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Journalism of Courage
While the UPA government’s flagship Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) is a key election plank of the Congress, government data shows that only 10 per cent households worked for the promised 100 days a year in the financial year 2013-14.
Further, nearly one-fourth of the households (21 per cent) employed under the scheme worked for less than 15 days. The figures for households who actually completed or got 100 days of work, as promised under the scheme, have been consistently dismal. According to data with the Ministry of Rural Development, the numbers were equally low 10 per cent in 2012-13 and even lower 8 per cent in 2011-12.
The Indian Express had reported last month that households had not got work for even half the mandated 100 days on an average since the scheme’s inception in February 2006. The MNREGS promises 100 days of employment every year to each rural household.
While delay in wage payments is the key reason beneficiaries do not come back to seek work, officials also blamed lack of planning, with not enough work made available to households for 100 days.
The state-wise breakup for 2013-14 shows that in Northeast states such as Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland, no household did 100 days of work. The figure was dismal for Assam (1 per cent), Uttar Pradesh and Punjab (3 per cent), and Gujarat and West Bengal (5 per cent). The state that fared best in ensuring 100 days of work was Tripura (48 per cent).
Households with 100 days workZero in Arunachal, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland
1% in UP
3% in Punjab
5% in Gujarat, Bengal
Best show: Tripura with 48% households
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