the significance and limitations of indias national rural employment guarantee act 1203679784232090...
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THE SIGNIFICANCE AND LIMITATIONSOF INDIAS NATIONAL RURAL
EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE ACT IN
ADDRESSING RURAL POVERTY
Smita Gupta
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The post-1990s are marked by the pursuit of neo-liberal policies:
Deflationary macroeconomic policies and falling public
development expenditure as pc of GDP on public works,
employment generation, rural infrastructure, social services,etc.
Trade liberalization with farmers loosing protection against
international price fluctuations
Structural Adjustment Policies resulting in higher input
costs and withdrawal of the state from credit, extension
services, procurement, price support and infrastructure.
An unparalleled and comprehensive crisis took firm root
in rural India, resulting in peasant suicides, starvation
deaths, impoverishment, and hunger.
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RURAL CRISISGrowing unemployment and underemployment
Falling purchasing powerDeclining per capita availability of foodgrains
Reduced farm incomes and real wage growth
Indebtedness and land alienation, esp. for
small and marginal farmers.
Deceleration in agricultural growth, productivity
per worker and rural non-agricultural employment
growthSlackening pace of poverty reduction and
worsening poverty amongst marginalized social
groups and ethnic minorities
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Broadly speaking, three different positions are taken
on NREGS:
Left-Keynesian: it is both desirable and feasible
for broad-based equitable growth to reviveagriculture and the rural economy by the creation
of productive assets and the multiplier effects of
demand expansion in a situation of excess
capacity, unemployment and idle resources. Neo-liberal: It is neither desirable nor feasible on
the grounds of non-affordability, corruption, and
preference for human capital and infrastructure-
led growth models. Liberal: it is the human face of globalization, a
kind of social safety net which is desirable but
feasible only under very restricted conditions of
fiscal discipline.
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The Employment Guarantee Act is a step
towards the right to work, as an aspectof the fundamental right to live withdignity
It is a recognition that the state cannotretreat from rural development and isresponsible to ensure food and
livelihood security for the masses
The neo-liberal state had begun to i ntervene more and more aggressively against the poor and r ural In dia. The NREGA is a recognition that the state cannot retreat fr om pro-poordevelopment and i s responsible to ensure food and l ivelihood security
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The National Rural EmploymentGuarantee Act 2005 is a law whereby
any adult who is willing to do unskilledmanual work at the minimum wage isentitled to being employed on local
public works within 15 days ofapplying, with a guarantee of 100days of unskilled manual work per
household per yearCurrently it covers half of ruralIndia, to be extended to the rest
within 4 years
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NREGS is a demand driven
programme and employment is tobe provided to eligible workers on
demand, within 15 days.
Step 1 Registration
Step 2 Verification
Step 3 Issuing Job CardsStep 4 Application
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Unemployment allowances
If Employment is not provided within 15 days of receipt of application,
the worker shall be entitled to a daily Unemployment allowance(7(1))
Rates (7(2))
For First 30 days
For the remaining period of theFinancial year
Employment wage +Unemployment
allowance
One fourth of the wage rate.
Not less than one half of the
wage rate
Equal to the wages for 100
days of work in a financialyear (7(3d))
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Minimum Wage
A person working for 7 hours would normally earn a
wage equal to the wage rate(SchI(8))
Minimum wage fixed by the state Government
under the minimum wage Act,1948;
Centre may fix wages, at not less than Sixty rupeesper day (6(1))
The Act permits productivitylinked wages under
piece rate, with due protection
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Mandatory Worksite Facilities for laborers
Safe drinking water
Shade for children and periods of rest
First-aid Box for emergency treatment andminor injuries
Depute one woman worker to look after five
or more children below the age of six years ofwomen laborers at the wage rate
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Permissible works in order of priority(SchI(1))
water conservation;
drought proofing ; irrigation canals including micro and minor irrigation works; provision of irrigation facility to land owned by households
belonging to the SCs and STs or to land of land reforms andIndira Awas Yojana beneficiaries;
renovation of traditional water bodies; land development;
flood control and protection works; rural connectivity to provide all-weather access; and any other work which may be notified by the Central
Government in consultation with the State Government.
