38
S
tate
of
I
ndia
’
s
L
ivelihoods
R
eport
2015
access to gainful employment, especially
when the agricultural prospects turn poor.
In this, it has been a positive contributor to
the income of rural households and thus
ensured a minimum level of economic
security. Studies carried out have referred
to the beneficial impacts of economic secu-
rity offered by the Scheme. The impact—as
found by several different studies—is
that NREGS provided about 7 per cent to
17 per cent of household income, made work
available in seasons when no other work was
easily available and stabilised income flows,
positively impacted consumption expendi-
ture with increasing nutritious food intake,
thus leading to positive health outcomes on
account of better incomes, higher asset accu-
mulation and increased propensity to save.
The most significant impact is on the wage
levels which increased in the rural areas.
The higher wage benchmarks set by NREGS
resulted in higher income levels even when
people worked on other-than-NREGS-jobs.
The challenge is to sustain the momentum
gathered by the Scheme and save it from
becoming a mediocre effort. The declining
generation of number of days of employ-
ment and reduced average number of days
of employment provided to each household
seem to indicate that the Scheme is running
out of steam. The last two years’ numbers
on the Scheme’s progress reflect fatigue
arising from implementation of the Scheme
year after year in the same format, involving
millions of families and the elaborate moni-
toring and accounting arrangements. The
recent changes announced certainly would
go a long way in improving the effectiveness,
relevance and utility of the works completed
with the help of NREGS. However, while
restructuring the programme to orient it
towards results that would provide long
term benefits to local communities, there
must be a continuing emphasis on creating
employment for a greater number of people
and satisfying all households that actually
demand employment. The manner in which
the accounting is done for households that
demand employment and also the work
provided to such households needs careful
scrutiny. Given that the national unemploy-
ment rates have not declined and more
and more persons enter into the labour
force year after year, a fall in the number of
households demanding employment from
NREGS does not strike a positive chord.
The Scheme, as intended, should fulfil its
assurance that those who need 100 days
of employment during a year are actually
provided the same. The budget allocations
seem inadequate to fulfil the guarantee
given to the rural poor by law. Despite all
reservations about the efficiency of produc-
ing incremental incomes in the hands of
people at policy levels, NREGS needs to be
persisted with. The problems around the
Scheme should be dealt with appropriate
strategies and management, ensuring that
it actually delivers positive benefits on the
ground. NREGS is a unique social safety net
that requires people to contribute in order
to access benefits. Its uniqueness in avoiding
overt subsidies even when providing welfare
net should not be lost in the process of its
revamp.
II. National rural livelihoods
mission
NRLM is the flagship programme of the
Government of India for promoting pov-
erty reduction by building strong institu-
tions for the poor, particularly women,
and enabling these institutions to access
a range of financial services and liveli-
hoods services. NRLM had its origin in
the Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana
(SGSY) that was launched in the year 1999
after termination of the much maligned
Integrated Rural Development Programme
(IRDP). NRLM is an attempt to provide
sustainable livelihood in the rural areas of
the country and is considered a significant
improvement over the SGSY.
The experience from SGSY suggests that
the current below poverty line (BPL) list
has large inclusion and exclusion errors.
To widen the target groups beyond the BPL
