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National Rural Employment Guarantee Act: An Effective Safety Net?

Vol 22, No 1&2; Article by Rajalaxmi Kamath; March/June 2010

 

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) of 2005 was aimed to be an effective livelihood security net for rural households by providing one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment every year to households where adults volunteer to do unskilled manual work. While the Act itself is considered sound, it remains to be seen whether the programme can deliver on its promises, and how well it is aligned to the ground realities. An analysis of the data provided by the 62nd round of the National the public sector in rural development. It would also act as a multiplier based demand stimulus for the rural population, and public investment through the NREGA schemes would pull in private investment, thus stimulating growth. However, to realise the full potential of the NREGA, it is essential to strengthen and professionalise the gram panchayats, build capacity in the villages, converge with other like-minded schemes for rural development, and facilitate civil society-state partnerships.

 

Prime among the challenges faced by the NREGA according to Prof S Madheswaran (Centre for Economic Studies and Policy, Institute for Social and Economic Change), are those of addressing the unemployment crisis in rural areas, and contributing to the village economy in a sustained manner. The NSSO figures indicate acceleration in employment growth between 1999 and 2005, but side by side the average unemployment growth also increased. Thus, the increasing number of self-employed is not a sign of economic wellbeing, but a pointer to the lack of regular job availability. Employment scarcity is pushing the rural people to petty, low-paying self employment, and the increase in employment figures may be more an outcome of survival strategy than a demand led spike.

 

Hailing the NREGA as the first legal entitlement for the poor towards the right to livelihood, Aruna Roy (Founder, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, Rajasthan) highlighted aspects of the Act such as the provision for the right to apply for, demand, and choose work, a clear schedule of rates and unemployment allowance in case work is not provided, and transparency in proceedings with regular social audits and a grievance redressal system. However, the enabling processes, such as the modalities of application, management, and choice of works, access to information, timely disbursement of wages and the systems for social audit and grievance redressal are yet to be satisfactorily functional.

 

Mr P Ravi Kumar (Secretary to the Government of Karnataka, Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department) detailed the  implementation challenges, which included equipping and empowering the gram panchayatsdthe key agency in the NREGA schemed to perform their roles, harnessing the NREGA for asset creation rather than just providing jobs, ensuring the participation of women, using technology effectively in the system, and ensuring community ownership of the NREGA.

 

Prof Trilochan Sastry, IIMB, made practical suggestions to combat the administrative problems, such as effective utilisation of the budget for administrative expenses towards capacity building and training, and a legal provision to form NREGA related labour associations.

 

Reprint No 10105