MGNREGA Scheme
[24th December 2025] The Hindu OpED: The VB-G RAM G Act 2025 fixes structural gaps
PYQ Relevance[UPSC 2023] Most of the unemployment in India is structural in nature. Examine the methodology adopted to compute unemployment in the country and suggest improvements. Linkage: The VB-G RAM G Act, 2025 directly addresses structural unemployment and episodic employment by strengthening the statutory employment guarantee. The Act’s emphasis on advance planning, enhanced person-days, and timely payments responds to long-standing concerns over the mitigation of rural unemployment. |
Mentor’s Comment
The enactment of the Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Aajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025 marks a decisive recalibration of India’s rural employment guarantee framework. Amid debates on fiscal withdrawal, centralisation, and dilution of rights, this article examines how the Act addresses long-standing structural and implementation gaps in MGNREGA while preserving its legal core.
Introduction
The President’s assent to the VB-G RAM G Act, 2025 enhances the statutory rural employment guarantee from 100 to 125 days. Contrary to claims of dilution, the Act seeks to correct fragmentation, weak enforceability, episodic employment, and accountability deficits that emerged during earlier phases of implementation.
Reframing Welfare and Development as Complementary
- Conceptual Continuum: Treats income support, asset creation, agricultural stability, and long-term rural productivity as interlinked outcomes rather than competing objectives.
- Statutory Anchoring: Retains the justiciable right to employment while strengthening enforceability through procedural reforms.
- Design Philosophy: Embeds welfare delivery within durable infrastructure creation and productivity enhancement.
Expansion and Strengthening of Legal Entitlements
- Enhanced Employment Guarantee: Expands guaranteed employment from 100 to 125 days, reversing stagnation in entitlements.
- Removal of Dilutionary Provisions: Eliminates procedural disincentives that earlier nullified unemployment allowance in practice.
- Grievance Redressal: Reinforces time-bound grievance mechanisms to address delayed payments and denial of work.
Institutionalisation of Demand-Based Employment
- Worker-Centric Demand: Preserves demand-based employment generation, ensuring work availability when demanded rather than post-distress.
- Advance Planning: Anchors employment planning at the village level, preventing administrative denial of work.
- Operational Efficiency: Transforms planning into a facilitative tool rather than a demand-suppressing mechanism.
Correcting Fragmentation through Coordinated Decentralisation
- Gram Panchayat Primacy: Retains gram panchayats as primary planning and implementing authorities with approval powers over local plans.
- Vertical Integration: Aggregates village plans at block, district, and state levels to enable inter-sectoral convergence.
- Decision Authority: Centralises coherence without centralising execution, correcting fragmentation while preserving decentralisation.
Fiscal Architecture and Equity-Based Allocation
- Budgetary Expansion: Increases allocations from ₹33,000 crore (2013-14) to ₹86,000 crore (2024-25).
- Enhanced Central Contribution: Raises the Centre’s share from ₹86,000 crore to nearly ₹95,000 crore, countering claims of withdrawal.
- Funding Model: 60:40 Centre-State structure for general states; accords 90:10 for northeastern, Himalayan states and Jammu & Kashmir.
- Normative Allocation: Ensures equity through rule-based state-wise allocations determined by objective parameters.
Improved Delivery Outcomes and Financial Inclusion
- Person-Days Generated: Increases from 1,660 crore (pre-2014) to 3,210 crore, stabilising thereafter.
- Completed Works: Expands completed assets from 153 lakh to 862 lakh, addressing episodic employment
- Women’s Participation: Rises from 48% to 56.73%, strengthening gender inclusion.
- Payment Efficiency: Achieves 99% on-time fund transfers; links nearly all active workers to Aadhaar Payment Bridge.
Addressing Structural Weaknesses of the Earlier Framework
- Episodic Employment: Reduces migration-driven spikes and post-crisis employment volatility.
- Weak Enforceability: Strengthens legal backing of unemployment allowance.
- Leakages: Addresses duplication, ghost entries, and fake job cards through digital governance systems.
- Crisis Resilience: Incorporates flexibility to respond to disruptions such as COVID-19.
Contextual Flexibility within Cooperative Federalism
- Advance Notification: Empowers states to notify employment periods aggregating up to 60 days aligned with agricultural lean seasons.
- Local Customisation: Allows differentiated notification at district, block, or gram panchayat level based on agro-climatic conditions.
- Disaster Response: Permits temporary expansion of permissible works and employment during natural disasters.
Lessons from the previous Governance and Fiscal Failures
- Wage Stagnation: Caps wages at ₹100 per day from 2009 despite inflation, undermining real income security.
- Allocation Cuts: Reduces allocations from ₹40,000 crore (2010-11) to ₹33,000 crore (2012-13) amid rising demand.
- Employment Decline: Falls from 7.55 crore workers (2010-11) to 6.93 crore (2013).
- CAG Findings (2013): Highlights 4.33 lakh fake job cards, unpaid wages, delayed payments, and misuse of funds across states.
Conclusion
The VB-G RAM G Act, 2025 represents a calibrated structural renewal of India’s rural employment guarantee framework rather than a retreat from welfare commitments. By expanding legal entitlements, correcting fiscal and governance distortions, institutionalising decentralised planning, and improving delivery outcomes, the Act addresses the core weaknesses revealed through years of implementation experience. In doing so, it reinforces the employment guarantee as a legally enforceable instrument of inclusive growth, rural stability, and cooperative federalism, aligned with both constitutional intent and evolving development priorities.
MGNREGA Scheme
[19th December 2025] The Hindu OpED: Cutting off a rural lifeline and the Directive Principles
PYQ Relevance[UPSC 2023] “Development and welfare schemes for the vulnerable, by its nature, are discriminatory in approach.” Do you agree? Give reasons for your answer. Linkage: MGNREGA avoided discretionary targeting by providing universal, demand-driven employment, unlike allocation-based schemes proposed under the new Bill. |
Introduction
MGNREGA operationalised the constitutional obligation under Article 41 by guaranteeing 100 days of wage employment to every rural household. It institutionalised a justiciable right to demand work, decentralised planning through Panchayats, and ensured wage payments by the Centre. The proposed legislation fundamentally alters this architecture by removing legal enforceability and replacing it with discretionary financial allocations.
Why in the News
The Union government has introduced the Viksit Bharat-G RAM G Bill, 2025 to replace MGNREGA, a rights-based, demand-driven employment guarantee law enacted in 2005. This marks the first attempt to dismantle a statutory employment guarantee and convert it into an allocation-based welfare scheme. The proposed shift alters core features such as demand-driven employment, decentralised planning, wage parity, and Centre-State cost sharing. At a time when 9.8 crore workers demanded work in 2024-25 but only 7.9 crore received it, and when wage arrears touch ₹8,000 per household, the change represents a sharp departure from the constitutional vision embedded in Article 41 and the Directive Principles.
How does the Constitution envision the Right to Work?
- Article 41 (DPSP): Mandates State responsibility to secure the right to work within economic capacity.
- Constituent Assembly Consensus: Recognised employment as central to economic democracy despite resistance from capitalist interests.
- Ambedkar’s Interpretation: Treated Directive Principles as instruments of governance essential for social and economic justice.
- MGNREGA Design: Converted a non-justiciable principle into an enforceable statutory right through demand-driven employment.
Article 41 of the Indian Constitution (DPSP): Right to work, to education and to public assistance in certain casesThe State shall, within the limits of its economic capacity and development, make effective provision for securing the right to work, to education and to public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement, and in other cases of undeserved want. |
Why was MGNREGA designed as a demand-driven employment guarantee?
- Universal Access: Ensures employment to all adult rural residents, including women.
- Demand Responsiveness: Adjusts employment provision based on household demand rather than fiscal ceilings.
- Wage Equality: Guarantees equal wages for men and women with full Central funding.
- Decentralised Planning: Empowers Panchayats to identify and execute locally relevant works.
- Income Security: Acts as fallback employment when agricultural work or wages are unavailable.
How does the proposed Bill dismantle the core design of MGNREGA?
- Normative Allocations: Replaces demand-based employment with expenditure ceilings fixed by the Centre.
- Loss of Legal Guarantee: Removes citizens’ right to demand work.
- Centralised Control: Transfers project design, audits, and approvals to the Union government.
- Fiscal Burden Shift: Imposes nearly 40% cost liability on States already facing revenue constraints.
- Digital Conditionalities: Makes Aadhaar linkage and online attendance mandatory despite connectivity gaps.
What are the implications for federalism and decentralised governance?
- Fiscal Federalism: Undermines State autonomy by reducing Centre’s expenditure obligations.
- Panchayati Raj Institutions: Weakens grassroots planning authority.
- One-Size-Fits-All Approach: Ignores regional agrarian distress and labour demand variability.
- Audit Centralisation: Curtails local accountability mechanisms.
How does the proposed framework alter rural labour markets and class relations?
- Peak Season Prohibition: Bars MGNREGA work during peak agricultural periods.
- Labour Bargaining Power: Weakens workers’ negotiating position vis-à-vis large landowners.
- Wage Suppression: Forces acceptance of lower agricultural wages due to absence of fallback employment.
- Mechanisation Context: Coincides with declining farm labour absorption capacity.
