!  Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), was notified on 7 September 2005 (No. 42 Of 2005) and came in to force in February 2006.

!  Aims at fulfilling the short-term need of casual wage employment, while creating sustainable livelihoods in the long- term.

!  First international law that legally guarantees wage employment for masses.

!  Not to substitute regular employment, but additional to what is normally available.

!  Rights based approach, can demand for jobs instead of begging or waiting for doles. (Hence called demand led program).

!  Through this Act, the state is committed to providing employment (“not less than one hundred days of such work in a financial year”, NREGA, 2005) to every rural family which demands such work and whose adult member (s) volunteer.

!  Minimum wage rate and, as far as possible, within a 5 km radius of the village where the applicant resides.

!  Failure to provide wage employment in 15 days – unemployment allowance.

!  Ban on the use of contractors & also lays emphasis on labour-intensive work. Later small and marginal farmers have been allowed to use the labour.

!  The Act was notified in 200 districts in the first phase with effect from Feb 2, 2006

!  Currently NREGA covers the entire country, ie. all districts.

(exception: 100% urban population districts).

MGNREGA operational guidelines 2013

Skewed growth and development following the economic liberalization phase

(a)  Jobless growth: disjunction between growth in

GDP and employment. (b)  Income without distribution: high growth rate in

GDP per capita, with poor distribution Consequences: a)  Rising personal (income), sectoral and regional

inequality in the reform phase b)  Issue of sustainability of growth rate.

!  Right based Framework: For adult members of a rural household willing to do unskilled manual work.

!  Time bound Guarantee: 15 days for providing employment, else unemployment allowance. 100 days in a financial year per household,

!  Labour Intensive Works: 60:40 wage and material ratio for permissible works; no contractors/machinery.

!  Decentralized Planning " Gram Sabha to recommend works " At least 50% of works by Gram Panchayats for

execution " Principal role of peoples representatives in

planning, monitoring and implementation !  Work site facilities : Crèche, drinking water, first aid

and shade. MGNREGA.nic.in

!  Women empowerment: At least one-third. !  Transparency & Accountability: Proactive

disclosure ( Social Audits, Grievance Mechanism) !  Implementation: Under Sec 3, States are

responsible for providing work !  Funding: Central Government -100% of wages for

unskilled manual work, 75% of material cost % wages to skilled and semi skilled workers. State Government- balance of 25% and

100% of unemployment allowance.

!  Salient features of this act are:

!  Registration

!  Job card

!  Application for Work

!  Unemployment allowance:

!  Provision and Execution of Work

!  Wage payment in cash.

!  Worksite Management

!  Public Disclosure/ transparency and accountability

!  Grievance redress mechanism

!  August 25th, 2005 NREGA enacted by legalization !  September 5th, 2005 Assent of the President !  September 7th, 2005 Notified in the Gazette of India !  February 2nd, 2006 Came into force in 200 districts !  April 1st, 2007 113 more districts were notified !  May 15th, 2007 17 more districts were notified !  April 1st, 2008 Notified in the remaining rural

districts !  October 2nd, 2009 Renamed as MGNREGA !  December 10th, 2010 SMS service was introduced. !  April 20th , 2011 Report for daily expenditure !  July 5th, 2013 Workers Mobile number can be added

in the data

Various MGNREGA’s reports

!  Planning, Implementation and Funding !  The graphic below depicts the processes and agencies involved in planning, implementation

and funding of works under the MGNREGA.

MGNREGA.nic/reports

!  Study based on the 64th round of the National Sample Survey Organization’s survey data concludes that:

!  Benefits of MGNREGA have reached women, SC/ST families and the poor.

!  Over the last four years, the share of SC/ST families in the work provided under MGNREGA has ranged between 50-60%.

!  The share of women in the employment from 41% in 2006-07 to 50% in 2010-11.

!  Average female wages in MGNREGA were slightly higher than average male wages.

Nrega.nic.in/Briefing_booklet13.pdf

!  Employment Generated: In 2012-13, 4.48 crore households and 163.38 crore person days of employment.

!  Increasing Outreach to the poor and marginalized: Self targeting in nature, the programme had high work participation SC/ST (38%), Women (53%) in 2012-13.

