MGNREGA

MGNREGA  ACT :

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005, also known as the “Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act” ( Name changed from NREGA to MGNREGA on 2 october 2009 )  is an Indian labour law and social security measure.

Starting from 200 districts on 2 February 2006, the NREGA covered all the districts of India from 1 April 2008.
The statute is hailed by the government as "the largest and most ambitious social security and public works programme in the world".

In its World Development Report 2014, the World Bank termed it a "stellar example of rural development"

Aims: 
To guarantee the ‘right to work’ and ensure livelihood security in rural areas.

To create durable assets that would augment the basic resources available to the poor.

To follow the Directive Principles of State Policy enunciated in Part IV of the Constitution of India and conforms to the Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that defines the right to work as a basic human right.

How? 

By providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.

Other Important Details: 

The provisions of the law also adhere to the principles enunciated in the Constitution of India under Article 21 of the Constitution of India that guarantees the right to life with dignity to every citizen of India.

This law guarantees the right to work to the people of India and hence is termed as a “People’s Act”.

It is believed that targeting poverty through employment generation is the effective way to alleviate poverty.

Employment under Mahatma Gandhi NREGA is a guaranteed legal right.

The major responsibility of the implementation rests with Panchayati Raj institutions.

Previous employment guarantee schemes (EGS) like ‘Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana’ (SGRY) Programme and National Food For Work Programme (NFFWP) were merged with MGNREGA to make it more effective.

The Act sets a minimum limit to the wages, to be paid with gender equality.

The states are required to evolve a set of norms for the measurement of works and schedule of rates.

The unemployment allowance must be paid if the work is not provided within the statutory limit of 15 days.


MAJOR CRITICISMS: 

Activists say that the outlay for the scheme has remained nearly constant for the past three years, which, adjusting for inflation, amounts to a decrease.

The release of funds to the States is being delayed and the amounts have been capped.

As a result, there has been a 16% decline in employment from the 2013-14 figure.

Compared with 147 lakh person days generated in December 2013, only 123 lakh person days were generated in December 2014, with the decline sharper in poor States such as Bihar and Chhattisgarh.

Till December 2014 in the financial year 2014-15, 72% of the total wages disbursed were delayed.

And delays in wage payments have actually increased over time.


Positives :-

Evidence from independent research studies have shown that the MGNREGA has successfully curbed distress migration, had large effects on consumption and poverty of Dalit and Adivasi households, increased nutritional standards of households, provided risk resilience to small and marginal farmers and vastly expanded the financial inclusion net in the country.