The present book has been awarded for the degree of Philosophy of Doctorate to Dr.Well Haorei under the supervision of Dr. P.Anandharajakumar by the Gandhigram Rural Institute - Deemed University, Tamil Nada, India on 26th July 2011 with highly commented by the examiners. The main focus of this book is to evaluate empirically the working performance of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in terms of its implementation and the extent of the beneficiaries' perception, opinion, and awareness as per the operational guidelines, and the impact of the scheme on the beneficiaries in the study area. The study employed a combination of methods, such as field survey employing pre-tested interview schedule, focus group discussions (FGDs) with the beneficiaries, interviews with key informants and review of secondary sources of data.

This book offers an assessment of the performance, impact, and welfare implications of the world’s largest employment guarantee programme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). Launched by the Indian government, the programme covers entire rural area of the country. The book presents various micro-level analyses of the programme and its heterogeneous impacts at different scales, almost a decade after its implementation. While there are some doubts over the future of the scheme as well as its magnitude, nature and content, the central government appears committed to it, as a ‘convergence scheme’ of various other welfare and rural development programmes being implemented at both national and state level. The book discusses the outcomes of the programme and offers critical insights into the lessons learnt, not only in the context of India, but also for similar schemes in countries in South and South-East Asia as well as in Africa, and Latin America. Adopting inter-disciplinary perspectives in analysing these issues, this unique book uses a judicious mix of methods---integrating quantitative and qualitative tools---and will be an invaluable resource for analysts, NGOs, policymakers and academics alike.

India's ambitious National Rural Employment Guarantee Act creates a justiciable 'right to work' by promising up to 100 days of employment per year to all rural households whose adult members want unskilled manual work on public works projects at the stipulated minimum wage. Are the conditions stipulated by the Act met in practice, under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS)? What impact on poverty do the earnings from the scheme have? Does the scheme meet its potential? How can it do better? Right to Work? Assessing India's Employment Guarantee Scheme in Bihar studies the MGNREGS's impact across India, then focuses on Bihar, the country's third largest and one of its poorest states. It shows that although the scheme has the potential to substantially reduce poverty through extra earnings for poor families, that potential is not realized in practice. Workers are not getting all the work they want, nor are they getting the full wages due. The intended recipients' awareness of how to obtain work is low. In a controlled experiment, a specially designed fictional movie was used to show how knowledge of rights and processes can be enhanced. Although the movie effectively raised awareness and improved public perceptions of the scheme, it had little effect on actions such as seeking employment when needed. Supplyside constraints in responding to demand for work must also be addressed. A number of specific constraints to work provision are identified, including poor implementation capacity, weak financial management, and inadequate monitoring systems. Addressing these constraints would allow this major antipoverty program to come much closer to reaching its potential.

Academic Paper from the year 2018 in the subject Politics - Topic: Development Politics, , language: English, abstract: This paper investigates how the employment generating scheme MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) is different from other employment generating scheme and finds how MGNREGA is supporting economic development by creating community/productive assets at the level of villages. Since 2000, India has experienced rapid economic growth and a sharp decline in poverty. But employment has grown more slowly. Government intervened in the economy through the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, which provides employment to unskilled workers in rural areas besides creating community/productive assets at the level of village such as wells, tanks, ponds, roads etc. This programme is designed to provide income protection against poverty in rural area. The choice of works under MGNREGA seeks to address the causes of chronic poverty such as drought, deforestation and soil erosion. MGNREGA is different from other employment and poverty alleviation programme in the sense that it is a legal framework and right to work based programme. This is a paradigm shift from its earlier programmes for it is a bottom-up, demand driven structure with built-in social audits.