Role of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in Rural Asset Creation

Dr.P.Srinivas *Assistant Professor, Department of Economics

Vikrama Simhapuri University PG Centre, KavaliNellore District, Andhra Pradesh

Corresponding author email address: pechettisrinivas@gmail.com &

Mr.K.Pandyaraj Research Scholar, Department of Economics

Vikrama Simhapuri University PG Centre, KavaliNellore District, Andhra Pradesh

ABSTRACT

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) was launched in

200 selected districts on 2nd February 2006 in Phase I and was extended to 130 more districts in

2007-08 in Phase II. It was extended to the remaining 285 districts from 1st April, 2008 onwards

in Phase III. The primary objective of the Act is augmenting wage employment. Its auxiliary

objective is strengthening natural resource management through works that address causes of

chronic poverty, like drought, and so encourage sustainable development. As a result of

permitting several works under MGNREGA the rural infrastructure has developed, which was

neglected from so many years in India. This paper analyses the state wise performance of

MGNREGA in creating rural assets during 2013-15. It also discusses the issues and challenges in

creation of productive assets and the need for immediate attention to realize the full potential of

the Act.

Keywords: MGNREGS, Natural Resource Management, Rural Infrastructure, Asset Creation

Role of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in Rural Asset Creation

Introduction

In India, the greater part of rural economy is agriculture based and it is of tremendous

importance because it has vital supply and demand links with the other Indian industries.

Agriculture is the main stay of the Indian economy, as it constitutes the backbone of rural India.

But the contribution of agriculture to national income has fallen dramatically in recent years but

about 58 per cent of rural households are still depending on agriculture (70th round of NSSO

Survey). This is not a small number that can be ignored. In fact, the growing divergence between

the share of agriculture in GDP and in the workforce makes an urgent need of raising farm

productivity in India, which languishes way below potential. On a sound agrarian base, the

country can build a whole range of other location-specific, nature-based rural livelihoods.

Basic investment in land and water is an essential precondition for enhancing

productivity of agriculture besides generation and dissemination of technology across different

agro-climatic conditions in the country. Public investment in land and water resources and other

economic infrastructure, ideally, could provide significant boost to the farm economies,

particularly, in regions with low-endowment and limited agronomic potential. In fact the recent

policy initiatives of Govt. of India like Watershed Development Projects (WDPs), Bharat

Nirman (BN), Backward Area Grant (BAG) etc. emphasized the critical need for enhancing

basic investment in natural resource management for promoting the farm economy. If adequately

funded and appropriately implemented, these schemes may create and unleash the requisite

productive capacities for advancing agricultural growth, which is also broad based and poverty

reducing. Hence it is imperative that creating rural assets is crucial for sustainable agriculture

and rural development. This paper intends to analyse the performance of Mahatma Gandhi

National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in terms of rural asset creation.

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and Rural Asset Creation

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) was

launched in 200 selected districts on 2nd February 2006 in Phase I and was extended to 130

more districts in 2007-08 in Phase II. It was extended to the remaining 285 districts from 1st

April, 2008 onwards in Phase III. The primary objective of the Act is augmenting wage

employment. Its auxiliary objective is strengthening natural resource management through works

that address causes of chronic poverty, like drought, and so encourage sustainable development.

The Act has codified the types of works to be undertaken using the guaranteed employment. Out

of nine preferred areas of works under the MGNREGA, seven focus on water and soil

conservation. The attention of the scheme is on the following works:

Water conservation and water harvesting

Drought proofing (including afforestation and tree plantation)

Irrigation canals (including micro and minor irrigation works)

Provision of irrigation facility to land owned by households belonging to Scheduled

Castes and Scheduled Tribes or to land of beneficiaries of land reforms or that of the

beneficiaries under the Indira Awas Yojana of the government of India.

Renovation of traditional water bodies (including desilting of tanks)

Land development

Flood control and protection works (including drainage in water-logged areas).

