MAHATMA GANDHI NATIONAL RURAL EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE ACT :A REVIEW – WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO TELANGANA STATE

Dr. S. Vijay KumarHead & Professor (Associate), Retd., Bharat Jyoti Awardee (Glory of India)

Department of EconomicsKakatiya Government (UG&PG) College (NAAC “A” Grade)

Ex - Member of Board of StudiesKakatiya University, Warangal – 506 009

Telangana State  

Introduction The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA)

aims at the ‘right to work’. It is a demand driven Scheme, approved by the Indian

Parliament in September 2005. It was renamed as ‘Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee Act’ on 2-10-2009. This Act started functioning from 2nd Feb.2006.

Initially it was introduced in 200 districts of the country and later extended to all districts in the country.

The main aim of this Act is to enhance the purchasing power of rural people.

World Development Report 2014 termed it a “Stellar example of rural development" and noted economist Amartya Sen also said it is a good Scheme for employment generation in rural areas, but it has to be reformed.

Aims of MGNREGA1).To provide at least 100 days of unskilled work on

demand per household per annum within 15 days and within 5 KMs radius near to his/her address to all adults who have completed 18 years of age, thus by ensuring economic security to rural people.

2).Equal wages for men and women and preference should be given to women in each work and at least one-third (33%) of persons to whom work is allotted have to be women, thus ensuring women empowerment and social equality.

3).Creation and maintenance of rural assets and environmental protection.

4). Lowering of rural-urban migration.5).Panchayat Raj Institutions to have a principal

role in planning and implementation and each district has to prepare a shelf of projects.

Performance (2015-16) In the financial year 2015-16, Rs.42,084 crore was spent on MGNREGA.

Performance indicators to rank the States are: Average days of employment per household: Even though MGNREGA guarantees

100 days of employment, the national average has always been below 50 days. Comparing this value across States, Tripura was able to provide 95 days of employment on average. Manipur reported only 16 workdays of employment, the lowest among all states, followed by Puducherry with 17 days, Goa 18 days and Lakshadweep 22 days. The overall average was 49 workdays in 2015-16. Average Days of Employment Provided Per Household under MGNREGA in Telangana State is 47 person days and it is in the top 10 States. Top 10 States are Tripura, Mizoram, TN, MS, AP, Rajasthan, TS, Meghalaya, and Jharkhand in 2015-16.

Percentage Wages Paid: MGNREGA requires that wages be paid within 15 days of closing the muster roll. During financial year 2014-15, only 40 per cent of the wages were paid within the stipulated time of 15 days. Manipur stood out in this case with 82 per cent of wages being paid within 15 days while Meghalaya was only able to pay wages for 4 per cent of the people on time.

Work Completion Rate: Work completion rate refers to the number of works completed compared to works started, in percentage terms. Mizoram performed best in this case with a 92 per cent work completion rate. Tripura, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh also had work completion rates of above 80 per cent. Arunachal Pradesh was at the bottom at just 20 per cent work completion rate.

Performance (2015-16)It is interesting note that two north-eastern States are at

either extreme of the ranking: Tripura on top and Arunachal Pradesh at the bottom. Mizoram was a close second. Chhattisgarh, Goa, Meghalaya and Punjab all ranked second from the bottom. Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand were two major States with a high ranking. West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh were major States with a low score.

Looking at the macro picture it is not clear why MGNREGA is able to provide below 50 days of employment on average nationally. But, this may be possible due to shortage of funds or due to lack of demand for work due to low wage rates. The reasons could vary across and within States.

Tripura was able to generate about 95 days of employment per household. Andhra Pradesh was able to pay 80 per cent of the wages within the promised 15 days of enlisting to work, and Madhya Pradesh was able to achieve 82 per cent work completion rate.

Findings of the Paper (MGNREGA – At a Glance - India & Telangana State) At the national, the percentage of total labour budget is increasing from Rs. 82.69

crore in 2012-13 to Rs. 98.34 crore in 2015-16 which is a welcome sign.  SC person days % as of total person days at national level is almost stable at 22%. It

is the same in case of Telangana also (Person day means, the amount of work done by one person in one working day).

ST person days % as of total person days at national level is decreasing from 17.79 in 2012-13 to 16.95 in 2016-17 so far. But, in case of Telangana it is increasing from 18.18 in 2014-15 to 19.09 in 2016-17 so far, which is good for STs of Telangana.  

Women Person days out of Total (%) at India level is increasing from 51.3 in 2012-13 to 56.28 in 2016-17 so far. This clearly shows that women work participation is increasing. This is a welcome step. But, in Telangana it is slightly decreased from 61.11% in 2014-15 to 59.78% in 2016-17 so far.

At India level, average days of employment provided per Household is decreased from 46.2 in 2012-13 to 36.45 in 2016-17 so far, in case of Telangana also the situation is same.

Average Wage rate per day per person (Rs.) at national level is increased from Rs. 121 in 2012-13 to Rs. 161 (160.6) in 2016-17. In Telangana, it is increased from Rs. 115 in 2014-15 to Rs. 137 (136.61) in 2016-17, which is less than national average.  Actual wage is Rs. 194 in TS.

