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With new approach, NREGS saw boost in productivity, shows study
A subtle shift by the NDA government in its approach to NREGS, without changing its basic features, has allowed more funding of assets owned by small farmers, helping to raise their productivity, but selection of beneficiaries needs more transparency, a government-sponsored study shows.
A subtle shift by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in its approach to the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), without changing its basic features, has allowed more funding of assets owned by small farmers, helping to raise their productivity, but selection of beneficiaries needs more transparency, a government-sponsored study shows.
The NREGS, a landmark anti-poverty programme launched by the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, has been more tilted towards asset-creation under the present government, rather than being a purely wage-driven programme.
The NREGS offers 100 days’ employment a year to at least one member of a poor rural family at federally fixed minimum wages and 60% of its funds must go to agriculture and allied activities. The scheme completed 10 years in 2016.
More focus on asset creation by the NDA regime, though not without its critics, has resulted in three important gains, says a new study by the New Delhi-based Council for Social Development, which was sponsored by the rural development ministry.
One, productivity has shot up in 19 out of 29 crops grown by small farmers due to the funding of privately owned irrigation assets, such as dug wells, which otherwise cost up to ~2 lakh. Wheat productivity was seen increasing by up to 78%.
Secondly, there was a gain of 0.41 acre per beneficiary, meaning each farmer was able to utilise additional land that was previously uncultivable. Thirdly, privately held farm assets helped crop diversification, meaning farmers could take in more crops, rather than just foodgrains.
That is why the area devoted to foodgrains, as a proportion of total cropped area, showed a decline of one percentage point. The study covered 240 sample beneficiaries across Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu. Such projects accounted for 37.8% of the total NREGS works.
“The selection process [of beneficiaries] was not found transparent in many places,” the study notes.
A change-over from a “wage-focused regime” of the UPA government to “asset-based regime” of the current government has both merits and demerits, analysts say.
An obsession with private asset creation can distract from the core objective of demand-driven, wage-based jobs and can only benefit land-owning classes.
“We have always advocated a public investment-oriented approach because NREGS should create public goods. Private goods are often captured by those who have more political capital,” said PS Vijayshankar of the Samaj Pragati Sahayog, a Madhya Pradesh NGO that is part of the MNREGA Consortium Public Goods, which are facilities that can be enjoyed by all irrespective of one’s ability to pay for them, such as a streetlight.
Analysts also say the NDA government was initially sceptical about NREGS, but then reinvented the scheme, realising its potential. In 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he would continue the NREGS as a “living monument” to the Congress’s failures.
This was then followed by a funds cut during 2014-15 and 2015-16. Former economic adviser to the government, Surjit Bhalla, was especially critical of the scheme. By 2015-16, the scheme got a boost in funding and the NDA government described NREGS as “national pride and celebration” on its 10th anniversary.