Rural connectivity to provide all-weather access

Rajiv Seva Kendra

Construction of Anganwadi Canters

Any other activity approved by the Ministry of Rural Development(MORD)

It is clear that there is a great scope for building social capital on a massive scale under

MGNREGA. Indeed, MGNREGA gives the government an opportunity to reverse the prolonged

neglect of productive rural infrastructure. Watershed development, restoration of water bodies

such as tanks and canals, activities aimed at forestry, land development, and soil erosion and

flood control, construction of roads, drought proofing measures like afforestation can realize the

potential of the programme in diverse conditions. The Act, by permitting activities on private

land up to a point, significantly increases the scope of the programme. This will lead to the

creation of rural assets which would lead to sustainable agriculture development in the rural

villages by enhancing agricultural productivity which in turn improves the rural economy's

ability to absorb labour. MGNREGA does not just give employment to rural poor, but also

creates community assets which are useful for the villagers in the long run. It has both direct and

indirect benefits (Sridhar V., 2005).

Majority of the studies revealed that MGNREGA helped immensely in creating durable

assets in the villages which in turn had a favourable impact on agriculture and rural development.

A study conducted by Institute of Human Development in 6 districts of Bihar and 3 districts of

Jharkhand (Institute of Human Development, 2006) revealed that the assets created under

MGNREGA have been proved very useful. MGNREGA was able to provide improved irrigation

facilities through construction of water conservation and water harvesting structures. In 2007-08,

another study conducted by Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi in Nuapada District

of Orissa and Siddhi District of Madhya Pradesh (Centre for Science and Environment, 2008)

points out that MGNREGA had made a positive impact on water availability and crop diversity.

In 2008-09, 260 National Level Monitors (NLMs) have visited 330 districts covered in

Phase I & Phase II of MGNREGA (MORD, 2008). As per the reports of the NLMs, 97% of the

works were found useful for the community. The quality of works in 91% cases was good. In

2012-13, In a beneficiary perception survey done in the six states of Andhra Pradesh,

Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh by Sam Bodhi Research

and Communication Pvt. Ltd. revealed that MGNREGA works on the lands of individual

beneficiaries had a significant impact on improving the quality of their lands, generating extra

incomes, aiding small and marginal farmers’ move to dual and multi-cropping and in creating

alternative sources of livelihood for these households. Another study conducted by the Indian

Institute of Science (IISc) in collaboration with the Ministry of Rural Development and GIZ in

2013 in four districts of four selected states came to several conclusions which validate the

purpose of asset creation through MGNREGS works. The authors conclude that through the

dominance of water and land related MGNREGS works, MGNREGS has contributed to

improved or sustained groundwater levels, increased water availability for irrigation, increased

irrigated area and finally, improved drinking water availability for humans and livestock.

In 2014, Narayanan et al., surveyed over 4,100 works constructed under MGNREGA and

4,800 randomly selected beneficiaries across 100 villages in 20 districts in Maharashtra. The

study found that 75 per cent of the works that existed were directly related to agriculture. About

92 per cent of the respondents found the works very useful or somewhat useful and only 8 per

cent felt that the works were useless. The authors found that the respondents felt that the

selection of works was not inclusive; overall, the authors conclude that works done under

MGNREGA were supportive of small and marginal farmers and related very well to agriculture.

The authors recommend an inclusive process of selection of works, where all workers are

involved in the planning of the works.

Analysis of the State wise Performance of MGNREGA in Asset Creation (2013-15)

The state wise performance of MGNREGA in terms of rural asset creation has been analyzed

using the data for three years (2013-15) obtained from the Ministry of Rural Development (MORD)

website. Table.1 depicts the total assets created during 2013-15.

Table 1. Composition of State wise Assets created under MGNREGA during (2008 -2010)

Sl.No.

