Picture for representational functions solely.
| Picture Credit score: The Hindu
Laying the groundwork for revisiting the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Assure Scheme (MGNREGS) as a poverty alleviation device, Chief Financial Adviser V. Anantha Nageswaran on July 22 famous within the Financial Survey that demand beneath the scheme was not a “actual indicator” of rural misery.
Whereas there’s a marked variation within the efficiency of the scheme throughout States, Mr. Nageswaran mentioned that not one of the research performed up to now had give you a passable clarification on the unevenness in outcomes.
In keeping with the survey, whereas Tamil Nadu has lower than 1% of the poor inhabitants within the nation, it accounted for almost 15% of all of the MGNREGS funds launched within the monetary yr 2023-24.
Equally, Kerala, with solely 0.1% of the poor inhabitants, used nearly 4% of the full funds allotted for the MGNREGS. Collectively, these States generated 51 crore person-days of employment.
In distinction, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, with about 45% (20% and 25%, respectively) of the poor inhabitants, accounted for under 17% (6% and 11% respectively) of the MGNREGS funds and generated 53 crore person-days of employment.
The correlation coefficient, as per the survey, between State-wise multidimensional poverty index and person-days generated was solely 0.3, indicating that the MGNREGS fund utilization and employment era weren’t proportional to poverty ranges. (A coefficient of 1 would point out that the poorer a State, better the variety of person-days it will generate, whereas a coefficient of 0 would point out no relationship between poverty and person-days.)
On this context, the survey concludes that “demand beneath MGNREGS is just not an actual indicator of rural misery however is moderately predominantly linked with the State’s institutional capability and to some extent additionally completely different minimal wages and different issues”.
On the similar time, it concedes that the variation in fund utilization could be attributed to the various MGNREGS wage charges in every State. There isn’t a nationwide minimal wage beneath the programme and the States are free to determine their very own wage charges. States resembling Haryana, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka have comparatively excessive notified wage charges beneath the MGNREGS.
The distinction in registering the demand for the scheme is closely depending on the effectivity of State administration. That is mirrored in the truth that regardless of provisions mandating State governments to grant unemployment allowance if work is just not supplied inside 15 days, solely ₹90,000 was launched in FY24 and ₹7.8 lakh in FY23 throughout all States.