Which vulnerable social groups are disproportionately affected?
- Worker Composition: 86% of MGNREGA workers belong to the poorest population segments.
- Caste Dimension: 18% Scheduled Castes and 19% Scheduled Tribes participation.
- Gender Impact: Women disproportionately affected due to wage inequality in agriculture.
- Redressal Mechanisms: Elimination of grievance and advisory councils reduces access to justice.
What do funding trends and performance indicators reveal about policy intent?
- Budgetary Trends: MGNREGA expenditure never exceeded 0.2% of GDP.
- Worker Coverage Decline: Fall from over 7.7 crore workers to lower participation despite rising demand.
- Workdays Reduction: Average household employment below 50 days instead of guaranteed 100.
- Unemployment Allowance: Denial despite unmet demand in 2024-25.
Potential Positives in the Proposed Framework
- Administrative Streamlining: Digital attendance, Aadhaar-based verification, and centralised audits aim to reduce ghost beneficiaries and procedural delays.
- Fiscal Predictability: Normative financial allocations provide budgetary certainty and expenditure control for the Union government.
- Project Efficiency: Centralised project design may improve technical quality and standardisation of works in certain regions.
- Leakage Control: Emphasis on technology-driven monitoring seeks to strengthen financial accountability.
- Policy Rebranding: The “Viksit Bharat” framing attempts to align rural employment with broader development narratives.
Way Forward: Reconciling Efficiency with Constitutional Guarantees
- Rights Retention: Preserve the statutory right to demand work under Article 41 while allowing administrative flexibility.
- Hybrid Funding Model: Combine demand-driven guarantees with indicative expenditure ceilings rather than rigid caps.
- Cooperative Federalism: Restore shared decision-making on design, funding, and audits between Centre and States.
- Panchayat Empowerment: Reinstate local planning authority to ensure region-specific employment generation.
- Digital Inclusion Safeguards: Treat Aadhaar and online attendance as facilitative tools, not exclusionary conditions.
- Wage Protection Mechanism: Ensure MGNREGA continues to function as a rural wage floor and labour market stabiliser.
- Independent Social Audits: Retain grievance redressal and advisory councils to strengthen accountability.
Conclusion
MGNREGA represented a rare convergence of constitutional vision, decentralised governance, and rights-based welfare delivery. The proposed shift towards an allocation-driven framework seeks administrative efficiency and fiscal control but risks diluting the constitutional commitment to the right to work and cooperative federalism. A sustainable reform pathway lies not in dismantling the employment guarantee but in recalibrating it to combine efficiency with enforceable rights, fiscal prudence with decentralisation, and technology with inclusion. Strengthening, rather than substituting, MGNREGA remains the most constitutionally aligned route to addressing rural distress and employment insecurity.
MGNREGA Scheme
20yrs on, a radical revamp of the rural jobs framework
Introduction
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), enacted in 2005, institutionalised a legal guarantee of 100 days of wage employment for rural households and became the backbone of India’s rural safety net. Over two decades, it generated billions of person-days of work and served as a counter-cyclical buffer during economic shocks. The proposed Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) or VB-G RAM G Bill seeks to replace this framework with a restructured employment model, redefining work guarantees, funding patterns, and state responsibilities. The transition reflects a deeper policy shift from entitlement-based welfare to administratively calibrated employment provisioning.
Why This Policy Shift Matters Now
The proposed overhaul comes at a time when official data reveals a steady decline in MGNREGA employment intensity despite rising budgetary allocations. Average days of employment per household fell from 51.52 days in 2020-21 to 35.52 days in 2025-26, while the total individuals who worked declined from 11.19 crore to 6.25 crore during the same period. This disconnect between expenditure and employment outcomes, coupled with persistent wage arrears and fiscal pressures on the Centre, has prompted a rethinking of the rural employment guarantee framework for the first time since its inception.
A Gradual Decline in Employment Outcomes
- Average employment days: Declined from 51.52 (2020-21) to 35.52 (2025-26) per household.
- Households completing 100 days: Reduced from 7.19 lakh to 4.74 lakh, indicating shrinking access to full entitlements.
- Total individuals employed: Fell sharply from 11.19 crore to 6.25 crore, despite higher nominal allocations.
- Average wage per person: Increased from ₹200.77 to ₹266.98, reflecting inflation adjustment rather than employment expansion.
- Expenditure trend: Actual spending rose even as person-days stagnated, indicating cost pressures rather than job creation.
Redefining the Employment Guarantee
- Household entitlement: Retains 100 days per household, but limits the scope for extended employment.
- Individual eligibility: Introduces a cap of 125 days per individual, reducing flexibility for households with high dependency on wage labour.
- Expanded discretionary employment: Allows additional 50 days only under specific conditions such as SC/ST households, disaster-hit areas, or drought-affected regions.
- Shift in legal framing: Weakens the justiciable right to work by increasing administrative discretion in work allocation.
Restructuring the Funding Architecture
- Centre’s responsibility: Continues to pay full unskilled wages.
- States’ responsibility: Bear full material costs and a share of skilled wages, increasing fiscal pressure on state budgets.
- Fiscal implications: States face higher upfront expenditure at a time of shrinking fiscal space and competing welfare commitments.
- The proposed framework shifts rural employment financing to a CSS-like structure, 60:40 for most states, 90:10 for NE and Himalayan states, and 100% Central funding for UTs without legislatures, marking a departure from MGNREGA’s earlier wage-centric Central funding.
Normative Allocation and Centralised Control
- Normative allocation: Replaces demand-driven funding with pre-determined allocations decided by the Centre.
- Objective criteria: Allocation based on labour budgets, past expenditure, and agricultural calendars.
- Reduced state autonomy: States lose flexibility to respond to local employment demand spikes.
- Administrative oversight: Central government gains greater control over expenditure approvals and fund releases.
Seasonal Pauses in Employment
- Pause during peak agricultural seasons: Introduces a 60-day pause during sowing and harvesting periods.
- Rationale: Ensures adequate agricultural labour availability.
- Regional variation: Agricultural calendars differ across states, making uniform pauses administratively complex.
- Impact: Reduces income smoothing for landless labourers dependent on continuous wage employment.
Shift in Governance and Panchayat Role
- Gram Panchayat function: Continues as the primary implementing agency.
- Planning structure: Integrates Panchayat plans into larger district and state labour plans.
- Administrative layering: Adds oversight mechanisms, reducing Panchayat-level autonomy in work selection and execution.
- Accountability shift: Moves from citizen-driven demand to bureaucratic allocation.
Budgetary Implications
- FY 2025-26 allocation: ₹86,000 crore for rural employment.
- Administrative and material costs: Estimated at ₹1.51 lakh crore including state share.
- Cost pressures: Rising wages and material expenses increase fiscal stress without proportional employment gains.
Conclusion
The proposed overhaul of the rural employment framework marks a decisive shift from MGNREGA’s rights-based, demand-driven architecture to a fiscally calibrated, centrally managed scheme. By introducing normative allocations, CSS-style funding ratios, and tighter limits on employment days, the reform prioritises expenditure control and administrative predictability over employment assurance. While this may ease Central fiscal pressures, it risks weakening the role of rural employment as a social safety net, making the success of the new framework contingent on states’ fiscal capacity and the Centre’s willingness to balance efficiency with inclusion.
PYQ Relevance
[UPSC 2024] Examine the pattern and trend of public expenditure on social services in the post-reforms period in India. To what extent this has been in consonance with achieving the objective of inclusive growth?
Linkage: The question examines whether social-sector spending translates into inclusive growth. The article shows this gap through rising allocations but declining MGNREGA employment outcomes.
MGNREGA Scheme
Centre amends MGNREGA for Water Conservation in Scarcity Zones
Why in the News?
The Central Government has amended the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (2005) to mandate a minimum share of funds for water conservation and harvesting works. Earlier this month, MGNREGA completed 20 years of its implementation.
What is entailed in this MGNREGA (2005) Amendment?
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About MGNREGA:
- Overview: MGNREGS is a rights-based Centrally Sponsored Scheme launched under the MGNREGA Act of 2005 to ensure the Right to Work for rural households.
- Origins:
- The idea of employment guarantee in India began with Maharashtra’s pilot, Employment Guarantee Scheme (MEGS), in 1965 under the Vasantrao Naik government.
- At the national level, the idea was first proposed in 1991 by then PM P. V. Narasimha Rao and later enacted in 2005.
- Employment Guarantee: It provides 100 days of wage employment per year to any adult willing to do unskilled manual labour in rural India.
- Legal Obligation: It is the first law in India that imposes a legal duty on the government to provide employment and compensate for non-compliance.
- Development Goal: The scheme aims to promote livelihood security, inclusive growth, and rural development.
Key Features:
- Statutory Right: Employment under MGNREGS is a legal entitlement, not just a welfare scheme.
- Eligibility: Any rural adult aged 18 or above can apply and must be offered work within 15 days.
- Proximity and Wages: Work must be provided within 5 km of the applicant’s residence with minimum wage, and delays attract compensation.
- Unemployment Allowance: If work is not provided on time, the state must pay an allowance.
- Demand-Driven Model: The scheme is worker-initiated, requiring the government to respond to demand.
