WOMEN EMPOWERMENT THROUGH MAHATMA GANDHI NATIONAL RURAL EMPLOYMENT GAURENTEE ACT: A CASE STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF MNREGA ON WOMEN IN THE PATNA DISTRICT BLOCK; DANAPUR, BIHAR Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Award of the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS In ECONOMICS
By MERLIN THOMAS (Register No: 093EC1098)
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS MADRAS CHRISTIAN COLLEGE (AUTONOMOUS) TAMBARAM, CHENNAI – 600059 APRIL-2010
WOMEN EMPOWERMENT THROUGH MAHATMA GANDHI NATIONAL RURAL EMPLOYMENT GAURENTEE ACT: A CASE STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF MNREGA ON WOMEN IN THE PATNA DISTRICT BLOCK; DANAPUR, BIHAR Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Award of the Degree of MASTERS OF ARTS In ECONOMICS By MERLIN THOMAS Register No: 093EC1098
DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS MADRAS CHRISTIAN COLLEGE (AUTONOMOUS) TAMBARAM, CHENNAI – 600059
2
APRIL-2010
CERTIFICATE BY THE SUPERVISOR/ HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS This
is
to
certify
that
the
dissertation
entitled
“WOMEN
EMPOWERMENT THROUGH MAHATMA GANDHI NATIONAL RURAL EMPLOYMENT GAURANTEE ACT: A CASE STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF MNREGA ON WOMEN IN THE PATNA DISTRICT BLOCK, DANAPUR, BIHAR.” submitted by Merlin Thomas (Register No. 093EC109), a full time student during 2010-2011, for the award of the Degree of Master of Arts in Economics is the record of research work carried out by her under my guidance and supervision.
Head of the Department
Supervisor
(G.Suresh Dhas)
(G.Suresh Dhas)
Place: Tambaram Date:
3
DECLARATION BY THE CANDIDATE I declare that the dissertation entitled “WOMEN EMPOWERMENT THROUGH
MAHATMA
GANDHI
NATIONAL
RURAL
EMPLOYMENT GAURANTEE ACT: A CASE STUDY ON THE IMPACT OF MNREGA ON WOMEN IN THE PATNA DISTRICT BLOCK, DANAPUR, BIHAR.” submitted by me for the degree of Masters of Arts in Economics is the record of research work carried out by me in the period 2010-2011, under the guidance of professor G.Suresh Dhas , the Head of the Department, Economics, Madras Christian College and has not formed the basis for the award of any degree, Diploma, Associateship, Fellowship, Titles in this or any other University
or other similar
institutions of higher learning.
Place: Tambaram Date:
(MERLIN THOMAS)
4
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The completion of this research calls me to thank the God Almighty Father for all his strength and support throughout the course of this endeavor. I take up this opportunity to express my deep sense of respect and gratitude to Mr. G.Suresh Dhas, Head of Economics Department, Madras Christian College, under whose supervision this dissertation is carried out. I would also like to thank Mrs. Rosemary Abraham, Director of Finance Department, Capital Market, and Professor Francis Das, Delhi University, for helping me, in selecting an appropriate topic and for their constant support and guidance. This research would not have materialized had it not been for the support rendered by Mrs. Suganthy John, Associate Professor, Department of Economics, Madras Christian College, Mr. Ratnakar Misra, former chairperson of Hindustan Lever and Ms. Veena Ramachandran, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Madras Christian College . I also thank all beneficiaries in Patna District for being generous enough to devote their valuable time for this research. The contribution of my close friends has been inevitable to this research. Their priceless suggestions and willingness to help at any time of the day was a great blessing. Last but not the least, I would like to thank my parents for their constant encouragement which has kept me going till the end.
Place: Tambaram Date:
(MERLIN THOMAS) 5
CONTENTS Certificate by the Supervisor Declaration by the Candidate Acknowledgement List of Tables Abbreviations
CHAPTER I II
TITLE
PAGE NO.
INTRODUCTION
9
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
18
III
NREGA PROFILE
24
IV
METHODOLOGY
48
V
DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
57
VI
CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS
70
BIBLIOGRAPHY ANNEXURE
6
75 79
LIST OF TABLES
S.NO.
TITLE
PAGE NO.
5.1
Demand Supply Gap under NREGA
59
5.2
District wise allocation for NREGA
60
5.3
Women participants
61
5.4
Response to NREGA
63
5.5
Allotment of jobs
64
5.6
Profile of sample workers
66
5.7 5.8
Participation over the years in Bihar Total progress
7
68 69
ABBREVIATIONS
1.
APL
Above Poverty Line
2.
BDO
Block Development Officer
3.
BPL
Below Poverty Line
4.
DRDA
District Rural Development Agency
5.
GDP
Gross Domestic Product
6.
EGS
Employment Guarantee Scheme
7.
MNREGA
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
8.
REP
Rural Employment Program
9.
UNDP
United Nations Development Program
8
CHAPTER I
9
Introduction
“Priority” should be given to women in the allocation of work “in such a way that at least one-third of the beneficiaries shall be women”. [Schedule II, Para 6, NREGA] Economic security is one of the main components of human security. It constitutes the crux of social security, in the conventional sense. Economic security requires employment and an assured source of a basic income adequate for meeting one’s basic needs. A primary objective of state policy should generate greater productive work opportunities in the growth process itself, by concentrating on sectors, sub-sector and technologies which are more labor-oriented, in regions characterized by higher rates of unemployment and under-employment. Recognizing the high incidence of under-employment and increasing actualization of labor, there is a need to enhance employment opportunities for the poor, particularly for those who are in seasonal occupation. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) is one of the most progressive legislations enacted since independence. Its significance is evident from a variety of perspectives. First, it is a bold and unique experiment in the provision of rural employment – in India and indeed in the world at large. Second, it is the first expression of the right to work as an
10
enforceable legal entitlement. In a country where labor is the only economic asset for millions of people, gainful employment is a prerequisite for the fulfillment of other basic rights – the right to life, the right to food, and the right to education. There is much that the NREGA promises from the perspective of women’s empowerment as well. Most boldly, in a rural milieu marked by stark inequalities between men and women – in the opportunities for gainful employment afforded as well as wage rates – NREGA represents action on both these counts. The act stipulates that wages will be equal for men and women. It is also committed to ensuring that at least 33% of the workers shall be women. By generating employment for women at fair wages in the village, NREGA can play a substantial role in economically empowering women and laying the basis for greater independence and self-esteem. Growth Employment is the main source of livelihood and self-fulfilment for most women and men. It is critical to the way women and men live and view their lives. A well-nurtured and productive labour force contributes towards a dynamic economy and equitable society. Lack of access to employment, that is decent and remunerative, lowers self-esteem and leads to denial of basic needs of the individual and the family, and can lead to social instability. It is, therefore, important to work towards the goal of decent and remunerative work for all women and men seeking such work, in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity.