StatesRural

Connectivity

Flood Control and

Protection

Water Conserva

tion & Water

Harvesting

Drought

Proofing

Micro Irrigat

ion works

Works on

Individual

land

Renovation of

Traditional

Water bodies

Land Develop

ment

Rural Sanitat

ion

Any other activt

ies

Total Assets create

d

1 Andhra Pradesh 239163 90772 2641824 17114

18 741954 484109 98656 101002 1788669 16150 92943

18

2 Arunachal Pradesh 5394 1573 271 714 1381 30905 9939 47851 161 4725 11303

3 Assam 86511 7239 8241 39711 5812 23481 5479 18220 897 10653 207741

4 Bihar 232365 95027 47774 410127 40103 22004 14223 39796 458657 12737 13376

08

5 Chhattisgarh 129105 4182 56981 30502 11066 85236 26281 99452 35459 13482 55450

6

6 Gujarat 44667 34985 37551 32829 2105 32606 13446 24681 64846 12845 308238

7 Haryana 17500 1239 4968 562 8288 36237 5712 16291 9797 5064 55786

8 Himachal Pradesh 38221 26147 49886 4559 18493 100523 27995 83412 5852 27509 24642

3

9 Jammu Kashmir 145649 99056 25124 2304 37349 18656 25420 82796 13083 9615 38958

110 Jharkhand 99641 837 224718 9829 5665 262635 18980 93382 21966 22188 54283

011 Karnataka 86457 102444 158365 13966

0 51799 295503 49653 96685 997930 50289 2147145

12 Kerala 6438 81737 124483 13426 43202 63908 41897 124039 2557 3270 59779

713

Madhya Pradesh 376656 4976 386353 19842

0 4023 431858 23662 182396 344652 25559 2260574

14

Maharashtra 97227 2146 255568 32214

2 7653 153235 26102 20695 176891 20189 1193964

15 Manipur 17918 4387 3638 4546 4140 36 442 3725 303 2099 42785

16

Meghalaya 31138 2162 8272 4381 1280 23526 23890 27678 1025 22137 57895

17 Mizoram 18899 1698 1147 1461 186 1173 3878 6664 139 1769 31252

18 Nagaland 34801 1396 2394 1987 3155 101095 16048 19442 54 15836 50002

19 Odisha 157068 2929 90113 78460 7930 48487 42909 40194 41451 39797 64800

720 Punjab 17270 1512 639 6330 3027 9948 60433 14000 113 2582 52838

21 Rajasthan 227718 11479 134251 53944 41154 188061 46336 71065 209385 31574 11427

8422 Sikkim 2779 1206 892 1517 551 62528 22008 67050 12 62457 11664

23

Tamil Nadu 61284 880 56857 4939 34618 12591 109430 19949 219341 31794 61670

324 Tripura 48920 1887 21092 21378 28064 46166 34923 98004 1743 16260 22967

925

Uttar Pradesh 1081893 119411 185282 14699

2 124787 149637 41667 116936 854963 117341

3151176

26

Uttarakhand 27391 44565 21981 9250 11091 3021 4482 13962 4275 4164 15570

727

West Bengal 317214 54972 187540 22715

9 49213 141084 85240 102770 38049 9746 1341695

28 Goa 494 212 420 118 59 30 167 581 18 382 2566

29

Andaman & Nicobar

0 0 0 0 0 190 14 31 0 0 0

30

Dadra &Nagar Havali

0 0 0 0 0 0 1680 1 0 47 0

31

Puducherry 668 925 87 1 41 0 301 678 0 2 3180

32

Chandigarh 15 27 117 48 0 0 284418 577785 0 96495

9 367

33

Lakshadweep 0 0 0 126 12 126207

7 5026 3 0 141 5324

34

Daman & Diu 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Total 2436429 3650464 802008 47368

29347884

0409054

6 1288201 1170737 109181 1557362

26691438

Chart 1-Total State wise assets created

Table 1 Shows that a total of 26691438 assets have created during the last three years

(2013-15). It is evident from the table and chart that a few states like Andhra Pradesh (34.8%),

Uttar Pradesh (11.8%), Madhya Pradesh (8.4%), Karnataka (8%), West Bengal (5%) and Bihar

(5%) have major share in the total assets created. Even the states like Gujarat, Haryana,

Maharashtra and Tamilnadu lag behind in this respect though there is lot of potential for creating

new assets in these states.