- Transparency and Audits: Regular social audits and online updates ensure accountability in job cards, muster rolls, and fund use.
- Local Implementation: It is decentralised, led by Gram Panchayats, with support from block and state officials, and centrally funded.
- Women’s Inclusion: At least one-third of beneficiaries must be women, enhancing gender equity.
- Sustainable Assets: Projects focus on durable rural infrastructure like ponds, roads, canals, and plantations.
| [UPSC 2011] Among the following who are eligible to benefit from the “Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act”?
(a) Adult members of only the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe households (b) Adult members of below poverty line (BPL) households (c) Adult members of households of all backward communities (d) Adult members of any household * |
MGNREGA Scheme
20 Years of MGNREGS
Why in the News?
On the 20th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, concerns were raised over chronic underfunding of the scheme during the past decade.
About MGNREGS:
- Overview: MGNREGS is a rights-based Centrally Sponsored Scheme launched under the MGNREGA Act of 2005 to ensure the Right to Work for rural households.
- Origins:
- The idea of employment guarantee in India began with Maharashtra’s pilot, Employment Guarantee Scheme (MEGS), in 1965 under the Vasantrao Naik government.
- At the national level, the idea was first proposed in 1991 by then PM P. V. Narasimha Rao and later enacted in 2005.
- Employment Guarantee: It provides 100 days of wage employment per year to any adult willing to do unskilled manual labour in rural India.
- Legal Obligation: It is the first law in India that imposes a legal duty on the government to provide employment and compensate for non-compliance.
- Development Goal: The scheme aims to promote livelihood security, inclusive growth, and rural development.
Key Features:
- Statutory Right: Employment under MGNREGS is a legal entitlement, not just a welfare scheme.
- Eligibility: Any rural adult aged 18 or above can apply and must be offered work within 15 days.
- Proximity and Wages: Work must be provided within 5 km of the applicant’s residence with minimum wage, and delays attract compensation.
- Unemployment Allowance: If work is not provided on time, the state must pay an allowance.
- Demand-Driven Model: The scheme is worker-initiated, requiring the government to respond to demand.
- Transparency and Audits: Regular social audits and online updates ensure accountability in job cards, muster rolls, and fund use.
- Local Implementation: It is decentralised, led by Gram Panchayats, with support from block and state officials, and centrally funded.
- Women’s Inclusion: At least one-third of beneficiaries must be women, enhancing gender equity.
- Sustainable Assets: Projects focus on durable rural infrastructure like ponds, roads, canals, and plantations.
| [UPSC 2006] Consider the following statements in respect of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005:
1. The Act provides 100 days of employment to households as a fundamental right. 2. Women are given priority such that half of the employment seekers are women. Which of the statements given above is/are correct? Options: (a) 1 only (b) 2 only (c) Both 1 and 2 (d) Neither 1 nor 2 * |
MGNREGA Scheme
Centre caps MGNREGS spend at 60%
Why in the News?
The Union Finance Ministry has capped spending under the Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) at 60% of its total annual allocation for the first half of FY 2025-26.
About MGNREGS:
- Legal Foundation: MGNREGS is a rights-based Centrally Sponsored Scheme launched under the MGNREGA Act of 2005 to ensure the Right to Work for rural households.
- Origins:
- The idea of employment guarantee in India began with Maharashtra’s pilot, Employment Guarantee Scheme (MEGS), in 1965 under the V. Naik government.
- At the national level, the idea was first proposed in 1991 by then PM P. V. Narasimha Rao and later enacted in 2005.
- Employment Guarantee: It provides 100 days of wage employment per year to any adult willing to do unskilled manual labour in rural India.
- Legal Obligation: It is the first law in India that imposes a legal duty on the government to provide employment and compensate for non-compliance.
- Development Goal: The scheme aims to promote livelihood security, inclusive growth, and rural development.
Key Features:
- Statutory Right: Employment under MGNREGS is a legal entitlement, not just a welfare scheme.
- Eligibility: Any rural adult aged 18 or above can apply and must be offered work within 15 days.
- Proximity and Wages: Work must be provided within 5 km of the applicant’s residence with minimum wage, and delays attract compensation.
- Unemployment Allowance: If work is not provided on time, the state must pay an allowance.
- Demand-Driven Model: The scheme is worker-initiated, requiring the government to respond to demand.
- Transparency and Audits: Regular social audits and online updates ensure accountability in job cards, muster rolls, and fund use.
- Local Implementation: It is decentralised, led by Gram Panchayats, with support from block and state officials, and centrally funded.
- Women’s Inclusion: At least one-third of beneficiaries must be women, enhancing gender equity.
- Sustainable Assets: Projects focus on durable rural infrastructure like ponds, roads, canals, and plantations.
Rationale Behind the Spending Cap:
- Expenditure Control: This cap is part of the Monthly/Quarterly Expenditure Plan to prevent front-loading of funds and mid-year shortages.
- Previous Trends: In earlier years, over 70% of funds were spent by September, creating dues of ₹15,000–25,000 crore.
- Current Status: As of June 2025, 28% of the budget is already used, while ₹19,200 crore in dues remain from FY25.
- Criticism: Experts argue the cap undermines the demand-driven design of the act and may violate the legal right to work.
| [UPSC 2006] Consider the following statements in respect of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005:
1. The Act provides 100 days of employment to households as a fundamental right. 2. Women are given priority such that half of the employment seekers are women. Options: (a) 1 only (b) 2 only (c) Both 1 and 2 (d) Neither 1 nor 2 * |
MGNREGA Scheme
Centre hikes MGNREGS wages by 2-7% for FY26
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: MGNREGS
Why in the News?
The Centre has announced a hike in the wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) for the financial year 2025-26, with an increase ranging from 2-7%.
Wage Revision Under MGNREGS:
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About MGNREGS
- The MGNREGS, launched in 2005, guarantees 100 days of wage employment annually for rural households.
- It provides a legal right to work, focusing on unskilled manual labour.
- Unique Features:
- 100 days of employment for rural households, with adult members volunteering for unskilled work.
- If employment isn’t provided within 15 days, an unemployment allowance is paid.
- Work must be offered within 5 km of the applicant’s residence.
- The Centre funds 100% of unskilled labour costs, 75% of skilled labour and materials, and 6% of administrative costs.
- Key Provisions under MGNREGS
-
- Rural households are entitled to 100 days of employment. Additional days are allowed during natural calamities or for Scheduled Tribe households.
- Citizens can conduct social audits to ensure transparency, with all records open to public scrutiny.
- Worksites must provide crèches, drinking water, and first aid.
- Workers more than 5 km from the worksite receive a travel allowance of 10% of the wage rate.
Recent Challenges surrounding MGNREGS:
|
| [UPSC 2011] Among the following who are eligible to benefit from the “Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act”?
(a) Adult members of only the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe households (b) Adult members of below poverty line (BPL) households (c) Adult members of households of all backward communities (d) Adult members of any household |
MGNREGA Scheme
A women’s urban employment guarantee act
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS)
Mains level: Women's Urban Employment Guarantee Act (WUEGA)
Why is it in news?
- Reducing gender gaps and increasing women’s empowerment are part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Notwithstanding ethical and constitutional imperatives, there is also evidence suggesting that increasing women’s employment rates can be an engine for economic growth.
What is the issue?
- Despite functioning at a fraction of its intended capacity, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) has been pivotal in providing financial autonomy to women in rural areas.
- More than half the MGNREGA workforce are women. However, urban realities are different. Social norms, lack of safety, and hostile transportation options are some of the factors inhibiting urban women to enter the workforce.
What data is explaining?
- The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) pegs women’s employment rate in urban areas at 22.9% in the last quarter of 2023. There are clear signs of high unmet demand for employment among urban women.
- First, the unemployment rate in urban areas, which is a measure of how many would like employment (irrespective of whether they are actively seeking it or not), is 9% compared to 4% in rural areas.
- Second, there are two types of unemployment individuals who would like to work and are actively seeking a job versus those who would like to work but may not be actively seeking a job.
- A much larger share of unemployed women in urban areas are seeking employment compared to rural areas. Further, nearly 25% of urban women have completed higher secondary education compared to 5% in rural areas. The low urban employment rates among women also points to wastage of much potential.
- The article presents statistics from the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) indicating that approximately 10.18 crore women in urban areas aged 15-59 are out of the workforce. When including those who are self-employed or engaged in casual labor, this number rises to around 11.65 crore.
Introducing the Women’s Urban Employment Guarantee Act (WUEGA)
The proposal outlines a comprehensive plan to address urban unemployment through the implementation of a Women’s Urban Employment Guarantee Act (WUEGA). This act aims to provide employment opportunities specifically targeted towards women in urban areas.
- Programme Management and Decentralization: The proposal suggests that women should form at least 50% (ideally 100%) of the programme management staff under WUEGA. This approach not only ensures women’s active participation but also strengthens the constitutional mandate of decentralization by involving local communities in decision-making processes.
- Ensuring Accessibility and Supportive Infrastructure: The proposal emphasizes the importance of providing essential worksite facilities, including childcare facilities, to enable women’s participation in the program. It also advocates for the availability of work within a 5-km radius and proposes free public transportation for women to facilitate their commute to worksites.