11
India has witnessed an impressive and steadily rising rate of economic growth for about two decades now. The prospects of a continuation of this high economic growth in the medium term are also high. And yet, the challenge of employment, especially good quality and remunerative employment remains formidable. Although there has been a reversal of the declining trend in employment growth in the post-2000 period, there has also been a simultaneous increase in unemployment rates as employment growth has not kept pace with growth in labor supply. Unemployment rates have been high and increasing, especially amongst certain groups – such as youth, women and young graduates. Furthermore, about 10 million new entrants to the labor force are expected each year, for which jobs would need to be generated. Over half the work force, continues to depend on the agriculture even though it accounts for less than fifth of the total GDP. This implies a vast gap in incomes and productivity between agriculture and non-agriculture sectors. This is mainly due to inadequate growth of productive employment opportunities outside agriculture. The organized sector that offers work that would be considered decent employs less than 10 per cent of the workforce and, in recent years, has been characterized by low and declining employment intensity of output growth. An overwhelming majority of workers are currently employed in the unorganized sector where most of the new jobs are also created. In addition, most new jobs that are being created in the organized sector are informal in nature. These jobs are mostly characterized by low earnings, poor conditions of work and lack of social protection and organization.
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Rural unemployment Unemployment in the agricultural sector is the most serious aspect in the Indian economy. First of all, there is open unemployment among the landless agricultural workers. With the decline of cottage industries and handicrafts, the rural population has no alternative means of livelihood. They have to fall back on the agricultural sector, which is clearly overcrowded. There is also considerable disguised unemployment in the agricultural sector. It means that more people are neglected in the agricultural operators than required. In technical language the marginal productivity of many hands in agricultural sector is zero. Another dimension of real unemployment is the problem of seasonal unemployment among the Indian farmers. Agriculture by its very nature is activity. For a significant part of the year, the Indian farmers are out of work. In the absence of supplementary sources of employment, they have to remain unemployed during stack agricultural season. Women Empowerment The word empowerment is used in many different contexts and many different organizations. For example, literature about empowerment is found in the fields of education, social work, psychology, in U.S. radical politics in the 1960’s and community development groups in the north and south, as well as in the work of feminists and development organizations. Empowerment has become the buzz word for the last to decades. It is a process of building capacities, of creating an atmosphere, which enables people to fully utilize their creative potential in pursuance of a quality of 13
life. Empowerment gives women the capacity to influence in decision making process, planning, implementation and evaluation by integrating them into the political system. Women’s empowerment is not only empowerment but also crucial if development is to be sustainable. In india economic reforms based on globalization, liberalization and empowerment of women by 33% reservation in areas such as Panchayat Raj are opening new vistas for the development of women and in improving their status. Women’s participation in nation’s development is not merely a question to provide some special concession to them. A nation or society goes ahead only through the contribution of all its members. Pushing women into the backyard drags behind the society.
NREGA The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) was notified on September, 2005. The Act provides a legal Guarantee of 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work at the minimum wage rate notified for agricultural labour prescribed in the State or else an unemployment allowance. The objective of the Act is to supplement wage employment opportunities in rural areas and in the process also build up durable assets. NREGA is the first ever law internationally, that guarantees wage employment at an unprecedented scale. The primary goal of NREGA is to create a strong social safety net for vulnerable groups by providing a fall 14
back employment source, when other employment sources are scarce or inadequate. It strives to strengthen the natural resource base by providing work focused on water conservation, land development and drought proofing, thus reducing migration by rural poor households in the lean period. It acts as a model of governance reform anchored on the principles of transparency and accountability by serving as growth engine for sustainable development of agricultural economy. Conceptually, in order to better understand the ability of a public works programme to stabilize the labor market, the sequence of events from the announcement to the execution of a public works programme needs to be pinned down. As the NREGA is written, first the government announces the wage to be paid at public works programme. Next, productivity shock, positive or negative, to the private sector is revealed. Subsequent to the revelation of the productivity shock private employers and workers form expectations regarding the location, and hence accessibility of public works programmes ex-post, and private employment contracts are signed. Finally, having observed private employment, the government decides on the location of public works programmes and other benefits, and thus determines the disposable income of workers who seek public employment. In effect, with ex-post discretion on the location of public employment the government can act to either ration or encourage public works employment. During times when the productivity shock is positive, a location for public employment can be so chosen as to make the transportation cost high, and hence disposable income low from public employment while the opposite can be true when productivity shocks are negative. In this latter vein, it is worth noting that in the event where the agricultural sector specifically is 15
exposed to a large negative shock, public works programmes can be instituted and productive assets created, to directly to dampen the level of unemployment in the agricultural labour market.
Household Economics Till recently, intra-household affairs were considered outside the domain of mainstream economics that deals mainly with market institutions. With the assertion of feminist economics, and emergence of bargaining (Folbre 1986; Becker 1981) and cooperation-conflict (Sen 1990, 1996) models, the notion of household being a non-market institution has been challenged. It is argued that the perception of the family as an undifferentiated unit where cooperation, harmony and altruism define relations between members camouflages the real nature of household affairs (Folbre 1986; Sen 1990). It is also contended that the notion of human behaviour guided by self-interest in the market and altruism in family/household relations, is inconsistent. Male-female intra-household relations, then, are (also) defined by their differential bargaining power, and in turn, determined by their differential access to economic, political and social resources. Property ownership and access to paid employment opportunity outside the household, apart from other factors, increases the bargaining capacity of a woman by giving her a better fallback position (Agarwal 1994). Since, in India and elsewhere, male family members have greater control over property and other economic resources, including access to paid employment, they enjoy better bargaining positions inside their households. Moser (1993) holds that women’s ability to earn outside their households increases their own self16
perception of their contribution to the household, and this has similar effects. The paid employment opportunity under NREGS holds similar prospects for rural women in India, who have little control over economic resources, and face social and other disadvantages in accessing paid employment outside the home. The concept of empowerment gained prominence with the feminist movement in the 1980s. There are various views and perceptions on empowerment (Luttrell et al 2009). To some, it is a process and to others, it is an outcome. Many consider it to be both a process and an outcome. The process approach emphasizes organizational capacity building that enhances the access of disadvantaged groups to the process of development, while the outcome approach emphasizes increased access to economic resources. To Kabeer, “empowerment refers to the expansion in people’s ability to make strategic life choices in a context where this ability was previously denied to them”. The present study takes a broader view of empowerment and defines it “both as a process and as an outcome that alters the position of women inside and outside their households; with this altered position, women are able to realize a better individual and social life”.
