MGNREGA

To prepare for Indian Polity for any competitive exam, aspirants have to know about the basics of the Directive Principle of State Policy. It gives an idea of all the topics important for IAS Exam and the polity syllabus (GS-II). Directive Principle of State Policy and related topics are extremely important for the UPSC Exam. This is an essential portion of the polity. As IAS aspirants, you should be thorough with the Directive Principle of State Policy. This article will provide you with relevant details about the MGNREGA.

• The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, earlier known as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act was passed on 7th September 2005 to augment employment generation and social security in India.
• It covers all districts of India except the ones with 100% urban population.
• This act envisage to give shape to Art. 41 (DPSP) – Right to work, education and public assistance in certain cases.
• Recently, Finance Minister announced on March 26th, 2020, the workers under the MGNREGA would get a hike of Rs. 2000 each on an average. This  announcement was made as an initiative towards the loss caused by the Covid-19 outbreak.

• In 1991, the P.V Narasimha Rao government proposed a pilot scheme for generating employment in rural areas with the following goals:
  • Employment Generation for agricultural labour during the lean season.
  • Infrastructure Development
  • Enhanced Food Security
• This scheme was called the Employment Assurance Scheme which later evolved and shaped into the MGNREGA after the merger with the Food for Work Programme in the early 2000s.

• Provide 100 days of guaranteed wage employment to rural unskilled labour
• Increase economic security
• Decrease migration of labour from rural to urban areas
• MGNREGA differentiates itself from earlier welfare schemes by taking a grassroot – driven approach to employment generation.
• The programmes under the act are demand driven and provide legal provisions for appeal in case, work is not provided or payments are delayed.
• The scheme is funded by the central government which bears the full cost of unskilled labour and 75% of the cost of material for works undertaken under this law.
• The central and state governments audit the works undertaken under this act through annual reports prepared by CEGC (Central Employment Guarantee Council) and the SEGC (State Employment Guarantee Councils).
• These reports have to be presented by the incumbent government in the legislature.

• It gives a significant amount of control to the Gram Panchayats for managing public works, thus strengthening Panchayati Raj Institutions.
• Gram Sabha’s are free to accept or reject recommendations from Intermediate and District Panchayats.
• It incorporates accountability in its operational guidelines and ensures compliance and transparency at all levels.

• Union Rural Development Ministry has notified works under MGNREGA, majority of which are related to agricultural and allied activities, besides the works that will facilitate rural sanitation projects in a major way.
• The works have been divided into 10 broad categories like Watershed, irrigation and Flood management works, Agricultural and Livestock related works, Fisheries and works in coastal areas and the Rural Drinking water and sanitation related works.
• Category A: Public works relating to natural resources management
• Category B: Community assets or individual assets
• Category C: Common infrastructure including for NRLM compliant self-help groups

• Non revision of payment and based upon CPI-AL indicator (based upon 1980s data)
• Wages varies across state to state, lacks uniformity. In some states its even less than minimum wages act.
• Lack of regular social audit by independent auditors/agency.
• Payments are long pending plagued with corruption.
• Quality of assets created not enough durable to sustain.
• Poor monitoring and evaluation mechanism to assure quality of work and proper implementation of scheme.
• Issue of fake and proxy beneficiary.

• Conducting regular and independent audit of the scheme.
• Revising payments time to time along with contemporary inflationary trends.
• Enhancing durability and sustainability of the assets.
• Enhancing monitoring with technology driven solutions such as – drones, satellites, geofencing and geotagging.
• Clearance of payment on regular basis.

• Ever since the scheme was implemented, the number of jobs has increased by 240% in the past 10 years.
• The scheme has been successful in enhancing economic empowerment in rural India and helping overcome the exploitation of labour.
• The scheme has also diminished wage volatility and the gender pay gap in labour.