MGNREGA: Rights and Entitlements

Making work such as the construction of toilets under MGNREGA conditional upon meeting the Swachch Bharat Mission targets puts villagers in difficulties till the SHG women become aware of their rights and entitlements, which they then proceed to collectively ask for, winning the admiration of the officials.

B EING A DEVELOPING COUNTRY, India has been experiencing issues of unemployment, poverty, illiteracy, poor economy, poor infrastructure, etc., and being a welfare state, many policy efforts have been put forward for rural development and for the nation as a whole. As unemployment has a direct link with economic poverty and severely affects the livelihood of people, it impacts all the needs of the people—food, clothes, shelter and access to safe drinking water and hygienic facilities.

Unemployment and poverty are inter-connected with each other. To address these two issues, the government has been making many efforts through various schemes and programme initiatives since 1972; over a period of time, eight schemes were launched. Recognizing the need to ensure employment guarantee, the government enacted the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) on 7 September 2005. Later, in 2009, NREGA was renamed MGNREGA. This was aimed at strengthening the rural physical and natural assets at the individual and the community level, ensuring democracy, creating a demand-driven environment and focussing on sustainable livelihoods. Although the programme is well-structured, the implementation of the programme on the ground still struggles.