17
CHAPTER II
18
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Venkata Reddy (1989) The problem of surplus population subsisting on land and the consequential increase in rural unemployment and under employment leading to poverty in India has been stressed by several competent authorities since the report of the famine commission of 1880. However the evaluation reports point out certain gaps. Element of unproductive works undertaken in the scheme, lack of continuity of works under the scheme the absence of agency to prepare blueprints for different type of works on continuous basis, lack of effective revision over the works undertaken, leading to corrupt practices, shortages of farm wage labour due to concurrent EGS with adverse effect on agricultural operations. There was no authoritic information about the employment seekers on there was no adequate knowledge of the nature of works witch should receive priority under the EGS. At district level of entire work relating to planning, implementation, supervision etc. will be the responsibility of the District Rural Development Agency (DRDA). The review of NREP shows that the employment generation target has been consistently achieved. Dr. V.K.R.V.Rao says how supply of buffalo to an agricultural labor without provision of fodder and marketing facilities and knowledge to look after it will only result in milch buffalo changing hands. This in fact has been the
19
experience on the field of many schemes for giving employment to agricultural laborers. Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has expressed that this employment guarantee act must be transparent, peoples’ programme. He envisages a collaborative partnership of the Central and State Governments and of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) to translate the spirit of the act on ground. Voluntary sector, welcoming this spirit is getting prepared to support the efforts being made by the state governments, at the same time to keep watch that the Act should not get weak due to the malpractices & corruption at the stage of implementation. Ashok Kumar Mishra (1996), through the study on National Rural Employment Programme in Siwan. The programme to make employment to mostly in rural areas, a good number of well intended programme. He argued that the menace of full or partial unemployment and its off shoot in poverty can be seen and experienced anywhere and everywhere. The study recommended that the official machinery by itself cannot remove it. Narasima Rao (2000) has presented a panoramic view of rural revolution which has been slowly, steadily and silently taking shape in India. It is an indepth study of over hundred years of rural development in the country and analyses the problems and prospects of rural development form economic, political, historical administrative and sociological points of view and offers solution of relevance to planners, administrators’ bankers and voluntary agencies engaged in the vast field of rural development programmes. NABARD (2003) visualizes the farmers clubs as a federated system of 20
multipurpose cooperative organization formed by the farmers themselves for the purpose of carrying out a number of functions such as the promotion of farmer’s interest, improvements of their knowledge and skills, increase in their farm production and incomes, betterment of their living condition and overall development of the rural economy. Basu (2002), “We start with the presumption that rural labour markets in India do not conform to the classic competitive labour markets of economics textbooks. If they did, the arguments for the NREGA would be weaker. However, in our view agricultural labour markets in India exhibit a range of hiring arrangements, from sharecropping to seasonal spot wage-labour demand and a variety of credit-labour-land contracts in between. Ashok Pankaj (2003), “Women’s empowerment was not among the original intentions of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), and is not among its main objectives. However, provisions like priority for women in the ratio of one-third of total workers (Schedule II (6)); equal wages for men and women (Schedule II (34)); and crèches for the children of women workers (Schedule II (28)) were made in the Act, with the view of ensuring that rural women benefit from the scheme in a certain manner.” Vaidyanathan (2005) the standing committee’s recommendations on the NREGP call for basic changes in the concept and design envisaged in the draft bill. They are essential, indeed imperative, if the programme is to be effective and thus deserve strong support. It should be obvious however that concurrence of the state governments and their willingness to abide by the 21
operational implications of the legislation are essential. The most serious lacuna in the report is that it sidesteps the problems involved in ensuring that this precondition is met. World Bank (2005) Estimates show that 80 per cent of India’s population lives below the international poverty line of $2 a day. India has rank 80th in this list of 94 countries. The 61st round NSS data cited in the 2007 report of the National Commission of Employment in the Un organized Sector (NCEUS) provide an almost exact confirmation of the World Bank estimates. The NCEUS report shows that 77 per cent of India’s population 836 million people have a per capita, consumption expenditure of less than or equal to Rs.20 per day [roughly $2 in purchasing power parity terms). According to Dr. Navjyoti Jandu (2007), “NREGA is the first ever law internationally, that guarantees wage employment at an unprecedented scale. The primary goal of NREGA is to create a strong social safety net for vulnerable groups by providing a fall-back employment source, when other employment sources are scarce or inadequate. It strives to strengthen the natural resource base by providing work focused on water conservation, land development and drought proofing, thus reducing migration by rural poor households in the lean period. It acts as a model of governance reform anchored on the principles of transparency and accountability by serving as growth engine for sustainable development of agricultural economy.” Reetika Khera (2009), in her article, the battle for employment gaurentee, said “First, there are, in many areas, tenacious social norms against women working outside the home. In Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, we met women who 22
said that they had not been able to register as workers under the NREGA22 and were told that this programme was ‘not for them’.” Hindu (2010),“I think, eventually, civil society will learn not to rely on the state for redressal of its grievances. The state does not exist to either grant human rights or to guarantee human rights. You have to fight your own fight to have them and when they are violated you have to fight and you have to fight absolutely neutrally — you have to fight for the human rights of the bad guys as well”
23
CHAPTER III
24
Profile of NREGA In August 2005, Parliament passed the landmark legislation, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (hereafter NREGA). The NREGA is a national law funded largely by the central government and implemented in all states, which creates a justifiable “right to work” for all households in rural India. Under the NREGA, rural households have a legal right to get “not less than” 100 days of unskilled manual labor on public works in each financial year. The enactment of the NREGA in 2005 came about partly as a result of a sustained campaign by academics and activists across India. Significant efforts were made by campaign groups to highlight the crisis of food and work availability being faced by large numbers of the rural poor in India. The NREGA, as finally enacted, was a diluted version of the “citizen’s draft”.1 Nevertheless it signified a huge step forward as a social security mechanism for the rural poor. The Gram Panchayat has been assigned a pivotal role in implementation of the Act, being responsible for almost every planning, management and supervisory function at the village level. The nature of works that may be taken up under the Scheme can significantly contribute to development of the natural resource base and increase the productive asset holdings of communities and households in rural areas (the Act allows for development
25
works on private land holdings of SC and ST households). With proper planning and implementation, the returns are expected to multiply manifold, and create conditions conducive for practice of agriculture, agro-forestry and other land-based activities. As with other natural resource management projects, more significant are the long-term impacts at the macro-level – increased ground water recharge, arrested soil erosion, increased biomass production, and so on – benefits which are not confined to the inconsequential laborer or the rural community alone. Over the last couple of years, several senior bureaucrats and field functionaries have been heard rattling off the troubles they are confronting on account of NREGA, which they believe is a hindrance to ‘real development’ of the nation and its people. During a recent discussion, one officer of the forest department went on to suggest that if the government really cared for development, there should be a direct transfer of funds to the BPL households, without expectation of any work in return; he is not the only one who believes that NREGA is breeding inefficiency in labor markets and corruption among the Gram Panchayats; laborers are getting into the habit of shirking work, and more important activities such as departmental tree plantations and watershed works are being hampered. There may be some truth in his allegations, but one needs to take a step back to assess the situation with a degree of objectivity and prudence. Despite some weaknesses, the NREGA is a remarkable legislation under which local administrations are legally bound to provide work on demand to any worker or group of workers who apply for work, within 15 days of receipt of a work application4 on public works operated under the NREGA. 26
Though the list of permissible works under the NREGA is quite restricted, there is ample scope for undertaking projects that provide economically useful assets. In the event that the local administration fails to provide work, an unemployment allowance is to be paid to the workers. The NREGA promises “not less than 100 days” of work to all households in rural India in each financial year where adults in the household are willing to undertake unskilled manual labour at the statutory minimum wage. There are several provisions of the Act which are of special interest to women workers. First, the Act mandates that at least one-third of the workers should be women. This combined with the fact that the Act places no restriction on how each households’ quota of 100 days is shared within the household, means that there is ample scope for women’s participation in NREGA works. Second, the wage earned is equal for both men and women. Besides this, the NREGA also provides for childcare facilities at the worksite when more than five children under six years of age are present at the worksite. This is an important provision given that, in large parts of the country, there are no childcare arrangements (e g, functional anganwadis) for working women. The Act The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 provides for 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. The Act has been notified 27
in all the rural areas in the country. By providing employment to those who seek it, this Act has emerged as one of the largest social safety net providing employment to 4.51 crore rural households in 2008-09 and providing employment to more than 3 crore households in the current financial year. The Act has thus opened up opportunities to the rural households to obtain local employment, enhance their wage earning and through their labour to create rural assets which contribute to development of the rural economy. The association of the name of Mahatma Gandhi with National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 will reinforce the Act’s thrust towards equity and inclusiveness, especially of the deprived groups and socioeconomically marginalized communities. The provisions of the Act of public accountability, through social audit and Right to Information will get central focus with the association of Mahatma Gandhi’s name, reflecting his ideals of the sovereignty of the public in a democracy. The Act is premised on rural households volunteering to do unskilled manual labour and the association of Mahatma Gandhi’s name with it underscores the dignity of labour. It is, therefore, considered befitting that the said Act bears the name of the Father of the Nation ‘‘Mahatma Gandhi’’ as it is a concrete expression of his development vision. Accordingly, the title of the said Act is proposed to be amended as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.
