MNREGA in Northeast during pandemic: Only 2.87 % of the beneficiary households in Assam got 100 days of wage employment against 83.64% in Mizoram in 2020-21

When outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic led to loss of employment and livelihood of lakhs of rural households in India, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) was a readily available mechanism of providing guaranteed wage employment to the households in distress. Official data, however, presents a paradoxical situation in Assam.

Only 2.87 % of the beneficiary households under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) in Assam got 100 days wage employment against national average of about 9.5 per cent in 2020-21. Compared to this 83.64% beneficiary households in Mizoram got 100 days of wage employment in that year, according to official data. The notified wage rate under the flagship scheme in Assam is Rs. 224, Rs 233 in Mizoram while Haryana accounts for the highest wage rate of Rs 315.

Photo : nezine.com

Average days of employment provided per beneficiary household under the MNREGA in Assam has also been the lowest among most north-eastern states for consecutive years. It was 36.35 during 2020-21, 32.31 during 2019-20 and 30.59 during 2018-19. These figures are also much below than the national average.

The Critical Evaluation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Guarantee Act, presented to Lok Sabha on February 8 by the Parliamentary Standing Committee of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj has brought these facts to light. The National average of days of employment provided per household was 51.52 during 2020-21, 48.40 during 2019-20 and 50.88 during 2018-19.

While Assam fails to create sufficient employment for rural poor under the Act, in Mizoram the figure is 92.92 during 2020-21, 94.64 during 2019-20 and 92.45 during 2018-19.

In Meghalaya, average days of employment provided per household is 71. 53 during 2020-21, 73.22 during 2019-20 and 71.97 during 2018-19.

Average days of employment per household under the Act in Tripura was 74.66, a significant improvement from 46.07 during 2018-19. Manipur too, has shown a significant improvement in creating 60.45 days of employment per household during 2020-21, against 22.88 during 2018-19.

State-wise details of Average days of employment provided per households under MNREGA.

The Evaluation also states that altogether 17.42 lakh households in Assam were provided employment during 2018-19 out of which only 16,000 households got 100 days employment. Contrary to this 1.94 household in Mizoram were provided employment under the Act, out of which 80,000 households got 100 days employment. In Meghalaya 1.61 lakh households out of 4.75 lakh, who were provided employment, got 100 days work.

Number of Households Provided Employment and Households completed 100 days of employment, 2018-19

(lakh)

Data show that although households who were provided employment under the Act increased to 19.29 lakh in Assam during 2019-20, only 30,000 households received 100 days employment. In Mizoram, 2.04 lakh households were provided employment out of which 1.57 lakh households got 100 days employment.

Number of Households Provided Employment and Households completed 100 days of employment, 2019-20

(in lakh)

It further states that during 2020-21 altogether 25.13 lakh households were provided employment and only 0.72 lakh households got 100 days wage employment in Assam. In Mizoram 2.14 lakh households were provided employment out of which 1.74 lakh households got 100 days work. In Meghalaya the figure was 5.36 lakh and 1.74 lakh respectively.

Number of Households Provided Employment and Households completed 100 days of employment, 2020-21

(lakh)

Number of Households Provided Employment and Households completed 100 days of employment, 2020-21

(lakh)

Performance of other north-eastern states including Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura too, has not improved, highlighted the Evaluation.

The mandate of the Act “is to provide at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. The “core objectives” of the Act include:

1. Providing not less than one hundred days of unskilled manual work as a guaranteed employment in a financial year to every household in rural areas as per demand, resulting in creation of productive assets of prescribed quality and durability.
2. Strengthening the livelihood resource base of the poor;
3. Proactively ensuring social inclusion.”

NEZINE (nezine.com) Bureau