MGNREGA Scheme – The Massiah – Part II

You already know the basis of foundation and key features of MGNREGA. Let us take you through the objectives and challenges faced in implementing the MGNREGA.

Objectives of implementing MGNREGA

1. MGNREGA specifically targets scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and women, who face numerous hardships and adversities in seeking a job.
2. MGNREGA also caters to the livelihood of people, who are Below Poverty Line (BPL) by guaranteeing them 100 days of employment.
3. MGNREGA gives a chance to rural household to expand earning sources in their families, so that everyone from young to old gets a fair chance to work.
4. MGNREGA takes steps towards the control of natural calamities such as deforestation, famine, floods etc., which causes hardships and breakdown of the rural households.
5. MGNREGA infuses responsibility in the Government by bringing to their notice prevailing adversities in the rural households and highlighting relevant steps to wipe out those problems.
6. MGNREGA promotes decentralization by conferring authority to Local Panchayats to plan and execute relevant strategies for the welfare of local-ites.

Challenges faced in implementation of MGNREGA

• Fabrication of job cards: Every person who is provided a job under MGNREGA scheme is issued a job-card which is updated daily for 100 days of job guarantee. These cards are often fabricated and tampered with by the job seekers.
• Delay in payment of wages: States often delay the payment of wages within the mandated time of 15 days. The workers ain’t compensated for this delay in the payment.
• Large number of incomplete works: There is often incompletion of works under MGNREGA and even inspection of projects is irregular.
• Unemployment allowances often not paid: This is a common trend in most of the states that they do not pay any unemployment allowance, even if the work is not given on demand.
• Other challenges: They include corruption in execution of MGNREGA, poor quality of assets and insufficient involvement of PRIs.

To overcome these challenges, Government has been undertaking steps such as regular monitoring of jobs provided under MGNREGA, regulating job cards to avoid fabrication, motivating more women and people with disabilities to participate in the jobs, and monitoring payment of allowance to unemployed individuals. If the government becomes successful in its pursuit of implementing MGNREGA, we can all hope that the problem of unemployment and poverty will be alleviated from the country, and India will emerge as a developed nation. Let us know what you think about MGNREGA.