NREGA – AN IMPERIALIST DESIGN?

Abstract

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA) was notified on September 7, 2005. The mandate of the Act is to provide at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. NREGA was projected as a tool to ensure inclusive growth in rural India through social protection, livelihood security and democratic empowerment.

Most of the government programs like NREGA when actually planned, are very good plans (at least on paper). The government prepares a holistic perspective for the project. From the experience of other schemes, it may be concluded hat when it comes to execution, most of them fail and the NREGA scheme is also no exception. Like any other government schemes, NREGA functions through a Public Distribution System. In that case, loopholes become a part and parcel of the whole execution process. The Beneficiaries are only a very few people.