Only one-fourth of those eligible take up NREGA job?

NEW DELHI: Only one-fourth of the 12.46 crore eligible households took up employment under the UPA’s flagship NREGA job scheme in 2012-13, a sharp decline from previous years. In 2009-10, the percentage was a much healthier 50%. According to the government, this decline may not be such a bad thing and could be an indication of the success of various poverty alleviation schemes and increasing dynamism in India’s rural economy.

NEW DELHI: Only one-fourth of the 12.46 crore eligible households took up employment under the UPA’s flagship NREGA scheme in 2012-13, a sharp decline from previous years. In 2009-10, the percentage was 50%.

According to the government, this decline may not be such a bad thing and could be an indication of the success of various poverty alleviation schemes and increasing dynamism in India’s rural economy. Activists partly agree, but also accuse the government of not generating enough work under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, even in places where the demand exists.

The world’s biggest social security employment pro- gramme guarantees by law up to 100 days of unskilled manual employment to a household in a year. It was credited by many as one of the reasons the UPA came back to power in 2009.

But the scheme seems to have lost most of its sheen in UPA-2’s term. The average number of days worked by a beneficiary has come down to 36 in 2012-13 from 54 in 2009-10. The proportion of projects completed has also fallen to 15% from 49%.

But what came as a surprise to a parliamentary standing committee this week was that employment levels under NREGA fell more in states with significant BPL populations. The panel blamed this on “bottlenecks” such as delay in wages and slow execution of projects.

The rural development ministry, which administers the programme, attributed the decline to rise in agriculture wages, improvement in rural economy and the poor moving away from unskilled manual work. “NREGA wages are unattractive… people are getting better money as agriculture workers,” agreed George Mathew, chairman of the Delhibased Institute of Social Sciences.

Seeking a total revamp, the committee has asked the government to include semi-skilled and skilled work — a view partially accepted by rural development minister Jairam Ramesh.

The committee report also indicated the programme was losing its social sting with the average number of work days in a year falling dramatically in states such as Bihar, Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, UP and Jharkhand in comparison to better-off states like Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. Many of these poor states — such as Bihar, Orissa, UP and Jharkhand — have been demanding special category status on account of acute backwardness and poverty.