MGNREGA Scheme is the Promising Boon to Reduce Rural Poverty, Ample Employment generation and Reducing Rural-Urban Migration

Role of MGNREGA scheme (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) in Rural Infrastructure development, Reducing Rural Poverty and Migration: An Analysis

*Dr Md Areful Hoque

Introduction:

MGNREGA is a revolutionary step for India’s poor in alleviating their poverty. India is a country where majority of its population live in rural areas (almost 68.8 percent, 2011 Census). The concentration of rural areas has somehow correlation with poverty. Keeping in view the National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill was passed by Parliament on 7 September, 2005. The act NREGA came into force from 2 February 2006, initially 200 districts were selected for the enforcement of the scheme with a total budget of 11,300 Crore rupees. The NREGA scheme was first started at Bandlapalli village in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh. But in the year 2008, it was implemented in all 640 district of the country. On 2^nd October 2009, the Government of India, renamed the NREGA as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). The scheme provides a legal guarantee for one hundred days of employment in every financial year to adult members of any rural household willing to do unskilled manual work at the statutory minimum wages.

            The objective of MGNREGA scheme is to reduce rural poverty and generating huge employment and improve rural infrastructure. The MGNERGA is a revolutionary step for India’s poor. It is the biggest anti-poverty programme in the world. Thus MGNREGA is considered as a “silver bullet” for alleviating rural poverty and generating huge employment. In general, poverty can be defined as a situation when people are unable to satisfy the basic needs of life. It may be also analyzed by low per capita income and low per capita energy consumption, housing condition, availability of basic amenities and facilities (drinking water, sanitation etc.).

            MGNREGA is considered the most significant act in the history of the Indian polity in many ways like grass root level participation of every citizen and beneficiary through democratic process, multilayered social audit and transparency mechanism by involvement of civil society, comprehensive planning at village level towards sustainable and equitable development etc. MGNREGA is considered as a Growth Engine as it brings prosperity in rural economy via increased consumption demand. The rural people considered MGNREGA as a promising boon for improving their standard of living.

 Significance of MGNREGA Scheme:

MGNREGA aims to achieve the objective as enunciated in the Article: 41 of the Indian Constitution- “giving citizens the right to work”. The Act is significant due to the following reasons:

Ø  While the earlier wage employment programmes did not provide any guarantee of job, this Act provided guaranteed job. This guarantee for wage employment is now uniformed all over the country like never before.

Ø  It is a development initiative, chipping in with essential public investment for creation of durable assets, without which the growth process can’t be possible in the most backward regions of rural India.

Ø  Almost all the previous programmes were allocation based rather than demand based. NREGA, which was launched in 2006, is considered to be unique from this stand point.

Ø  The key element of MGNREGA is the provision of employment by the state to those people who are unable to find alternative employment, which provides a form of social safety net to the rural unemployment people.

Ø  In other wage employment programmes, anyone can be engaged as labour while in MGNREGA only job card holders that apply for employment can be engaged as laborers.

Ø  There is no time frame in other wage employment programmes but in MGNREGA, employment will be given within 15 days of demand, payment also within 15 days of work.

Ø  In other wage employment programme the duration of employment is dependent on duration of work by implementing agency while in MGNREGA, a job card holder applies for maximum 100 days.

The other key attributes of this Act are labour intensive work, decentralized participatory planning, women’s empowerment, work-site facilities and above all transparency and accountability through the provision of social audits and right to information. The use of information technology in this programme is considered to bring about greater transparency through intensive monitoring and faster execution. The payment of wages through bank and post office accounts is other innovative step that is likely to reduce fudging of muster rolls on the part of the implementing agencies since the actual payments are beyond their reach.

Thus MGNREGA is not only a welfare initiative but also a development effort that can take the Indian economy to a new prosperity.

Goals of MGNREGA

Long-term objectives of the Act include:

Ø  Enhancement of livelihood security in rural areas by guaranteeing 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to every registered household.

Ø  Creating productive assets

Ø  Protecting the environment

Ø  Reducing migration

Ø  Empowering rural women and the poor through the provision of a right-based law.

Ø  Fostering social equity.

Ø  To create strong social safety net for the vulnerable groups by providing employment source, when other alternative are inadequate.