Salient features
28
The programme was unique in many aspects that helped to achieve the support of various stake holders. Some of its salient features are: •
Wholesome Package
It is an employment programme coupled with a rural upliftment scheme to create social equity, an empowerment scheme and a crucial public investment method to create durable assets. •
Strong Legal Framework
The State is made legally binding to satisfy the right to work and wage payment within 15 days as per this scheme. State Governments are liable to pay unemployment allowance to wage seekers if it fails to provide employment within the stipulated time. •
Demand Driven
Resource transfer under NREGA is based on the demand unlike the other employment programmes and thus provides another critical incentive to states to leverage the act to meet employment needs of the poor. •
Decentralized Planning
The programme strengthens decentralization and deepens the processes of democracy by giving a pivotal role to the Panchayati Raj Institutions in planning, monitoring and implementation. •
Women Empowerment
At least one-third of the beneficiaries shall be women who have registered under the scheme making them independent and increasing their overall awareness.
29
•
Transparency and Accountability
Social audits by the Gram Sabhas, mandatory disclosure of muster rolls, public accessibility of all documents and account, regular updating of job cards infuses transparency and accountability in governance. •
Grievance Redressal Mechanism
The scheme lays emphasis on responsive implementation process. All accounts and records related to the scheme are available for public scrutiny. •
Information and C ommunication Technology(ICT)
Centralization of data because of its wide scale has been resolved through web enabled Management Information System.
Acceptability of the Act When the act was passed, there was a fairly strong consensus that this was an initiative that would have the potential to transform rural India. The national coalition government described NREGA as revolutionary, and maintained that it would impact on poverty in a major way by building infrastructure and enhancing growth in rural areas. The National Advisory Council, which prepared the draft bill, was also convinced that the act would cause a major decline in rural poverty. Many development professionals and writers on rural development and decentralisation referred to the act as a ‘historic piece of legislation’. A large part of civil society, including the Right to Food Campaign, welcomed NREGA because the rights-based platform of the programme could make a difference to rural livelihood 30
security by guaranteeing 100 days of employment. NREGA was also internationally recognised as an outstanding initiative seeking to safeguard the right to work, which forms a part of the Indian Constitution. However, as the programme has unfolded, certain questions are being raised. Many, including some of those involved in drafting the bill, now recognise that much still needs to be done to support the rights of the poor, and to defend them against corrupt officials. The financing of the scheme continues to be an issue of debate. Criticism is also mounting from civil society: many argue that the poor implementation of NREGA makes beneficiaries believe that it is no better than other government schemes that have had little impact on poverty. Although NREGA is a flagship project of the governing coalition, there is much political rivalry over the scheme. Ironically, the act has been far more successful in, for example, Rajasthan (a state ruled by the opposition party, the BJP) than in some of the states ruled by national coalition members. Dreze believes that this kind of competition is healthy, and may ultimately serve to enhance the overall success of the programme. Though the Act has been passed and implemented, the issue that remains pertinent is the implications of such a large and open-ended commitment for managing the revenue and fiscal deficits especially in the context of the obligations under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act. Based on available data, we tried to examine the NREGA-induced fiscal strain in the current fiscal year by comparing the budget burden of other employment programmes (self- and wage employment) prior to the NREGA and NREGA allocation. Though the central government mobilizes around 10 per cent of GDP as revenue, and the size of the government expenditure measured as a percentage of GDP is around 15 per cent, direct expenditure 31
on rural employment constituted 0.2 per cent of GDP in 1996-97, which declined to 0.13 per cent of GDP in 2001, at a time when human deprivation increased in rural India. Thereafter, although there was an increase in the direct expenditure on rural employment to 0.40 per cent of GDP, it tended to decline and fell to 0.33 per cent of GDP in 2006-07, even with the introduction of the NREG programme. In other words, in the past without the NREGA, the government had allocated a higher amount of resources in terms of proportion of GDP for rural employment programmes in India. In terms of the share in the central government’s budget, the NREG scheme has made no difference to government expenditure on rural employment programmes (REP).
Targeting NREGA is currently the biggest self-targeting programme in India, open to all rural people who are willing and able to undertake manual labour in their village. An increasing number of employment-generation programmes initiated by the Indian government are self-targeting on the principle that only the poorest will be interested in manual work for low wages. While the evidence suggests that self-targeting can work well under certain circumstances, it is not clear that NREGA is sufficiently well-implemented to minimize errors of inclusion and exclusion and to prevent leakage of funds more generally.
32
Early reports on NREGA suggest that the implementation of the scheme needs to improve if the poor are to be reached effectively. Dungarpur district of Rajasthan is a role model for effective targeting, in part due to an exceptionally strong public administration. In most other locations, social status, social networks, nepotism, religion and politics have influenced access to the scheme, and wealthier sections of local society are, in some cases, manipulating the implementation of NREGA in much the same way as they do with other government initiatives. The requirement for beneficiaries to register with the lowest tier of local government — Gram Panchayat — for job cards (that guarantee the bearer work) — is substantially contributing to exclusion. In Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand it has been found that the bribe demanded by local officials for an application form for a job card may range from Rs.5 to Rs.50, where a day laborer might earn only Rs.60 (US$1.5) or so. Instances of discrimination with regard to caste, age and gender have been observed, with some evidence that single-women-headed households are being denied registration. Social audits have revealed discrepancies between the numbers of job cards issued at the panchayat level and the number of people working, suggesting that numbers have been inflated to generate more funds than needed, which are then embezzled by local officials. A delay in the distribution of cards is also common, which suggests that people are unable to work even though employment may be available. The overall assessments of the effectiveness of self-targeting within the Maharashtra Rural Employment Guarantee Programme — a forerunner to NREGA — also present a mixed picture: some argue that it is low-income, low-asset households and female 33
agricultural laborers who have benefited most from the scheme, but others have observed that the benefits have been concentrated in certain geographical pockets and that low awareness of entitlements and provisions have resulted in the exclusion of undeveloped tribal areas. This is consistent with the argument that the poor need to be empowered to demand their rights for any form of targeting to be effective. The ‘right to work’ embedded in NREGA makes it unique, and if efforts are made to help the poor in recognizing and articulating this right, these may ultimately prove to be equally, or perhaps even more important, than the principle of selftargeting.
