Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 150
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 151
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 148]
Warning (2): Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php:853) [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 181]
LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Why NREGA is critical in times of drought

Why NREGA is critical in times of drought

Share this article Share this article
published Published on May 6, 2016   modified Modified on May 6, 2016
-The Financial Express

In a drought period, its job-insurance function critical

Never perhaps in its decade of existence has the rural employment guarantee programme —MGNREGA—been more relevant than it is now. After two weak monsoons, the critically low water levels in reservoirs have resulted in drought-like conditions in large parts of the country. Critics of the scheme would argue that even in its best days, the programme hasn’t accounted for more than 2% of the work. Whether that’s because people didn’t ask to be employed or because there was a cap on the funds allocated is not clear. But in the current environment, more people are likely to show up for a job and it is an opportunity to use the scheme effectively. As economist Ajit Ranade has argued in an article in Mint, there needs to be a ‘surge’ in spends. The allocation for MGNREGA for FY17 is R38,500 crore, and as Ranade suggests, much of this needs to be pumped in over the next few months. While some state governments are reportedly upset that the wages paid out under the scheme are below the minimum wages—in Rajasthan, for instance, the wage is R181, up from the earlier R173 but lower than the R197 minimum wage—that is the way it should be since MGNREGA is meant to provide job-insurance, not to replace existing jobs. The average wage under MGNREGA in FY16 was R154.14, a reasonably good 27% rise over that in FY13.

It is true that the government’s track record—and this applies to the UPA as well—has not been particularly impressive; if 4.8 crore households got jobs in FY16, this is comparable with the 4.8 crore in FY14 and 5 crore in FY13. Given India’s 25 crore households, 70% of which are in rural areas, this means around a third of the households have worked on MGNREGA projects. What is more problematic is that, against the promised 100 days of work in a year, most households are getting employed for 45-50 days—this has to be increased. And to the extent the primary goal is to provide social security, it doesn’t really matter if the assets created are meaningful—though there are large leakages in the beneficiaries, over a period of time, it will be important to link payments to Aadhaar numbers which, in turn, are linked to the genuinely poor.

The Financial Express, 5 May, 2016, http://www.financialexpress.com/article/fe-columnist/editorial-jumpstart-nrega-spend/248773/


Related Articles

 

Write Comments

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

Video Archives

Archives

share on Facebook
Twitter
RSS
Feedback
Read Later

Contact Form

Please enter security code
      Close