Thus MGNREGA has 3 distinct goals:

ü  Protective

ü  Preventive

ü  Promotive

It protects the rural poor from vulnerabilities by providing them demand based employment. It prevents risk associated with agricultural investment and forced migration of rural poor. It brings prosperity in rural economy via increased consumption demand. Thus MGNREGA can be considered as a growth engine.

Main Features of MGNREGA Programmme:

v  Salient features of MGNREGA

(i) Right based-frame work

·         All adult members of a rural household willing to do unskilled manual work have the right to demand employment.

·         The GP after due verification will issue a job card.

·         After verification, the GP will issue a job card (contain details of the member) to the household with photograph free of cost within 15 days of application.

(ii) Time bound guarantee of employment

·         Employment will be provided by the GP within 15 days of work application, else unemployment allowance will be paid.

·         A household may avail to 100 days of guaranteed employment in a financial year, depending on its need.

(iii) Permissible works

·         Water conservation; drought proofing (including plantation & afforestation); flood protection; land development; minor irrigation.

(iv) Labour intensive works

·         A ratio of 60:40 will be maintained between wage and material.

·         Contractors/machinery is not permitted.  Payment of wages:

·         Wages will be paid at the wage earners through their bank/post office accounts.

·         Payment of wages to be made in every week and in any case not later than a fortnight.

(v) Decentralization

·         Gram Sabha (local community) will recommend works to be taken up.

·         Gram panchayats will execute at least 50% of work.

·         PRI will have a principal role in planning, monitoring and implementation.

(vi) Work site management and facilities

·         Work should be provided within 5 km radius of the village.

·         In case the number of children below the age of 6 years accompanying the women working at any site is 5 or more, provisions shall be made to assign one women worker to look after such children. The person assigned for this shall be paid the statutory minimum wage.

·         Thus drinking water, first-aid and shade are to be provided on the work sites.

·         Timely measurement to be ensured.

(vii) Women empowerment

·         At least one-third of the workers should be women.

·         Equal wages will be provided to both men & women.

(viii) Transparency and Accountability

·         Proactive disclosure of information.

·         Social Audit by the Gram Sabha is compulsory.

·         Regular monitoring at all levels.

·         Grievance redressal mechanism is to be set up.

(ix) Funding

·         100% wage cost is borne by Central Govt. 25% Material cost is born by the State Govt. Unemployment allowance is borne by State Govt.

(x) Contractors and Machinery are not allowed:

Because its reduce the man-power engagement.

v  Operational Mechanism of  MGNREGA Scheme:

MGNREGA has a five-tier structure of implementation starting from GP at the bottom to the central government at the top.

1.      Gram Panchayat (GP)

GP is the nodal agency at the bottom level that has the authority to select, design and implement 50% of the works. Selection of works, monitoring and supervision are done by the Gram Sabha (village council). GP has the responsibility to register households, issue job cards, receive applications for employment, provide employment and monitor the NREGA works.

2.      Block Panchayat

The rest 50% may be undertaken either by the block Panchayat or the district Panchayat or both. Block Panchayat monitors and coordinates the plans and works at the block level. Computer updating of MGNREGA works, muster roll entries, etc.is done at the block level under the guidance of the MGNREGA programme officer.

3. District panchayat:

District Panchayat, in addition to implementing non-mandatory works, coordinates MGNREGA activities at the district level. Besides, it has the responsibility to prepare both the district annual plan and the five-year perspective plan. These two plan documents are the bases which guide the implementation of MGNREGA at the village level. These documents are prepared at the district level in consultation with the GP and block Panchayats.

4. State Government

Next in hierarchy is the state government which acts as a facilitator in the flow of MGNREGA funds and helping in preparation of manpower. It has the responsibility to set up the State Employment Guarantee Council. The latter has the role to advice the government from time to time on MGNREGA implementation in the state. Besides, the council is also entrusted with the responsibility of monitoring and evaluation of the MGNREGA in the state.

5. Central Government

At the top of the hierarchy comes the central government. The Ministry of Rural Development, New Delhi is the nodal agency for MGNREGA implementation. It has the responsibility to set up Central Employment Guarantee Council for receiving advice on MGNREGA implementation. It may also undertake independent evaluation and monitoring of the scheme. It has the responsibility to prepare the budget and disburse funds.

