4/22/2017

MAHATMA GANDHI NATIONAL RURAL

EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE ACT
(MGNREGA)

| Sathish
 MAHATMA GANDHI NATIONAL RURAL EMPLOYMENT
GUARANTEE ACT (MGNREGA)

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is the central government
response to the constitutionally manifested right to work and means to promote livelihood security in Indias
rural areas. Mahatma Gandhi NREGA is the flagship rural employment generation programme in rural areas
for 100 days in a financial year. The Act stipulates that wages will be equal for men and women workers. This
Act is also committed to ensuring that at least 33 percent of the workers shall be women. By generating
employment for women at fair wages in the village, MGNREGA can play a significant role in economically
empowering women and laying the basis for greater independence and self- esteem. One of the most unique
features of Mahatma Gandhi NREGA is its approach towards empowering citizen including women citizen to
play an active role in the implementation of the scheme, through gram sabha, social audit, participatory
planning and other activities.

Introduction

Gender is the inevitable push factor growth and development of a nation like India. In India women constitute
a main share of chronically poor population. They are facing vulnerabilities of life. Gender discrimination has
been seen in terms of education, employment, control over property and resources, participation in decision
making process in community, political and domestic spheres etc. The Government has framed different
programmes schemes to uplift the women poverty and vulnerability of life.

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. One such women friendly programme is National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) which
was enacted in 2005. Consequently, this programme was named after Mahatma Gandhi and now it is known as
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). This programme has right-based
framework. In other words it is demand driven. It is a paradigm shift from all other wage employment
programmes which were supply led.

MGNREGA is significant for various reasons, it is one of the few experiments in the world to provide
alternative source of livelihood which will have an impact on reducing migration, growth in education and
healthcare spending. Therefore, it can be said that MGNREGA 2005, is conceivably one of the mainly
progressive initiatives of United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government.
BACKGROUND

Evolving the design of the wage employment programmes to more effectively fight poverty, the Central
Government formulated the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 2005. With its
legal framework and rights-based approach, MGNREGA provides employment to those who demand it
and is a paradigm shift from earlier programmes. Notified on September 7, 2005, MGNREGA aims at
enhancing livelihood security by providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in
a financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.
The Act covered 200 districts in its first phase, implemented on February 2, 2006, and was extended to
130 additional districts in 2007- 2008. All the remaining rural areas have been notified with effect from
April 1, 2008 . the scheme was extended to the remaining 274 rural districts of india from april 1, 2008.
Till date there are 581 districts covered .
Salient features of the Act
Adult members of a rural household, willing to do unskilled manual work, may apply for registration in
writing or orally to the local Gram Panchayat

The Gram Panchayat after due verification will issue a Job Card. The Job Card will bear the photograph of
all adult members of the household willing to work under MGNREGA and is free of cost
The Job Card should be issued within 15 days of application.
A Job Card holder may submit a written application for employment to the Gram Panchayat, stating the
time and duration for which work is sought. The minimum days of employment have to be at least fourteen.
The Gram Panchayat will issue a dated receipt of the written application for employment, against which the
guarantee of providing employment within 15 days operates
Employment will be given within 15 days of application for work, if it is not then daily unemployment
allowance as per the Act, has to be paid liability of payment of unemployment allowance is of the States.
Work should ordinarily be provided within 5 km radius of the village. In case work is provided beyond 5
km, extra wages of 10% are payable to meet additional transportation and living expenses
Wages are to be paid according to the Minimum Wages Act 1948 for agricultural labourers in the State,
unless the Centre notifies a wage rate which will not be less than Rs. 60/ per day. Equal wages will be
provided to both men and women.
Wages are to be paid according to piece rate or daily rate. Disbursement of wages has to be done on weekly
basis and not beyond a fortnight in any case
At least one-third beneficiaries shall be women who have registered and requested work under the scheme.
Work site facilities such as crche, drinking water, shade have to be provided
The shelf of projects for a village will be recommended by the gram sabha and approved by the Zilla
panchayat.
At least 50% of works will be allotted to Gram Panchayats for execution
 Permissible works predominantly include water and soil conservation, afforestation and land development
works
A 60:40 wage and material ratio has to be maintained. No contractors and machinery is allowed
The Central Government bears the 100 percent wage cost of unskilled manual labour and 75 percent of the
material cost including the wages of skilled and semi-skilled workers
Social Audit has to be done by the Gram Sabha
Grievance redressal mechanisms have to be put in place for ensuring a responsive implementation process
All accounts and records relating to the Scheme should be available for public scrutiny

Planning, Implementation and Funding

The graphic below depicts the processes and agencies involved in planning, implementation and
funding of works under the MGNREGA.

