The National Democratic Alliance government should weigh the huge human implications of its move to curtail the reach of the world’s largest public works employment programme – schemes under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). At stake in this decade-old law for millions of rural unskilled labourers across the country is the legally enforceable right to 100 days of work a year for a minimum wage. Given the thrust on employment generation, the ratio of expenditure on labour to materials was pegged at 60-40 per cent of the total allocation. The proportion is to be revised to 51-49 per cent, according to an announcement by Rural Development Minister Nitin Gadkari. By the government’s own admission, there has been considerable underutilisation of funds meant for the materials component — only around 27 per cent in the past two years. Thus, the proposed increase in allocation for materials would necessarily eat into the share of the financing of the wage component of the MGNREGA, reducing employment generation. Apprehensions voiced by activists that the move would let loose rapacious contractors on to an arena designated to redress rural poverty may not be entirely without basis. Moreover, the decision to limit the programme to the tribal and backward districts could severely undermine its universal character, and further dilute the focus of MGNREGA.
At another level, as academic research has established, methods to improve the efficacy of the MGNREGA are strengthening the democratic process in myriad ways. Gram sabhas are proving to be vibrant bodies that undertake extensive social audits of public works. The widespread outcry to root out rampant corruption has led to routing payments through post offices and bank accounts. Further, despite the many challenges, the MGNREGA is reaching the rural poor, especially women, according to a 2012 World Bank study based on 2009-2010 National Sample Survey data. If anything, there is acute unmet demand for work under the programme in the poorest States, the study found. The benefits of the scheme to lift millions out of the below-$1-a-day level of poverty have been acknowledged by the International Labour Organisation. As a key supporting party of the United Progressive Alliance government that launched the MGNREGA, the ruling dispensation in Uttar Pradesh has no small interest in ensuring its success. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav should facilitate the smooth conduct of the Central Bureau of Investigation probe in seven districts into alleged misuse of the funds. Above all, any rollback of schemes under the MGNREGA would hurt the BJP’s stated commitment to development.
