MGNREGA- A case for rural regeneration
Background:
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme has the mandate of providing at least 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to every rural household whose adult members opt for unskilled manual work. The scheme has been a key mechanism of providing employment to the rural workforce. This Act also seeks to develop durable assets capable of providing further livelihood to the rural masses by way of creating enhanced opportunity for agricultural activity.
Making MGNREGA as an entry point has been our intentional strategy. Our objective was to anchor on one issue which can address immediate livelihood issues of the people by rendering some tangible results. At our first step of building faith among communities on how collective efforts result in positive development, MGNREGA proved to be successful to gain people’s faith in this process.
Why we chose MGNREGA as an entry point:
- MGNREGA was not a scheme but an Act and this also gives the community to exercise their rights provided under it. By engaging communities to be part of it, we also got opportunities to make them cognizant about their rights and entitlements which they are deprived of for years.
- MGNREGA encompasses marginalized, oppressed and poor households in the village.
- MGNREGA provides a legal guarantee of 100 days of work of employment in every financial year to adult members of any rural household willing to do public work-related unskilled manual work at the statutory minimum wage.
- It addresses a common concern of all the population in any part of rural India.
- It has the scope to build a new sense of identity and bargaining power to the people.
- It also has the scope for employment during the agricultural lean period.
- MGNREGA has the potential to reduce-out migration
- MGNREGA has evolved a right based framework for job seekers
- To get a job under MGNREGA is relatively easier, the end entitlement is money which is tangible and provides support to other requirements of the household like education and health.
- It has the scope to develop durable community and individual assets like land, forests and management of water sources.
- It has the potential to bring about a paradigm shift in the living conditions of the poorest family in society.
Situation of MGNREGA during our Intervention:
In the beginning, the situation was quite challenging in the rural areas. Most of the people especially Tribals, Dalits and other marginalised communities were not aware or very little aware about their basic rights and entitlements. This was leading to deprivation and exclusion as they were being misdirected by the local contractors and other fraudulent elements. Poverty added with the lack of access to a job in their locality was compelling people to migrate to other states for survival and meeting the basic needs.
The missing link between their need for a job and the lopsided mechanism of deliverance was not the only gap but it was also contributing to several socio-cultural dynamics within the area, which led to many behavioral aspects among the targeted communities. Once we realised how MGNREGA can be a tool for checking these issues at ground, we decided to take it up as an entry point.
Odisha Shramajeebee Mancha (OSM), our allies in this journey, provided several rounds of capacity building trainings for the Jansathi (grassroots level worker) on different approaches of development, building conceptual clarity on role of people’s collective to bring about social change, how to affirm equal rights guaranteed by the constitution and how to place the demand for work before various authorities and officials. Similarly, capacity building and training to the Coordinators on perspective building on constitutional rights and different government schemes and entitlements were also provided.
Then we started the process of engaging with the local administration in terms of creating the demand flow from below through the village collectives.
Based on the premises of timely and effective implementation of MGNREGA, we recommended the state government on following points:
- In remote pockets of the state, banking mobile vans, KIOSK banking facilities must be ensured to get MGNREGA wages at village or nearest village of the job cardholders.
- Twice in a week i.e. Tuesday and Wednesday must be ensured to open G.P. office as Rojgar divas.
- Ensure 100 days works in one C-1 Form.
- Prioritize on land development, plantation, irrigation & toilet
- Minimum daily wage rate under MGNREGA work must be Rs.400/- maximum daily wage must be paid as per measurement of the works.
- If the payment for MGNREGA is delayed beyond the stipulated 15 days, the payment must be paid with the interest.
- Basic facilities availability at work place such as first aid, temporary shade, drinking water and child caretaker provision must be ensured.