- Diversifying Employment Opportunities: The proposal highlights the need to diversify urban works to cater to local needs and wider consultation. It mentions existing examples such as plantation and harvesting reeds on floating wetlands and suggests supplementing the list based on local requirements.
- Incentives and Welfare Measures: This section discusses the creation of incentives, such as automatic inclusion in welfare boards, to encourage women’s participation in the program. It proposes utilizing welfare boards to provide maternity entitlements, pensions, and emergency funds for program participants.
- Skill Development and Apprenticeships: The proposal emphasizes the importance of addressing skill gaps among women to facilitate their transition from school to work. It suggests implementing apprenticeship programs for college students from various disciplines, providing them with opportunities to join as program functionaries and improve their job readiness.
- Information Facilitation Centers and Capacity Building: Here, the proposal suggests establishing Information Facilitation Centers at each urban local body, run by women who have completed Class 10, to provide computer training facilities and bridge the gap in skills. It also advocates for regular capacity-building initiatives to empower these centers and enhance women’s job readiness.
- Social Audit and Monitoring Mechanisms: The proposal recommends the establishment of a social audit unit within WUEGA, comprising at least 50% women staff, for independent monitoring of the program. It suggests that social audits could serve as opportunities for women who have completed Class 12 to join part-time or full-time roles and enhance their job readiness through acquiring various skill sets.
Successful Women-Led Initiatives in Waste Management
- The article highlights successful women-led initiatives, such as the end-to-end waste management program in Karnataka’s gram panchayats. It emphasizes that women not only manage waste collection but also drive ‘Swacch’ vehicles, leading to the acquisition of driving licenses and contributing to the success of the initiative.
Wayforward
- The article discusses the financial implications of the proposed program, estimating that the wage component funded by the Union government would cost around 1.5% of the GDP. When adding material and administrative costs, the total cost is expected to be around 2% of the GDP. It advocates for a phased rollout of the scheme with periodic assessments to smoothen costs.
- Here, the article suggests that the proposed women’s employment program could serve as a foundation for a broader urban employment program encompassing both genders. It argues that the benefits of such a program outweigh fiscal concerns and calls for a shift towards ensuring income assurance, especially for women.
MGNREGA Scheme
Challenges with MGNREGA’s Social Audit Mechanism
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: MGNREGS
Mains level: Issues with MGNREGS
Central Idea
- The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme has faced persistent criticism, with allegations of high corruption rates.
- A critical component meant to address this issue is the social audit units tasked with detecting malpractice within the program.
- However, the recovery of embezzled funds has been notably ineffective.
What is MGNREGS?
| Enacted Under | Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005 |
| Objective | To guarantee the ‘Right to Work’ by providing employment opportunities for unskilled workers in rural areas. |
| Origin | Proposed in 1991 by V. Narasimha Rao and later enacted in 2005. |
| Duration of Employment | At least 100 days of employment is guaranteed to willing unskilled workers. |
| Enforceable Commitment | The scheme ensures an enforceable commitment on the implementing machinery, which is the State Governments, providing bargaining power to the laborers. |
| Unemployment Allowance | If employment is not provided within 15 days of receiving a job application from a prospective household, an unemployment allowance is paid to the job seekers. |
| Eligibility Criteria | Any Indian citizen above the age of 18 years residing in rural India can apply for the MGNREGS scheme. Applicants should be willing to engage in unskilled work. |
| Geographical Proximity | Employment is to be provided within 5 km of an applicant’s residence. |
| Minimum Wages | Minimum wages are to be paid for the work done under MGNREGS. |
| Legal Entitlement | Employment under MGNREGS is considered a legal entitlement. |
Issue of Inadequate Fund Recovery
- Current Recovery Rates: Statistics from the Union Rural Development Ministry for the ongoing financial year indicate that less than 14% of the amount flagged by auditors has been successfully recovered.
- Past Years’ Performance: The recovery figures for previous financial years paint a similarly bleak picture, with poor outcomes:
-
- 2022-23: ₹86.2 crore was identified as recoverable, but only ₹18 crore (20.8%) was retrieved.
- 2021-22: ₹171 crore misappropriation was flagged, but only ₹26 crore (15%) was recovered.
- Social Audit Unit Independence: Section 17 of the MGNREGA Act mandates gram sabhas to monitor work execution, with independent social audit units in each state responsible for uncovering malpractice. However, their scope is limited to flagging issues, leaving recovery actions to state governments.
Fund-Starved Audit Units
- Seminar Insights: A recent Ministry seminar revealed a concerning scenario of underfunded social audit units lacking adequate training and personnel. These units play a crucial role in identifying cases of malpractice.
- Funding Delay Issues: While the Union government funds these audit units to maintain their independence from state authorities, units in some states, such as Karnataka and Bihar, have faced funding delays for nearly two years.
Poor Monitoring and Recovery
- Consistent State Trends: Over the past three years, certain states consistently report “zero number of cases” and “zero recoveries,” casting doubt on the effectiveness of monitoring efforts.
- Examples of Poor Recovery: States like Telangana have active social audit units flagging numerous cases, yet the recovery rates remain dismal. For instance, in the ongoing financial year, auditors identified ₹6.6 crore for recovery, but only ₹2,087 has been recuperated so far.
- Vigilance and Pressure: While the Centre’s vigilance and pressure on states to recover misappropriated funds are appreciated, there are concerns regarding states that identify multiple cases but struggle with recovery. Furthermore, states reporting no cases indicate a lack of effective monitoring.
Conclusion
- Challenging Recovery Landscape: The MGNREGA scheme’s social audit units serve as a crucial mechanism to combat corruption, but the inadequate recovery of embezzled funds threatens their credibility.
- Need for Adequate Resources: To make the audit process effective, it is imperative to ensure that social audit units are adequately funded, trained, and staffed.
- Balancing Act: Balancing scrutiny with recovery actions is vital to enhance the transparency and integrity of the MGNREGA scheme, which plays a pivotal role in rural employment and development.
MGNREGA Scheme
Rajasthan minimum income Bill: provisions, what makes it unique
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Minimum Guarantee income and employment schemes and their key provisions
Mains level: Minimum Guaranteed Income Bill, 2023, rational, significance and concerns
What’s the news?
- Rajasthan government has introduced ‘The Rajasthan Minimum Guaranteed Income Bill, 2023’ in the Assembly, what is widely expected to be the last session before the State goes for polls in less than four months.
Central Idea
- Rajasthan Minimum Guaranteed Income Bill, 2023, aim at providing guaranteed wages or pensions to the entire adult population of the state. Social activists have reacted positively to the bill, highlighting its unique features and praising its focus on providing employment and pensions through legislation rather than cash transfer schemes.
What is the Bill?
- All families of the state get guaranteed employment of 125 days every year,
- The aged, disabled, widows, and single women get a minimum pension of Rs 1,000 per month.
- The pension will be increased each year at the rate of 15 per cent.
- The Bill has three broad categories: right to minimum guaranteed income, right to guaranteed employment, and right to guaranteed social security pension.
- The government anticipates an additional expenditure of Rs 2,500 crore per year for this scheme, which may increase with time
Major provisions of the Bill
- Minimum guaranteed income:
- Guaranteed minimum income for 125 days- each year – every adult citizen of Rajasthan.
- Implemented through- Indira Gandhi Shahri Rozgar Guarantee Yojana for urban areas and MGNREGA for rural areas.
- Supplement MGNREGA’s 100 days- additional 25 days of employment in rural regions.
- Guaranteed employment:
- After completion of work- minimum wages should be paid on a weekly or fortnightly basis.
- Implementation responsibility – through A program officer– ensures- job sites are located within a five-kilometer radius of the registered job card address in both urban and rural areas.
- If the program officer fails to provide employment within 15 days of receiving an application- applicant will be entitled to a weekly unemployment allowance.
- Guaranteed social security pension:
- Individuals falling into the categories- old age, specially-abled, widows, and single women with prescribed eligibility- entitled to a pension.
- The pension amount will increase annually by 5% in July and 10% in January, beginning from the financial year 2024-2025.
What is the Rationale behind the Bill?
- The bill aligns with the principle of social justice and aims to provide support and security to the most vulnerable members of society.
- Treating the most marginalized individuals with fairness and dignity.
- “Mahatma Gandhi’s message that the true measure of a society lies in how it treats its most vulnerable members”
- As part of a bouquet of schemes and measures undertaken by the government to provide relief from inflation
- Provide a safety net and alleviate financial burdens on the most vulnerable sections of society.
Criticism over the bill
- The bill’s introduction close to the upcoming elections- politically motivated
- Populist measure designed to appeal to voters
- Financial feasibility of implementing the bill’s provisions- securing sustainable funding
- Burden on the state’s finances in the long run.
- Proper identification of beneficiaries, monitoring mechanisms, and ensuring efficient delivery of guaranteed income, employment, and pensions
Conclusion
- The Rajasthan Minimum Guaranteed Income Bill, 2023, is being seen as a pioneering step towards securing social security for all residents of the state. If implemented properly and efficiently the legislation will pave the way towards building a just and inclusive society, where the welfare of every citizen is a priority.
