Mains Practice Questions

Approach

• Start with MGNREGA.
• Discuss its contribution and achievement in rural development.
• Also discuss the issues associated with the MGNREGA.
• Suggest a way forward in the conclusion.

Introduction

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is one of the largest work guarantee programmes in the world. The primary objective of the scheme is to guarantee 100 days of employment in every financial year to adult members of any rural household willing to do public work-related unskilled manual work.

Significance of MGNREGA

• Legal Right to Work: Unlike earlier employment guarantee schemes, the act aims at addressing the causes of chronic poverty through a rights-based framework. Moreover, at least one-third of beneficiaries have to be women.
• Demand-Driven Scheme: 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, failing which an ‘unemployment allowance’ must be given.
• Decentralised planning: There is an emphasis on strengthening the process of decentralisation by giving a significant role in Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in planning and implementing these works.

Body

Achievement of MGNREGA

• It is the world’s largest social welfare scheme and it has been allocated Rs 73,000 crore in the Budget 2022-23.
• The scheme has managed to reduce the poverty levels in India by a huge amount. It was, hence, called a stellar example of rural development by the World Development Report of 2014.
• It has helped many women in rural areas to make a livelihood as well as gain social security.
• The unemployed youth in the age bracket of 18-30 got employment for 100 days a year.
• Helped employ the people affected by Covid-19 pandemic.
• According to the National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER), this scheme has played a vital role in reducing poverty among the poor as well as the socially weaker sections (Dalits, tribals and marginal farmers).

Issues Associated With Implementation of Scheme

• Delay and Insufficiency in Funds Dispersal: Most states have failed to disburse wages within 15 days as mandated by MGNREGA. In addition, workers are not compensated for a delay in payment of wages.
• Low Wage Rate: Currently, the MNREGA wage rates of at least 17 of the 21 major states are even lower than the state minimum wage for agriculture. The shortfall is in the range of 2-33% of the minimum wage.
• Ineffective Role of PRI: With very little autonomy, gram panchayats are not able to implement this act in an effective and efficient manner.
• Large Number of Incomplete works: There has been a delay in the completion of works under MGNREGA and inspection of projects has been irregular. Also, there is an issue of quality of work and asset creation under MGNREGA.
• Fabrication of Job cards: There are several issues related to the existence of fake job cards, the inclusion of fictitious names, missing entries and delays in making entries in job cards.

Way Forward

• Strengthening the Scheme: There is a need for better coordination between various government departments and the mechanism to allot and measure the work.
• Gender Wage Gap: Some discrepancies in the payouts need to be addressed, too. Women in the sector, on an average, earn 22.24% less than their male counterparts.
• Short-Term Measures: State governments must ensure that public work gets started in every village. Workers turning up at the worksite should be provided work immediately, without much delay.
• Gram panchayats 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.
• MGNREGA should be converged with other schemes of the government. For example, Green India initiative, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan etc.
• Social Auditing creates accountability of performance, especially towards immediate stakeholders..