MGNREGA scheme - A lesson noted!
- Neil
- Dec 29, 2020
- 4 min read
Post scheduled for December 30th 2020 (00:00).
Status: Completed.
SEO+Settings updated. An article ready as of 28th DEC 20:00.
DUET - A very interesting and ambitious scheme!
*P.S: Check out the bottom of the article for some lighter stuff.
For a clean experience, use the pdf copy.
It’s a known fact that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has devastated India’s economy. In the first quarter of 2020, India’s GDP contracted to negative 23.9%. The second quarter though brought some kind of relief though as the GDP contracted to a negative 7.5%, signalling a revival to the economy. Even though India is technically in recession as there is negative growth in two successive quarters, you can't help but see the brighter side of things.
(Image has a link attached)
In April – when India went into lockdown, about 120 million urban workers were left with no jobs. Due to the recession, it is estimated that 260 million people will be put back into poverty. This Pandemic which lasted for a year has hampered ten years of work to lift people out of poverty. Let that sink in.
Due to this lockdown, urban workers were left helpless. Rural workers, on the other hand, fared a little better.
Why did rural India fare better than Urban India in terms of employment and overall just fared better? By the end of this article, I aim to answer just that so keep reading. In order for a better viewing experience, please use the pdf copy here:
Enter the MNREGA scheme.
MNREGA - Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
This basic language will be used throughout the article.
Unemployment= people who don't have a job.
Purpose: to provide for the enhancement of livelihood security of the households in rural areas of the country by providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. (pg. 1 Government of India, 2005).
The scheme guarantees work for 100 days with a job stamp.
Evidence suggests that MNREGA has been very effective in generating jobs. Increasing income, and consumption as a whole. Evidence also suggests that the scheme has improved food and nutrition intake and has also improved the health of people.
It has also increased the participation of women.
The success of the scheme is clearly evident. Recently, the Indian Government allocated INR 40,000 crores to the MNREGA for job boosts.
Seeing the success of this scheme, you can’t help but wonder - can such a scheme be seen in Urban India? In this article, I aim to answer this question.
Please use the pdf for a better viewing experience https://d4bc6b1a-ffb1-438d-93c3-e6c4fce82b4c.usrfiles.com/ugd/d4bc6b_4e25be2087c34fab8d84671cb8967240.pdf
Jean Drèze has proposed a scheme:
Let me summarize this for you. In the proposal, he talks about how people can get job stamps and how they basically get work for a day. The labour work will guarantee work for a day and the person will be compensated with a job stamp which will be paid for by the government. The stamps will be given to schools, health centres and municipalities in order to boost infrastructure. To ensure that there is no corruption in this process, an independent agency will be formed in order to avoid corruption. This Agency will be a non-profit agency. You may ask, how can there be corruption in this seemingly simple process? It can be there if a school, for example, takes money from the government for the job stamps but never actually gets any work done. The above solution tackles that problem. I urge you to check the link in order to understand this proposal. This makes a basic summary of the solution presented.
The scheme will also help improve the infrastructure which we have in India which needs emergency approval to be repaired. An example of the work proposed under the scheme will be the repair of drainage systems, building roads, and building hospitals. This DUET scheme will not just improve infrastructure but will also improve the capacity of Municipal corporations.
There are also some issues with the scheme.
The scheme will have to be all year round
How will the agency manage both skilled and unskilled workers?
The problem presented by experts:
DUET will give more than minimum wages, hence will it lead to many from the informal sector to come and work under the DUET?
Will this undermine the efforts of MNREGA (Will it lead to migration from rural india to Urban India.
My proposed solutions to this problem:
The scheme should not be all year round but should be implemented for at least 180 days a year. This is compulsory. This will help boost growth at a time when consumption is low as people will get jobs, which will lead them to get more money, which will lead to more goods bought. This will also help boost public infrastructure during harsh times like monsoons.
There should be a 40/60 ratio so as to balance the work done.
Funding to be given in the form of tax for the usage of such infrastructure.
I will keep you posted if any more solutions come up. Thank you for reading.
Updated link in case you can't view it here.
*Anything that doesn’t have #Opinion written doesn’t represent my view but just provides an argument.
©Thedailydosage.in
Article curated and written by Neil Sudhalkar.
Expressing our right to freedom of expression and free speech. Peacefully.
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Article curated and written by Neil Sudhalkar.
Expressing our right to freedom of expression and free speech. Peacefully.
Contact:
Instagram: @thedailydosage.in
E-Mail: neilsudhalkar@thedailydosage.in
Chat @thedailydosage.in.
Thank you!
Add your comments down below.
******************************************************************
Anything that doesn’t have #Opinion written doesn’t represent my view but just provides an argument.
©Thedailydosage.in
Article curated and written by Neil Sudhalkar.
Expressing our right to freedom of expression and free speech. Peacefully.
Contact:
Instagram: @thedailydosage.in (instagram.com/thedailydosage.in)
E-Mail: neilsudhalkar@thedailydosage.in
Live Chat @thedailydosage.in.(VIA WEBSITE)
Subscribe to thedailydosage.in to receive notifications and subscriber-only newsletters.
Check out my podcast (Available on most platforms): https://www.thedailydosage.in/podcast
All important links:
Subscribe here:
Thank you!
Add your comments down below. :)
Now for some lighter stuff.
Want a good podcast to listen too? Sure! I personally listen to a podcast by Jay Shetty. Give it a listen:
Some lo-fi beats to listen 2 while working:
Available on Spotify too but I couldn't embed the player:(
Here is the Apple Music one:
I will include the Spotify link
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