Funding

Central Government -100% of wages for unskilled manual work, 75% of material cost of the schemes
including payment of wages to skilled and semi skilled workers.

State Government- 25% of material including payment of wages to skilled and semi skilled workers cost.
100% of unemployment allowance by state government

If we speak about the budget of the 2017 it is 48,000 crores which is given by modi government
Non Negotiable

Only Job Card holders to be employed for MGNREGA works

To provide employment within 15 days of application
No contractor
Task to be performed by using manual labour & not machines
Muster rolls to be maintained on work sites
Proactive disclosure of information.
Wage payments to be through accounts in banks/post offices
Wage material ratio- 60:40
At least 50% of the works in terms of cost under a Scheme to be implemented through GPs

Timely measurement of works:

Recognizing the need for adequate human resource for timely measurement of work, the Ministry took
the following initiatives:

All activities required to process payment of wages must invariably be completed as per timelines
given in the circular of the Ministry dated 29th Oct 2010. This includes; closure of muster on 6th
day, MB to be brought to appropriate authority on 8th day or before and so on. Penal provision
(Sec 25 of the Act) should invariably be invoked for delays.

A flow chart with time schedule has been suggested to the States.

i. Closing of muster roll by 6th day after start of the work.

ii. Bringing muster roll measurement book by 8th day.
iii. Entry of muster roll in MIS and generation of pay orders by 9th and 10th days.
iv. Submission of pay order at the Block post office/bank, generation of information wage slip
transfer of pay order at the village post office/bank within 11th and 12th day.
v. Deposit of wages in the account of wage earners 13th day.
vi. Entry of disbursement of wage into MIS within 16th day.
As mentioned in operational guideline (section 6.4.4) Mates/Barefoot Engineers who would work
under the guidance of the Technical Assistants to help out with the technical surveys and
readings, worksite layouts and maintenance of technical records.
 Executive instructions on deployment of personnel: The Ministry has issued a circular on
recruitment of personnel within this 6%. The circular recommends recruitment of 1 Panchayat
Development Officer in select Panchayat, 1 technical assistants for every 6000 HHs.

Timely wage Payment

The Ministry is also instructing the states to operationalize the BC model and report regularly on
progress. The states are to identify unserved areas for BC model and discuss with banks. The
Ministry has also issued executive instructions for appointment of Business correspondent (BC)
system
Many Post Offices do not keep adequate cash amount. Ministry has issues instruction to State that
the District Administration should place adequate amounts with all the post offices to facilitate
payment;
District Administration should facilitate transport and security for carrying cash
Alternate Institutions like SHG Federations, LAMPS, Non-Scheduled Commercial Banks and
Private Banks like Cooperative Bank, RRBs, Gramin Banks etc, JFM Groups of proven track
records and others could be authorized to act as BCs.

Pending complete roll out of BCs / Post offices, alternative arrangements such as mobile banking
etc should be provided.

Work on individual land permitted under MGRNEGA

Amendment of the Act to permit MGNREGA works on individual land of small and marginal
farmers who constitute 89% of the farming community, in addition to the individual land of
SC/ST/BPL/IAY/ land reform beneficiaries will augment the impact on agricultural productivity
and household income. Following works can be taken up

Irrigation facility: Construction of Dug well, Farm ponds, Tanka, Ground water recharge
structure, Construction/ lining of water courses/ Irrigation channel etc

Land development facilities: Construction of contour/ graded bund, land leveling & shaping,
reclamation of saline/ alkaline land, construction of drainage channels, waste land by transporting
silt from nearby tank, development of waste land/ fallow land.

Horticulture, Plantation: all activities related to horticulture including nursery raising.

Social Audits

Social Audits enable the rural communities to monitor and analyze the quality, durability and usefulness
of MGNREGA works as well as mobilize awareness and enforcement on their rights. Social Audit is an
important tool by which the people can improve and devise strategies to enhance the quality of
implementation of MGNREGA. The Ministry has accorded utmost importance to the organization of
Social Audits by the Gram Panchayats and issued instructions to the States to make necessary
arrangements for the purpose. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Audit of
Schemes Rules, 2011 have been formulated and shared with States/ UTs for Action.

Critical Issues of NREGA, how they are addressed?

