MGNREGA in Kashmir: An Analysis of Labour Market Outcomes and Livelihood Security

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 424-446
Author(s):  
Mushtaq Ahmad Malla
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
Market Outcomes ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Economic Interests ◽  
Rural Employment ◽  
Poor Households ◽  
Labour Market Outcomes ◽  
Employment Guarantee

This article attempts to examine the coverage and labour market outcomes of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in Kashmir. It is based on a cross-sectional mixed-method study of 200 households, 40 bureaucrats and local political representatives conducted in Kupwara, one of the poorest districts of Jammu & Kashmir. The article argues that MGNREGA is poorly implemented and is not functioning as a guaranteed safety net for the poor households that suffer from job scarcity. Considerable benefits are directed towards the non-poor, while several poor and deserving households are excluded. This bias is a result of rationing in local distribution by middlemen in collusion with bureaucrats to further their political and economic interests. In addition, the administration’s orientation towards MGNREGA as a development policy instead of a social protection, supply shortage in the provision of MGNREGA work and administrative delays in project operationalisation are some of the key bottlenecks. The article contends that the policy has enormous scope and potential to achieve its anticipated objective of acting as livelihood protection for job scarce workers in rural Kashmir, if it is implemented as a social protection policy following its provisions in its true spirit.

Enriching the Lives of Marginalised Sections: Case of MGNREGS in Composite Andhra Pradesh, India

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 184-201
Author(s):  
C. Samba Murty ◽  
M. Srinivasa Reddy
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Andhra Pradesh ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Rural Employment ◽  
Jobless Growth ◽  
Poor Households ◽  
Scheduled Castes ◽  
Employment Guarantee ◽  
Employment Guarantee Scheme

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) initiated in 2006 is essentially a reaction to the jobless growth witnessed in the post-1991 reforms period. The Scheme seeks to improve the livelihoods of the marginalised sections in rural areas by generating wage employment. The article is an attempt to examine if the Scheme is really benefitting these sections as envisaged. Our village survey data of composite Andhra Pradesh (AP) brings to the fore the fact that the socially lowly placed scheduled castes (SCs), scheduled tribes (STs) and other backward castes (OBCs) were well represented among the beneficiaries of the Scheme, female participation in the Scheme was way beyond expectations, the Scheme was indeed the mainstay of the illiterate and the little educated that look for manual labour, and the otherwise rarely preferred elderly of the labour market found place in the Scheme and they could make significant contribution to earnings of poor households. It further throws up the finding that the Scheme was an important employment avenue to reckon with in the rural labour market and therefore, it increased the bargaining strength and the reservation wage rate of the labour force. Briefly, the Scheme contributed to inclusive growth.

scholarly journals Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) as Social Safety Net: Analysis of Public Works in Odisha, India

2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 337-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tushar Kanti Das
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
Public Works ◽  
Skilled Workers ◽  
Mahatma Gandhi ◽  
Rural Employment ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Employment Guarantee

Abstract Social safety nets are transfers targeted to the poor or vulnerable. They facilitate access to health and education services to build human capital. To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (earlier known as Millennium Development Goals), national and state governments as well as international organisations have focused on increasing the investments in social transfer programmes. Public works are the policy instruments for mitigating the negative effects of climatic and systematic risks on poor farmers and unskilled and semi-skilled workers. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is the largest social protection programme in the world that provides 100 days of unskilled wage employment to any household residing in rural areas whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. In the state of Odisha the MGNREGA scheme is widely implemented. However, the irregularities involved in the implementation of this social protection programme are of great concern. The present study focuses on the implementation of MGNREGA in three districts of western Odisha. The study has tried to identify the bottleneck in the success of MGNREGA scheme.

scholarly journals Remittances and informal work

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (7) ◽  
pp. 1172-1190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Artjoms Ivlevs
Keyword(s):  
Labour Market ◽  
Transition Economies ◽  
Informal Employment ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Market Outcomes ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Informal Work ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Labour Market Outcomes ◽  
Migrant Households

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of remittances on informal employment in the migrants’ countries of origin, looking both at the remittance-receiving and non-migrant households. Design/methodology/approach Using data from a large survey conducted in six transition economies of Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the determinants of three labour market outcomes – not working, working formally and working informally – are estimated in a multinomial probit model. The endogeneity of remittances is dealt with instrumental variables following the two-stage residual inclusion technique. To assess possible impact of remittances on non-migrant households, conditional correlations between the labour market outcomes of non-migrant households and the region-level share of remittance receivers are obtained. Findings Both correlational and instrumental variable analyses suggest that that receiving remittances increases the likelihood of working informally. At the regional level, high prevalence of remittances is associated with a higher likelihood of informal work among the non-migrant households. Migration and remittances may thus be contributing to informal employment in migration-sending countries. Research limitations/implications The empirical analysis is based on cross-sectional data, which do not allow isolating the effects of unobserved respondent heterogeneity. To deal with this issue, future research could use panel data. Originality/value The study explicitly considers the effects of remittances on formal and informal employment of remittances receivers as well as people who do not receive remittances. It advances the understanding of what drives informality in developing and transition economies.

Exploring gender digital divide and its effect on women's labour market outcomes in South Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 85-108
Author(s):  
Kehinde Oluwaseun Omotoso ◽  
Jimi Adesina ◽  
Ololade G. Adewole
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Married Women ◽  
Internet Usage ◽  
Market Participation ◽  
Market Outcomes ◽  
Broadband Internet ◽  
Variable Approach ◽  
Labour Market Participation ◽  
Labour Market Outcomes

Technology plays a significant role in bridging gender gap in labour market outcomes. This paper investigates gender differential in broadband Internet usage and its effects on women‘s labour market participation. Employing an instrumental variable approach, findings suggest that exogenously determined high-speed broadband internet usage leads to increases of about 14.1 and 10.6 percentage points in labour market participation for single women and married women with some level of education, respectively. Moreover, further analyses suggest that married women are generally less likely to use the Internet to search for job opportunities and this could partly explains their low labour market participation rate. The findings suggest that more policy effort is required to bridge gender differentials in digital technologies and employment opportunities in South Africa.

Response of Poverty Pockets to the Right-based Demand-driven MGNREGA Programme

2021 ◽  
pp. 097226612110055
Author(s):  
Sanjiv Kumar ◽  
S. Madheswaran ◽  
B. P. Vani
Keyword(s):  
Policy Implications ◽  
Capacity Limitations ◽  
Fund Allocation ◽  
Rural Employment ◽  
Self Selection ◽  
Poor Households ◽  
Selection Approach ◽  
Poverty Elimination ◽  
The Right ◽  
Employment Guarantee

Forerunning programmes of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), which were designed as poverty elimination programmes, took notice of geographical pockets of poverty and incorporated formula-based fund allocation mechanisms to poorer states and regions. The MGNREGA programme, in contrast, used a right-based ‘self-selection’ approach— relying on the initiative of households’ demand-driven strengths—to allocate need-based resources to states and regions within states. This article examines how well the demand-driven, right-based programme with self-selection allocated resources to states and regions according to their respective needs, and to what extent the benefits reached the poverty pockets and catered to the poorest, weakest and neediest households. We find that adequate resources did not reach the poorest states and regions, substantial numbers of poor households remained outside the programme or were deemed underserved, and there was a pronounced programme capture by elite states. The article explores causes and consequences of capacity limitations and low absorption pulls among states, and points to policy implications and ways forward.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document