The Impact of NREGA: Inclusive

Development Program
Submitted by :Pushpender Yadav
IPM2011076

Introduction
Implemented by the Ministry of Rural Development, National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) is the flagship programme of the
Government that directly touches lives of the poor and promotes inclusive
growth. The Act aims at enhancing livelihood security of households in rural
areas of the country by providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage
employment in a financial year to every household whose adult members
volunteer to do unskilled manual work. The Act came into force on February 2,
2006 and was implemented in a phased manner.
In Phase I it was introduced in 200 of the most backward districts of the
country. It was implemented in an additional 130 districts in Phase II 20072008. The Act was notified in the remaining 285 rural districts of India from
April 1, 2008 in Phase III.
NREGA is the first ever law internationally, that guarantees wage employment
at an unprecedented scale. The primary objective of the Act is augmenting wage
employment.
Objective of the Study
To take an overview of the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA.
To study the overall impact of Mahatma Gandhi NREGA on rural
Livelihood of India.
To study the performance of Mahatma Gandhi NREGA.

Methodology
The Mahatma Gandhi NREGA Foremost Features
(a) Job assignment process
The process for job assignment for an unemployment worker in rural India
under MGNREGA is as follows:
Any adult person of a rural household can apply to his Gram Panchayat
for an employment for unskilled manual work.
The Gram Panchayat after a verification of an applicant will issue a
job card.

 The households can submit a written application to Gram Panchayat

mentioning the number of days the household seeks to work under the
scheme.
The Gram P a n c h a y a t i s s u e s a receipt to the household mentioning
the guarantee to offer work within 15 days. The household is entitled to get
unemployment allowance if the state government is failed to provide a job
within 15 days
Once the household starts working it should get the payments on weekly
basis not later than fortnight.
(b) Works allotted under Mahatma Gandhi NREGA
Table1: Works conducted under Mahatma Gandhi NREGA
Sr.No
1.

Area of Work
Watershedrelated works

Type of Work
Contour
trenches,
Counter bunds, Boulder checks, Farm bundling,
structures,
(c) Coverage of the scheme Gabion
underground dykes, Earthen dams, Dugout farm
ponds,
In phase I, it was introduced
in stop
200dams.
of the most backward district of

the
country.
It was implemented
in an additional
districts in phase II, 2007-2008
2.
WatershedSpring shed130
development
related
works
The Act was notified
in the remaining rural districts of India from April 1,
in mountain
regions
2008 in3.phaseAgriculture
III.
related works
4.

NADEP
composting,
Vemi composting, Liquid bio- manures

Livestock-

Poultry

shelter,

Goat

works

tank and fodder trough for cattle, Azolla as cattle

relatedand Fund
(d) Funding agencies
transfer
shelter,
construction of pucca (permanent) floor urine

The funding of the scheme feed

is done
by central and state governments. The
supplement.
central government assists for whole cost of wages of unskilled workers.
It also bears the administrative charges related to scheme. The state
5.
Fisheries
Fisheries in seasonal
government isrelated
entitled towater
provide
allowance to the
bodies unemployment
on public land
households
in Works
case ifin the village
panchayat
does not give the employment
6.
Fish
drying
yards,
in stipulated coastal
time. The central
assistance
directly
to the
construction
of stormis water
drainsprovided
for coastal
areas
protection,
Belt vegetation.
implementing agencies at district
level.
From 2006-07
the ministry
hasRecharge
shiftedPitsto e- payment mode which
7.
Rural
Soak pits,
involves core drinking
banking system network with Real time Gross Settlement
water
(RTGS)8. mode.
Theworks
fundsIndividual
are released
to district rural development
related
Rural
household
School toilet units, anganwadi toilets, solid
agencies by theSanitation
Ministry of latrines,
Rural Development.
and liquid waste management.

(e) Main 9. initiatives

transparency and
Flood to strengthen
Deepening andeffectiveness,
repair of
Management
flood
channels,
chaur
renovation
efficiency to the scheme

10.
Irrigation
of minors, (IEC) initiatives
Information,
EducationRehabilitation
and Communication
Command
sub minors and field channels.

related works
The ministry
has been involved
in various
11.
Rural
Stone Kharanja
or brickactivities towards creating
kharanja,
cement concrete
and cementthe
interlocking
consciousness Connectivity
amongst rural
population
concerning
scheme. It
conducts one day orientation program with all Sarpanches, arranges Gram
12.

