0·43 (p=0·061), total −0·68 (p=0·007); for stunting: indirect −0·06 (p=0·204), direct −0·26 (p=0·065), total −0·32 (p=0·047). Path analysis and logistic regression did not show a significant effect of mother's employment on the outcomes. Participation in the wage-for-employment programme was associated with reduced malnutrition, possibly mediated indirectly by improved birthweight rather than by improved infant feeding. Provision of child-care facilities at worksites could mitigate the negative effects of mother's participation in the scheme. Although the scheme seems to reduce risk of low birthweight, ensuring timely and adequate payment could improve food security, and augment the protective effect of the programme against infant malnutrition.

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(13)602...

Poverty Qualitative Quantitative Wages

Abstract

A majority of the permissible works being carried out under MGNREGS relate to building of assets aimed at enhancing rural water security. The present study attempts to assess how durable these assets have been and how effective MGNREGS has been in helping improve rural water security. The results based on a case study in the state of Madhya Pradesh show that despite the restrictions imposed on non-use of any machinery for construction of structures and several other limitations, the water structures that have been built are of a reasonably good quality and hold a great promise in improving rural water security. There are, however, some impediments in converting water available in these structures into utilisable water. Successful mediation through appropriate intervention strategies can not only enable beneficiary farmers to use the available water more productively, it can also enhance more productive utilisation of MGNREGS money invested in asset creation.

https://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/iwmi-tata/PDFs/2012_Highlight-32.pdf

Environmental Sustainability Implementation

Abstract

Prevailing practices in evaluating workfare programs have ignored the disutility of the type of work done, with theoretically ambiguous implications for the impacts on poverty. In the case of India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, past assessments have relied solely on household consumption per person as the measure of economic welfare. The paper generalizes this measure to allow for the disutility of casual manual work. The new measure is calibrated to the distribution of the preference parameters implied by maximization of an idiosyncratic welfare function assuming that there is no rationing of the available work. The adjustment implies a substantially more “poor-poor” incidence of participation in the scheme than suggested by past methods. However, the overall impacts on poverty are lower, although still positive. The main conclusions are robust to a wide range of alternative parameter values and to allowing for involuntary unemployment using a sample of (self-declared) un-rationed workers.

http://hdl.handle.net/10986/12113

Poverty Quantitative

Abstract

A common criticism of the National Rural Employment Guarantee programme is that it does not lead to the creation of permanent assets and a sustained increase in incomes. This field study of the construction of wells in one block in Ranchi district of Jharkhand shows that asset creation under this programme can result in the creation of income-generating assets.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/41720080

Environmental Sustainability Qualitative

Abstract

Recent years have seen an increasing interest in using public-works programs as anti-poverty measures in developing countries. This paper analyzes the rural labor market impacts of the Indian National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, one of the most ambitious programs of its kind, by using a regression discontinuity design. I find that private-sector wages increase substantially for women, but not for men, and that these effects are concentrated during the main agricultural season. In contrast, there is little evidence for negative private employment effects.

https://www.iza.org/publications/dp/6858/labor-market-impacts-of-a-lar...

Gender Poverty Quantitative Wages

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to analyze the awareness of beneficiaries on Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. To achieve the purpose of the study, 600 beneficiaries were randomly selected as sample by using multi stage random sampling. Paper-based survey questionnaire design was carried out as research design in the study. The interview schedule focuses on the basic rules and regulation of MGNREGA which are related to the beneficiaries such as Registration for employment, Employment, Wage payment, Facilities at the workplace, Records in workplace, Casualty at work site and Grievance Redressal mechanism. The appropriate statistical analysis was carried with the help of using popular statistical package SPSS 16. The results of the study indicate that the beneficiaries have adequate awareness in Registration for employment, Employment, Wage payment, Facilities at the workplace and Records in workplace except Casualty at work site and Grievance Redressal mechanism. In addition, the beneficiaries who have studied higher secondary level have more awareness on MGNREGA than others. This result of the study will be relevant and significant to the Government and NGOs to implement the scheme effectually.

https://www.proquest.com/openview/3b8ea5e324e362f316a6a12ab9e166b7/1?p...

