PERFORMANCE OF MGNREGA IN UP

(WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO)

AUTHOR- SHOBHIT SRIVASTAVA
EMAIL ID SHOBHITSRIVASTAVA889@GMAIL.COM
CO-AUTHOR-ALTAMASH KHAN
EMAIL ID SPECIALALTAMASH@GMAIL.COM
BACHELORS IN GLOBALIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT STUDIES
CENTRE FOR GLOABALIZATION AND DEVELOPMENT STUDIES
UNIVERSITY OF ALLAHABAD,ALLAHABAD

ABSTARCT- The basic believe that every human being deserves a good quality of
life is the major purpose of the rural empowerment.MNREGA has been a major
attempt in achieving this purpose. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment
Guarantee Act, 2005, (MGNREGA) was enacted on 7th September 2005 as An
Act to provide for the enhancement of livelihood security of the households in
rural areas of the country by providing at least one hundred days of Guaranteed
wage employment in every financial year to every household.
This paper attempts to examine the performance of MGNREGA .The study was
carried out in Pratapgarh district of Uttar Pradesh and the performance of
MGNREGA has been determined through a fieldwork in which a questionnaire
was prepaired and employees were questioned.
INTRODUCTION
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, (MGNREGA)
was enacted on 7th September 2005 as An Act to provide for the enhancement of
livelihood security of the households in rural areas of the country by providing at
least one hundred days of Guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to
every household
THE OBJECTIVES OF MGNREGA ARE:
Providing wage employment opportunities
Creating sustainable rural livelihoods through regeneration of the natural
resource base i.e. augmenting productivity and supporting creation of durable
assets
Strengthening rural governance through decentralization and processes of
transparency and accountability MGNREGA pioneers the Governments of
radicalization of State welfare policies, foregrounding its development
Obligations as citizen rights.

The most significant feature of the MGNREGA is that it vests the countrys rural
communities with rights to demand employment and binds the Government to time
bound legal guarantees to honor and fulfill the demand. The implementation of
the Act has yielded encouraging results, despite uneven performance across the
country, in augmenting employment, increasing wage earnings, stemming distress
migration, enhancing productivity and promoting equity, especially gender equity.
This Act for unskilled manual labor is ushering in a new era of technology and
financial inclusion for rural communities. MGNREGA, designed primarily as a
social safety net has the potential to transform rural India into a more productive,
equitable, connected society.
COMPONENTS RELATED TO STRENGTHENING LEGAL PROCESSES
AND ENTITLEMENTS ARE AS FOLLOWS:
Social Mobilization
Planning
Works management
Asset creation
Wage payment
Transparency and Public accountability
Grievance redressal
Using ICT enabled processes
Strengthening monitoring and review systems
Regular independent research and evaluation
Incentivizing performance
Encouraging knowledge sharing
Outcomes expected in the implementation of the strategic framework are:
Building capacity of the system to deliver a legal guarantee.
Developing capabilities of the people to demand rights.
Identifying issues to leverage the Act to make it an instrument for integrated,
sustainable development.
VARIOUS EMPLOYEMENT ACTS RELATED TO WAGE EMPLOYMENT IN RURAL
INDIA

In later years, major employment schemes like Jawahar Rozgar Yojana (JRY) in
1977, National Rural Employment Programme (NREP) in 1980, Employment
Assurance Scheme (EAS), Food for Work Programme (NFFWP) in 2004,
Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana (JGSY) and Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar

Yojana (SGRY) were launched. Some of them (e.g. NFFWP) provided foodgrains
to complement wages.
1. On 1 April 1989, to converge employment generation, infrastructure
development and food security in rural areas, the government integrated NREP
and RLEGP into a new scheme JRY. The most significant change was the
decentralization of implementation by involving local people through PRIs and
hence a decreasing role of bureaucracy.
2. On 2 October 1993, the Employment Assurance Scheme (EAS) was initiated
to provide employment during the lean agricultural season. The role of PRIs
was reinforced with the local self-government at the district level called the
Zilla Parishad as the main implementing authority. Later, EAS was merged
with SGRY in 2001.
3. On 1 April 1999, the JRY was revamped and renamed to JGSY with a similar
objective. The role of PRIs was further reinforced with the local selfgovernment at the village level called the Village Panchayats as the sole
implementing authority. In 2001, it was merged with SGRY.
4. In January 2001, the government introduced FWP similar to the one initiated in
1977. Once NREGA was enacted, the two were merged in 2006.
5. On 25 September 2001 to converge employment generation, infrastructure
development and food security in rural areas, the government integrated EAS
and JGSY into a new scheme SGRY. The role of PRIs was retained with the
Village Panchayats as the sole implementing authority. Yet again due to
implementation issues, it was merged with Mahatma Gandhi NREGA in 2006.
National 2013-2014) National Reports (2013-2014)