Land
Development

Private land owened by

Schedule Caste, Schedule Tribe or Below Poverty
Line families (BPL)

Sabha and promotes the scheme by using local news papers, media like
print, TV, radio preferably in regional languages. Also it motivates NGOs,
SHGs to take active participation in consciousness
creation.
A
monthly magazine Kurukshetra and News letter Grameen Bharat (a
monthly magazine published by Ministry of Rural Development) helps in
creating demand for programmme like Mahatma Gandhi NREGA.
Formation of Ombudsman
One of the main problems with the workers is the complaint related to
wages. Consequently, all the states are supposed to form Ombudsman to
solve the complaints. Almost 50 percent of states have operationalized the
Ombudsman. The functioning of the same is as follows :1.

Social Audits
It is made obligatory that all Gram Panchayat must conduct at least one social
audit in six months. It is also advised that, all the elected members and staff be
there in the Gram Sabha. The summary of finding of social audit should be
submitted to the state and the state is guide to frontward it to Comptroller and
Auditor General of India.

2. Payment system
For efficient and transparent payments to workers, the ministry is emphasizing all
the payment to be made through banks and post offices.

Review of Literature
Annual Report Ministry of Rural Development (April2006 - March2007)
reported that in case of choice of work under NREGA, highest priority that is
54% was given to water conservation followed by providing irrigation facility
to the land owned by SC/ST 10% land development 11%, rural connectivity
21% and any other activity 4% in 2006-2007etc.
The All India Report on Evaluation of NREGA (2008), a survey of
twenty districts, observed that eighty percent of household expressed that they
did not get the work within the stipulated 15 days time; neither were they paid
the unemployment allowance. The survey revealed that the number of
families spending less on food has come down drastically where as there is a
rise in number of families who are spending more on food and non food items.
Lalit Mathur (2008), Employment guarantee progress so far depicted in
the finding that MGNREGA could act as a great agent of socio-economic upliftment and providing livelihood security of poorest of the poor in India if
implemented earnestly. The employment and the earning under MGNREGA
should be treated as additional avenue for such households.

Jaswal Anshuman and Mistry Paulomees (2007) study summary reported

on will MGNREGA ensure security against hunger in Gujarat, Madhya
Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra concluded that 42% of the cases creation of
new ponds and depending or cleaning of existing once was undertaken 26%
of cases, work related to road construction and maintenance was provided,
check-dam related work formed16% of the case, rest of the cases comprised
of work like canal maintenance and mudwork ( digging and carrying)
hence it is clear that the emphasis is on creation of assets which form a part
of the basic infrastructure for the community.

Anil Kumar Kute, Dr. P.M. Honnakeri (2012) examined very interesting
case in Gulbarga district in Karnataka state, and observed that 63 percent of
respondents stated that the migration has decreased after MGNREGA
implementation. They also found that the scheme has helped workers in
their food security management.

Performance of MGNREGA
Since its inception, the Act has generated 1112.03 Crore person days. In the
current financial year up to December, 2011 MGNREGA has provided
employment to 3.77 Crore households generating 120.88 crore person days.
Almost 70% of the expenditure is on wages. Over the last six years (Up to
December, 2011) Rs. 100452 crore has been spent on the wages of Mahatma
Gandhi NREGA labor. The average wage earned has risen from Rs. 65 per
person day in 2006 to Rs. 100 by 2011. The share of SC/ST families in the
work provided under MGNREGA over the previous five years has ranged
between 51-61%. Women workforce participation under the Scheme has
surpassed the statutory minimum requirement of 33%. Over the previous five
years it has ranged between 40-48%.
2011-12
(up to Dec,
2011)

Indicator

2007-08

2008-09

2009-10

2010-11

No. of Districts

330

615

619

626

626

Total Job Cards Issued (in Crores)

6.48

10.01

11.25

11.98

12.07

Employment provided to households (in Crores)

3.39

4.51

5.26

5.49

3.77

Persondays (in Crores)

143.59

216.32

283.59

257.15

120.88

SC-days(in Crores)

39.36

63.36

86.45

78.76

27.40

% SC-days

27

29

30

31

23

ST-days(in Crores)

42.07

55.02

58.74

53.62

20.69

% ST-days

29

25

21

21

17

Women-day (in Crores)

61.15

103.57

136.40

122.74

59.82

% Women-days

43

48

48

48

49

Others (in Crores)

62.16

97.95

138.40

124.78

72.78

% Others

43

45

49

48

60

Persondays per HH

42 days

48 days

54 days

47 days

32 days

Budget Outlay ( Rs. In Crores)

12000

30000

39100

40100

40000

Central Release ( Rs. In Crores)