Implementation Quantitative Wages

Abstract

Large-scale social safety net programs such as India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) are difficult to implement due to governance challenges related to elite capture, leakages, and corruption. The ability to identify how the governance challenges of program implementation can be met requires detailed insights into the actual process of program implementation, with clear views on the source of leakage and mismanagement, the sensitivity of program implementation to the influence of different actors, local power structures and informal bureaucratic processes. This paper uses a new participatory research method, referred to as Process-Influence Mapping, to shed light on these issues and related governance challenges, using the implementation of NREGA as an example. The Process-Influence Mapping tool helps identify the specific features of the NREGA implementation process that limit the program’s effectiveness (for example, elite capture in the definition of work and capacity limitations due to staff shortages and lack of training) and create scope for the misappropriation of funds. The insights gained can be used to identify policy options for reforming the administrative process of NREGA implementation so as to create an effective social safety net.

Challenges Corruption Implementation

Abstract

https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/8755661/mgnrega-implementation-...

Implementation

Abstract

According to a recent Indian Government committee constituted to estimate poverty, nearly 38% of India’s population is poor. More than 75% of poor people reside in villages. Rural poverty is largely a result of low productivity and unemployment. In order to alleviate rural poverty by generating employment and creation of sustainable assets in Rural India, Government of India brought in the flagship programme called Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005. However, Social security programmes are not free from flaws. So is the case with MGNREGA. This article highlights the issues and challenges being faced by Government while implementing the world’s largest employment generating programme and the issues among the people covered under the scheme.

https://www.indianjournals.com/ijor.aspx?target=ijor:ijpss&volume=2&is...

Challenges Implementation Poverty

Abstract

Underlining the critical role played by the MGNREGA, this paper exemplifies the issues, challenges and significance of MGNREGA particularly in the context of rural India. Primary Data was collected using structured questionnaire from 153 respondents and Secondary Data has been used mainly from the official website of MGNREGA. The study makes a comparative analysis between the select fifteen states of the Indian Union and provides the framework for policy recommendation for the states with regard to various parameters. F Test indicates that there is a significant effect of social segment on participation rate. Three major issues (a) Governance; (b) Quality of Life; and (c) Wage and Productivity have been found as the most important factors after conducting the factor analysis. A rampant corruption found in many states has been highlighted even among the well performing states manifesting the potent flagship programme to be deceptive and skeptic about its functioning.MGNREGA has been proved to be the largest employment programme particularly for the rural India and has contributed towards the increase in purchasing power by being a major source of income for the bottom of the pyramid people in the Society. It has helped in solving problems of rural distress but a lot needs to be done. The wage rate should be increased and linked with inflation. I was also found that the minimum number of days should be increased from 100 to 180. Women have outperformed men in terms of productivity and their participation should be increased.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2170039

Challenges Corruption Wages

Abstract

Book Review: The Battle for Employment Guarantee edited by Reetika Khera(New Delhi: Oxford University Press), 2011; pp 264, hardback, Rs 595.

https://www.epw.in/journal/2012/10/book-reviews/realising-right-work.h...

Challenges Wages

Abstract

https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/8755666/report-of-the-committee...

Implementation

Abstract

https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/node/58129/print

Implementation Politics

Abstract

Rural development is an integral process of economic growth and social progress. It implies the development of rural sector which has many dimensions. The role of microfinance and women empowerment in this context is important because it provides an environment of sustainable improvement in the quality of life of rural womenfolk enabling them to form S.H.Gs, and providing them equal opportunities in decision making process and participation in community life.

https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Rural-Development-Through-Microf...

Environmental Sustainability Gender

Abstract

https://ras.org.in/some_aspects_of_performance_of_mgnrega

Implementation

Abstract

In this comparative study, we have attempted to analyze the state-wise performance of the MGNREGA and its impact on various streams of agriculture and rural agricultural wages. To start with, funding of the scheme has been very balancing between the state and center. It ranges around 80:20 of share to the implementation of scheme between the Center and the States. In terms of employability, states that around 13,332 crore person days are created and 7.08 lakh assets are built, out of 25.98 lakh taken up under the programme. Of the total person days created, 51.02 percent are the person days by the women labourers. When it comes to coverage of population, the states that claim to have covered more than 50 percent of the households are Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, with both of them having poverty rates that are much higher than the national average; followed by Bihar and Jharkhand, with over 30 percent coverage but very high levels of poverty. Besides, at the total expenditures suggests that Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan have distributed Rs.10-17 billion as wage payments followed by Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Bihar, with the utilized amounts ranging between Rs.5 and 10 billion each. Another important thing to consider about the scheme is about the impact on farm mechanization of agriculture. Ultimately, it is worth mentioning here that the MGNREGS has benefited the agricultural labourers not only directly, but also indirectly as the scheme pressured the Minimum Agricultural Wage Rate (MAWR) to be increased.