Among the total assets created, highest number of assets are created in the area of Rural

sanitation (20%) followed by water conservation and water harvesting (18%), Rural connectivity

(14%), Drought Proofing (13%), Land development (8.3%), any other activity approved by

Ministry of Rural Development (5.8%), micro irrigation works (4.8%), Renovation of traditional

water bodies (4.4%) and flood control and protection (3%).

ANDHRA PRADESH

ASSAM

CHHATTISG

ARH

HARYANA

JAMMU AND KASHMIR

KARNATAKA

MADHYA PRADES

H

MANIPUR

MIZORAM

ODISHA

RAJASTHAN

TAMIL N

ADU

UTTAR PRADESH

WEST BEN

GALGOA

PUDUCHERRY

0100000020000003000000400000050000006000000700000080000009000000

10000000

Performance analysis of Top Fifteen States

Based on the total number of assets created under MGNREGS during 2013-2015, top

fifteen states have been selected to analyze the performance of the scheme in terms of asset

creation in India.

1. Rural Connectivity

UTTAR PRADESH

MADHYA PRADES

H

WEST BEN

GAL

ANDHRA PRADESHBIHAR

RAJASTHAN

ODISHA

JAMMU AND KASHMIR

CHHATTISG

ARH

JHARKHAND

MAHARASHTR

A

ASSAM

KARNATAKA

TAMIL N

ADU

TRIPURA

0

200000

400000

600000

800000

1000000

1200000

Chart 2: Rural Connectivity

Rural connectivity can have tremendous influence on the agricultural development for a

country like India, since majority of the rural households are still depending on agriculture and

allied activities. Hence rural connectivity is one of the important types of works to be undertaken

under MGNREGA. A total of 3650464 (13.7%) assets have been created in the area of rural

connectivity in the last three years (2013-15). It is evident from the chart that Uttar Pradesh has

created highest number of assets followed by Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh

and Bihar.

2. Flood Control and protection

One of the preferred areas of works under the NREGA is flood control and protection for

water and soil conservation in rural areas by creating necessary assets. A total of 802008 have

been created in this area during 2013-15 and the share of this asset in the total assets is relatively

low (3%). More and more assets in this area need to be created as many of the states are prone to

severe flood every year thereby damaging the rural economy. It is evident from the above chart

that among the top 15 states Uttar Pradesh has created highest amount of assets in flood control

in the last three years followed by Karnataka. Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh etc.

UTTAR PRADESH

KARNATAKA

JAMMU AND KASHMIR

BIHAR

ANDHRA PRADESH

KERALA

WEST BEN

GAL

UTTARAKHAND

GUJARAT

HIMACHAL P

RADESH

RAJASTHAN

ASSAM

MADHYA PRADES

H

MANIPUR

CHHATTISG

ARH0

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

120000

140000

Chart 3: Flood Control and Protection

3. Water Conservation and Water Harvesting

ANDHRA PRADESH

MADHYA PRADES

H

MAHARASHTR

A

JHARKHAND

WEST BEN

GAL

UTTAR PRADESH

KARNATAKA

RAJASTHAN

KERALA

ODISHA

CHHATTISG

ARH

TAMIL N

ADU

HIMACHAL P

RADESHBIHAR

GUJARAT

0

500000

1000000

1500000

2000000

2500000

3000000

Chart 4-Water Conservation and Water Harvesting

Most of the public funded programmes are aimed at Water Conservation and Water

Harvesting in recent days in India. There is considerable scope for water conservation and water

harvesting in rural areas by creating required assets. MGNREGA is playing a crucial role in this

regard. A total of 4736829 have been created in the area of water conservation and water

harvesting by constituting about 18% of the total assets created. This will definitely have a long

term impact on the water availability and agricultural productivity. Chart 4 shows that among the

top fifteen countries Andhra Pradesh has created highest number of assets in this area followed

by Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, West Bengal etc.