Permissible Works under MGNREGA Scheme:

The works under MGNREGA scheme are-

Ø  Renovation of traditional water bodies and desalting (ponds, lakes, rivers, well etc.)

Ø  Water conservation and water harvesting.

Ø  Development of irrigation canals including micro and minor irrigation works.

Ø  Land development, leveling of ground, dumping of ground holes.

Ø  Flood control and protection works, drainage in water logged areas

Ø  Rural connectivity work ( like roads)

Ø  Massive afforestation on public places and river erosion areas

Ø  Any other works which may be notified by the Central Government (i.e. Swacch Bharat Abhiyan) with the consolation of the State Government

                          Table 1: Budget allocation of MGNREGA Scheme, India  (2008-09 to 2016-17)

Financial Year	Rupees (In Crores)
2008-09	48000
2009-10	39100
2010-11	40100
2011-12	41615
2012-13	33000
2013-14	33000
2014-15	34500
2015-16	34699
2016-17	38500
2017-18	48000
2018-19	48000

           Source: Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, 2018-19

                                Table 2: Employment Generation in MGNREGA Scheme, India

Financial Year	Peoples Works under MGNREGA Scheme (In Crores)
2008-09	1,87,75,234
2009-10	2,23,64,231
2010-11	3,99,12,743
2011-12	5,23,77,905
2012-13	7,32,81,193
2013-14	8,87,32,342
2014-15	10,21,82,712
2015-16	13,77,12,654
2016-17	17,23,98,786
2017-18	22,74,17,181
2018-19	26,81,98, 133

Source: Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, 2018-19

Challenges and Opportunities:

                The following challenges have been faced for ensuring successful implementation of MGNREGA Scheme in the district.

1.      It is a district with more than 65 per cent population belonging to deprive and marginalized sections of the society i.e, ST, SC,OBC and minorities community. This along with the low literacy resulted people are little knowledge about the aims and objectives of MGNREGA programme.

2.      The employment generation is not maintained properly. In this district, there are some villages where economically efficient people got the chance of employment. On the contrary, some people who are in need for employment are excluded.

3.      Delay of the payment to the MGNREGA workers.

4.      Failure of the authority to job provided to the job card holder.

5.      Delay in opening of account in the banks to job card holder.

         In spite of the above said challenges some proposed opportunities can be used for sustainable rural development.

1.      The Employment should be well distributed across the people of the various communities who are in need. There is urgent need to start awareness campaign to community for jobs.

2.      The wages rate should be increased to a proper level so that it could be increased the economic condition of the people in rural areas. All the beneficiaries MGNREGA workers Bank Account must be linked with the Aadhar Card for transparency and regular payment. Thereafter, People will be more interested to work in MGNREGA.

Conclusion:

            With the above forgoing discussion it is clear that MGNREGA is the only guarantee wage employment programme in our country. First time rural women’s have  got employ by MGNREGA scheme. But the Government should increase the MGNREGA workers wage, provision of at least 200 days of work to the BPL and landless family as against 100 days of work. The Government should be appoint a brand Ambassador of MGNREGA programmed for encouraging MGNREGA worker for more participation in this programme ( like  Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan performed by actress  Vidhya Balan, Road Safety Abhiyan performed by actor Amir Khan). The Government should be allows to use Contractors and Machines in some cases. If they are happen then MGNREGA can be a powerful instrument for inclusive growth in rural India through its impact on social protection, livelihood security and democratic government. Although No doubt MGNREGA play a important role to alleviating rural poverty, generating huge employment, reducing out migration in rural India.

               MGNREGA is not only a welfare initiative scheme but also a development effort that change the rural society into a new prosperity. Lastly we must have faith in our former Prime Minister Dr. Man Mohan Singh who describes it as “A landmark in our history in removing rural poverty from the face of the nation”.

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*Acknowledgement: The author is a Dynamic, prolific and articulate researcher from an Indian University. He has published many articles in the journals of International and national repute like Springer Series Journals, Scopus series Journals, UGC Referred and Peer-Reviewed Journals. His areas of specialization are Rural Development, Developmental Studies, Population Studies and Regional Planning and Development.