https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/236015414.pdf

Gender Implementation Wages

Abstract

Public works programs, aimed at building a strong social safety net through redistribution of wealth and generation of meaningful employment, are becoming increasingly popular in developing countries. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), enacted in August 2005, is one such program in India. This paper assesses causal impacts (Intent-to-Treat) of NREGA on public works participation, labor force participation, and real wages of casual workers by exploiting its phased implementation across Indian districts. Using nationally representative data from Indian National Sample Surveys (NSS) and Difference-in-Difference framework, we find that there is a strong gender dimension to the impacts of NREGA: it has a positive impact on the labor force participation and this impact is mainly driven by a much sharper impact on female labor force participation. Similarly, NREGA has a significant positive impact on the wages of female casual workers-real wages of female casual workers increased 8% more in NREGA districts compared with the increase experienced in non-NREGA districts. However, the impact of NREGA on wages of casual male workers has only been marginal (about 1%). Using data from pre-NREGA period, we also perform falsification exercise to demonstrate that the main conclusions are not confounded by pre-existing differential trends between NREGA and non-NREGA districts.

https://www.iza.org/publications/dp/6548/the-impact-of-indian-job-guar...

Gender Implementation Wages

Abstract

When it was launched in 2004, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) was expected to materially alter the working of rural labor markets. Besides offering a modicum of employment security, it was expected to absorb some of the labor supply slack, lift equilibrium wage rate in the open market, put more purchasing power into the hands of the labor class, and reduce ‘distress migration’. It was also expected that medium and large farmers would view MGNREGA as a rival, creating peak-season labor shortages, pushing up farm wage rates and making farming even more unviable. Have all these happened? In 2009-10, and then again in 2010-11, IWMI deployed more than 50 masters students of rural management to survey the landscape of these interactions. This highlight offers a quick synthesis of what the students found.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233381656_Labor_Market_Dynami...

Quantitative Wages

Abstract

The government falls short of constitutional requirements even after it indexes wage rates in MGNREGA to inflation.

https://www.epw.in/journal/2011/03/editorials/half-step.html

Politics Wages

Abstract

https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Series-No-.-171-Accountability-F...

Corruption

Abstract

The impact of climate change would be the most severe for the poor communities, living in the developing nations with limited options for livelihood and high level of dependence on the natural resources. The impacts would increase the food insecurity, water stress and extreme weather events which would affect the livelihood security of these communities and increase their vulnerability. It is therefore important that development programmes targeting such communities should be underpinned with the measures of adaptation to climate change. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), implemented on a national scale is one such programme that creates employment by undertaking diverse activities aimed towards water harvesting, drought proofing, flood protection and plantations. The study evaluates the ecological and economic impact of MGNREGA in Panna, a drought-prone district of M.P. Threat in relation to climate change, would be more severe as the district is characterized by high level of poverty (72% of population under BPL) and less irrigated land (11.8%). Construction of wells, renovation/construction of ponds, plantations and watershed management are some of the major activities being implemented. These activities are measures towards adaptation to climate change apart from having direct outputs in terms of enhanced agricultural productivity due to increased availability of water and land conservation. Results show an increase in irrigated land by 26% and subsequent increase in their average household income by 15%. In case of Kapil Dhara (construction of well on individual land), there is 100% increase of irrigated land and 45% increase in their income. With respect to people’s perceptions, more than 50% of the respondents ranked prevention of soil erosion and increased soil moisture as the most important benefits accrued due to plantation, but only after they were briefed about different benefits including wage employment, materiel and ecological benefits. This indicates that sensitization of the masses towards role of MGNREGA in climate change adaptation would add to people’s appreciation and participation in the program for championing development with adaptation.

https://dlc.dlib.indiana.edu/dlc/items/85d123f9-3352-4084-8a86-19c73fb...