Also read:
A Social Security Board for Gig Workers: Rajasthan’s Pioneering Step
MGNREGA Scheme
Employment days under MGNREGS at a 5-year low
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: MGNREGS
Mains level: Right to work
The average days of employment provided per household under the Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) are at a five-year low, this financial year.
What is the news?
- As on January 20, the average days of employment provided per household is 42 days while it was 50 days in 2021-22, 52 days in 2020-21, 48 days in 2019-20 and 51 days in 2018-19.
Why such unprecedented drop in employments?
The program has been plagued by systemic problems that is disincentivising participation.
- Choking of funds: This has led to suppression of work demand and delays in wage payments.
- App for attendance: The introduction of unnecessary technical complexities like an app for attendance at worksites has caused more hardships for workers who will be more dissuaded going forward.
- States dismal policies: With less than two-months for the financial year to close, there are at least nine States and union territories which have utilised less than 70% of projected person days.
- Budgetary cuts: With low utilisation, financial outlay for the underperforming States is expected to further shrink in the upcoming financial year.
What is MGNREGS?
- The MGNREGS is a scheme under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005.
- This is labour law and social security measure that aims to guarantee the ‘Right to Work’.
- The act was first proposed in 1991 by V. Narasimha Rao.
What is so unique about it?
- MGNREGS is unique in not only ensuring at least 100 days of employment to the willing unskilled workers, but also in ensuring an enforceable commitment on the implementing machinery i.e., the State Governments, and providing a bargaining power to the labourers.
- The failure of provision for employment within 15 days of the receipt of job application from a prospective household will result in the payment of unemployment allowance to the job seekers.
- Any Indian citizen above the age of 18 years who resides in rural India can apply for the NREGA scheme. The applicant should have volunteered to do unskilled work.
- Employment is to be provided within 5 km of an applicant’s residence, and minimum wages are to be paid.
- Thus, employment under MGNREGS is a legal entitlement.
Why is MGNREGS under fire these days?
- Not enough work: Bihar despite its levels of poverty, does not generate enough work to make a concrete difference, and on the other end of spectrum we have Kerala which is economically better but has been utilising it for asset creation.
- No asset creation: There is a lack of tangible asset creation. The committee will study if the composition of work taken up presently under the scheme should be changed.
Issues in implementation
- Insufficient budgetary allocations: Increase in the nominal budget but actual budget (after adjusting inflation) decreased over the years.
- Approved Labour Budget Constraints: The Centre through the arbitrary “Approved Labour Budget” has reduced the number of days of work and put a cap on funds through the National Electronic Fund Management System
- Not so attractive wages rate: Currently, MGNREGS wage rates of 17 states are less than the corresponding state minimum wages.
- Delay in wage payments: Under the MGNREGS, a worker is entitled to get his or her due wages within a fortnight of completion of work, failing which the worker is entitled to the compensation.
- No-work situations are rising: None of the states was able to provide full 100 days employment as mentioned in the scheme.
- Data manipulations by authorities: A recent study has found that data manipulation in the MGNREGS is leading to gross violations in its implementation.
- Non-purposive spending and corruptions: Many works sanctioned under MGNREGS often seem to be non-purposive. Quite often, they are politically motivated hotspots to create rampant corruption.
- Centralization weakening local governance: A real-time MIS-based implementation and a centralised payment system has further left the representatives of the Panchayati Raj Institutions with literally no role in implementation.
Conclusion
- Large scale social security programmes like MGNREGS are subjected to undergo several stumbling blocks in the times of ongoing pandemic.
- Government and NGOs must study the impact of MGNREGS in rural areas so as to ensure that this massive anti-poverty scheme is not getting diluted from its actual path.
- We must view MGNREGS as an opportunity and explicitly include it in a broad-based strategy to tackle any socie-economic crisis.
MGNREGA Scheme
Government forms panel to look into MGNREGA’s efficacy
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: MGNREGA
Mains level: Read the attached story
The Central government has constituted a panel to review the implementation and assess efficacy as a poverty alleviation tool of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme.
About the review committee
- The committee is headed by former Rural Development secretary Amarjeet Sinha.
- It had its first meeting on November 21, 2022, and has been given three months to submit its suggestions.
- It is tasked to study the various factors behind demand for MGNREGA work, expenditure trends and inter-State variations, and the composition of work.
- It will suggest what changes in focus and governance structures are required to make MGNREGA more effective.
What is MGNREGA?
- The MGNREGA stands for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005.
- This is labour law and social security measure that aims to guarantee the ‘Right to Work’.
- The act was first proposed in 1991 by V. Narasimha Rao.
What is so unique about it?
- MGNREGA is unique in not only ensuring at least 100 days of employment to the willing unskilled workers, but also in ensuring an enforceable commitment on the implementing machinery i.e., the State Governments, and providing a bargaining power to the labourers.
- The failure of provision for employment within 15 days of the receipt of job application from a prospective household will result in the payment of unemployment allowance to the job seekers.
- Any Indian citizen above the age of 18 years who resides in rural India can apply for the NREGA scheme. The applicant should have volunteered to do unskilled work.
- Employment is to be provided within 5 km of an applicant’s residence, and minimum wages are to be paid.
- Thus, employment under MGNREGA is a legal entitlement.
Why is MGNREGS under fire these days?
- Not enough work: Bihar despite its levels of poverty, does not generate enough work to make a concrete difference, and on the other end of spectrum we have Kerala which is economically better but has been utilising it for asset creation.
- No asset creation: There is a lack of tangible asset creation. The committee will study if the composition of work taken up presently under the scheme should be changed.
Issues in implementation
- Insufficient budgetary allocations: Increase in the nominal budget but actual budget (after adjusting inflation) decreased over the years.
- Approved Labour Budget Constraints: The Centre through the arbitrary “Approved Labour Budget” has reduced the number of days of work and put a cap on funds through the National Electronic Fund Management System
- Not so attractive wages rate: Currently, MGNREGA wage rates of 17 states are less than the corresponding state minimum wages.
- Delay in wage payments: Under the MGNREGA, a worker is entitled to get his or her due wages within a fortnight of completion of work, failing which the worker is entitled to the compensation.
- No-work situations are rising: None of the states was able to provide full 100 days employment as mentioned in the scheme.
- Data manipulations by authorities: A recent study has found that data manipulation in the MGNREGA is leading to gross violations in its implementation.
- Non-purposive spending and corruptions: Many works sanctioned under MGNREGA often seem to be non-purposive. Quite often, they are politically motivated hotspots to create rampant corruption.
- Centralization weakening local governance: A real-time MIS-based implementation and a centralised payment system has further left the representatives of the Panchayati Raj Institutions with literally no role in implementation.
Conclusion
- Large scale social security programmes like MGNREA are subjected to undergo several stumbling blocks in the times of ongoing pandemic.
- Government and NGOs must study the impact of MGNREGA in rural areas so as to ensure that this massive anti-poverty scheme is not getting diluted from its actual path.
- We must view MGNREGA as an opportunity and explicitly include it in a broad-based strategy to tackle any socie-economic crisis.
Answer this PYQ in the comment box:
Q. Among the following who are eligible to benefit from the “Mahatma Gandhi national rural employment guarantee act”?
(a) Adult members of only the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe households.
(b) Adult members of below poverty line (BPL) households.
(c) Adult members of households of all backward communities.
(d) Adult members of any household.
Post your answers here.
MGNREGA Scheme
Decentralise MGNREGS for better implementation: Govt. Study
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: MGNREGS
Mains level: Read the attached story
An internal study commissioned by the Ministry of Rural Development has argued for decentralization of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), allowing for more “flexibility” at the ground level.
Key recommendations to revamp MGNREGS
- Work diversification: There should be a greater diversification of permissible works instead of listing the types of permissible works.
- Broad categories of works may be listed out.
- Flexibility should be given at ground level to select the type of works as per broad categories.
What is MGNREGS?
- The MGNREGA stands for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005.
- This is labour law and social security measure that aims to guarantee the ‘Right to Work’.
- The act was first proposed in 1991 by P.V. Narasimha Rao.
What is so unique about it?
- MGNREGA is unique in not only ensuring at least 100 days of employment to the willing unskilled workers, but also in ensuring an enforceable commitment on the implementing machinery i.e., the State Governments, and providing a bargaining power to the labourers.
- The failure of provision for employment within 15 days of the receipt of job application from a prospective household will result in the payment of unemployment allowance to the job seekers.
- Any Indian citizen above the age of 18 years who resides in rural India can apply for the NREGA scheme. The applicant should have volunteered to do unskilled work.
- Employment is to be provided within 5 km of an applicant’s residence, and minimum wages are to be paid.
- Thus, employment under MGNREGA is a legal entitlement.
Why imbibe some changes?
(1) Empowering Gram Sabhas
- The fund management has been centralised instead of paying the Gram Sabhas.
- The Gram Sabhas could better decide the work they want to undertake.
- The Sabhas can take into account the local conditions and the community’s requirement instead of chasing a target set for them.
(2) Prevent delays in fund disbursal
- The internal study also flagged the frequent delay in fund disbursal, and to deal with it suggested a revolving fund that can be utilised whenever there is a delay in the Central funds.
- The survey quoted various instances to underline this chronic problem.
(3) Prevent delay in wages
- In Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat, the delay in wages was by three or four months and the material component by six months.
