Findings from a 2021 survey conducted by the Azim Premji University in partnership with the National Consortium of Civil Society Organisations on NREGA and Collaborative Research and Dissemination (CORD) reveal that over 39 per cent of all job card-holding households interested in working under the MNREGA scheme did not get a single day of work in the Covid pandemic year 2020-21.
Covering a sample size of 2,000 households across eight blocks in four states of Bihar, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra in November-December last year, the study further revealed that on average, only 36 per cent of the households that worked received their wages in 15 days.
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Unmet demand, unmet needs
"Among households that found some work, the unmet demand (difference between the number of days desired and the number of days of work received) across all blocks was 64 days," the report stated.
"The most frequently mentioned reason for not getting as much work as needed, across all blocks, was the lack of adequate work being sanctioned or opened. On average, 63 per cent of all job card-holding households cited this reason in the surveyed blocks," it added.
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act was effected in 2005 to provide 100 days of unskilled work on demand to adult members of a family in rural India. Since then, the scheme has functioned as the backbone for rural society and has been the savior for those in distress.
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Recent reports of unmet demands for work under MNREGA and delayed payments in the country highlight the key shortcomings in the scheme’s implementation.
MNREGA: the backbone of rural economy
Despite these shortcomings, the survey found, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act made a marked difference during the pandemic, protecting the most vulnerable households from significant loss of income.
Increased earnings from MGNREGA were able to compensate for somewhere between 20 to 80 per cent of the income loss depending on the block, it stated.
"Our study shows how much the workers value the need and utility of MGNREGA. More than eight out of 10 households recommended that MGNREGA should provide 100 days of employment per person per year.
Ashwini Kulkarni of the NREGA Consortium said one of the objectives of MGNREGA is to act as a social protection measure during times of distress. "Covid pandemic, lockdown created unprecedented distress and MGNREGA, as expected, rose to the need and provided work for many more villages and many more households than in the preceding years. MGNREGA's role in reducing vulnerability has been re-emphasised and continues to be of vital importance in post-pandemic times," he said.
Fund shortfall
"We also found a massive extent of underfunding. A conservative estimate yields that the allocations in the surveyed blocks should have been three times the amount that was actually allocated in the year after lockdown to fulfil the true extent of work demand," said Rajendran Narayanan, co-author of the study and faculty member at Azim Premji University.
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The survey covered Phulparas (Madhubani) and Chhatapur blocks (Supaul) in Bihar, Bidar (Bidar) and Devadurga (Raichur) in Karnataka, Khalwa (Khandwa) and Ghatigaon (Gwalior) in Madhya Pradesh, and Wardha and Surgana (Nashik) in Maharashtra.
(With inputs from PTI)
