MGNREGA & RURAL DEVELOPMENT WRITTEN BY ASHOK PUROHIT

Dept of Economics and Research Centre, Aditanar College of Arts and Science, Tiruchendur, 2014

Any country can’t develop without developing its rural area. India is an agriculture country and most of the people live in rural area, which lived in village. In rural area there are poor people and unskilled common labour which lived in rural area and live there day to day life. The Government of India begins a variety of employment problems in rural area backwardness, unemployment and challenges to India’s development. India has needs to make well policies and strategies for development rural area. The policy Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guaranty Act (MGNREGA) aim to improve the employment chances to rural area providing at least one hundred days wages employment in financial

[Mgnrega is a different form of wage employment programme launched in the history of India. It provides a legal guarantee of wage employment. This paper is an attempt to examine the impact of MGNREGA on employment generation in the Dhemaji district of Assam. Secondary data was collected from the ministry of rural development and other published sources. Data was thoroughly analyzed. This study shows that MGNREGA has provided employment opportunities to the vulnerable section of the society. However, still there is a big gap between jobs offered and jobs demanded. It has still a long way to go to fulfill the objective of providing complete hundred days of work to per household. There is also report of anomalies in its implementation]

The study is based on Durg District of Chhattisgarh state to analyze the impact of MGNREGA on the standard of living of rural people considering variables income & education. The study is purely qualitative & this was undertaken with an assumption that people who are not getting any employment are really getting benefit with the implementation of MGNREGA scheme in the period of seasonal unemployment. The study can be concluded with the fact that there is a positive impact of sufficient income & education level on the improvement in the standard of living.

International Journal of Community Development, 2014

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act was implemented in 2005 and Organized by Government of India. This scheme main objective to eliminate poverty and generation of income for rural peoples and household through hundred days of guaranteed employment per year. This scheme has provided social security through employment guarantee for Rural, Castes, Tribes and women in Kanyakumari district of Tamilnadu. The study found that the no. of Household registered in MGNRE scheme varied depending on how MGNRE scheme factors compared to market wages in the community, as well as local involvement of the program. The MGNRE scheme offered some basic employment for unprivileged groups. Substantial wages, opportunities for work, better implementation, utilization of fund and a greater recognition of the care giving responsibilities of women will be required for this policy to fully meet its goals in kanyakumari district. This study based on secondary data and used focus Group Methods. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act was enacted in September 2005. Under the Act, every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work are provided social protection and livelihood security. This was made through provision of at least 100 days of guaranteed employment in a financial year. The Act was implemented in all rural districts of the State in a phased manner between February 2006 and April 2008. It aimed at empowerment of the socially disadvantaged (i.e. Women, SCs & STs). Durable assets were also created through convergence of various anti-poverty and livelihood initiatives. In case of failure in providing work in time, the Act mandates payment of unemployment allowance and compensation for delay in payment of wages. The Act also supports activities towards achieving elimination of poverty as a component of Sustainable Development Goals by the end of year 2030. The scheme was implemented on a cost sharing basis between the Government of India (GoI) and the State. The GoI had to bear all costs, except 25 per cent of the cost of material and wages for semi-skilled/ skilled workers, (ii) unemployment allowance and (iii) administrative expenses of the State Employment Guarantee Council. These components were to be borne by the State. Organizational Set Up The scheme was implemented by the Panchayati Raj and Drinking Water (PR&DW) Department. It was under the overall supervision of the Commissioner-cum-Secretary acting as the State Programme Coordinator and the State Employment Guarantee Commissioner. The Collectors who act as District Programme Coordinators (DPCs) were responsible for implementation of the scheme at district levels. Block Development Officers (BDOs)-cum-Programme Officers (POs) implemented the scheme at Panchayat Samitis (PSs) level. At the village level, it was the GPs that implemented the scheme. District Profile: Kanyakumari district is the southernmost district in Tamil Nadu state and mainland India. It stands second in terms of population density among the districts of Tamil Nadu and the second most urbanized, next only to Chennai district. It is also the richest district in Tamil Nadu in terms of per capita income, and also tops the state in Human Development Index (HDI), literacy and education. The district headquarters is Nagercoil.

A plethora of well planned schemes and programmes, meant to generate gainful employment have existed ever since India became independent 67 years ago. For eradication of unemployment government has been passing various programmes and schemes like National Rural Employment Programme (NREP) in 1980 and Jawahar Rozgar Yojana (JRY) (1993-94) etc.

Agricultural wage earners, small and marginal farmers and casual workers engaged in non-agricultural activities, constitute the bulk of the rural poor in India. Small land holdings and their low productivity are the cause of poverty among households dependent on land-based activities for their livelihood. Poor educational base and lack of other vocational skills also perpetuate poverty. Due to the poor physical and social capital base, a large proportion of the people are forced to seek employment in vocations with extremely low levels of productivity and wages. A developing economy like India is often characterised by a labour market with demand and supply of labour and a wage that even if competitively determined may not be adequate for the poor household to reach their target income; what they consider as means of a decent living. Proper utilization of both human and material resources was the major challenges for the economic development of Independent India. At the time of its independence, the country had low level of economic and technological development, low per capital income, slow pace of development of economic and social institutions and outdated production techniques. The objective of the Independent India was to attain and accelerate the economic development of the country. Hence, the Planning Commission of India was established in 1950 to accelerate the economic development and to raise the standard of living of the people through systematic utilization of the resources of the country, increasing production and providing opportunities to all. The Planning Commission formulate the plans for the most effective and balanced utilization of country’s resources by determining priorities. The main focus of the planning commission since its inception was rural development. So far, numerous programmes proposed by planning commission have been taken up by government of India to address the problems of rural unemployment and rural poverty.

2018

Rural poverty is increasing in various dimensions to affects people to live with inadequate economic life. In rural areas, people have poor life chances which are reflected in housing, education, nutrition and health. The programme targets to reduce headcount ratio of consumption poverty by 10 percent, raising the real wage rate of unskilled workers upto 20 percent and creating 70 million new work opportunities. NREGA aims at enhancing livelihood security by providing atleast 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every household whose adult volunteer members to do unskilled manual work. It was later renamed as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). The main feature of the MGNREGA scheme is to provide basic facilities like drinking water, shade, first-aid box and crèche at the work place. This scheme not only provides employment but also focuses on inclusive growth, rejuvenation of natural resources, generating productive assets, pro...