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5/24/2013
OUTCOMES [field reports]
Reduction in distress out-migration due toavailability of additional income and work
creation and repair of rural infrastructure like roadsand water bodies
Retention of children in school and purchase ofbooks for them
Greater interest in local area development due to flowof funds and village meetings
Changing local dynamics in many places with therecognition by workers that they are right holders
Expansion in membership and activities of workers
and peasant organizations
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NREGA and Poverty Reduc tion
Potential: NREGA holds a huge promise for poverty reduction
with a supplementary average annual household income of Rs
6000. for this, wages, work days and aggregate expenditure on
the Scheme should be high if the Programme has to make anysignificant dent on poverty. Creation of social and economic
infrastructure too would go a long way in reducing poverty.
Experience: The poverty reducing potential is severelyundermined through:
non-recognition of eligible persons as right holders;
inability to make claims due to imposition of a host of arbitrary
and discretionary eligibility conditions;
non-fulfilment of entitlements guaranteed under the Act, in
particular days of work and wages;
restrictions on the nature of permissible works;
absence of work in the most food-deficit rainy season due to
focus on manual labour and earth works
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CURTAILMENT OF ENTITLEMENTS
A. Definition of Household
On the basis of common kitchen not nuclear family,number of eligible workers per household >3
This reduces per capita entitlements
Disenfranchises female headed households and
widowed/separated/estranged married daughters innatal and marital homes
B. Exclusion of Eligible Persons
ElderlyMigrants
Lack of documentary evidence not required by the law
Divorced/widowed/separated women in natal/marital
homes as se arate nuclear households
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Percentage Rural HouseholdsIssuedJobcard
0.00
10.00
20.00
30.00
40.00
50.00
60.00
AndhraPradesh
ArunachalPradesh
AssamBihar
ChhattisgarhGujarat
Haryana
HimachalPradesh
Jammu&KashmirJharkhand
KarnatakaKerala
MadhyaPradesh
MaharashtraManipur
MeghalayaMizoramNagalandOrissa
Punjab
RajasthanSikkim
TamilNaduTripu
ra
UttarPradesh
Uttaranchal
WestBengal AllIndia
State
ercenage
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C. Non-payment Of Minimum Wages
Workers are earning no more than 40 to 60 per cent
of minimum wage, ranging from Rs 16 to Rs 40 perday
Due to unrealistically high work norms under
productivity linked piece rates;Inadequate identification of the component tasks;
No differentiation for the elderly, women and ecology;
Administrative inadequacies in task specification, soil
identification, lift and lead provision, measurement,
both in terms of procedures and adequacy of staff
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D. INADEQUATE WORK
GENERATION DUE TO
RIGIDITIES IN PERMISSIBLEWORKS AND
ADMINISTRATIVEINADEQUACIES
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WorkDaysPer RegisteredHousehol
0.00
10.00
20.00
30.00
40.00
50.00
60.00
70.00
AndhraPradesh
ArunachalPradeshAssamBihar
Chhattisgarh Gujarat
Haryana
HimachalPradesh
Jammu&KashmirJharkhandKarnatakaKerala
MadhyaPradesh
MaharashtraManipur
MeghalayaMizoram
NagalandOrissa
Punjab
RajasthanSikkim
TamilNaduTripura
UttarPradesh
Uttaranchal
WestBengal AllIndia
States
orays
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E. INADEQUATE WORKSITE FACILITIES
F. NON-PAYMENT OF UNEMPLOYMENT
ALLOWANCE OR COMPENSATION
All these combine to result in
G. UNDERUTILIZATION OF FUNDS ANDLOW EXPENDITURE
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Financial Performance During 2006-0
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Andhra
Prades
h
Arunac
halPra
desh A
ssamBiha
r
Chhattisgarh
Gujarat
Haryana
Himac
halPra
desh
Jammu
&Kashm
ir
Jhar
khand
KarnatakaKe
rala
Mad
hya
Prades
h
Maharas
htra
Man
ipur
Meg
halaya
Mizoram
NagalandO
rissaPunjab
Rajasthan
Sikkim
Tam
ilNadu
Tripura
UttarPra
desh
Uttaranc
hal
WestBenga
lAllIndia
States
Percentage
Expend
itureagainstT
otal
Avai
lable
Funds
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CONCLUSION
Teething trouble apart, the same forces offiscal conservatism that earlier tried todilute the Act are now trying to curtailentitlements and minimize expenditure
However, the NREGA offers anunprecedented opportunity to initiatebroad-based growth through povertyreducing employment generation and
consequent demand expansion Therefore, the recent reports of
mobilization and struggles by rural workersfor the full and proper implementation of
the NREGA is good news!