A STUDY ON IMPACT OF MAHATMA GANDHI NATIONAL RURAL EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE SCHEME IN SRIKAKULAM DISTRICT OF ANDHRA PRADESH
Loading...
Files
Date
2016
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Acharya N.G. Ranga Agricultural University
Abstract
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme
(MGNREGS) aims at enhancing the livelihood security of the people in rural
areas by guaranteeing hundred days of wage employment in a financial year to a
household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act was notified on 7th
September, 2005. The Act came into force on February, 2006 and was
implemented in a phased manner. In phase-I, it was introduced in 200 most
backward districts of the country on 2nd February, 2006 and implemented in
additional 130 districts in phase-II on 1st April, 2007. To bring the whole nation
under its safety net and keeping in view of the demand the Act was extended to
the remaining 285 districts of India on 1st April, 2008 in phase-III.
An ex-post facto research design was followed to study the impact of
MGNREGS in Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh. The study was conducted
in Andhra Pradesh state during 2014-15. Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh
was purposively selected based on criteria of maximum employment generation.
Out of 40 mandals, three mandals and four villages from each mandal were
selected for the study. Ten respondents were selected from each village by
following random sampling procedure thus making 120 respondents constituted
the sample of the study. Data was collected by pre-testing followed by personal
interview method.
For the purpose of statistical analysis of the coded data, various tools were
used; Frequency (F), Percentage (%), Z- test, Arithmetic Mean (
), Standard
Deviation (σ), Correlation co-efficient (r), Multiple Linear Regression (MLR),
etc.
The detailed analysis of profile characteristics indicated that majority of
the MGNREGS beneficiaries were middle aged (70.84%), illiterate (25.00%)
with medium size of the family (73.30%) and most of them were female
(51.70%). Beneficiaries benefitted with 4-6 years of MGNREGS work
experience (83.33%). They had high annual income (88.33%), high asset
possession (89.17%), high socio-politico participation (80.80%) followed by
medium sources of information (65.83%), high risk orientation (50.84%),
medium level of aspiration (43.33%), medium economic motivation (40.00%)
and medium achievement motivation (53.33%).
The detailed analysis of the dependent variables indicated that majority
(57.50%) of MGNREGS beneficiaries had medium knowledge followed by high
(23.33%) and low knowledge (19.17%).
Majority (55.83%) of MGNREGS beneficiaries experienced medium
direct changes followed by more (31.67%) and less (12.50%) direct changes.
Direct changes occurred due to implementation of MGNREGS were increased
employment generation, increased number of employed persons in the family,
increased daily working hours, increased daily wage rates, increased income
generation, increased community and individual assets creation and reduced
migration of people.
About 44.16 per cent of MGNREGS beneficiaries experienced medium
indirect changes followed by more (35.00%) and less (20.84%) indirect changes.
Indirect changes occurred due to implementation of MGNREGS were
empowerment of the people, personal and family security, food security,
conservation of natural resources and strengthened democracy.
Out of thirteen selected independent variables nine of them i.e. age,
education, size of family, experience and number of years benefitted, sociopolitico
participation, sources of information, risk orientation, economic
motivation and achievement motivation showed significant relation with extent
of knowledge of MGNREGS beneficiaries. Remaining variables such as gender,
annual income, and possession of assets and level of aspiration did not show any
significant relationship with extent of knowledge. The Multiple Linear
Regression (MLR) analysis indicated that all the thirteen variables put together
explained 86.26 per cent of variance in the extent of knowledge of beneficiaries
on the MGNREGS activities, remaining 13.74 per cent due to the extraneous
factors.
Out of thirteen selected independent variables seven of them i.e.
education, size of family, experience and number of years benefitted, sociopolitico
participation, risk orientation, economic motivation and achievement
motivation showed significant relation with direct changes experienced by
MGNREGS beneficiaries. Remaining variables such as age, gender, annual
income, and possession of assets, sources of information and level of aspiration
did not show any significant relationship with direct changes experienced by
MGNREGS beneficiaries. The Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) analysis
indicated that all the thirteen variables put together explained 88.34 per cent of
variance in the direct changes experienced by MGNREGS beneficiaries,
remaining 11.66 per cent due to the extraneous factors.
Out of thirteen selected independent variables eight of them i.e.
education, experience and number of years benefitted, annual income, sociopolitico
participation, sources of information, risk orientation, economic
motivation and achievement motivation showed significant relation with indirect
changes experienced by MGNREGS beneficiaries. Remaining variables like age,
size of the family, gender, possession of assets and level of aspiration did not
show any significant relationship with indirect changes. The Multiple Linear
Regression (MLR) analysis indicated that all the thirteen variables put together
explained 85.63 per cent of variance in the indirect changes experienced by
MGNREGS beneficiaries, remaining 14.37 per cent due to the extraneous
factors.
The operational problems perceived by majority of selected MGNREGS
beneficiaries were late payment of wages, non-payment of wages in the form of
grains, non- provision of 100 days work, long distances of work sites, delay in
allotment of work and non-payment of 10% extra wages for works outside the
5km. radius. Suggestions given to overcome operational problems perceived by
majority of MGNREGS beneficiaries were timely payment of wages followed by
payment of wages in the form of both cash and grains, fulfilment of 100 days
employment guarantee, provision of works through Gram Panchayat nearer to
the residence, timely allotment of works and payment of extra wages for long
distance work sites.
Operational problems perceived by the People’s Representatives were
illiteracy of the people, absence of Village Monitoring Committee, lack of cooperation
and conflicts between groups of people, allocation of less number of
works through Gram Panchayat, limited work activities to be under taken in
MGNREGS which may not be available at the village level, inability to ensure
100 days employment guarantee, diversion of MGNREGS fund for other works
by mandal authorities, lack of trained technical staff at village level and
corruption at mandal and district levels. Suggestions given by People’s
Representatives were organisation of literacy programmes like “Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan” at village level, obtaining people’s co-operation in solving the conflicts
among them through Gram Sabha, setting up of Village Monitoring Committee
for better supervision, allocation of more than 50 per cent of works through
Gram Panchayat, introduction of ‘Wage Subsidy’ to the farming community by
applying MGNREGS workforce, enhancing minimum limit of 14 days and
maximum limit of 100 days employment guarantee to higher side, appointment of
trained technical staff at village level on permanent basis and timely supervision
at mandal and district levels.
Operational problems perceived by officials at various levels were
illiteracy of the people, non- availability of staff on contract basis, non
availability of funds in time, more and weak documentation, delay in payment of
wages to the workers, lack of timely training and under payment of salaries to
MGNREGS staff, lack of co-operation from people’s groups and social
organisations and lack of technical facilities. Suggestions given by officials were
organisation of literacy programmes like “Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan” at village
level, appointment of adequate trained staff on permanent basis, timely allocation
of sufficient funds, synchronization of related documents, timely training to the
staff in accordance with their needs, extending the 4 per cent limit of
administrative cost, organisation of weekly Gram Sabha, appointment of separate
MGNREGS staff at village level for 20-25 villages, opening of postal accounts
of those who are on work instead of all registered families and provision of
technical facilities.
Description
D5246
Keywords
null