Environmental Sustainability Poverty Wages

Abstract

National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (2005), later renamed as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is one of the most significant interventions of the Government in post-Independent India. Aiming at addressing the principal causes of hunger and starvation in rural areas, the Act ensures to the poor that they can expect to earn a living wage, without loss of their dignity, and demand work as their right. In addition to the immediate impact in terms of poverty reduction, the program has the potential to lead the economy in labor intensive growth path through the creation of assets. However, the positive achievements of the intervention have been lost in the noise of critical reports and anti-MGNREGA propaganda. The productive value of MGNREGA work has been criticized as a futile attempt “to play with mud, to create road that goes from nowhere to nowhere, to dig ditches that will be wasted away in the next monsoon”. The objective of the present study is to take a more informed look at the MGNREGA to assess the effectiveness of the assets created in three districts of Madhya Pradesh

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259182504_Asset_Creation_unde...

Environmental Sustainability Poverty Wages

Abstract

In the history of social protection programmes in India, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is the most expansive and ambitious programme ever. In 2009/10 alone, over 380 billion rupees (US$8 billion) were spent to employ over 50 million households under this scheme. To oversee such expansive coverage, an elaborate monitoring and evaluation system has been enshrined in the law. It was also realised that non-state actors need to be included in the monitoring process for collective accountability and ensuring transparency. Social audits are unique collaborative governance mechanisms which are not only participatory programme evaluation exercises but also lead to empowerment of the poor. They are a platform for the vulnerable to raise their ‘voice’ and assert their ‘rights’; to hold the administration accountable and assume collective responsibility, thereby potentially transforming social protection to social justice. This article analyses the social audit framework from a policy design perspective, in light of field reports and recent changes in the rules and aims, to unravel why, despite the merits, it is not yet the ‘magic silver bullet’ for poverty alleviation.

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1759-5436.2011.00269.x

Budget Politics Poverty

Abstract

Abstract

Using macro level data on MGNREGA performance in drought-prone states of Karnataka and Rajasthan as well as in irrigation-dominated state of Andhra Pradesh, this study has revealed that the impact of MGNREGA wage on the economic scarcity of labour is relatively modest when compared with the impact of hike in non-farm wages. Even though the provision of food security through public distribution system has contributed to the economic scarcity of labour, the relative hike in non-farm wages is contributing to higher economic scarcity of labour rather than PDS and MGNREGA wages. The study has suggested subsidies for farm mechanization should be provided in order to sustain food and livelihood security in the droughtprone as well as irrigation-dominant states of India.

https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/119405/?v=pdf

Environmental Sustainability Wages

Abstract

This note questions some of the assumptions, fundamental concepts and methodologies in “MGNREGA for Environmental Service Enhancement and Vulnerability Reduction: Rapid Appraisal in Chitradurga District, Karnataka” (EPW, 14 May 2011), arguing that the analysis in the paper does not support the authors’ claims of multiple benefits from the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/23017795

Environmental Sustainability

Abstract

https://www.dalitstudies.org.in/papers/working-papers/gendered-risks-p...

Caste Gender Poverty

Abstract

The study has tried to capture the effect of MGNREGA by selecting two sets of villages in the Gulbarga district of Karnataka, one which have utilized 75 per cent of allocated funds and the other which have utilized less the 25 per cent of allocated funds under MGNREGA. The study is based on primary data obtained from 120 sample farmers belonging to five village panchayats. In redgram, a significant difference has been observed in use of machine power and labour use between fully and partially-implemented MGNREGA villages, but no difference has been recorded in the use of material inputs. Similarly, in the rabi jowar, there is a significant difference in labour use but not in the use of machine power and material inputs between two categories of villages. The total cost of cultivation in fully-implemented MGNREGA villages has been found higher by 22.91 per cent and 16.37 per cent in red gram and rabi jowar, respectively. The labour productivity of male and female has been noticed lower in fully-implemented MGNREGA villages for all operations in both the crops. The study has given some suggestions to address the problem of labour scarcity in fully-implemented villages.

http://purl.umn.edu/119407

Implementation

Abstract

The present study conducted in the Burdwan district of West Bengal, has examined the socio-economicimpact of MGNREGA on the rural poor who are mainly comprised of small and marginal farmers & agricultural labourers. The study is based on a random sample of 102 respondents (82 beneficiary and 20 non-beneficiaryhouseholds) drawn by the PPS method from two good-performing and two poorly-performing GramPanchayats randomly selected from one randomly selected good-performing block in the district. It hasbeen found that significant changes have taken place in the socio-economic variables like annual percapita income, monthly per capita food expenditure, annual per child expenditure on education, per capitasavings, condition of the dwelling houses, access to healthcare facility and possession of other assets orluxury items for those households which are regularly working in the scheme. According to the value of thesocio-economic index prepared, it has been found that in the initial year of implementation (2007-08) ofMGNREGA in the study area, 43.9 per cent beneficiary households were in poor socio-economic conditionswhich have gradually improved in the succeeding years and decreased to 32.9 per cent in 2008-09 andfurther to 18.3 per cent in 2009-10. The study has made some suggestions also for incorporating improvementsin the present MGNREG scheme based on the constraints reported by the workers associated with thisScheme

https://www.indianjournals.com/ijor.aspx?target=ijor:aerr&volume=24&is...

