An assessment on implementation of NREGA: a case study in Anantpur and Raichur districts

Abstract

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) which was enacted in 2005 is a landmark legislation which empowers the rural population with the legal right to demand work. The Act takes into account all possible relevant aspects of the rural wage employment providing a legal support when compared to earlier work-fare programmes. One can see NREGA is a shift from supply side to a demand side approach. The Act aims to achieve the objective of giving citizens right to work, as enunciated in the Directive Principles (Article 41) in the Constitution of India. During the last 18 months of implementation, the NREGA has registered significant success in many of the states and more than 2.57 crore rural households were provided employment. The contractor regime and bureaucratic corruption was reduced to insignificant levels in many states. However, the reports from field indicate several problems of implementation including lack of awareness among the officials and beneficiaries about the provisions of the Act. The field reports also highlight delays in wage payment, continued migration to urban areas and hike in the market wage rate impacting the agricultural works in rural areas. The heartening fact is that large scale participation of women, SCs and STs in the NREGA programme. An exploratory sample case study was conducted in Raichur district of Karnataka and Anantpur district of Andhra Pradesh to assess the process of implementation of NREGA. The evidence indicate that three factors namely awareness, enthusiasm among the officials and use of Information Technology are the key factors for effective implementation of the NREGA in the sample districts. The role of civil society was aptly acknowledged in creating awareness in Anantpur district and generating pressure on the district administration of Raichur district through supporting people s agitation for effective implementation of the programme. The paper also gives some technological solutions for addressing issues like identification of beneficiaries, expeditious wage payments and the need for linking the programme with other development initiatives.