The GoI has a number of schemes that deal
with livelihoods directly or indirectly. Some
of the larger programmes that might be
called Flagship Programmes implemented
across the country are the Mahatma Gandhi
National Rural Employment Guarantee
Scheme, National Rural LivelihoodsMission,
National Urban Livelihoods Mission and
the Food Security Programme under the
National Food Security Act. This chapter is
an examination of these programmes as to
how they are designed, run and monitored.
I. Mahatma Gandhi National
Rural Employment Guarantee
Scheme
NREGS was launched through an Act of
Parliament in 2005 to address low level
of employment in the rural areas and
seasonal unemployment caused by short
agricultural seasons.
1
NREGS has been a
boon to unemployed and underemployed
rural poor where vagaries of monsoon and
low level of economic activity in certain
regions played havoc with their lives. In
rural areas those households that registered
for a job under the Scheme were employed
(manual labour not requiring any skills)
to implement works planned by the gram
panchayats. At the end of 2014–15 the
scheme reported 273.2 million workers
enrolled for jobs. Of this, 91.5 million were
considered active (defined as persons that
have worked at least for a day in the current
year or the previous two years). Even with
such liberal definition of one day of work
under NREGS in three years, the number
of active workers is about 33 per cent of
those registered. Two-thirds of those reg-
istered did not work for even a day in three
years and hence are not considered active.
Whether the NREGS is not useful for two-
thirds of the registrants and if so why, are
questions that should be answered.
As mentioned in the last year’s report, the
Economic Survey
of 2014–15 made a strong
pitch for revamp of the NREGS programme
in the light of several limitations that had
developed such as lack of participation of
Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs), poor
monitoring, intangibility of assets created
and low benefits arising from the executed
works. There have also been other issues
relating to leakages with the full quantum
of wages not reaching the intended house-
holds and elite capturing of the Scheme’s
benefits. However, the government commit-
ted to continuing the programme but with
modifications. Budget Speech 2015 says,
“We will ensure that no one who is poor is
left without employment. We will focus on
improving the quality and effectiveness of
Some Important
Programmes in Livelihoods:
Searching for Focus?
Chapter
3
1
NREGS is based on the Employment Guarantee
Scheme run by the Government of Maharashtra from
1965 and then made statutory by the EGS Act in 1979.
An assessment of the Maharashtra scheme can be seen
in
/
publications-opinion-files/1698.pdf.