12610.39

29939.60*

33506.61

35768.95

22251.84

Total available fund (including OB) ( Rs. In Crores) 19305.81

Expenditure ( Rs. In Crores)
15856.89

37397.06
27250.10

49579.19
37905.23

54172.14
39377.27

38836.22
20866.56

Percentage of Expenditure against available funds

82

73

76

73

54

Expenditure on Wages ( Rs. In Crores)

10738.47
(68%)

18200.03
(67%)

25579.32
(70%)

25686.53
(68%)

14404.8
2 (72%)

Total Works taken up ( in Lakhs)

17.88

27.75

46.17

50.99

62.72

Snapshot of Employment Generation

Employment generated
and provided

200910

200809

200708

200607

No. of HHs provided

employment in million

52.58

45.11

33.90

21.01

Average persondays per HH

54

48

42

43

30

29

27

25

% share of SC population
4
5

% share of ST population

21

25

29

36

% share of other population

49

45

43

38

% share of women

48

48

43

41

Status of Mahatma Gandhi NREGA

In financial year 2011-12, (up to December, 2011) 3.77 crore households
were provided employment and 120.88 crore person days of employment
were generated. The enhanced wage earnings have led to a strengthening of
the livelihood resource base of the rural poor in India; 72 percent of funds
utilized were in the form of wages paid to the workers. Self-targeting in
nature, the programme has high work participation for marginalized groups
like Schedule caste/Schedule tribe (40%), wo men (49%) i n 2 0 11-12 (up
to De ce mb er, 20 11). Entire work undertaken were 62.72 lakh in the same
period, of which 53% relate to water conservation, 12% for the provision of

irrigation facility to lands owned by schedule caste/ schedule tribe/ below

poverty line, small farmers of marginal farmers, IAY beneficiaries, 22% for
rural connectivity and 9% for land development, 4% for any other activity
approved by Ministry of Rural Development and 0.37% for Rajiv Gandhi
Seva Kendra. Women participation in that financial year up to December,
2011 was 49% and the participation and schedule caste and schedule tribe in
that financial year upto December, 2011 is 40%.

Summary
Since its inception, the Act has generated 1112.03 Crore person days.
The average wage earned has risen from Rs. 65 per person day in 2006 to Rs.
100 by 2011. The Number of households has increased significantly from 3.39
Crores in 2007-08 to 5.49Crores in 2010-11 and upto December2012
MGNREGA has provided employment to 3.77 Crore households enerating
120.88 Crore persondays. Total Job Cards issued were doubled during the
study period i.e. 6.48 Crores in 2007-08 and 12.07 Crores in 2011-12. The
number of Districts have also increased from 330 to 626 during the period
from 2007-08 to 2011-12. In 2009-10, number of person-days created was
283.59 Crores which declined to 257.15 Crore person-days in 2010-11. In
total person-days, Scheduled Castes share has increased significantly from 27
per cent in 2007-08 to 31 per cent in 2010-11. The share of Scheduled Tribes in
total person-days created has declined from 29 percent in 2007-08 to 25 per
cent in 2008-09 and during 2009-10 and 2010-11 it was 21 percent each.
The enhanced wage earnings have led to a strengthening of the livelihood
resource base of the rural poor in India; 72 percent of funds utilized were in the
form of wages paid to the workers. Self-targeting in nature, the programme has
high work participation for marginalized groups like SC/STs (40%) and
Women (49%) in 2011-12 (upto December, 2011).

Conclusion
Indias MGNREGA is the only Act which gives its rural people such a right
and that too in the era of Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization (LPG).
It has a vital role to play because of its humane approach. It serves as an
effective safety net for the unemployed especially during famine and drought.
It has enabled them with sufficient purchasing power and they are able to at
least to supports their basic necessity i.e. food. The Act has confined the rural

poor to their areas and stopped migration to the cities. It is not only giving
rural livelihoods but also involving them in other non-agricultural work. This
has helped in handling disguised workers. Employment in other nonagricultural work will also improve the rural infrastructure i.e. rural asset
building. It will ultimately lead to sustainable development.
It is no uncertainty that the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA has been successful in
achieving its primary objective of providing wage employment to rural
household in India. The Ministry of Rural Development has done an imposing
work towards conceptualizing and operational zing this enormous flagship
program.
The Mahatma Gandhi NREGA will be a path breaking program for
inclusive growth of rural India.

Sources:-

1. www.nrega.nic.in
2. MNREGA Report to the people
3.Report by Asha Sharma
JVW
University, Jaipur
4. Overview of MNREGA by DR. K.V.S.
Prasad
5. Lecture Slides