Social impact NREGAs became a path-breaker by changing the notion of viewing social protection as a right of citizenship. The concept of guaranteed social minimum where entitlement extends beyond just cash and food transfers, and that is based on citizenship and not philanthropy, took root. Rural Empowerment: Guarantee, says the notable Economist Mahindra Dev, is the key word in NREGA. For the first time, it makes it possible for the rural people to demand that they are to be given a job, even if it is only at the floor rate of wages. The NREGA is also an outstanding example of how the RTI Act can be woven into the fabric of the delivery system and the whole legal and governance paradigm. By providing competitive but minimum wage rates with 100% compliance to all labor laws and benefits, NREGS has succeeded 34
in eliminating 2nd tier contractors who often exploit laborers by either under-paying them or flouting labor laws and exploiting the poor.
Impact on Women: The Act mandates 33 percent participation for women. The Scheme has till 2009, attracted participation of about 49% from women as compared to previously implemented Jawahar Rozgar Yojana that had around 20% participation of women. The highest percentage has been observed in Tamil Nadu (80%) and Rajasthan (67%).Clearly, womens’ empowerment, one of the auxiliary objectives of NREGA, is being met with stellar success. About 79% of the women collect their wages on their own and keep it to themselves. Impact on other Marginalized Groups: Self targeting in nature, the Programme has high levels of participation of marginalized groups like SC/ST (57%) till 2009. The scheme has managed to create awareness amongst remote tribal areas. This increased awareness is bound to have far-reaching effects in the long run. Impact on the social fabric of society: A major success for NREGS is the fact that it has brought down the levels of distress migration from rural to urban areas. As a result, the net standard of living has seen an increase across the social spectrum in both rural and urban areas. Financial Inclusion of the poor: 35
Besides the legal guarantee of 100 days of work in a financial year, NREGA households are also assured of basic minimum income per day. PostNREGA, there has been a revision of minimum wages across the country in last three years, and the national average daily wage rate has increased from Rs.75 to Rs.80 in FY08-09. Higher incomes are expected to raise household savings, accelerating economic diversification and household investments in human capital. Impact on Agriculture & Rural Economy: Evidence through independent studies indicates enhancement of agricultural productivity (through water harvesting, check dams, ground water recharging, moisture content improvement, and micro-irrigation), stemming of distress migration, increased access to markets and services through rural connectivity works, supplementing household incomes. The completion of the various development schemes has increased the fertility of agricultural lands and increased the water table too helping farmers who are now comparatively less dependent on the monsoons. Functional Literacy Development: The Government of India United Nations Development Programme launched a project in support to operationalization of the NREGA, the Ministry of Rural Development and UNDP are working towards improving functional literacy of the target population through various schemes such as films to train stakeholders. This programme is currently running functional literacy interventions in 13 villages. This has met with significant success especially among women who are now able to comprehend the entries on their job cards and bank books and be better informed. 36
Survey This paper presents some findings related to women NREGA workers from a field survey conducted in December 2010 in Bihar, Patna District. The survey involved unannounced visits to a random sample of 6 worksites, spread over the sample district. Interviews were conducted with a random sample of 50 NREGA workers currently employed at these worksites. The random sample of workers was drawn from the muster rolls of a currently ongoing worksite under the NREGA. The survey was aimed at understanding the impact NREGA has had in the lives of workers who are currently working under the programme. The survey was focused on women specifically. The interviews with women workers provided insights into the significance of NREGA work for these women and highlighted the “transformative” potential of the NREGA in enhancing economic and social security. Though the potential of this programme is substantial, implementation
varies
across
states.
In
a
mosaic
of
chequered
implementation however, many narratives from women workers tell a significant story about the benefits of the NREGA. We highlight this significance of NREGA work for women workers and make the case that attention must be paid by the government towards effective implementation to ensure that these important benefits are not scuttled. NREGA in Bihar It is more than a year since the NREGA came into effect and 10 months since the NREGS was formally launched. But in Bihar the scheme is yet to 37
take off; it appears to be undergoing prolonged birth pangs. Out of the 200 districts that were selected for the first phase of implementation of this scheme, 23 are from Bihar. As far as the remaining 15 districts from Bihar that were originally listed, the Bihar government had promised to implement the scheme in these districts with the state’s own resources. Thus, 38 districts were to be covered under the NREGS in Bihar. The official announcements by the central and state governments generated considerable interest among the social activists, for after all, the potential was to be created for at least one person from each poor household in these districts of Bihar to be guaranteed employment for 100 days under the scheme, which if realised would to an extent help tide over the problem of food insecurity. What then is holding back the state government from implementing the NREGS? It would be wrong to state that the Bihar government has not done anything with regard to implementing this scheme. The commissioner-cum secretary of the rural development department of the Bihar government, in his letter dated January 18, 2006, had issued directives to the concerned authorities about the implementation of the NREGS in the 38 districts of Bihar, specifying that the unspent amount of Rs 5,025 lakh from the Sampurna Gramin Rozgar Yojna be utilised for implementing the NREGS in the 15 districts where the state government had promised to finance the scheme on its own. But, at the ground level, there has been practically nothing done till date. Yes, the chief minister distributed a few job cards at public functions and reiterated the resolve of his government to implement the scheme in all the districts of the state. The reality on the ground is however quite different. When people go to submit their application for an NREGA job card, the ‘mukhiya’ or the panchayat president sends them away saying that he has no orders to receive the application. This is the case 38