Issues Related to Job Cards:

To ensure that rural families likely to seek unskilled manual labour are identified & verify against reasonably
reliable local data base so that nondomiciled contractors workers are not used on NREGA works . What is done for
this problem? Job card verification is done on the spot against an existing data base and Reducing the time lag
between application and issue of job cards to eliminate the possibility of rentseeking, and creating greater
transparency etc. Besides ensuring that Job Cards are issued prior to employment demand and work allocation rather
than being issued on work sites which could subvert the aims of NREGA

Issues related to Applications:

To ascertain choices and perceptions of households regarding lean season employment to ensure exercise of the
right to employment within the time specified of fifteen days to ensure that works are started where and when there
is demand for labour, not demand for works the process of issuing a dated acknowledgement for the application for
employment needs to be scrupulously observed. In its absence, the guarantee cannot be exercised in its true spirit

Issues Related to Selection of Works:

Selection of works by gram sabha in villages and display after approval of shelf of projects, to ensure public choice,
transparency and accountability and prevent material intensive, contractor based works and concocted works records

Issues related to Execution of Works:

At least half the works should be run by gram panchayats . Maintenance of muster roll by executing agency -
numbered muster rolls which only show job card holders must be found at each work-to prevent contractor led
works
Issues related to measurement of work done:

Regular measurement of work done according to a schedule of rural rates sensitive Supervision of Works by
qualified technical personnel on time. Reading out muster rolls on work site during regular measurement -to prevent
bogus records and payment of wages below prescribed levels

Issues related to Payments:

Payment of wages through banks and post offices -to close avenues for use of contractors, short payment and
corruption

Audit : Provision of adequate quality of work site facilities for women and men labourers Creation and maintenance
of durable assets Adequate audit and evaluation mechanisms Widespread institution of social audit and use of
finding

Mahatma Gandhi NREGA: A public wage programme with Right to Employment

National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) was passed 25th August 2005, it was notified on 7
September 2005, and renamed Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in
2nd October 2009 with the objectives: provide work at remunerative wage of landless labourers and marginal
farmers: and generate assets for raising agriculture output. The act became efficient at the state level in
February 2006 in 200 districts, guaranteeing employment up to 100 days a year to poor rural households on
demand. By March 2008, MGNREGA was expanded to cover all rural districts in the country. Over a period
of three years, its implementation has provided 4.48 billion days of employment, and Rs. 34,600 crore has
been spent on wages.

Considerably, MGNREGA is a right based programme, different previous employment schemes. The rights
of MGNREGA workers include employment on demand, minimum wages, gender parity of wages, and
payment of wages within 15 days, as well as the provision of basic worksite facilities, among others. There is a
legal guarantee of 100 days employment in a financial year to a registered household. Every state under this
has to formulate a State Rural Employment Guarantee Schemes (SREGS), which should conform to the
minimum features specified under the Act. According to the Act, rural household have a right to register
themselves with the local gram panchayat (GPs). The Gram panchayat, after due verification, will issue a job
card which is free of cost and will bear the photograph of adult members of the household willing to work
under MGNREGA. The job card should be issued within fifteen days of application. A job card holder may
submit a written application for employment to the Gram panchayat. That the government is legally bound to
give employment within 15 days of the application for work by a job seeker, in case of postponement or failure
to provide employment to the job seeker, there is provision of unemployment allowance at the stipulated rates.
Through women employment was not the soul objectives of the scheme but with its development goals it
comes automatically. MGNREGA, with its guarantee of 100 days of unskilled work for every household, has
been envisaged as gender sensitive scheme (Sudarshan 2009). The design features of this scheme make this
scheme gender sensitive.

Mahatma Gandhi NREGA: Mandate and other key objectives

The mandate of the Act is to provide 100 days of guarantee wage employment in a financial year (FY) to every
rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.

The other key objectives of the programme include:

While providing employment, priority will be given to women in such a way that at least one third of the
beneficiaries shall be women who have registered and requested for work under the scheme.

In case of every employment under the scheme, there shall be no discrimination solely on the ground of gender
and the provisions of the Equal Remuneration Act, 1976

Aiding in the empowerment of the marginalized communities, particularly women, Scheduled Castes (SCs)
and Scheduled Tribes (STs), through the processes of rights-bases legislation.

Ensuring social protection for the most vulnerable people living in rural India through providing employment
opportunities.

In case the numbers of children below the age of six years accompanying the women working at any site are
five or more provision shall be made to depute one of such women working to look after the children.

Not less than one third of the total number of non-official members of the central council shall be women.

The average out-turn of work put by men and women workers working in a group will be the basis for fixing
task based schedule of rate so there is no gender based discrimination in the schedule of rates.

A number of provisions like work within a radius of five kilometers from the house, absence of supervisor and
contractor, flexibility in choosing periods and months of employment etc. were not solely made for women bit
some way these are supportive for rural women. Consequently equal wages both men and women, facilities for
child care, participation in management, monitoring and social audit of the programme, preference in case of
single women etc make this act gender sensitive.
Mahatma Gandhi NREGA has become a powerful instrument for inclusive growth in rural India through its
impact on social protection, livelihood security and democratic governance.