4. Drought Proofing

Chart 5-Drought Proofing

Drought Proofing is another type of works to be undertaken under MGNREGA. Since

many of the states are prone to severe drought thereby hampering agricultural production, there

is considerable scope for building assets to prevent drought under MGNREGA. A total of

3478840 (13 per cent of total assets) have been created in the area of drought proofing. Chart 5

shows that among the top fifteen countries, Andhra Pradesh has created highest number of assets

in the last three years (2013-15).States like Bihar, Maharashtra, West Bengal and Madhya

Pradesh have also performed well in this category. However, more projects should be under

taken and completed in this area as this will have immediate impact on agricultural production.

5. Micro Irrigation Works

ANDHRA PRADESHBIHAR

MAHARASHTR

A

WEST BEN

GAL

MADHYA PRADES

H

UTTAR PRADESH

KARNATAKA

ODISHA

RAJASTHAN

ASSAM

GUJARAT

CHHATTISG

ARH

TRIPURA

KERALA

JHARKHAND0

200000400000600000800000

10000001200000140000016000001800000

ANDHRA PRADESH

UTTAR PRADESH

KARNATAKA

WEST BEN

GAL

KERALA

RAJASTHAN

BIHAR

JAMMU AND KASHMIR

TAMIL N

ADU

TRIPURA

HIMACHAL P

RADESH

UTTARAKHAND

CHHATTISG

ARH

HARYANA

ODISHA

0

100000200000

300000

400000

500000

600000

700000800000

Chart 6-Micro Irrigation works

Micro and minor irrigation is one important area of concern to enhance agricultural

production and productivity in the country. Micro Irrigation works have an important focus

under MGNREGA. A total of 1288201 (about 5% of the total assets created) assets have been

created under MGNREGA in the area of micro irrigation. Chart 6 depicts that among the top

fifteen countries only Andhra Pradesh has done well. All other states have relatively low share in

the assets created in the area of micro irrigation.

6. Works on Individual land

NREGS provides an opportunity to facilitate works on Individual land belongs to the

households from the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes or Below Poverty Line (BPL)

families or to beneficiaries of land reforms or to beneficiaries under Indira Awas Yojana (IAY)

of Government of India or to Small and Marginal farmers to take up land development,

irrigation facility, and horticulture plantation on their land to mitigate drought, enhance

agricultural productivity and generate steady income. During the last three years, a total of 40,

90, 546 (about 15% of the total assets created) works have been taken up on the individual land

under MGNREGA. Chart 7 depicts that among the top fifteen states Andhra Pradesh has taken

up highest number of works followed by Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Jharkhand and Rajasthan.

ANDHRA PRADESH

MADHYA PRADES

H

KARNATAKA

JHARKHAND

RAJASTHAN

MAHARASHTR

A

UTTAR PRADESH

WEST BEN

GAL

NAGALAND

HIMACHAL P

RADESH

CHHATTISG

ARH

KERALA

SIKKIM

ODISHA

TRIPURA

0

100000

200000

300000

400000

500000

600000

Chart 7-Works on Individual land

6. Renovation of Traditional water bodies

TAMIL N

ADU

ANDHRA PRADESH

WEST BEN

GAL

PUNJAB

KARNATAKA

RAJASTHAN

ODISHA

KERALA

UTTAR PRADESH

TRIPURA

HIMACHAL P

RADESH

CHHATTISG

ARH

MAHARASHTR

A

JAMMU AND KASHMIR

MEGHALA

YA0

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

120000

Chart 8-Renovation of water bodies

Water has become the scarce product due to errant rainfall in the country. Agriculture

productivity and production to a large extent depends on the availability of water sources. Given

This, it is crucial to renovate the traditional water bodies like canals, wells and tanks in the

villages. Hence it is one of the types of works to be undertaken under MGNREGA. During the

last three years (2013-15) a total of 1170737 (4.4 % of the total assets created) assets have been

created in this area. Chart 8 clearly shows that among the top fifteen states Tamilnadu has

created highest number of assets followed by Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Punjab and

Karnataka.