in Barh block of Patna district. In Araria district, when development activists asked the block development officer (BDO) about the issue of NREGA job cards, he flatly refused saying that there is “no order from above about this”. There is no BDO for the last few months in Chennari block of Rohtas,where not only the NREGS is not taking off the ground, no other development work is underway. According to the state government, there is no dearth of financial resources for implementing the scheme. In accordance with the implementation schedule, the central government released its share of the required expenditure in the month of April. As per the directives given by the national director of the NREGS dated April 25, 2006, the amounts released for the implementation of the scheme in the districts chosen by the central government are as given in the table. As can be seen, Rs.405 crore has been released for implementation of the NREGS to be used by the government of Bihar. But for all practical purposes, implementation of the scheme is yet to begin. What is intriguing is that even eight months after the money has been released nothing has been done as yet. In fact, 60 per cent of the allotment is for making payment to the workers and 40 per cent of the amount is for the material component. Thus, over Rs.162 crore is available during the current financial year for the material component. Similarly, the bigger districts of Bihar have been granted about Rs.8 crore for the material component and Rs.12 crore for wages. What then is holding the state government, the politicians and the officials from implementing this scheme remains a mystery. According to one of the politicians, “the scheme was made operational from February 2006. But due to the moral code of conduct imposed during the Panchayat elections in Bihar, this scheme could not be implemented. The election got over only in June and we were getting ready to implement the scheme but the rains came and no progress could be made. 39
Now we are all set to implement the scheme and will make a formal announcement on October 2, Gandhi Jayanti Day.” But October has passed and nothing as yet is being done. It is significant to note that even the State Employment Guarantee Council has not yet been constituted. Due to political wrangling, appointments to this council, which would have ensured the implementation of the scheme, have been delayed. Even the district programme officers and block programme officers have not been appointed, though there are resources available for this purpose. Till date, work has been started at very few places. In some districts it was observed that wage payments was lower than what was stipulated and there were also report of delayed payments for the work undertaken under NREGP. In most of the cases inadequate worksite facilities were present. Apart from drinking water no other facility, like crèche, first aid or shade were available at the worksites. Also no unemployment allowance payment yet. The chief minister reportedly said to the officials that if unemployment wages were paid in any block that amount would be deducted from the concerned officials salary- this he said in front of TV cameras-(He probably meant that work should be provided to everyone who demands and he won’t bear any laxity on this account)-but the result is that officials are trying to discourage application for jobs. Effects Prior to launching NREGA, the national coalition government emphasised its potential to stimulate rural growth through the establishment of productive physical assets and the influx of funds through wages. It is too early to 40
assess the impact of NREGA on growth and poverty reduction at this juncture, but experiences from the earlier Maharashtra Employment Guarantee Scheme can give a broad idea of possible impact. It is widely agreed that the benefits of the Maharashtra programme have been secondary and indirect rather than direct. It has, for instance, raised agricultural wages in Maharashtra by making labourers reluctant to accept anything less than the official minimum wage. A similar trend is already being observed with districts using NREGA. Another indirect benefit is that it has acted as an insurance for rural workers against unemployment, although the increase in employment and income generated may not be substantial. Furthermore, it has stabilised income for rural households as more work has been provided in the agricultural offperiod (April to July). There is evidence that this has assisted incomesmoothing among the poor and reduced their need to make adjustments by cutting down on food expenditure, sale of livestock, or resorting to taking expensive loans. There is conflicting evidence over how far the assets created by public works benefit the poor: some support the notion of substantial contributions to agricultural productivity from which the poor also benefit; others argue that the location of the assets has tended to benefit those in wealthier households with irrigation facilities, since their wells have been recharged through the various structures created or rehabilitated. Lastly, there is some evidence that the Maharashtra project has engaged women in positive ways and helped to enhance their independence. As with NREGA, the project has had problems in reaching tribal areas and other geographical pockets of poverty. One view, rarely heard, is that whilst the provision of some local employment is potentially important, the easy availability of work under 41
NREGA may discourage rural workers from seeking work in rapidly growing areas of the economy. This may, in turn, reduce the potential pace of economic transformation, and lower the prospects of workers gaining new skills. In this way, NREGA, as a means of social protection, may ultimately work against economic growth.
Attractiveness of NREGA employment for women NREGA workers (men and women alike) belong to the most disadvantaged groups. As Table 2 above shows, a large majority (over 70%) were from the scheduled castes (SCs) and scheduled tribes (STs) and most NREGA labourers were illiterate (82% in the case of women). Many female respondents said the work provided under the NREGA opened up a new opportunity for them. The wider acceptability of NREGA work derives from several factors: it is locally available, being government work there is regularity and predictability of working hours, less chance of work conditions being exploitative and work is considered socially acceptable and “dignified”. Last (but not the least), it is better paid than other work. These attractive features of NREGA for women are discussed below. The Act stipulates that work be provided locally, within five km of the residence. This makes participation in NREGA work logistically feasible for women. Since they continue to bear the main responsibility of household work, travelling any distance for paid work makes this task more difficult for them. Apart from the fact that NREGA work is provided in the village itself, the fact that 42
women work in groups and that work is provided by the government helps to make NREGA work “socially acceptable”. Other reasons why NREGA work was regarded “acceptable” are pertinent. NREGA promises the statutory minimum wage. Even in cases where the minimum wage is not paid (as is often the case, especially in Rajasthan) NREGA wages imply a substantial jump in the earning potential for women (see Table 2). As per survey data, the average wage earned by women in the private labor market ranged between Rs.47 and Rs.58 per day, for agricultural and other casual labor, respectively. On NREGA, the average wage earned was Rs.85, clearly a huge increase over other wage opportunities. Some women stated they did not engage themselves in agricultural wage labour earlier because they would have been paid too little and it was not worth their while to go out and work for a pittance. The prospect of earning a substantial wage within the village in some cases might swing “acceptability” in favor of women. The fact that NREGA work is offered by the local government rather than by a private employer in some ways frees potential women workers from caste and community-based strictures related to who they can and cannot work with.15 Further, being government work, the hours of work are clearly stated and are limited to eight hours in a day (in the case of daily wage work). Fixed working hours often cannot be expected in the case of other work. This is of special concern for women who combine any paid work with household work. NREGA employment is therefore considered relatively “safe” in the sense that it is thought that there are some checks and balances in place to prevent harassment of workers. Moreover, NREGA employment offers a new sense of independence: for instance, Gita (Sirohi district, Rajasthan) 43
said she would have stayed at home or worked on her own fields had NREGA work not been available. She considered working on the NREGA (government) worksite because she did not have to go through a potentially embarrassing and humiliating conversation to ask anyone in the village for work.