Mahatma Gandhi NREGA: A new identity for rural women

Rural women in India have got the constitutional right to be able to earn. One of the significant contributions
of MGNREGA is the growing participation of women in the economic affairs of their families in terms of
generating livelihood and income addition. MGNREGA is distinctive for its capacity to provide instant
expectation and actual economic opportunities, that it has started to generate.

In the wake of MGNREGA, women in rural areas seem to have become confident about being integral
involvement to family expenditure and about being assertive about their identity space in public sphere.
Mahatma Gandhi NREGA is also an opportunity to redefine the rural Indian womens identity in various ways;
decision making, spending their wages separately or on their childrens education, healthcare and clearing
debts.

Methodology

This study uses mainly secondary data. The sources of the data are published and unpublished sources like
books, journals, magazines, reports, publications, unpublished doctoral dissertation, etc.

Design features

Key design features in the context of social security and unemployment support:

Guaranteed Employment Any adult member of a rural household applying for work under the Act is
entitled to employment. Every rural household is entitled to not more than 100 days of employment.
Guaranteed Wages Wages are to be paid on a weekly basis and not beyond a fortnight. Wages are to
be paid on the basis of:
1. Centre- notified, state- specific MGNREGA wage list
2. Time rates and Piece rates as per state- specific Schedule of Rates (SoRs)
3. In any case, the wage cannot be at a rate less than Rs. 100 per day.
Unemployment Allowance If work is not provided within 15 days of applying, the state is expected
to pay an unemployment allowance which is one- fourth of the wage rate.
Provision of Work Work is to be provided within a 5km radius of the applicants village, else
compensation of 10 per cent extra wage is to be provided to meet expenses of travel.
 Gender Equity Men and women are entitled to equal payment of wages. One- third of the
beneficiaries are supposed to be women. Worksite facilities like creches are to be provided at all
worksites.
Financial Inclusion Since 2008, all wage payments have had to be transferred to bank or post office
accounts of beneficiaries.
Social Security Measures In 2008, a provision was created which made it possible to cover
beneficiaries under either the Janashree Bima Yojana (JBY) or the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana
(RSBY).
Transparency and Accountability All MGNREGA- related accounts and records documents have to
be available for public scrutiny. Contractors and use of machinery is prohibited.
Rights- based, demand- driven approach Estimation and planning of work is conducted on the basis
of the demand for work. Hence, beneficiaries of the scheme are enabled to decide the point in time at
which they want to work.

District Level Ombudsman

District Level Ombudsman for effective grievance redressal: The Ombudsman will be appointed by the
State Government on the recommendation of the selection committee. Ombudsmen will be well-known
persons from civil society who have experience in the field of public administration, law, academics,
social work or management. Ombudsman will be an agency independent of the central or state
government. The Ombudsman will receive complaints from MGNREGA workers and others on any
matters consider such complaints and facilitate their disposal in accordance with law

Leveraging MGNREGA for sustainable development through convergence

In view of the inter-sectorality of MGNREGA, the need to create durable assets and improve livelihood
security and the common target groups of certain development programmes with MGNREGA, the
Ministry has developed and disseminated convergence guidelines with different Schemes and specific
programmes viz. Indian Council of Agricultural Research, National Afforestation Programme and other
schemes of the Ministry of Forest & Environment, Schemes of the Ministry of Water Resources, PMGSY
(Department of Rural Development), SGSY (Department of Rural Development), Watershed
Development Programmes (Department of Land Resources, Ministry of Rural Development) , Ministry of
Agriculture and Fisheries and schemes of Ministry of Agriculture. These convergence initiatives have
been documented and shared among States.

Womens participation in Mahatma Gandhi NREGA

There are a variety of factors which give confidence the women workers participation under this scheme
include nature of work, which do not need skilled workers, the limited hours of work, availability of work
locally, reduction of migration of male members, considerable jump in the wage rate etc.

With a national participation rate of 47 per cent, evidence suggests that women are participating in the scheme
more energetically than in other works. MGNREGA is a significant work opportunity for women who would
have otherwise remained unemployed or underemployed.

In financial year 2011-12, Kerala had the maximum women participation at 93 per cent, while Uttar Pradesh
and Jammu and Kashmir showed low levels of women participation at 18 per cent and 17 per cent respectively.

