Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)

Latest Update about MGNREGA UPSC

In March 2023, the government declared new wage rates for unskilled manual workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005.

The Union Government has made it mandatory for payments to be made for MGNREGA beneficiaries through the Aadhar-Based Payment System or ABPS. Know more about this development in the link, payment system for MGNREGA.

The Union government has allocated Rs.72000 crores for The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, (MGNREGA) scheme in 2021-22. Candidates should know about Mahatma Gandhi NREGA as it holds importance not only while you are an IAS Exam aspirant but also when you become an administrator, knowledge of this scheme will be helpful.

Quick Facts about MGNREGA UPSC:

MGNREGA & Workers Crisis – COVID Pandemic

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on March 26th, 2020, workers under the MGNREGA would get a hike of Rs. 2000 each on average. It was also announced that three crore senior citizens, persons with disabilities, and widows will get a one-time additional amount of Rs 1,000 in two instalments which will be provided through DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer) over three months. This announcement was made as an initiative towards the loss caused by the Covid-19 outbreak. The 21-day lockdown was expected to cost the Indian Economy a cost of around 9 lakh crores.  Funds worth Rs 31,000 crore are also to be provided to augment medical testing, screening, and providing better healthcare facilities to those who have been affected financially due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

It is an important topic for the General Studies Syllabus of the UPSC for Civil Services Exam 2023. This government scheme is covered under Economic and Social Development for Prelims and Economy for Mains.

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MGNREGA History:

In 1991, the P.V Narashima Rao government proposed a pilot scheme for generating employment in rural areas with the following goals:

• Employment Generation for agricultural labour during the lean season.
• Infrastructure Development
• Enhanced Food Security

This scheme was called the Employment Assurance Scheme which later evolved into the MGNREGA after the merger with the Food for Work Programme in the early 2000s.

Objectives of MGNREGA:

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) has the following objectives:

• Provide 100 days of guaranteed wage employment to rural unskilled labour
• Increase economic security
• Decrease migration of labour from rural to urban areas

MGNREGA differentiates itself from earlier welfare schemes by taking a grassroots-driven approach to employment generation. The programs under the act are demand-driven and provide legal provisions for appeal in the case, work is not provided or payments are delayed. The scheme is funded by the central government which bears the full cost of unskilled labour and 75% of the cost of material for works undertaken under this law. The central and state governments audit the works undertaken under this act through annual reports prepared by the CEGC (Central Employment Guarantee Council) and the SEGC (State Employment Guarantee Councils). These reports have to be presented by the incumbent government in the legislature.

A few salient features of the scheme are:

• It gives a significant amount of control to the Gram Panchayats for managing public works, and strengthening Panchayati Raj Institutions. Gram Sabhas are free to accept or reject recommendations from Intermediate and District Panchayats.
• It incorporates accountability in its operational guidelines and ensures compliance and transparency at all levels.

Ever since the scheme was implemented, the number of jobs has increased by 240% in the past 10 years. The scheme has been successful in enhancing economic empowerment in rural India and helping overcome the exploitation of labour. The scheme has also diminished wage volatility and the gender pay gap in labour. This can be substantiated by the following data available at the official site of MGNREGA:

1. 14.88 crores MGNREGA job cards have been issued (Active Job Cards – 9.3 crores)
2. 28.83 crores workers who gained employment under MGNREGA (2020-21) out of which active workers are 14.49 crores.

What is the role of Gram Sabha and Gram Panchayat in MGNREGS?

The role of Gram Sabha in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme is tabled below:

The role of Gram Panchayat in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme is tabled below:

Role of State Governments in MGNREGS

The important roles of the state government in executing the MGNREGA scheme are:

1. It frames rules charting out the state’s responsibility under the act.
2. It sets up the State Employment Guarantee Council.
3. State Employment Guarantee Fund (SEGF) is established by state governments.
4. It makes sure to dedicate the Employment Guarantee Assistant (Gram Rozgar Sahayak), the PO and the staff at the State, district, cluster and Gram Panchayat level; for the execution of the scheme.

MGNREGA – State Employment Guarantee Council (SEGC)

The State Employment Guarantee Council is responsible for advising the state government for the implementation of the MGNREG scheme. Some important functions of SEGC under MNREGS are:

1. The suggestion of improvements in the execution of the scheme.
2. Evaluation and monitoring of the scheme.
3. To recommend proposals of the works to the central government.
4. To appraise the districts about the scheme and its features.
5. To prepare an annual report to be submitted by the state government before the state legislature.

This law and the employment guarantee schemes which are part of its provisions are important from the IAS exam point of view. UPSC aspirants should read about this government scheme in detail as questions related to this topic are asked in the Prelims exam and in General Studies paper II. The questions for government schemes like MGNREGA are classified under Welfare schemes, and the topic has a significant overlap with topics like human development, poverty, and hunger.

Technocratic Subversion of MGNREGA

In recent months, MGNREGA employees from all over the nation have been peacefully protesting as members of the NREGA Sangharsh Morcha, a national alliance of labour unions. A multitude of complaints, including late wage payments, unfavourable working conditions, and insufficient MGNREGA scheme execution, are to blame for the protests.

News in detail: 

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) workers demand

1. adequate funds for work and timely wages, 
2. release of pending funds to West Bengal, 
3. revocation of mandatory attendance using the National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS) app, and
4. revocation of wage payments using the Aadhaar-based payment systems (ABPS).

Read more on the MGNREGA payment system in the linked article.

Way forward

• The majority of Indians cannot perceive and evaluate how their government is acting since the state has placed so much emphasis on “seeing” its citizens.
• According to democratic dogma, individuals should be able to clearly “see” the state, not the other way around. If not, people’s respect for and confidence in them are at risk.
• It’s important to handle the MGNREGA corruption cases. But for that, social audits must be strengthened rather than adding to the struggles of already overworked women.
• It is important to examine the causes of ineffective fund management and take action to improve it.
• Additionally, officers who are found guilty of misusing funds should face legal action.
• By increasing awareness and making it more inclusive, the participation of women and members of underprivileged classes must increase.

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