7. Land Development

One of the important areas of concern under MGNREGA is to take up land development

activities in the villages through plantation, land leveling, etc. A total of 2211216 assets have

been created under MGNREGA during 2013 – 2015, which constitutes 8.2% of the total assets

created. Chart 9 shows that among the top fifteen states, Madhya Pradesh has created highest

number of assets followed by Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh.

Chart 9-Land Development

MADHYA PRADES

H

KERALA

UTTAR PRADESH

WEST BEN

GAL

ANDHRA PRADESH

CHHATTISG

ARH

TRIPURA

KARNATAKA

JHARKHAND

HIMACHAL P

RADESH

JAMMU AND KASHMIR

RAJASTHAN

SIKKIM

ARUNACHAL PRADES

H

ODISHA

020000400006000080000

100000120000140000160000180000200000

9. Rural Sanitation

ANDHRA PRADESH

KARNATAKA

UTTAR PRADESH

BIHAR

MADHYA PRADES

H

TAMIL N

ADU

RAJASTHAN

MAHARASHTR

A

GUJARAT

ODISHA

WEST BEN

GAL

CHHATTISG

ARH

JHARKHAND

JAMMU AND KASHMIR

HARYANA

0200000400000600000800000

100000012000001400000160000018000002000000

Chart 10-Rural Sanitation

To improve the rural infrastructure, due importance has been given in MGNREGA on

rural sanitation. The works related to rural sanitation such as individual household latrines,

school toilet units, Anganwadi toilets either independently or in convergence with schemes of

other Government Departments to achieve ‘open defecation free’ status. and solid and liquid

waste management as per prescribed norms. A total of 5292288 assets have been created during

2013-15 which constitutes about 20 per cent of the total assets created. Chart 10 shows that

among the top fifteen states Andhra Pradesh has created highest number of assets followed by

Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.

10. Any other activity approved by Ministry of Rural Development

Projects that do not belong to the ten broad category of works have been included under

“any other activity approved by MORD”. A total of 1557362 (5.8% of the total assets created)

assets have been created under this category during the last three years (2013-15). It is evident

from the chart 11 that among the top fifteen countries Uttar Pradesh has created highest number

of assets in this category followed by Sikkim, Karnataka, Odisha and Tamilnadu.

UTTAR PRADESH

SIKKIM

KARNATAKA

ODISHA

TAMIL N

ADU

RAJASTHAN

HIMACHAL P

RADESH

MADHYA PRADES

H

JHARKHAND

MEGHALA

YA

MAHARASHTR

A

TRIPURA

ANDHRA PRADESH

NAGALAND

CHHATTISG

ARH0

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

120000

140000

Chart 11-Any other activity approved by MORD

12. Percentage of works completed

TAMIL N

ADU

HIMACHAL P

RADESH

CHHATTISG

ARH

JHARKHAND

MADHYA PRADES

H

RAJASTHAN

WEST BEN

GAL

ODISHA

ASSAM

GUJARAT

UTTAR PRADESH

PUNJABSIK

KIM

HARYANA

KERALA

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Chart 11-Percentage of works completed

One of the major problems of MGNREGA is the non-completion of works. That is

evident from Chart 11 Almost all the states have lagged behind in this respect. However, states

like Tamilnadu, Himachal Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan have

relatively better rate of completion. Table No 1 shows that out of 2.67 Crore works that have

taken up during 2013-15, only 31.19 lakhs (12 per cent) are reported to have been completed. It

should be noted that the long term benefit of MGNREGA depends on the early completion of the

projects.

Issues and Challenges

Even though MGNREGA is already making a substantial impact on the lives of the rural

poor, there are several problems that need to be addressed to bring out overall development. The

issues regarding productive asset creation that need immediate attending to realize the full

potential of the act is as follows:

1. Poor quality of assets created

The assets created under MGNREGA faces lot of criticism due to its poor quality.

However, given the level of supported infrastructure provides for NREGA works, it is not a

surprising that the qualities of works undertaken are reportedly poor. Majority of the small scale

field surveys found that the quality of assets created under MGNREGA is poor. The campaign in

Bihar on MGNREGA (PACS, 2008) shows that the type of works taken up are limited to filling

earth, digging channels and construction of ponds and are not properly planned or implemented

in a structured manner thereby resulting in poor quality assets.