Significantly, Women are participating in the scheme much more energetically than they participated in all
forms of recorded work, because MGNREGA creates decent and favorable work conditions for women.
MGNREGA stipulated of work within 5 kilometers (Kms) of the village where the job applicant resides makes
participation in the scheme logistically feasible for women who may have limited employment opportunities
available to them, given their role and responsibilities in their households.

Aggregate participation: At the national level, the involvement of women in the scheme has surpassed the
statutory minimum requirement of 33 per cent; in financial year 2011-12 alone, women person-days of
employment was close to 50 percent. The proportion of women participation from financial year 2006-07 up to
financial year 2011-12 is mentioned in table 1

The Act stipulates that priority shall be given to women. In terms of implementation it mandates that a
minimum of one- third of the beneficiaries are women who have registered and have requested for work

Impact of Mahatma Gandhi NREGA on Womens participation

MGNREGA plays an important role to meet the practical as well as strategic requirements of womens
participation. The impact of MGNREGA on womens participation can be examined through the following
parameters:

(a) Income Consumption Effects

By income- consumption effects we signify an increase in income of women workers and as a result, their
ability to choose their consumption baskets. In examining MGNREGA more emphasis is given to consumption
because it is the major factor for judging income consumption effects. If a women earns but not capable to
spend for her own needs or surrender her income to the head of the household then the element of
empowerment does not come. MGNREGA empowers women by giving them an extent of independent earning
and spend some amount for their own requirements.

(b) Intra-Household Effects

Women play a most important role in raising the economic resources for their family but their involvement
remains uncounted because of they perform a significant amount of unpaid work. In rural areas, the dominance
of males in intra- household decision has been seen. MGNREGA has important impact in converting some not
paid work into paid work and widen the scope of decision making role of women in household matters. As the
wages are paid through bank/ post office the intra- household status of women increase and she can control
cash resource because withdrawn can be made only as per her personal decision.

(c) Enhancement of choice and capability

Mahatma Gandhi NREGA has widened the choice set for women by giving them independent income- earning
opportunity. If a women depends on the head of the household then her choice become the subject of
household direction MGNREGA has improved the choice of women to use earning.

(d) Community- Level Effects

Womens involvement at the local and district level of governance process is low in spite of 73rd Amendments
of the Constitution. But women participation has greater than before after the implementation of MGNREGA
in many areas. A large number of women workers attended the gram-sabha meeting held in link with Mahatma
Gandhi NREGA. Community level empowerment of women is one of the great achievements of this Act.

Shortcoming of Mahatma Gandhi NREGA Act

(a) Non-availability of Child Care Facilities

One of the main shortcomings of the Act is non- availability of creche facilities at the work site even through
the act includes this provision. Different studies show that women remained worried about their children while
they are working at MGNREGA worksite even a number of women do not accept the job facilities of
MGNREGA because of non- availability of appropriate child care facilities.

(b) Low level of consciousness

In various state women participation is low because of low level of consciousness about the process and
entitlements of the programme. Eg- cumulative person days created in Assam for women have been only 24.85
percent and in out of sample districts only 17 percent in 2010-11. Many of the folks have withdrawn from
agriculture activities and joined works in MGNREGA. This vacated space in agriculture has been engaged by
the womenfolk (Panda and Umdor, 2011).

(c) Nature of work

The majority of studies reveal that nature of work is also not supportive for women workers. Most of the
projects selected being related to rural connectivity and renovation of local water bodies connecting earth work
requiring application of physical force, male workers were preferred to women workers (Hazarika, 2009).

(d) Poor worksite Facilities

Mahatma Gandhi NREGA funds have been allocated for the provision of safe drinking water, resting place,
first aid, recreational facility for children etc. But the majority of the studies reported that except drinking
water facility all other facilities were normally not present.

(e) Illegal Presence of Contractors:

The sustained illegal presence of contractors is an important negative factor affecting the accessibility of work
and its benefit for women (Nandini and Khera, 2009).

(f) Postponement in payments

Postponements in payments are also responsible for poor involvement of women particularly in case of single
women if they are the main earners in the family.

Conclusion
Mahatma Gandhi NREGA has affirmative impact on empowerment pattern of women. Women have benefited
both as individual and community. Women are benefited individually because they are capable to earn
separately, spend some money for their requirements, contribute in family expenditure etc. The gained benefits
of women as society can be understood by increased presence in the gram sabha, increasing number of women
in speaking out in the meeting, increasing ability of interaction etc. but the poor implementation across the
nation (such as lack of child care facility, worksite facility and illegal presence of contractors) accrued the
gender sensitiveness of this act mainly in north- eastern state. Certain initiatives and changes should be taken
to get rid of these barriers. The precious gains should not be derailed for poor implementation.