Poverty Quantitative

Abstract

The study conducted in the state of Haryana has investigated the impact of implementation of MGNREGA in two districts — one agriculturally-advanced (Karnal) and the other agriculturally-backward (Mewat). Besides demographic characteristics, the paper has investigated the difference in the employment status, income, landholding size, herd size and other assets of the sample farm households in these two districts by taking 120 farm families, 60 from each district. The impact of MGNREGA within a district has also been studied in terms of income and employment security, migration, debt repayment, extent of participation in MGNREGA works, socio-economic status, etc. by seeking information from 30 participating and 30 nonparticipating households in MGNREGA works in each district. A significant difference has been found in the extent of employment under MGNREGA works in agriculturally-advanced Karnal (13.7%) and agriculturally-backward Mewat (24.6%) districts. The study has observed that despite being a source of employment, MGNREGA has not been able to check the migration from the developed region because of higher market wage rates at destinations. The study has concluded that farmers owning large size of landholdings and more number of animals are not much interested in participating in MGNREGA works.

https://econpapers.repec.org/article/agsaerrae/119403.htm

Environmental Sustainability Implementation

Abstract

This study has evaluated the impact of MGNREGA on income generation and labour supply in agriculture in one of the districts in central dry zone of Karnataka. Results have shown that the number of days worked in a year with the implementation of MGNREGA programme has significantly increased to 201 days, reflecting 16 per cent increase. Regression analysis has revealed that gender, education and family size of the workers are the significant factors influencing the worker’s employment under the Program. The increase in income is to the tune of 9.04 per cent due to additional employment generated from MGNERGA. In the total income, the contribution of agriculture is the highest (63%), followed by non-agricultural income (29%) and MGNREGA income (8%). Implementation of MGNERGA works has led to labour scarcity to the tune of 53 per cent and 30 per cent for agriculture operations like weeding and sowing, respectively. There has been a decline in area for labour-intensive crops like tomato and ragi to the extent of 30 per cent due to MGNERGA implementation.

https://www.indianjournals.com/ijor.aspx?target=ijor:aerr&volume=24&is...

Implementation Quantitative

Abstract

This paper focuses on women’s participation in the NREGP and analyses the potential impact of the programme in the medium term on women’s access to wage work and wages of women workers in rural India.

https://www.ilo.org/integration/resources/papers/WCMS_153042/lang--en/...

Gender Quantitative Wages

Abstract

This paper focuses on women’s participation in the NREGP and analyses the potential impact of the programme in the medium term on women’s access to wage work and wages of women workers in rural India.

https://www.ilo.org/publications/issues-labour-market-inequality-and-w...

Gender Wages

Abstract

The activities undertaken under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in Chitradurga district, Karnataka, were assessed for their potential to enhance and provide environmental services. Key programmes implemented in 20 villages during 2009 were studied using rapid scientific assessment methods. An indicator approach was adopted to analyse environmental services such as water for irrigation and improvement in soil quality. The status of environmental services before and after implementation of the activities was examined and vulnerability indices were constructed and compared. The activities were found to have reduced the vulnerability of agricultural production, water resources and livelihoods to uncertain rainfall, water scarcity and poor soil fertility.

https://www.epw.in/journal/2011/20/special-articles/mgnrega-environmen...