OVERVIEW
According to the Eleventh Five Year Plan (200712), the number of Indians living
on less than $1 a day, called Below Poverty Line (BPL), was 300 million that
barely declined over the last three decades ranging from 1973 to 2004, although
their proportion in the total population decreased from 36 per cent (199394) to 28
percent (200405), and the rural working class dependent on agriculture was
unemployed for nearly 3 months per year. The plan targeted poverty through
MGNREGA which promised employment as an entitlement.
Financial allocations for the NREGA increased steadily between 2006-2010 when
it touched nearly Rs. 40,000 crores. Since then, however, allocation for NREGA
has stagnated just below Rs. 40,000 crores. In 2014-15, allocations were cut
dramatically to less than Rs. 30,000 crore.
The UPA Government had planned to increase the number of working days from
100 to 150 before the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections in the country but failed.
The NDA government has decided to provide 150 days for rain hit areas.

Salient Features of MGNREGA

All adult members of a rural household willing to do unskilled manual work
have the right to
Demand employment
Such a household will have to apply registration to the Gram Panchayat
After verification, the Gram Panchayat will issue a Job Card with photograph of
all adult members of the household willing to work under the programme.
The Job Card must remain in the custody of the household
Job Cardholder can apply for work to the Gram Panchayat which will issue
him/her a dated receipt of
The work application
Employment will be provided by the Gram Panchayat (local self governing
body) within 15 days of

 Work application, failing which unemployment allowance will be paid.

Disbursement of wages has to be done weekly basis and not beyond a fortnight.
Wages will be paid at the wage rate to the wage earners through their Bank/Post
office accounts.
An annual shelf of works to be prepared in advance for each year.
A ratio of 60:40 for wage and material costs should be maintained at GP level.
No contractors/and no labour-displacing machinery shall be used in execution
of works.
Panchayati Raj Institutions will have a principal role in planning, monitoring
and implementation
At least one-third of the workers should be women.
Inbuilt incentive-disincentive structure to the State Government for guaranteeing
employment.
Programme Implementation and Outcomes
Outcomes of programme implementation in the year 2012-13(upto 12.2.2013) are
as follows:
1. Employment Generated: In 2012-13, 4.48 crore households were provided
employment and163.38 crore person/days of employment were generated.
2. Increasing Outreach to the poor and marginalized: Self targeting in nature,
the programme had high work participation for marginalized groups like SC/ST
(38%), Women (53%) in 2012-13.
3. Strengthening Natural Resource Base: In 2012-13, 64.54 lakh works were
undertaken, of which 58% for water conservation, 12% for the provision of
irrigation facility to land owned by SC/ST/BPL and IAY beneficiaries, 18% for
rural connectivity and 8% for land development.
4. Financial Inclusion of the Poor: With a view to universalise the system of
wage payments through individual accounts, it has been recommended to all
States to disburse wages through Post Offices and Bank Accounts. 8.71 crore
(as per MIS) Mahatma Gandhi NREGA bank and post office accounts have
been opened to disburse wages.
5. Mahatma Gandhi NREGA in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) Districts: The
Ministry reviews the implementation of Mahatma Gandhi NREGA in LWE
districts. During the financial year 2012-13 the average person/days of
employment per household is 33 days. The percentage of women participation
was 47 as compared to the national average of 53. The percentage of HHs
which completed 100 days of employment is 4.24 as compared to national
average of 4.59

Demand for Employment

The main objective of the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA is to meet employment
demand. The number of households provided employment is 4.48 crore in financial
year 2012-13.
Share of Women in Workforce
The Act stipulates that priority shall be given to women in such a way that a
minimum of one-third of the beneficiaries are women who have registered and
have requested for work. Women participation for FY 2012-13 is 53%.

The highest women participation for FY 2012-13 was reported in Kerala (93%)
followed by Pondicherry (84%).

Share of SC/ST Households in Employment

In terms of providing employment to members of SC & ST households in 2012-13
the figure stood at nearly 38%.

Expenditure
The availability of funds with the districts during 2012-13 under Mahatma Gandhi
NREGA was Rs.42464.26 crores, with Rs 26533.06 crores as Central release, and
Rs 10009.09 crores as Opening Balance, Rs.5037.69 crores as State share. As
against this, an amount of Rs 29422.22 crores has been utilised which constitutes
69% of the funds available.

Issues and Challenges of MGNREGA with respect to the Government and the
public:
GOVERNMENT:
a) Poor Planning & Administrative Skill
b) Lack of Focus on objectives
c) Lack of adequate man power
d) Difficulty in Funding the Scheme
e) Discrimination
f) Corruption & Irregularities
g) Maoist insurgency
h) Lack of Safety Measures
PUBLIC:
a) Inadequate Awareness
b) No purposive Spending
c) Being unorganized

Year

Total Outlay

Wage Expenditure
(% of total outlay)

2006-07
2007-08
2008-09
2009-10
2010-11

$2.5 bn
$2.6 bn
$6.6 bn
$8.68 bn
$8.91 bn

66
68
67
70
71

CONCLUSION-