- The study also noted that the MGNREGS wages were far below the market rate in many States, defeating the purpose of acting as a safety net.
Answer this PYQ in the comment box:
Q.Among the following who are eligible to benefit from the “Mahatma Gandhi national rural employment guarantee act”?
(a) Adult members of only the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe households.
(b) Adult members of below poverty line (BPL) households.
(c) Adult members of households of all backward communities.
(d) Adult members of any household.
Post your answers here.
MGNREGA Scheme
MGNREGA
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: particulars of the scheme
Mains level: social security
Context
- The delay in payment of wages has pushed MGNREGS workers in West Bengal to the brink. There are allegations of corruption against the State government, the Centre’s reluctance in releasing payments, and the plight of the workers caught in this tussle.
What is MGNREGA?
- The MGNREGA stands for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005. This is labour law and social security measure that aims to guarantee the ‘Right to Work’. The act was first proposed in 1991 by P.V. Narasimha Rao.
Significant Features of the scheme
- Fixed employment: MGNREGA is unique in not only ensuring at least 100 days of employment to the willing unskilled workers, but also in ensuring an enforceable commitment on the implementing machinery i.e., the State Governments, and providing a bargaining power to the labourers.
- Assured compensation: The failure of provision for employment within 15 days of the receipt of job application from a prospective household will result in the payment of unemployment allowance to the job seekers.
- Locality is ensured: Employment is to be provided within 5 km of an applicant’s residence, and minimum wages are to be paid.
- Legal backing: Thus, employment under MGNREGA is a legal entitlement.
What are the issues?
- Non-purposive spending and corruptions: Many works sanctioned under MGNREGA often seem to be non-purposive. Quite often, they are politically motivated hotspots to create rampant corruption by dominant sections of the local population. Even social audits of such projects are locally manipulated.
- Workers penalized for administrative lapses: The ministry withholds wage payments for workers of states that do not meet administrative requirements within the stipulated time period (for instance, submission of the previous financial year’s audited fund statements, utilization certificates, bank reconciliation certificates etc). There is no logical or legal explanation for this bizarre arrangement. It is beyond any logic as to why workers would be penalized for administrative lapses.
- Genuine job cards being deleted: Genuine job cards are being randomly deleted as there is a huge administrative pressure to meet 100 per cent DBT implementation targets in MGNREGA. In states like Jharkhand, there are multiple examples where the districts had later requested to resume job cards after civil society interventions into the matter.
- Too much centralization weakening local governance: A real-time MIS-based implementation and a centralised payment system has further left the representatives of the Panchayati Raj Institutions with literally no role in implementation. It has become a burden as they hardly have any power to resolve issues or make payments.
- Local priorities being ignored: MGNREGA could be a tool to establish decentralized governance. But, with the administration almost dictating its implementation, it is literally a burden now for the people and especially for the local elected representatives. The Gram Sabhas and gram panchayats’ plans are never honoured. This is a blatant violation of the Act as well.
Lack of fund has negative implications
- Delayed payment: Due to this, payments for MGNREGA workers as well as material costs will be delayed, unless States dip into their own funds.
- Livelihood loss: MGNREGA data shows that 13% of households who demanded work under the scheme were not provided work.
- Halt of work: Many workers are simply turned away by officials when they demand work, without their demand being registered at all.
- Fall in demands: This has led to stop the generation of work. There is an artificial squeezing of demand.
What can be done according to rural development committee?
- Utilization of funds: A large amount of funds allocated for MGNREGA have remained un-utilised. For example, in 2010-11, 27.31% of the funds remained unutilised. The Committee recommends that the Department of Rural Development should analyse reasons for poor utilisation of funds and take steps to improve the same. In addition, it should initiate action against officers found guilty of misappropriating funds under MGNREGA.
- Context specific projects and convergence: Since states are at various stages of socio-economic development, they have varied requirements for development. Therefore, state governments should be allowed to undertake works that are pertinent to their context. There should be more emphasis on skilled and semi-skilled work under MGNREGA. In addition, the Committee recommends a greater emphasis on convergence with other schemes such as the National Rural Livelihoods Mission, National Rural Health Mission, etc.
- Regulation of job cards: Offences such as not recording employment related information in job cards and unlawful possession of job cards with elected PRI representatives and MGNREGA functionaries should be made punishable under the Act.
- Participation of people with disabilities: Special works (projects) must be identified for people with disabilities and special job cards must be issued and personnel must be employed to ensure their participation.
- Payment of unemployment allowance: Dated receipts for demanded work should be issued so that workers can claim unemployment allowance. Funds for unemployment allowance should be met by the central government.
Some innovation in MGNREGA can address the challenges
1) Looping in the skilled worker
- First, there is a suggestion to use it to meet the wage cost of their employment in small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
- Accordingly, skilled migrant workers may be placed in SMEs and their wages would be charged to MGNREGA.
2) Including farm related works
- In the last few years, un-remunerative prices of several crops have been the root cause of widespread agrarian distress.
- The suggestion is to allow farmers to employ MGNREGA workers in agricultural operations like land preparation, sowing, transplantation of paddy, plucking of cotton, intercultural operations and harvesting of crops etc. so as to reduce the cost of cultivation.
- The idea is to pay part of the wages of labour in agricultural operations from MGNREGA.
3) Increasing the number of Work Schemes
- Currently, there are only 2-3 work schemes (say PMAY) running per panchayat, which is leading to the crowding of workers at worksites.
- To prevent this and to ensure that all willing households are able to access employment through NREGA, the number of schemes needs to be increased, and 6-8 schemes must be introduced in each village.
4) Paying Workers Immediately
- Rural households urgently need cash-in-hand, and so the emerging demand is for immediate payment to workers. NREGA payments are frequently delayed by weeks or months.
- Given the circumstances, such delays will be entirely counterproductive.
- It is recommended that in remote areas, wage payments should be made in cash, and paid on the same day.
Conclusion
- Government and NGOs must study the impact of MGNREGA in rural areas so as to ensure that this massive anti-poverty scheme is not getting diluted from its actual path.
Mains question
Q. Large scale social security programmes like MGNREGA are subjected to undergo several stumbling blocks in the times to come due to lack of fund. Analyse these roadblocks and give some innovative measures to tackle these roadblocks.
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MGNREGA Scheme
Issues with use of NMMS app in NREGA
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Not much
Mains level: Paper 2- Use of NMMS app and issues
Context
The National Mobile Monitoring Software (NMMS) app seeks to improve citizen oversight and increase transparency in NREGA works. This causes significant difficulty for NREGA workers.
About NMMS app
- National Mobile Monitoring Software (NMMS) App was launched by the Minister of Rural Development on May, 21 2021.
- The National Mobile Monitoring App is applicable for the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA workers for all the States/ Union Territories.
- This app is aimed at bringing more transparency and ensure proper monitoring of the schemes.
- The main feature of the app is the real-time, photographed, geo-tagged attendance of every worker to be taken once in each half of the day.
- The app helps in increasing citizen oversight of the programme.
Issues with the use of the app
- While such an app may be useful in monitoring the attendance of workers who have fixed work timings, in most States, NREGA wages are calculated based on the amount of work done each day, and workers do not need to commit to fixed hours.
- Disproportionately affects women: NREGA has historically had a higher proportion of women workers (54.7% in FY 2021-22) and has been pivotal in changing working conditions for women in rural areas.
- Due to the traditional burden of household chores and care work on women, the app is likely to disproportionately affect women workers.
- Lack of stable network: There are challenges of implementation with the NMMS as well.
- A stable network is a must for real-time monitoring; unfortunately, it remains patchy in much of rural India.
- NREGA Mates impacted: The app has adversely impacted NREGA Mates as well.
- The role of a Mate was conceptualised as an opportunity to empower local women to manage attendance and work measurement in their panchayat.
- To be a Mate, one needs to have a smartphone.
- This new condition disqualifies thousands of women who do not own smartphones from becoming Mates.
- Erosion of transparency: The app claims to “increase citizen oversight” by “bringing more transparency and ensuring proper monitoring of the schemes, besides potentially enabling processing payments faster”.
- With no physical attendance records signed by workers anymore, workers have no proof of their attendance and work done.
- No clarity provided on corruption: While ostensibly the NMMS’s focus on real-time, geo-tagged attendance could be one way of addressing this corruption, the MoRD has not provided much clarity on either the magnitude of this corruption or the manner in which the NMMS addresses it.
- No parameters: There are no parameters established to assess the app’s performance, either on transparency, or on quicker processed payments.
Way forward
- Social audits: Social audits are citizen-centric institutions, where the citizens of the panchayat have a direct role and say in how NREGA functions in their panchayat.
- Audits have worked well in the past, allowing the local rights holders to be invested in decisions, and hold the administration accountable themselves.
Conclusion
The NMMS has very clear problems that will make it increasingly difficult for workers to continue working under NREGA, eroding the right to work that underwrites the NREGA Act.
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MGNREGA Scheme
Group wants new order on MGNREGA workers revoked
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: MGNREGA
Mains level: Read the attached story
Certain groups has asked to discontinue manual attendance for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) work sites with more than 20 workers and use a mobile phone-based application.
What is MGNREGA?