MGNREGA Work Progress In The Operational Areas
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Current Situation:
The efforts have been fruitful to many extent as our focus on MGNREGA did not only provide jobs for the people but also created a space for the community to become empowered and checked migration. However, our efforts are being continued. With our facilitation, OSM has reached more than 9 lakhs of population in 942 GPs, 84 Blocks & 16 Districts. This intervention also led to a lot of other changes like educating people and creating awareness on various Schemes, Programs and Acts of government and now the people have been empowered to an extent wherein nowadays they do not seek help or support of the Sangathan members and try to address these issues on their own.
MGNREGA Work Progress in the Operational Area:
| Sl.No. | 2015-16 | 2016-17 | 2017-18 | 2018-19 | 2019-20 |
| No. of families provided work | 295574 | 368123 | 282778 | 298075 | 373861 |
| Total Number of Person Days | 14019755 | 13976246 | 13073169 | 12957397 | 18240771 |
| Average No of Person Days | 47.43 | 37.97 | 46.23 | 43.47 | 48.79 |
Footprints of our progress on MGNREGA work from 2009-10 to 2019-20
- In comparison to the job demand between 2009-10 to 2017-18, more families are evidently demanding work under MGNREGA
- In 2009-10, 67000 households were provided work whereas the number in 2019-20 have increased to 373861. This means 306861 more households have been covered under MGNREGA.
- In 2016-17, 368123 households were provided MGNREGA work which is 301123 more than 2009-10 data. Along with this there is an increase in the number of person days from 2009-10 to 2019-20.
Impact of MGNREGA
MGNREGA is considered as a “Silver Bullet” for eradicating rural poverty and unemployment by generating demand for a productive labor-force in villages. It provided an alternative source of livelihood which had an impact on;
- Reducing out interstate and distressed migration among people
- NREGA targets the household, rather than individual members and NREGA work can only be taken up by adults, thereby restricting child labour significantly
- By giving first opportunity to earn cash income, it prevented people from falling into poverty
- Making villages self-sustaining through creation of productive assets such as road construction, cleaning up of water tanks, soil and water conservation work, etc.
Due to this reason, this Act is also considered as the largest anti-poverty program in the world.
Salient Features of our work in MGNREGA:
- People discuss together to identify the resources they need for their village, and prepare village level micro-plan to mobilize the productive assets in the villages
- They also make it a point that their plans are included and approved in Palli Sabha and Gram Sabha.
- We engage with the local administration and Gram Panchayat to resolve payment related issues
- Due to our concerted efforts and awareness drive, the extent of corruption and malpractices in MGNREGA related work has almost been curbed in our operational areas.
- Women participation increased to 40% in generating total person days in our operational districts, comparative to state data where participation of women in this scheme pegs at 37 %.
- Our front runner role in implementation of MGNREGA using collective action strategy has earned support and recognition from the Ministry of Rural development, Government of India.
- Our Sangathan leaders/ Community leaders are also participating in several local, state and central ministries in policy level meetings and dialogue.
- Our campaign and advocacy efforts from time to time have also been instrumental in the increase of person-days.
Campaign to Address regularly payment delays and wage rate
The wage rate of MGNREGA work was Rs. 164/-per day. In May 2016, a postcard Campaign was carried out in 8 districts in Odisha including Nayagrah, Koraput, Kandhamal, Boudh, Gajapati, Sundargarh, Sambalpur, Malkangiri in an effort to influence the government to increase the wage rate of MGNREGA. As a part of this campaign, a charter of demand concerning increase of wage rate to Rs.300/- had been sent to the Honourable Chief Minister of Odisha by PRI members .The campaign was carried out from May 2016 to June 2016.
Key results of MGNREGA Campaign (Kam Dia Abhijan)
- Total 212161 number of postcards were sent to the Chief Minister of Odisha, with an objective to resolve the problem of delayed payment and requesting an increase in wage rate, which had an impact over the government department, especially on late payment issues. Delayed payment issues were resolved in many places as a result of our campaign.
- A proper mechanism was built by the government to resolve the late payment issue.
- The Government also increased the wage rate from Rupees 164/- to Rupees 174/- per day.
- The campaign not only helped to address issues related to the scheme but also paved path for the people to claim their rights by negotiating with the government from time to time.