!  Strengthening Natural Resource Base: In 2012-13, 64.54 lakh works. 58% for water conservation, 12% for the provision of irrigation facility to land owned by SC/ST/BPL and IAY beneficiaries, 18% for rural connectivity and 8% for land development. Nrega.nic.in/Briefing_booklet13.pdf

!  Financial Inclusion of the Poor: 8.75 crore Bank/post office accounts opened for MGNREGA workers, and about 85% of NREGA payments made through them.

!  Mahatma Gandhi NREGA in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) Districts: Average person days of employment per household is 33 days. The percentage of women participation was 47% (national average 53). The percentage of HHs which completed 100 days of employment is 4.24% as compared to national average of 4.59%.

Nrega.nic.in/Briefing_booklet13.pdf

!  Budgetary allocation: Rs.113, 000 million in 2006-07 to Rs.401, 000

million in 2009-10.

!  T h e c u m u l a t i v e e x p e n d i t u r e u n d e r MGNREGA works since 2006-07 has been Rs.1, 037, 600 million. (US $ 18800.00 million).

Nrega.nic.in/Briefing_booklet13.pdf

Year Total Outlay Wage expenditure (% of Total Outlay)

2006- 07 $2.5 bn 66

2007- 08 $2.6 bn 68

2008- 09 $6.6 bn 67

2009- 10 $8.68 bn 70

2010- 11 $8.91 bn 71

: www.mgnrega.nic.in

Expenditure on Wages (in cr) Rs. 21127 Cr

75%

Expenditure on Material (in cr)

Rs. 6904 Cr 25%

MGNREGA briefing book 2013

NREGA briefing booklet 2013

!!! 2006%07!! 2007%08!!! 2008%09!! 2009%10!! 2010%11!! 2011%12!!! 2012%13!%!

!! (200!districts)!!!

(330!districts)!!

(615!districts)!!!

(615!districts)!!!

(626!districts)!!!

626!Districts(provisi

onal)!!

632!districts!(reported!<ll!12/02/2013)!!

Number!of!Households!provided!employment!(In!crore)!!

2.1! 3.39! 4.51! 5.26! 5.49! 5.04! 4.48!

PERSON%DAYS!(In!crore)![%!of!total!person%days]!!Total!!! 90.5! 143.59! 216.32! 283.59! 257.15! 216.34! 163.38!

Sc!!! 22.95![25%]!! 39.36![27%]!!! 63.36![29%]!!!! 86.45[30%]!!!!78.76![31%]!!!! 47.70![22%]!!! 36.05[22%]!!!

St!!! 32.98![36%]!!! 42.07![29%]!!!! 55.02[25%]!!! 58.74[21%]!!!!53.62[21%]!!!! 39.59[18%]!!! 26.59[16%]!!

Women!!! 36.4[40%]!! 61!.15[43%]!! 103.57![48%]!! 136.4[48%]!! 122.74[48%]!! 103.81[48%]!! 86.42[53%]!!!

Average!person%days!per!employed!household!!

43!Days!!! 42!Days!!! 48!Days!!! 54!Days!!! 47!days!!!! 43!days!!! 36!days!!!

Source: MGNREGA_SAMEEKSHA

!! Wage!FY!2006–07!!!!

Wage!FY!2007–08!!!!

Wage!FY!2009–10!!!!

Wage!FY!2010–2011!&!2011–12!!!!

!Wage!(revision!with!effect!from!1/4/2012)!!!

Andhra!Pradesh!!!! 80! 80! 100! 121! 137!

Arunachal!Pradesh!!!! 55–57!!!! 65–67!!!! 80! 118! 124!

Assam!!!! 66! 76.35! 100! 130! 136!Bihar!!!! 68! 77! 100! 120! 122!ChhaIsgarh!!!! 62.63! 62.63! 100! 122! 132!Gujarat!!!! 50! 50! 100! 124! 134!Haryana!!!! 99.21! 135! 141.02! 179! 191!

Himachal!Pradesh!!!! 75! 75! 100! 120–150!!!! 126–157!!!!

Jammu!and!Kashmir!!!! 70! 70! 100! 121! 131!