2. Lack of technical planning

Majority of projects taken up under MGNREGA are not properly planned due to lack of

technical competency of the staff in executing the works at different levels. The CAG report

highlighted that the deficiency of adequate and technical manpower at the block and gram

panchayat level affected the preparation of plans, scrutiny, approval, monitoring and

measurement of works and maintenance of the stipulated records (CAG, 2008).

3. Poor maintenance of assets created

Another important area of concern is poor maintenance of the assets created under the

Act. Lack of maintenance of the assets leads to a large number of them is into disuse. In

Rajasthan, Singh and Modi (2010) noted that while communities were vigilant about the

maintenance of public assets, they were either incapable (in Dungarpur) or unwilling (Tonk) to

contribute monetarily towards asset maintenance. In Bihar, Kumar and Chandra (2010)

recommended that special provisions should be made for the Gram Panchayats to undertake

repair and maintenance work on a regular basis.

4. Incompletion of projects or delay in completion of projects

Several works that are taken up under MGNREGA remain incomplete even after two to three

years of their start. Since there is no provision to factor in the completion of works in the overall

planning, majority of the state governments have initiated large number of new works and left

them in mid-way without completing. This led to huge wastage of financial and human

resources. Therefore, MGNREGA should make mandotary to complete the works rather than

mere initiating. It is the alarming fact that during 2013-15, out of 2.67 Crore works that have

taken up during 2013-15, only 31.19 lakshs (12 per cent) are reported to have been completed

(Table 1). This needs immediate attention.

5. Lack of trained manpower

One of the major obstacles for proper implementation of MGNREGA is lack of trained

manpower. In the second performance audit report by CAG (April,2013) observed that there

were not enough trained Gram Rozgar Sanchayaks (GRSs) on the field and their shortages

ranged from 20 to 93 per cent. It is they who maintain documents, issue job cards, allocate work,

pay wages, monitor and facilitate social audits. Non-maintenance or incorrect maintenance of

basic records was noticed in 18-54 per cent of test-checked GPs. Even from the poorly kept

records, it emerges that works abandoned midway or not completed for a significant period were

noticed. Also it was seen that 7,69575 works amounting to Rs 4,070.76 crore are incomplete,

even after one to five years.

6. Lack of people’s participation

Lack of people participation is another import shortfall of MGNREGA. There is a little

effort at social mobilization without which it is difficult to make MGNREGA as a people

centered programme. A report submitted to UNDP by Institute for Development of Youth,

Women and Child, Chindwara, (2010) revealed that in Madhya Pradesh, There has been lack of

ownership of local villagers in the NREGS planning at village level. The gramsabha members

feel that the works which are opened under NREGS are result of ad-hoc decision making

process. There is clear lack of participation of villagers in planning process since it is either not

being undertaken or performed at block/district level.

7. Overemphasis on providing employment than creating rural assets

The ultimate aim of the Act is to revive agriculture and allied activities by creating

durable rural productive assets. However, in actual operationalization of the Act, the first

objective of providing employment assumes by far the greater concern, and no wonder the

second objective of securing sustainable productive assets stands in the shadow. Instead of

implementing and evaluating the act purely in terms of employment creation, the focus should

have been on the real impacts on local development through productive assets creation.

Conclusion

The MGNREGA considered as the most powerful initiative ever undertaken for

transformation of rural livelihoods in India. During a decade of its implementation the first

objective of MGNREGA assumes importance and there was a less concentration on the ultimate

objective of creating sustainable productive assets. Now it is the time for the different

stakeholder of the scheme to concentrate on asset creation which strengthens the natural resource

management which in turn leads to agricultural development. The exceptional commitment of

the Central Government by spending huge financial resources on MGNREGA should match only

by the sincere efforts of the different stakeholder in implementation could realize its potential in

raising the productivity of agriculture particularly in backward regions and also to strengthen the

rural infrastructure which finally leads to sustainable development in rural India.

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