- The MGNREGA stands for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005.
- This is labour law and social security measure that aims to guarantee the ‘Right to Work’.
- The act was first proposed in 1991 by P.V. Narasimha Rao.
Features of the scheme
- MGNREGA is unique in not only ensuring at least 100 days of employment to the willing unskilled workers, but also in ensuring an enforceable commitment on the implementing machinery i.e., the State Governments, and providing a bargaining power to the labourers.
- The failure of provision for employment within 15 days of the receipt of job application from a prospective household will result in the payment of unemployment allowance to the job seekers.
- Employment is to be provided within 5 km of an applicant’s residence, and minimum wages are to be paid.
- Thus, employment under MGNREGA is a legal entitlement.
What is so unique about it?
- MGNREGA is unique in not only ensuring at least 100 days of employment to the willing unskilled workers, but also in ensuring an enforceable commitment on the implementing machinery i.e., the State Governments, and providing a bargaining power to the labourers.
- The failure of provision for employment within 15 days of the receipt of job application from a prospective household will result in the payment of unemployment allowance to the job seekers.
- Any Indian citizen above the age of 18 years who resides in rural India can apply for the NREGA scheme. The applicant should have volunteered to do unskilled work.
- Employment is to be provided within 5 km of an applicant’s residence, and minimum wages are to be paid.
- Thus, employment under MGNREGA is a legal entitlement.
Answer this PYQ in the comment box:
Q.Among the following who are eligible to benefit from the “Mahatma Gandhi national rural employment guarantee act”?
(a) Adult members of only the scheduled caste and scheduled tribe households.
(b) Adult members of below poverty line (BPL) households.
(c) Adult members of households of all backward communities.
(d) Adult members of any household.
Post your answers here.
UPSC 2023 countdown has begun! Get your personal guidance plan now! (Click here)
MGNREGA Scheme
Caste-based NREGS Wages Payment System
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: MGNREGS
Mains level: Wage payment issues in MGNREGS
Parliament’s Standing Committee on Rural Development and Panchayati Raj has asked the government to roll back the system of caste-based wages, under which NREGS workers are paid based on whether they belong to a Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, or Others.
What is the caste-based payment system?
- Last year, the Rural Development Ministry sent an advisory to states asking them to take necessary action for payment of wages to NREGS workers according to their categories — SC, ST, and Others.
- Under the new system, if 20 individuals (say, six SCs, four STs and 10 others) work together at a site under MG-NREGA, a single muster roll would be issued.
- But payment would be done by issuing three separate Fund Transfer Orders (FTOs), one for each of the three categories.
- Due to this, some beneficiaries started complaining that despite working at the same site and registering on the same muster roll, they were getting their wages at different times depending on their categories.
- Beneficiaries in the ‘Others’ category, which includes the ‘General’ and Other Backward Classes (OBC) categories, especially complained of delays.
What was the earlier system of payment?
- The Rural Development Ministry notifies wage rates for states and Union Territories under Section 6(1) of The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005.
- Until 2020-21, the wages were being paid to NREGS beneficiaries through a single funds transfer order.
- In other words, if 20 beneficiaries, including SCs, STs and Others work at a site under MGNREGA, all received their wages at the same time, through a single muster roll and a single funds transfer order.
Why was the system of caste-based wage payment introduced?
- According to the Ministry, the system of category-wise payment of wages was introduced to “accurately reflect on the ground flow of funds to various population groups”.
- Last year, a process of “streamlining” of the new system was taken up.
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MGNREGA Scheme
Back in news: MGNREGA
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: MGNREGS
Mains level: Not Much
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) workers are still waiting for almost ₹3,360 crore in pending wage payments, with the largest pending payments in West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.
What is MGNREGA?
- The MGNREGA stands for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005.
- This is labour law and social security measure that aims to guarantee the ‘Right to Work’.
- The act was first proposed in 1991 by P.V. Narasimha Rao.
Features of the scheme
- MGNREGA is unique in not only ensuring at least 100 days of employment to the willing unskilled workers, but also in ensuring an enforceable commitment on the implementing machinery i.e., the State Governments, and providing a bargaining power to the labourers.
- The failure of provision for employment within 15 days of the receipt of job application from a prospective household will result in the payment of unemployment allowance to the job seekers.
- Employment is to be provided within 5 km of an applicant’s residence, and minimum wages are to be paid.
- Thus, employment under MGNREGA is a legal entitlement.
Tap to read more about MGNREGS:
MGNREGA Scheme
MGNREGS faces negative net balance
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: MGNREGA
Mains level: Issues in MGNREGA
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) faces a negative net balance of Rs. 8,686 crores, including payments due.
About MGNREGA
- It stands for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005.
- This is labour law and social security measure that aims to guarantee the ‘Right to Work’.
- The act was first proposed in 1991 by P.V. Narasimha Rao.
The objectives of the MGNREGA are:
- To enhance the livelihood security of the rural poor by generating wage employment opportunities.
- To create a rural asset base that would enhance productive ways of employment, augment and sustain a rural household income.
Features of MGNREGA
- MGNREGA is unique in not only ensuring at least 100 days of employment to the willing unskilled workers, but also in ensuring an enforceable commitment on the implementing machinery i.e., the State Governments, and providing a bargaining power to the labourers.
- The failure of provision for employment within 15 days of the receipt of job application from a prospective household will result in the payment of unemployment allowance to the job seekers.
- Employment is to be provided within 5 km of an applicant’s residence, and minimum wages are to be paid.
- Thus, employment under MGNREGA is a legal entitlement.
News: MGNREGS runs out of fund
- The MGNREGS has run out of funds halfway through the financial year.
- Supplementary budgetary allocations will not come until the next Parliamentary session begins.
Implications on laborers
- Delayed payment: Due to this, payments for MGNREGA workers as well as material costs will be delayed, unless States dip into their own funds.
- Livelihood loss: MGNREGA data shows that 13% of households who demanded work under the scheme were not provided work.
- Halt of work: Many workers are simply turned away by officials when they demand work, without their demand being registered at all.
- Fall in demands: This has led to stop the generation of work. There is an artificial squeezing of demand.
Why has MGNREGS acquired so much importance?
- The MGNREGA, a demand-driven scheme, has provided many returnees relief during the covid imposed a lockdown for a year.
- During last year’s COVID-19 lockdown it has provided a critical lifeline for a record 11 crore workers.
Try this PYQ:
Q. Which principle among the following was added to the Directive Principles of State Policy by the 42nd Amendment to the constitution?
(a) Equal pay for equal work for both men and women
(b) Participation of workers in the management of industries
(c) Right to work, education and public assistance
(d) Securing living wage and human conditions of work to workers
Post your answers here.
Also read:
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MGNREGA Scheme
[pib] Bhuvan Yuktdhara Portal
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Bhuvan Yuktdhara Portal
Mains level: MGNREGA
A new portal under Bhuvan “Yuktdhara” has been released to facilitate planning of new MGNREGA assets using Remote Sensing and GIS based information.
Bhuvan Yuktdhara Portal
- Yuktdhara is a geospatial planning portal meant for facilitating Gram Panchayat level planning of MGNREGA activities across India.
- Portal integrates a wide variety of spatial information contents to enable a holistic approach towards planning using open-source GIS tool.
- Subsequent to pan Indian initiative of geo-tagging assets created under Mahatma Gandhi NREGA, harnessing the strength of GIS for identifying upcoming activities and their locations was a natural corollary.
Features of the portal
- The current level of integration under Yuktdhara, as part of Bhuvan, incorporates multi-temporal IRS satellite data of better than 3M detail in natural color, digital terrain, thematic layers as wed as locations of MGNREGA works and watershed management assets.
- The interface currently has a Gram Panchayat-specific logo to address planning as well as approval mechanisms intended to ensure the evaluation and acceptance of proposed activities.
- This will be enhanced for other levels of users gradually.
- Access for other Gram Panchayat will be facilitated at the earliest, by addressing the case multiple logins created for geotagging and moderation.
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Back2Basics: MGNREG Scheme
- The MGNREGA stands for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005.
- This is labour law and social security measure that aims to guarantee the ‘Right to Work’.
- The act was first proposed in 1991 by P.V. Narasimha Rao.
The objectives of the MGNREGA are:
- To enhance the livelihood security of the rural poor by generating wage employment opportunities.
- To create a rural asset base that would enhance productive ways of employment, augment and sustain a rural household income.
Features of the program
- MGNREGA is unique in not only ensuring at least 100 days of employment to the willing unskilled workers, but also in ensuring an enforceable commitment on the implementing machinery i.e., the State Governments, and providing a bargaining power to the labourers.
- The failure of provision for employment within 15 days of the receipt of job application from a prospective household will result in the payment of unemployment allowance to the job seekers.
- Employment is to be provided within 5 km of an applicant’s residence, and minimum wages are to be paid.
- Thus, employment under MGNREGA is a legal entitlement.
MGNREGA Scheme
In news: Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: MGNREGA, Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan
Mains level: MGNREGA, Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan
- One-third of the way through the financial year, government data shows that the MGNREGA scheme has used up almost half its allocated funds.
- Its spending has been more than ₹48,500 crores out of the expanded ₹1 lakh crore allocations announced following the COVID-19 outbreak.