Area of concern This section focuses on three areas of concern with respect to women and their access to work under NREGA. First, in spite of the relative accessibility of NREGA for women, major barriers remain. Second, there has been a thrust (from the government) towards payment of wages through banks. Some issues related to bank payments are discussed here. Finally, the low rates of participation of women in gram sabhas are discussed. In many areas, there are tenacious social norms against women, working outside the home. In Sasaram, we met women who said that they had not been able to register as workers under the NREGA22 and were told that this programme was “not for them”. In Sitapur district, there was a significant amount of hostility to female participation in NREGA, both from gram panchayat functionaries and male relatives. Names of adult women were excluded from job cards and it was commonly stated that women “cannot” work on worksites, that they are “too weak”, and that it is “socially unacceptable” for them to undertake this work. The widespread prevalence of these opinions related to female labour was reflected in the fact that only 5% of the randomly sampled workers in Sitapur district, Uttar Pradesh were 44
women. The reason for this bias seems to be partly related to the difference in the statutory minimum wage earned under the NREGA, and the local market wage rate (especially for women). This combined with the fact that men and women earn the same wage has created resistance to the participation of women by men who want to maintain privileged access to this (relatively high paid) work. Takdiri (Sitapur district, Uttar Pradesh) pointed out that she had been turned away from several worksites – and that when there is an “excess of workers” women are the ones who are turned away. It may be pointed out that problems in accessing work highlighted by Takdiri are in themselves “illegal” – in that all workers who seek work have a right to work and must be provided work by the government as per law. Moreover, as against the legal provisions of the NREGA, work in most places is not “demand driven”. Instead, in most places work is started at the initiative of the local government23 and can be in limited supply at any given time. This is also the case for many respondents to the current survey. For many people facing difficult economic circumstances the certainty of accessing work when sought is critical as is regularity of payment.24 However, women being turned away from work, especially in these circumstances is a matter of concern. Second, the continued illegal presence of contractors is a significant negative factor affecting the availability of work and its benefits for women. On worksites where contractors were involved, 35% of women workers said they were harassed, as compared to only 8% on contractor-free worksites.25 Besides, as mentioned above, the conditions of work at worksites run by contractors tend to be more exploitative (Table 5). It is quite likely that the complete absence of contractors is one of the factors that contributes to the high participation of women in Rajasthan. In Rajpur block (Badwani district, Madhya Pradesh), 45
for instance, work was being implemented by contractors in four out of five works visited. Women workers who the survey team spoke with said the contractor would come to the village and ask for names of able-bodied men to work on the site. If women asked for work, their pleas were ignored. Importantly, since the legal entitlement to get work on demand is not understood by many, this turning away of women workers does not meet with opposition from the village community – in fact, male workers engaged by the contractors thought the turning away of women was perfectly justified. In Udaipur block (Surguja district, Chhattisgarh), Bodhsai from Marya Panchayat said women and girls are subjected to verbal abuse by the contractor and women workers are often told they do not work fast enough. Third, another big hurdle inhibiting the participation of women is the lack of childcare facilities. The Act requires that when there are more than five children under the age of six present at a worksite, a female worker be appointed to take care of them. We did not find childcare facilities being provided anywhere. (Only 3% of the worksites had childcare facilities, and these need to be taken with a pinch of salt because at least two were cases of “window dressing”.) The lack of these facilities can be crippling for women, especially for those with breastfeeding infants who cannot be left behind for long hours. Most women who have children do not bring them to the worksite as it is not seen as a safe place for them: apart from the dangers of being left untended in the open, women are also worried about the heat and sometimes they are harassed when they spend time with the child (e g, to breastfeed the child). However, leaving the child at home is not without its problems: sometimes the child is left unsupervised, breastfed children are fed once in the morning and left alone until evening when the mother returns 46
which has a significant adverse impact on the health of the child. Meanwhile, the mothers spend their day in anxiety worrying about the child’s safety at home. What is encouraging is that four out of every five women said that if some childcare facilities are provided they would bring their child to the worksite. Fourth, in some states productivity norms are too exacting, because the “schedule of rates” is yet to be revised in line with NREGA norms. To illustrate, in Jharkhand the standard task for a day’s work at the time of the survey was digging 110 cubic feet (in soft soil), which is far too much. Certain types of NREGA work also limit the participation of women. This applies, for instance, to the construction of wells on private land. The nature of this work is such that women stop being employed as soon as digging has reached a certain depth. Fifth, delayed payments also come in the way of participation of poor women. Delays in wage payments make things particularly difficult for single women, who cannot afford to wait for work and wages as they are the sole earners in the family. When the wages do not come on time, they are often forced to return to previous, less preferred forms of employment. For example, Shanti Devi ( Koderma, Jharkhand), said that at the mine where she worked before, she was paid on a daily basis whereas she has to wait for a month for her NREGA wages.
47
CHAPTER IV
48
METHODOLOGY This chapter deals with the methodology and the procedure followed for the study of women empowerment through mahatma Gandhi national rural employment act in patna district of Bihar. Locality of study-area profile Bihar, the ancient land of Buddha, has witnessed golden period of Indian history. It is the same land where the seeds of the first republic were sown and which cultivated the first crop of democracy. Such fertile is the soil that has given birth to innumerous intellectuals which spread the light of knowledge and wisdom not only in the country but in the whole world. The state has its capital at Patna, which is situated on the bank of the holy river Ganga. The state as it is today has been shaped from its partition from the province of Bengal and most recently after the separation of the tribal southern region now called Jharkhand. For its geographical location, natural beauty, mythological and historical importance, Bihar feels proud of the assets it has been gifted by time. And for its moral contributions in the fields of arts-literature and religion and spiritualism, it knows no competitors centuries old stories related to this land are told even today. The state is the same kingdom, which once upon a time
49
ruled the country as well as the neighbouring countries . Many great rulers have lived here and it fills us with a sense of pride when we think of Bihar as the 'Karmabhumi' of Buddha and Mahavir. Bihar, to liven up the glorious tale of which land, words fall short. Bihar has a total of 38 districts of which the Patna district is our main focus of study. The Patna district lies virtually in the heart of the South Bihar Plain. Patna city is the administrative headquarters for this district. The Patna district is bounded on the north by the Ganges, beyond which lies the district of Saran, Vaishali, Samastipur and Begusarai. To the east lies the district of Lakhisarai and Nalanda and in the south the district of Jahanabad. Patna is separated from Bhojpur district on its west by river Sone Patna at a glance:
Area Latitude Longitude Population (2001) Males Females Population density Sex Ratio Literacy Rate No. of Sub-Division No. of Blocks Average rainfall STD Code
3202 Sq. km 250 25 N 850 10 E 47,09,851 25,14,949 21,94,902 1471 Per Sq. km 873 63.82% 06 23 1200 mm 0612
50
General profile India is facing an adverse Balance of Poverty crisis as it generates more poverty than it eradicates. This explains the phenomenon of stagnating poverty. Excessive focus on conventional economic growth as the instrument of poverty alleviation has not worked. Economic growth has not generated employment; nor has it percolated wealth down to rural areas. The agenda of NREGA, then, is to make the economy work for the poor and push the country’s 30 crore poor above the poverty line permanently. To do that, one must understand that India’s poverty is ecological poverty, unlike what conventional economists see as income poverty. India being a dominantly biomass-based society, ecological degradation triggers poverty here. The solution lies in regenerating the ecology with people at the helm of affairs. Healthy lands and ecosystems, when used in sustainable ways, can provide all the wealth that is needed for economically viable, healthy and dignified lives. For India to prosper, it needs to ensure sustainable livelihood for its poor. The agenda of NREGA today lies in empowering and mobilizing people to the real nature of employment in the country. In the past 5 years, NREGA has progressed quite a lot. Though one of the BIMARU states, Bihar is making leaps in the economic arena. The social and cultural point of view of people is changing rapidly, especially towards women. They are more forth coming now and have a say in social as well as political matters of the state. In this aspect, the NREGA is helping the 51
people get more employment opportunities and the women to get empowered. There are many men who migrate to different states looking for jobs. Under such circumstances, it becomes the responsibility of women to take care of the family. This gives the women not only a means of livelihood but also a sense of independence and self respect.
