By Shobhit Mathur, Co-Founder and Dean at Rashtram School of Public Leadership

By Dr. Nomesh Bolia , Co – Founder at Vision India Foundation and Faculty at Rashtram School of Public Leadership

Image Source : Vision India Foundation

This article was published in the Indiaspend

Labourers work on a dried lake to try and revive it under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) on the outskirts of Hyderabad.

After spending about Rs 3.5 lakh crore ($51 billion)–almost equal to India’s subsidy and pensions budget for 2015-16–over 10 years on the world’s largest rural jobs programme, it has provided less than half the guaranteed 100 days of employment to 50 million poor households.

This is revealed in our analysis of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREGA) data. Other facts:

• Although the most money ever was spent during 2015-16, it was the worst year ever in terms of assets created (2.27 million assets), a 23% decline from 2014-15.

• While 50 million households found work through MGNREGA last year, less than 10% of these households got 100 days of wage employment.
• Just about 40% of the workers get paid within the promised 15-day period.
• Women now hold half of all MGNREGA jobs, higher than the mandated 33%, indicating widespread demand for employment.

These findings are in line with IndiaSpend’s earlier analysis of MGNREGA (Read here, hereandhere).

A safety net for rural areas, MGNREGA guarantees 100 days of paid, unskilled manual work every year to every rural household.

Read the full article on IndiaSpend