To study the effectiveness of NREGA implementation

Abstract

The objective of the National Rural Employment Guarantee act is to enhance the livelihood security in the rural areas. This act has been in operation for the last 3 years in more than 200 districts across the country. Beginning April 2008, the coverage has been expanded from 330 districts to all the 604 districts of India. NREGA is considered as a step in the right direction for providing social security and creating assets that contribute to local livelihoods. The Objectives of this study was to assess the effectiveness of implementation of NREGA in two of the district of Karnataka namely Chitradurga and Bangalore Rural. The whole scheme of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme has been measured with respect to the governance framework which consists of Goals, Policies, the Processes and the output. It clearly lays down the various stakeholders and their roles. It also provides the insight to the guidelines of NREG act and its strategies. The Qualitative and Quantitative analysis yielded a lot of results and issues which act as a barrier for the effective implementation of the project. Though there were a lot of positives like women being benefitted from this act, there were various issues plaguing this scheme. There was corruption already creeping into this process in the Chitradurga district. There is a disparity in the wages seen and also inefficiencies in the works allotted. The World Bank also feels that NREGA is a barrier for economic development due to curb in migration. Following these issues we have given a brief set of recommendations at the policy level, strategy level and also for the improvement of the Processes.