Try this question for mains:
Q.Discuss how the MGNREG Scheme has been providing a minimum basic income since the Covid pandemic. Also discuss how it can prove to be a game-changer if coupled with Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT).
About MGNREGA
- The MGNREGA stands for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005.
- This is labour law and social security measure that aims to guarantee the ‘Right to Work’.
- The act was first proposed in 1991 by P.V. Narasimha Rao.
Its objectives
- To enhance the livelihood security of the rural poor by generating wage employment opportunities.
- To create a rural asset base which would enhance productive ways of employment, augment and sustain a rural household income.
Features of the Scheme
- MGNREGA is unique in not only ensuring at least 100 days of employment to the willing unskilled workers, but also in ensuring an enforceable commitment on the implementing machinery i.e., the State Governments, and providing a bargaining power to the labourers.
- The failure of provision for employment within 15 days of the receipt of job application from a prospective household will result in the payment of unemployment allowance to the job seekers.
- Employment is to be provided within 5 km of an applicant’s residence, and minimum wages are to be paid.
- Thus, employment under MGNREGA is a legal entitlement.
Also read:
MGNREGA Scheme
Safety net of income post Covid
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: MGNREGA
Mains level: Paper 3- Minimum income and issues
Providing a minimum basic income post-Covid will require some novel approach. This article proposes an approach with the mix of direct cash transfer and changes in the employment guarantee scheme.
Non-universal targeted programs
- It is true that a universal schemes are easy to implement.
- Non-universal targeted programmes face the problem of identification.
- Narrowly-targeted programmes will run into complex problems of identification.
- And the problem of identification gives rise to exclusion and inclusion errors.
How to solve identification problem
- There are three proposals which meet the objective of providing a minimum basic income.
- 1) Give cash transfers to all women above the age of 20 years.
- 2) Expand the number of days provided under MGNREGA.
- 3) Have a national employment guarantee scheme in urban areas.
- In all the three proposals, there is no problem of identification.
- A combination of cash transfers and an expanded employment guarantee scheme can provide a minimum basic income.
1) Cash transfer to all women
- One way of doing it will be to give it to all women say above the age of 20.
- This is an easily identifiable criterion because the Aadhaar cards carry the age of the person.
- The female population above the age of 20 is around 42.89 crore.
- Making available a minimum of Rs 4,000 annually as a cash transfer to all of them will cost Rs 1.72 lakh crore.
- Which is 0.84 per cent of GDP.
- The cost of the scheme to the government will be less if the well-off women choose not to take the cash transfer.
2) Expanding MGNREGA
- The Act guarantees 100 days of employment.
- At present, MGNREGA is availed of only for 50 days of employment.
- One way to help the poor and informal workers is to strengthen it.
- The government needs to increase the number of days under the scheme from 100 to 150 in rural areas.
3) Employment guarantee scheme for urban areas
- Introducing Employment Guarantee Act in urban areas would help also provide income.
- Providing employment for 150 days instead of 100 days will also prove beneficial.
Some facts and figures
- In 2019-20, the government spent Rs 67,873 crore for providing 48 days of employment to 5.48 crore of rural households.
- Out of this, the wage expenditure was Rs 48,762 crore.
- The government has increased the per day wage rate from Rs 182.1 in 2019-20 to Rs 202.5 in 2020-21.
- So, the estimated expenditure for 150 days of employment to 5.48 crore households in rural areas and 2.66 crore households in urban areas — together they account for 33 per cent of total households in the country.
- The additional expenditure needed for the new proposal proposal is Rs 1.9 to 2.5 lakh crore.
- This additional expenditure is around 1 to 1.22 per cent of GDP.
- The total cost of the three proposals would be Rs 4.9 lakh crore or 2.4 per cent of GDP.
But the total cost could be lower
- As the Employment Guarantee Programme is a demand-based programme, the number of days availed could be lower.
- This is happening even now.
- Second, on cash transfers, some women, particularly from richer classes, may voluntarily drop out of the scheme.
- Alternatively, we can provide that everyone receiving cash transfer must declare that her total monthly income is less than Rs 6,000 per month.
Where the additional money will come from
- Removing all exemptions in our tax system would give enough money.
- Tax experts advocate removing exemptions so that the basic tax rate can be reduced.
- Perhaps, out of the Rs 4.2 lakh crore which is needed, Rs 1 lakh crore can come out of phasing out of some of the expenditures.
- While another Rs 3 lakh crore must come out of raising additional revenue.
- Some of the non-merit subsidies, another item of expenditure, can be eliminated.
Consider the question “What are the issues non-universal schemes faces? Suggest the ways to do with the issue of identification which such schemes face.”
Conclusion
In the post-COVID-19 situation, we need to institute schemes to provide a minimum income for the poor and vulnerable groups and trying the mixed approach of cash transfer to women and modification of Employment Guarantee Acts could do that.
MGNREGA Scheme
Ensuring MGNREGA lives up to its potential
Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level: Provisions of MGNREGA
Mains level: Paper 2- Issues and scope for improvement in MGNREGA
With migrant workers returning home, work demand under MGNREGA is bound to rise. Sensing that the government increased the allocation to MGNREGA. This article suggests some steps to make the MGNREGA more effective in catering to this surge in the wake of the pandemic. Some issues that plague the scheme are also examined at the end. So, what are the suggestion? and what are the issues? Read to know….
Acknowledgement of the importance of MGNREGA
- The government made an allocation of an additional Rs 40,000 crore as part of the stimulus package.
- This is an acknowledgement of the importance of MGNREGA.
- The most important part of MGNREGA’s design is its legally-backed guarantee for any rural adult to get work within 15 days of demanding it.
- This demand-based trigger enables the self-selection of workers and gives them an assurance of at least 100 days of wage employment.
Let’s put allocation in context of World Bank recommendations
- Since 2012, an average of 18 per cent of the annual budgetary allocation for MGNREGA has been spent on clearing pending liabilities from the previous years.
- Even this financial year began with pending wage and material liabilities of Rs 16,045 crore.
- An allocation of Rs 1 lakh crore for FY 2020-21 would mean that approximately Rs 84,000 crore is available for employment generation this year.
- This will still be the highest allocation for MGNREGA in any year since the passage of the law.
- However, the allocation, which amounts to 0.47 per cent of the GDP continues to be much lower than the World Bank recommendations of 1.7 per cent for the optimal functioning of the programme.
Some immediate steps to ensure the MGNREGA lives up to its potential
- First, state governments must ensure that public works are opened in every village.
- Workers turning up at the worksite should be provided work immediately, without imposing on them the requirement of demanding work in advance.
- Second, local bodies must proactively reach out to returned and quarantined migrant workers and help those in need to get job cards.
- Third, at the worksite, adequate facilities such as soap, water, and masks for workers must be provided free of cost. For reasons of health safety, MGNREGA tools should not be shared between workers.
- The government should provide a tool allowance to all workers — some states are already providing such an allowance.
- Fourth, procedures for implementing MGNREGA must be simplified but not diluted.
- The pandemic has demonstrated the importance of decentralised governance.
- Gram panchayats and elected representatives need to be provided with adequate resources, powers, and responsibilities to sanction works, provide work on demand, and authorise wage payments to ensure there are no delays in payments.
- Fifth, as per a study by the RBI, more than half the districts in the country are under-banked.
- The density of bank branches in rural India is even more sparse.
- At this time, payments need to not only reach bank accounts on time, but cash needs to reach the workers easily and efficiently.
- The limited coverage of bank infrastructure in rural areas must not be made a hurdle.
- Attempts to distribute wages in cash, sans biometric authentication, must be rolled out.
- Sixth, there needs to be flexibility in the kinds of work to be undertaken, while ensuring that the community and the workers are the primary beneficiaries.
Issuse with MGNREGA
- Over the last few years, MGNREGA had begun to face an existential crisis.
- Successive governments capped its financial resources, and turning it into a supply-based programme.
- Workers had begun to lose interest in working under it because of the inordinate delays in wage payments.
- With very little autonomy, gram panchayats had begun to find implementation cumbersome.
- Barring a few exceptions, state governments were only interested in running the programme to the extent funds were made available from the Centre.
- Allocating work on demand, and not having enough funds to pay wages on time was bound to cause great distress amongst the workers and eventually for the state too.
- As a result, state governments had begun to implement MGNREGA like a supply-driven scheme, instead of running it like a demand-based guarantee backed by law.
Consider the question “With migrant workers returning to villages in the wake of corona pandemic, demand for work is likely to increase. In light of this, discuss the utility of MGNREGA and challenges it may face.”
Conclusion
With nearly eight crore migrant workers returning to their villages, and with an additional allocation for the year, this could be a moment for the true revival of MGNREGA. A revival led by workers themselves.
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005
- The Act aims at enhancing the livelihood security of people in rural areas by guaranteeing hundred days of wage employment in a financial year to a rural household whose adult members (at least 18 years of age) volunteer to do unskilled work.
- The central government bears the full cost of unskilled labour, and 75% of the cost of material (the rest is borne by the states).
- It is a demand-driven, social security and labour law that aims to enforce the ‘right to work’.
- Ministry of Rural Development (MRD), Government of India in association with state governments, monitors the implementation of the scheme.
