The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme helped improve the status of women, who formed 97.3 per cent of the workforce under the scheme, said a study on the impact of the scheme in Alappuzha district conducted by scientists at Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (KUFOS).
A statement issued by KUFOS said that the study showed that the scheme had helped relieve poverty in the rural areas of the district and that 60 per cent of the women said that their only income during the period was from the work they received under the scheme. For 40 per cent of the women, the scheme provided additional income.
Twenty-seven per cent of the women, who were surveyed said that they were able to boost their savings habit through the employment guarantee scheme. The works also helped inculcate financial literacy among them, said the KUFOS press release.
Cleaning activitiesVarious cleaning activities undertaken through MGNREG Scheme had helped reduce the intensity of communicable diseases in the areas that were studied. Increase in wages, especially in the fisheries, coir and agricultural sectors, was another result of the rural job scheme.
The study was commissioned by the Kerala State Institute of Rural Development (SIRD) and led by V. Ambili Kumar, head of the department of business administration of KUFOS, the press release said. The study recommended that agricultural activities like field preparation and harvesting be included under the rural job guarantee scheme.
