The impact of mgnrega programme on rural development
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Abstract
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) was developed by the Indian government to reduce rural poverty through 100 days of guaranteed employment per year. Using focus group methods, we explore whether this scheme has provided rights' based social protection through guaranteed employment for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and women in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Odisha. We found that the experiences of participating in MGNREGA varied depending on how MGNREGA wages compared to market wages in the region, as well as local implementation of the program. Although MGNREGA offered some basic employment for marginalized groups, it did not provide substantial help to the most vulnerable. However, there was some evidence of small but significant shifts in labour relations. Higher wages, more opportunities for work, better implementation and a greater recognition of the caregiving responsibilities of women will be required for this policy to fully meet its goals.
1 Introduction
Despite high rates of economic growth in India since the 1990s, rural poverty continues to be a policy concern. Over two thirds of India's population inhabit rural areas, accounting for 75% of all impoverished citizens in India (IFAD, 2015). Currently, nearly 30% of rural Indians live below the poverty line (Suneja, 2015; IFAD, 2015). Risks for rural poverty include caste, employment status, gender and land ownership (IFAD, 2015). Rural poverty is particularly concentrated among Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST). To illustrate, although SCs make up approximately 22% of the population and STs make up 11% of the population, these groups account for 80% of the rural poor (IFAD, 2015; Raghu et al., 2013). Furthermore, women are over‐represented in rural poverty, holding a disproportionate number of the marginal agricultural jobs with low wages in rural India (IFAD, 2015). Notably, even with substantial agricultural growth, there have been economic declines for marginal farmers and landless rural citizens (Vakulabharanam, 2005).
Recognizing these problems, the Government of India has introduced several nationwide centralized social schemes to address poverty.1 One such scheme is The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (hereafter referred to as MGNREGA), offering a unique rights‐based guarantee of employment to reduce income and food insecurity in rural areas. Significant investment has been made in this scheme, amounting to 5.3 billion dollars (Ministry of Rural Development, 2013–14), or 0.3% of the gross domestic product. Given the size of this policy platform, the substantial amount of public money invested in it and the potential impact on rural citizens, it is important to ascertain the extent to which MGNREGA has reached its stated policy goals. This article sets out to do this through assessing the extent to which this scheme has been able to provide rights‐based social protection through guaranteed employment for marginalized groups, particularly SC, ST and women. In addition, we ask a theoretical question: will this policy achieve meaningful poverty reduction for marginalized citizens in India?
Using a qualitative research design in three case study areas, we endeavour to answer these questions through findings from a study that involved two key data collection phases. First, we reviewed MGNREGA policy documents to understand the key goals of the policies. We then went to the case study sites and conducted 19 focus groups with 219 policy implementers and end users in three rural sites in three states – Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Odisha – to gauge the extent to which these goals were realized in our study sites. Study sites were chosen because they were rich in agrobiodiversity, but also had high rates of poverty, between 60% and 85% (Breitkreuz et al., 2014)2 .
Our analysis contributes to the literature on MGNREGA in a unique way. It provides evidence from an in‐depth qualitative study that offers insight into policies from the perspectives and experiences of local people in local sites (an emic perspective), in the spirit of a critical ethnographic tradition that assumes that the best way of knowing is to know from within (Smith, 1987).