Environmental Sustainability Quantitative

Abstract

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of the Government of India provides a legal guarantee for 100 days of employment per year to adult members of any rural household willing to undertake public works at the prescribed minimum wages. In 2010-11, the program provided more than 2 billion person-days of employment to roughly 50 million rural households. With an annual outlay of close to USD 9 billion, MG-NREGA is arguably the world’s largest rural livelihoods security program. The Act provides for a bottom-up participatory approach to planning and implementation of public works. Studies by IWMI and others suggest that well over half of the assets created under Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MG-NREGS) are water-related and that while a significant proportion among these were possibly designed for single-use but de facto multiple use structures. Given its emphasis on decentralized, participatory planning processes, MG-NREGS may be viewed as the world’s largest laboratory for community-based MUS. This country-report focuses on exploring investment opportunities for the Rockefeller Foundation in the context of scaling up community-based MUS through MG-NREGS.
Data from a study of 140+ best-performing MG-NREGS water assets in 75 villages across 8 districts of Bihar, Gujarat, Kerala and Rajasthan shows that, on an average, these assets were able to recover their investments in a little over a year. We also found that MG-NREGS implementation deeply influences and is, in turn, influenced by the farm and non-farm labor markets. While the wage-benefits of MG-NREGS are clear from the data on number of person-days of employment generated, the quantification of non- wage benefits and their distribution requires deeper investigation. Wherever village communities have taken enthusiastically to the idea of MG-NREGS and where their enthusiasm has been supported by an able, well-staffed administration and capable local governance institutions and leadership, the results have been exemplary. IWMI studies indicate that five factors make or mar successful MUS implementation via MG-NREGS: (a) Contextual fit; (b) Village preparedness and attitude towards MG- NREGS; (c) Proactive and well-equipped MG-NREGS administration; (d) Empowered and enlightened village communities; and (e) Incentives and inventive flexibility.
Via this country report, we propose the creation of a MUS NREGA Network and, as a start, a three- district pilot project which will, through an action-research – capacity building – experience sharing protocol, aim to overcome the barriers to MUS and maximize the net positive outcomes from MG- NREGS. The Network will target three primary outputs: a) Science-based knowledge products – research papers and policy briefs – aimed at making practical policy recommendations; b) Improved capacities of local government Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and MG-NREGS administration; and c) wider dissemination and interaction to promote cross-learning, including with African partners. The 12-month pilot will be hosted and incubated within IWMI-India. At the end of the pilot, we expect that the initiative will spin-off into an independent entity for expanding its work and activities to other parts of the country in partnership with IWMI and IRC.

https://www.musgroup.net/sites/default/files/8ff0f028efa73c89449a1a0e6...

Implementation Quantitative Wages

Abstract

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/08039410.2011.568185

Abstract

While for several decades now there has been an unresolved debate about the feasibility of having a national minimum wage, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act with its provision for a country-wide wage rate has placed the possibility to do so squarely on the agenda. The NREGA wage rate must logically be a need-based national minimum wage under the Minimum Wages Act. Declaring a need-based minimum wage rate under NREGA which is linked to the schedule of rates allows for sufficient flexibility to account for regional/geographical variation.

https://www.epw.in/journal/2011/07/commentary/nrega-wages-ensuring-dec...

Wages

Abstract

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) is a unique initiative in the history of social security-it is not just an employment scheme but also a potential tool of economic and social change in rural areas. This volume presents the first comprehensive account of the ‘battle for employment guarantee’ in rural India. Staying clear of the propaganda and mud-slinging that has characterized much of the NREGA debate so far, the book presents an informed and authentic picture of the ground realities. The essays are based on field studies of NREGA by a team of researchers who have been actively involved in the campaign for the right to work. They examine a wide-range of issues such as entitlements, corruption, people’s perceptions of NREGA, women’s empowerment, mobilization of unorganized workers, and socio-economic impact of NREGA. They also provide a comparative analysis of the challenges and successes in the implementation of NREGA in different states including Orissa, Himachal Pradesh, and Rajasthan.

https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-battle-for-employment-guar...

Challenges Gender Implementation Qualitative

Abstract

The Employment Guarantee Act of India came into existence in 2005, with an associated policy and programme that have attracted a large number of women as participants. Primarily, women’s participation in this programme has been as wage-seekers. This article argues that currently MNREGA, the well-known public works programme, has no impact on the social transformation (though legally claimed through provisions such as equal wages) that women involved in the programme need, but we can nevertheless see huge potential for women to do more than benefit in terms of day-to-day welfare: the programme has potential to support women’s empowerment in the sense that it affords them the opportunity to experience their collective strength, and potentially redefine relations with men through involvement in the programme.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13552074.2011.592639

Gender

Abstract

Using a village in Tamil Nadu as a case study, this article examines the initial response to the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme on the ground, the reasons behind the low participation, and its subsequent reworking to make it not just viable but also “successful”. As conceived, the transformatory potential of nrega is limited. When operationalised in letter and spirit, such programmes may alleviate poverty, and to that extent empower women, but cannot transform our rural economies that are characterised by low growth, poor investments in infrastructure and limited generation of growth-led decent employment.

https://www.epw.in/journal/2011/43/review-womens-studies-review-issues...