Source: MGNREGA_SAMEEKSHA

Jharkhand!!! 76.68! 76.68! 99! 120! 122!Karnataka!!! 69! 74! 100! 125! 155!Kerala!!! 125! 125! 125! 150! 164!Madhya!Pradesh!!! 63! 85! 100! 122! 132!

Maharashtra!!! 47! !66–72!!! 100! 127! 145!Manipur!!! 72.4! 81.4! 81.4! 126! 144!Meghalaya!!! 70! 70! 100! 117! 128!Mizoram!!! 91! 91! 110! 129! 136!Nagaland!!! 66! 100! 100! 118! 124!Odisha!!! 55! 70! 90! 125! 126!Punjab!!! !93–105!!! !93–105!!! !100–105!!! 153! 166!Rajasthan!!! 73! 73! 100! 119! 133!Sikkim!!! 85! 85! 100! 118! 124!Tamil!Nadu!!! 80! 80! 100! 119! 132!Tripura!!! 60! 60! 100! 118! 124!U[ar!Pradesh!!! 58! 58! 100! 120! 125!U[arakhand!!! 73! 73! 100! 120! 125!West!Bengal!!! 69.4! 69.4! 100! 130! 136!

Rs.1, 037, 600 million

!  Provision of wage employment, road that will lead to reduction in rural poverty levels.

!  Upward effect on minimum wages. !  Effect on interstate migration of workers during

specific seasons (construction, agriculture etc. were hit). This has led to better conditions, higher bargaining pwr.

!  Impact on general migration to urban. (?) !  February 2, MNREGA day. !  UPA won elections, may win again…………….

!  Guaranteed social security in informal sector through wage employment. Only 9% households received 100 days.

!  Numbers not impressive, but mood is positive.

!  Being blamed for manpower shortage in sectors like agriculture, construction etc.

!  Low productivity of those employed – allegations about free riding.

!  Seems to work, so getting loaded with everything (imposed).

!  Poor governance – Local self government. !  State governments – lack of interest, diverting

money and faulty implementing machinery. !  Objection from some ministries. !  Inadequate awareness: People are not aware about

their basic entitlements. Even administrators are ignorant.

Delays in payment to workers : Delay in payment and incorrect payments are a common problem under MNREGA.

!  Corruption and Contractors.

Poor Planning & Administrative

Skill

Lack of Focus on objectives

Lack of adequate man power

Difficulty in Funding the

Scheme

Discrimination

Corruption & Irregularities

Maoist insurgency

Lack of Safety

Measures

Inadequate Awareness

No purposive Spending

Being unorganized

Panchayats alleges about loopholes in MGNREGA schemes

!  Entry of fake names in muster rolls !  Double entry of quantity of earth cut. !  Involvement of middlemen !  Gross irregularities in administration and

implementation of the scheme.

The Times Of India (Oct 4, 2013, 02.10PM)

!  RTI activist shot dead in Bihar, for asking information about scheme spends. -Mar 26, 2013

!  MNREGA activist gangraped in Bihar (Second

murder of an activist in a week) -Apr 3, 2013

http://www.downtoearth.org.in

!  Allegations ◦  about discrimination. ◦  No specific task for women have been identified ◦  distortion of rural labor market.

!  Challenges in creating useful public assets. !  Using services for cultivation !  Weak delivery of public services, like post

offices not computerized.

Policy proposals for India, MGNREGA Challenges and issues

Down To Earth (DTE) report shows that: !  Participation of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled

Tribes in the scheme has more than halved in last five years.

!  In 2008-09, STs accounted for 26% of the total labour participation in MGNREGA. By the end of 2012 it was barely 16%.

!  Participation of SC people came down from 29 to 22% during the period.

!  The decline was about 50 per cent in Bihar, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra that have high concentration of SC people

!  Stream lining the processes, with use of technology.

!  Making jobs sustainable through skill building and placement assistance.

!  Widening the scope of works. !  Focus on communication and publicity, social

audits, results based approach. !  Capacity building and strengthening. !  Establishing identity. !  Improving banking, India Post as a savings

bank.

!  Its all about right to employment, right to

dignity and right to life.

Thank you BVARKKEY@IIMAHD.ERNET.IN