UNDP calls MGNREGS best job guarantee plan
Swati Mathur & Sruthi Nair
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Lucknow:
TNN
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The latest edition of the United Nations Development Programme report on Human Development Index released on Monday has referred to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) as among the best known employment guarantee schemes providing direct jobs to the rural poor. Interestingly, in February this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had referred to the scheme as a “living monument“ of Congress-led UPA government's failures.MGNREGS, which finds mention as a “milestone“ in the UNDP report's chapter dedicated to enhancing human development through work, has also been cited as exemplary in accelerating job creation from less than 1 billion working days among 20 million households in the scheme's first year of oper ation (2006-07) to 2.5 billion among 50 million households in 2010-11. “Instead of cash transfers or conditional cash transfers, countries have also provided employment guarantees. Jefes de Hogar in Argentina and the regional Karnali Employment Programme in Nepal are examples, though the best known is the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in India,“ says the report.
However, pointing to the humongous nature of the MGNREGS, the report says, “Its (MGNREGS) size has no precedent nationally or internationally, posing important design and management challenges.“
The MGNREG Act, pop ularly known as NREGA, was mandated by the UPA government in 2005 as a demand-driven employment creation programme to benefit the rural poor through projects that improve agricultural productivity and alleviate land degradation. The scheme guarantees rural households 100 days of unskilled manual work.
Extrapolating from the MGNREGS figures, the UNDP report said, “ A simulation estimated that GDP would increase (by) 0.020.03%, that labour income would rise (by) about 700 million rupees and that the welfare of the poorest households (as measured by Slutski-adjusted consumption relative to initial consumption) would increase up to 8%. People belonging to Scheduled Tribes or Scheduled Castes would also benefit.“
However, pointing to the humongous nature of the MGNREGS, the report says, “Its (MGNREGS) size has no precedent nationally or internationally, posing important design and management challenges.“
The MGNREG Act, pop ularly known as NREGA, was mandated by the UPA government in 2005 as a demand-driven employment creation programme to benefit the rural poor through projects that improve agricultural productivity and alleviate land degradation. The scheme guarantees rural households 100 days of unskilled manual work.
Extrapolating from the MGNREGS figures, the UNDP report said, “ A simulation estimated that GDP would increase (by) 0.020.03%, that labour income would rise (by) about 700 million rupees and that the welfare of the poorest households (as measured by Slutski-adjusted consumption relative to initial consumption) would increase up to 8%. People belonging to Scheduled Tribes or Scheduled Castes would also benefit.“
Source: Times of India, 16-12-2015
