Transcript NREGA Survey, 2008 - Sa-Dhan

How can we move financial privation to the
museum?
Listening to Ground Realities
Reetika Khera,
Centre for Development Economics,
Delhi School of Economics
“Nutrition Emergency” in India
Proportion (%) of children aged under 3 years who
are
Underweight
Stunted
Wasted
Not fully vaccinated
Anaemic
1998-9
47
45
16
58
74
Source: Dreze, Khera and Narayanan (2007)
2005-6
46
38
19
56
79
The Legal Framework
o Directive Principles (Articles 39 and 47): The
state shall
o “in particular, direct its policy towards securing—
o (a) that the citizens, men and women equally, have the
right to an adequate means of livelihood;”
o “..regard the raising of the level of nutrition and the
standard of living of its people and the
improvement of public health as among its primary
duties”
National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
(NREGA)
A step towards the right to work, as an aspect of
the fundamental right to live with dignity.
 Employment on demand: within 15 days
 Legal right: entitlement to unemployment
allowance
 Universal entitlement
 Minimum wages within 15 days of working
NREGA: Employment Generation and
Expenditure
Total:
•
•
•
•
Employment (crore person-days)
Expenditure (Rs. crores)
Expenditure on wage (% of total)
Expenditure (as % of GDP)
Employment per rural household
employed on NREGA (person-days):
2007-8*
2008-9
144
15,857
68
< 0.5
216
27,250
67
0.7
42
48
* Data pertains to the 330 districts covered under NREGA at the time.
Share (%) of Disadvantaged Groups in
NREGA Employment
2007-8
42
2008-9
48
Scheduled Tribes (ST):
29
25
Scheduled Castes (SC):
27
29
SC/ST Combined:
56
54
Women:
NREGA and “financial privation”






Social security for the able-bodied
Women’s empowerment
Asset creation in rural areas
Financial Inclusion
Distress migration
Revitalizing Panchayati Raj institutions
NREGA in the Hindi heartland
Findings from a survey in six states
(Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh)
NREGA workers belong to the most
disadvantaged social groups
Proportion (%) of sample workers who are:




SC/ST
Illiterate
In “kachha” homes
Without electricity
Men
71
52
81
77
Women
75
82
81
62
There is massive demand for NREGA work
Proportion (%) of sample workers who want
At least 100 days of NREGA work
98
NREGA work throughout the year
50
Employment Generation: Big jump…
Average days of NREGA work per sample
household in the past 12 months
All survey states
Interstate variations
 Pati (Badwani district)
 Rajasthan
 Bihar
43
85
71
23
… but way below demand
Proportion (%) of sample households that got
100 days of NREGA employment
All survey states
Interstate variations
 Pati (Badwani district)
 Rajasthan
 Chhattisgarh
14
47
36
1
Women’s participation: Highly uneven
Proportion (%) of women among sample workers
Rajasthan
Madhya Pradesh
Chhattisgarh
Jharkhand
Bihar
Uttar Pradesh
71
44
25
18
13
5
All survey states
32
Empowering women
Proportion (%) of sample women who:*
 Collect their own wages
 Kept their own wages
79
68
(92)
(51)
 Had no other source of cash
income in the past 3 months
70
(44)
* In brackets, the corresponding figures for men.
Minimum wages: getting there…
Men
Women
(Rs./day)




Agricultural wages
Other casual labour
NREGA wage*
Minimum wage*
53
71
85
88
* Unweighted average of worksite-specific figures.
47
53
85
88
NREGA: Just “playing with mud?”
Proportion (%) of worksites where the work being
done was considered “useful”:
 by the labourers
 by the survey team
70
81
Proportion (%) of worksites where asset being
created was considered “useful” by the survey
team:
87
Financial Inclusion and NREGA
 Accounts opened*
Of which
 Joint
 Banks
 Proportion (%) of respondents who
preferred accounts to cash payments
Concerns:
 “Business correspondent model”
 Transparency safeguards
* In crores. Source: www.nrega.nic.in
8.84
7.84
4.84
85
Awareness levels are still very low
Proportion (%) of sample workers who were
aware of their entitlement to:
 100 days of work
 Minimum wage
 Timely payment of wages
52
56
56
Wage Payments: Plenty of complaints
Proportion (%) of worksites where workers had
the following complaints:
 Delays in wage payment
 Non-payment of minimum wage
 Work is too hard
57
47
43
“NREGA-2”: Politics vs. Labourers concerns
Issues
 Low levels of awareness
 Lack of work
 Delayed wage payments
 Poor/non-existent grievance redressal
Recent amendments to the NREGA
 Renaming of the Act
 Expansion of list of works
 Works on private lands
 Rajiv Gandhi Sewa Kendras