MGNREGA Sameeksha

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), the flagship rural employment scheme of the Government of India, was launched in February 2006. It is perhaps the largest and most ambitious social security and public works programme in the world.

Six years after its implementation, the basic principles and high potential of the MGNREGA are well established. The fact that about one-fourth (25 per cent) of all rural households in the country participate in the programme every year, is testimony to its resounding popularity. Since its inception, around Rs 110,000 crore has gone directly as wage payment to rural households and 1,200 crore person-days of employment have been generated. MGNREGA with its demand-driven design, rights-based structure and unprecedented scale has attracted the attention of several scholars, researchers, social activists, and policymakers and analysts around the world. This anthology is a synthesis of over a hundred studies on MGNREGA, its impact and implementation. It provides a readable summary of these studies and popularly expressed concerns. It also seeks to identify unanswered questions on both the impact and potential of MGNREGA that will require further research. The report is objective in identifying both the positive impact of the Scheme as well as the constraints that limit MGNREGAs effective implementation.

There is a thread of optimism that runs through the chapters the conviction that MGNREGA, if implemented effectively, can create vital rural infrastructure and address social and economic development concerns that will be sustainable. will be a useful reference and resource for policymakers, academics, journalists, civil society organisations, social activists and general readers.

• List of Tables, Figures and Boxes
• Foreword by Shri Jairam Ramesh, Minister of Rural Development
• Acknowledgements
• List of Abbreviations
• Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
• Objectives and Salient Features
• Mandate and Objectives
• Coverage
• Salient Features of the Act
• A Paradigm Shift
• Performance of MGNREGA

• Impact on Poverty and Deprivation
• MGNREGA and Market Wages
• Participation of Marginalised Communities
• Works on Private Lands of the Marginalised

• Women Participation in MGNREGA
• Reduced Differential Wages and Wage Parity
• Economic Independence and Empowerment of Women
• Role of Self-help Groups and Community-based Organisations
• MGNREGA, Gender and Ecology

• Quality and Durability of Assets
• Work Completion Rate
• Work on Private Lands and Public Lands
• Multiple Uses of MGNREGA Assets
• Leveraging MGNREGA for Sustainable Development

• Enhancement of Environmental Services
• Creation of Green Jobs
• Agricultural Production and Productivity

• Impact on Agricultural Labour
• Increase in Bargaining Power and Choice of Work
• Migration

• Awareness and Planning
• Demand for Work and Unemployment Allowance
• Timely and Full Payment of Wages
• Leakages and Misappropriations in the Scheme
• Transparency and Accountability
• Accuracy of Management Information System (MIS) and Monthly Progress Report Data

• List of Permissible Works Expanded
• Ensuring the Demand-based Character of MGNREGA
• Effective Planning
• Deployment of Human Resources
• Reducing Delays in Wage Payments
• Strengthening MIS
• Equal Opportunity for Vulnerable Groups
• Greater Role for Civil Society Organisations
• Better Social Audits and Vigilance for Transparency and Accountability
• Bibliography