Total No of HHs completed 100 Days of Wage Employment at national level is 51,73,487 in 2012-13 has fallen to 48,47,942 and 9,33,189 in 2015-16 and 2016-17 (so far) respectively. In Telangana, it is increased from 1,60,281 in 2014-15 to 4,17,602 in 2015-16, but decreased to 62,133 in 2016-17 so far.

At present, Haryana State is paying Rs. 259 per day, which is the maximum MGNREGA wage in India followed by Chandigarh Rs. 248/day. Bihar, Chattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh paying minimum of Rs. 167/day.

Impact of MGNREGAReduction in migration.Financial Inclusion increased.Women participation increased and equal

wages on par with men.Reduction in hunger.Relief from village money lenders.Improvement in rural environment and

sanitation.Rural asset creation.Children enrollment in schools increased as

rural economic empowerment is increasing.Participation of SCs and STs increased.Increase in average wages and employment.

Criticism Fake bills and mustered rolls were generated and payments significantly late. There is a criticism that in some states, low wages are paid than the stipulated

by the Act. According to the Supreme Court judgment this comes under ‘forced labour’.

Controller & Auditor General of India in its report has mentioned that funds are being misutilized in some states.

Public Works like land development works, afforestation, irrigation works, construction of roads, flood control etc. are being carried out by wealthy sections of the society thus betraying poor sections for whom this Act. is meant.

At some places, it is observed that the workers have to wait months together for their wags and they have to pay up to Rs.50/- as bribe for their job card.

It is also noticed that most of the works are confined to papers only and quality is not being maintained.

The Supreme Court Bench headed by Chief Justice K .G. Balakrishnan, Justice Deepak Varma and Justice B.S. Chowan has commented that there is lack of uniform policy in case of MGNREGA and they have further commented that the funds are not reaching the eligible beneficiaries, except in some states.

8,50,000 differently abled enrolled for work, but only 19% of these people were actually given work.

Some so called groups popped up, especially the local political groups who are having strength and power in the village . These groups grabbed majority of the job cards issued under MGNREGA.

 

SuggestionsTo prevent leakages in the MGNREGA programme, the government is

planning to introduce the system of electronic transfer of wages to the beneficiaries from 1st January 2017 in Kerala. But, this should be extended to the entire country at an early date.

Government must avoid delay in releasing the outstanding funds of MGNREGA. Recently, Centre released its share of funds to the tune of Rs 12,230 crore to the states for the rural job flagship scheme MGNREGA, only after the Supreme Court rapped it for not releasing adequate funds for the scheme. The apex court said it was extremely unfortunate that the government had no provision for providing compensation for late payment to the workers, and it was regrettable that it cleared the pending wage bill for 2015-16 only during the pendency of the case.

The average days of labour used was only 50 days as against 100 days stipulated per annum by MGNREGA. Hence, it is advised to encourage the rural people to to utilize stipulated 100 days of labour.  

There are complaints from different States that low wages are paid than the stipulated by the Act. Hence, there should be proper check and punishment for those who violates the rules. 

Earlier, Controller & Auditor General of India in its report has mentioned that funds are being misutilized in some states. Hence, utmost care must be taken to avoid misutilization of funds.

 

SuggestionsDue care must be taken to follow the uniform policy in

case of MGNREGA for entire country (for example, wage policy) and see that funds are reached to the eligible beneficiaries.

It has been observed from different studies that (for example, Saha Roy 2013) there is continued illegal presence of contractors and delay in payments. Hence, this should be avoided.

In all stages, Information Technology (IT) should be used for better implementation of MGNREGA. 

There is a provision under MGNREGA that States should provide employment within 15 days, if they failed to do so, they have to pay 25% of wage as unemployment allowance for the first 30 days of unemployment and half of the wages beyond this. But, several States failed to provide unemployment allowance. This was pointed by many research works like Chandrashekhar & Ghosh (2005), Dreze Jeans et al. (2006), Rai, (2010), Jha et al. (2012), Datta et al. Hence, States should take necessary steps in this direction.

Suggestions & ConclusionUnder this scheme 60% of funds expended on wages, but though

the works has been completed, due to corruption and irregularities wages have not been paid to the beneficiaries at some places. Hence, State Governments must take initiative in this direction.

States must punish people who indulge in corruption and action should be taken against those who are responsible for late payments.

It is also noticed that most of the works are confined to papers only and quality is not being maintained. Hence, in any case quality must not be compromised in works. 

The best practices in each of the high-performing States should be documented and shared with the other States, so that the performance of each State can go up. For example, Andhra Pradesh is known for widespread computerization of the processes which reduces corruption and ensures timely transfer of funds. 

Conclusion: To conclude, though there are some shortcomings like misappropriation of funds at some places, yet this Act is really a boon for the rural people. If this Act is implemented transparently and corruption free, it certainly enhances the standard of living of the rural people.

Thank You