Gender Poverty Qualitative

Abstract

This chapter consists of five essays on India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). Two essays make the case for NREGA as a step towards the right to work, and responds to the critics. The third essay discusses the ground realities of corruption in NREGA, and how it can be prevented. The fourth essay draws attention to problems related to the timely payment of NREGA wages. The concluding essay discusses the productive value of NREGA works and the learning value of the implementation process. The chapter draws on a series of field surveys of NREGA in different Indian states, conducted with student volunteers over the years.

https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-companion-to-politi...

Politics

Abstract

Using a field survey, this paper examines the empowerment effects of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme on rural women in Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. It argues that women workers have gained from the scheme primarily because of the paid employment opportunity, and benefits have been realised through income—consumption effects, intra—household effects, and the enhancement of choice and capability. Women have also gained to some extent in terms of realisation of equal wages under the NREGS, with long—term implications for correcting gender skewness and gender discriminatory wages prevalent in the rural labour market of India. Despite the difficulties and hurdles for women, prospects lie, inter alia, in their collective mobilisation, more so in laggard states.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/20764337

Gender Quantitative Wages

Abstract

Caste Wages

Abstract

The activities undertaken under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in Chitradurga district, Karnataka, were assessed for their potential to enhance and provide environmental services. Key programmes implemented in 20 villages during 2009 were studied using rapid scientific assessment methods. An indicator approach was adopted to analyse environmental services such as water for irrigation and improvement in soil quality. The status of environmental services before and after implementation of the activities was examined and vulnerability indices were constructed and compared. The activities were found to have reduced the vulnerability of agricultural production, water resources and livelihoods to uncertain rainfall, water scarcity and poor soil fertility.

https://www.epw.in/journal/2011/20/special-articles/mgnrega-environmen...

Environmental Sustainability Implementation

Abstract

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) has completed four years since its inception in India. The aim of this programme is to enhance livelihood security of households in rural areas of the country by providing at least one hundred days of manual wage employment to every household in a year. If this programme achieve it objectives of , first, providing work and thus income to the poor and marginal sections of the society and second, create productive assets that raise land productivity and thus, contribute in raising agricultural yields, then it would be able to transform the face of rural India. The ‘Right to Work’ establishes in this Act makes it a distinctive and special in terms of resource allocation and the number of households demand employment. Today, 45 million households have demanded jobs under this programme for year 2009-10. The participation of Schedule Castes and Schedule Tribes and Women in the large proportion is one of the main achievements of this programme. There are still large regional variations in the performance in the implementation of this scheme in various states. It is essential to reduce this gap among states in terms of its implementation. However, the average 42 days of the work at all India level have been provided under MGNREGA and this is significant to raise this average, specially when it is completing now two years of implantation in all rural districts of the country. Various independent studies have challenged the claims made by the government regarding the success of this programme. But important is that, such a huge employment guarantee programme in terms of size and resources is showing its positive results on the rural India. It is important to underline that vast mechanism for its monitoring and evaluation sometime works in making the implementation process slow. But the involvement of Gram Sabha, civil society members and government administration machinery has been bearing the good results in general. However, challenges are there but progress is quite encouraging. There are reports of delays in the release of funds, providing jobs, payments of work and issuance of job cards etc. Lack of trained and professional staff is another acute problem at the grass root implementation of the programme. But despite all these weaknesses this Act is a major step in the direction of addressing the problem of poverty in rural India. The change is slow but its impacts are visible in terms of income generation and creation of productive assets in villages. Off course, whether more optimistic possibilities work themselves out depends on a number of conditions. Most importantly it depends on the social mobilisation, and participation of beneficiaries in the planning, implementation and evaluation of the programmes

https://www.ace.lu.se/images/Syd_och_sydostasienstudier/working_papers...

Caste Challenges Gender Implementation

Abstract

The government of India has shifted from cash payment of wages under the renamed Mahatma Gandhi Employment Guarantee Scheme to settlement through bank accounts. This has been done in order to prevent defrauding of workers and to give them greater control over their wages. Has this been achieved after the switch? Based on a survey in December 2008 in one block each in Allahabad (Uttar Pradesh) and Ranchi (Jharkhand) districts, this article probes questions related to payment of wages through banks.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/25663966

Implementation Politics Wages