NREGA Statistics State: BIHAR Employment provided to households: Persondays [in Lakh]: Total: SCs: STs: Women: Others: Total fund: Expenditure: Total works taken up: Works completed: Works in progress:
41.2733 Lakhs 1136.91 515.06 [45.3%] 24.59 [2.16%] 341.49 [30.04%] 597.26 [52.53%] 2213.59 Crore. 1816.88 Crore. 158740 72587 86153
Objectives
• General impact of MNREGA • To understand the working of MNREGA in the state of Bihar. 52
• To study the living standard and present position of women in Patna due to MNREGA Hypothesis The hypothesis formulation in this study has taken place on the basis of random sampling from Patna District of Bihar. In a state like Bihar where the literacy level is so low, jobs requiring educational qualification are not much help to the rural population. MNREGA helps in improving the condition of working women in the state of Bihar. Samples have been taken from the Patna District . Significance of study In rural India, one major problem is of seasonal employment, i.e. a large number of people have to face lack of employment during certain times of the year. Because of this, many communities in the dry and drought prone areas have to migrate seasonally to other parts of the country in search of work. This annual migration is a painful and disruptive process. Those who are left behind also do not have enough to eat or the barest money for other basic necessities and although there may be no famine, there is surely a slow malnutrition and starvation. Even when communities do not migrate they suffer a great amount of distress at such times. Their food intake is reduced, the children are withdrawn from schools, they go into debt and they are unable to attend to their health problems. At such times the need for a safety net is felt and NREGA is a very good protection for this problem.
53
The NREGA has several provisions that are aimed at improving the participation of women. We have seen that these have met with varying degrees of success in different parts of the country. In the case of women, it is important to note that even relatively small levels of NREGA employment have resulted in significant perceived benefits from the programme. Serious problems remain in implementation across states (such as the lack of availability of crèches for mothers of young children and the continued illegal presence of contractors). Given the critical gains made by women workers – in accessing work and an income, food and healthcare for themselves and their families, and in leaving potentially hazardous work – it needs to be ensured that the problems in implementation do not derail the gains. That would be the general analysis of the state. Women in Bihar have further problems to deal with. Most women were aware that under the Act each household is guaranteed 100 days of work in a year. But awareness regarding operational guidelines, household registration, the job card distribution process, work applications and entitlements such as worksite facilities and unemployment allowance was inadequate. Only 43 per cent of women workers reported having made a formal application for a job card. In all four districts, most people just applied orally or gave their names when asked whether they wanted a job card. The situation was even worse with respect to applications for work. Only 18 per cent of the women surveyed were aware of the work application process and had applied for work themselves.
54
Also most men are not comfortable with the fact that women would be earning equal to them. And in spite of advancement, Bihar is still in the clutches of a medieval society where women are to stay confined within the four walls and not be in the open earning their daily bread and voicing their opinions. The scope of this study is to look into the debatable issue as to whether women have gained a position and place of their own in the society and are self reliant now. If not anything else then atleast they are better off than previous times. Sampling technique The study is largely empherical and the technique used is random sampling. Though it deals with the entire state of Bihar, for the sake of convenience, samples were selected only from Patna District. A sample of 50 women, including housewives and working women, were taken. The survey involved unannounced visits to a random sample of 6 worksites, spread over the sample district. Most of the primary data was conducted through oral questionnaires since most of the respondents were illiterate.Secondary data research is based on information from web, ministry and other sources. Quantitative data came through information on the NREGA put on the websites of state governments. The validation of survey insights are performed by the district NREGA officials. Along with this there is also the analyzing of survey results with inputs from the NREGA officials.
55
56
CHAPTER V
Data analysis and interpretation
57
It is necessary and general to study the socio-economic background of the sample households. The socio-economic background includes religion, social status, community and size of the family. Employment generation programmes includes income, expenditure, borrowings and savings pattern and living conditions of the sample respondents. Excess demand The NREGS website reports number of households who demanded work and number of jobs provided at the district level in 2007-08 and 2008-09. Before anything else, one thing that has to be noted is the lack of awareness. Many people in Bihar don’t know the actual difference between an ordinary employment programme and NREGA. ‘Work to one member for 100 days, within 15 days of application at minimum wage rate’ , since people are unaware, they don’t fight when they are denied the right. The situation though is improving and the demand for work is increasing by the year. Needless to say, it is very little work when compared to the agricultural toil, specially for women. 5.1: Demand supply gap under NREGA No. of districts with demand and supply data No. of districts with zero demand supply gap Percent of districts with zero gap
2007-2008 37 28 75.68
2008-2009 35 32 91.43
As noted earlier, however, given the large scale fudging of muster rolls, corruption in the payment of wages, and inflated records of jobs provided, these estimates of excess demand cannot be taken at face value. Using basic
58
economic theory, the demand and supply estimates are refined and purged to some extent of measurement errors. Fund allocation to districts According to the state government, there is no dearth of financial resources for implementing the scheme. In accordance with the implementation schedule, the central government released its share of the required expenditure in the month of April. As per the directives given by the national director of the NREGS dated April 25, 2006, the amounts released for the implementation of the scheme in the districts chosen by the central government are as given in the table. As can be seen, Rs 405 crore has been released for implementation of the NREGS to be used by the government of Bihar. But for all practical purposes, implementation of the scheme is yet to begin. What is intriguing is that even eight months after the money has been released nothing has been done as yet. In fact, 60 per cent of the allotment is for making payment to the workers and 40 per cent of the amount is for the material component. Thus, over Rs 162 crore is available during the current financial year for the material component. Similarly, the bigger districts of Bihar have been granted about Rs 8 crore for the material component and Rs 12 crore for wages. What then is holding the state government, the politicians and the officials from implementing this scheme remains a mystery. 5.2: District wise allocation for NREGAs in Bihar S No District
Amount
S No 59
District
Amount
1
Araria
1161.95
13
Purnea
995.85
2
Vaishali
2000.00
14
Supaul
1987.23
3
Gaya
2000.00
15
Darbhanga 2000.00
4
Madhubani 2000.00
16
Aurangabad 2000.00
5
Muzaffarpur 2000.00
17
Bhojpur
1816.90
6
Nawada
1691.54
18
Jehanabad
2000.00
7
Samastipur 2000.00
19
Kaimur
1595.26
8
Sheohar
1187.80
20
Nalanda
2000.00
9
Katihar
2000.00
21
Patna
2000.00
10
Jamui
1891.40
22
Rohtas
1991.70
11
Lakhisarai 1147.27
23
Kishanganj 1036.48
12
Monghyr
2000.00
Participation of women As has been already mentioned, though MNREGA is an employment programme to all, it ensure female participation. By law, at least one-third of the beneficiaries shall be women who have registered under the scheme making them independent and increasing their overall awareness. There is no partiality among sexes while paying wages, i.e both men and women get equal pay. Another benefit for women is that crèche facility is provided at the worksite if there are more than 6 children present. In this way mothers don’t have to worry about leaving their children at home, alone. Work is provided within a radius of 5km from the workers residence. If the distance increases, transportation costs are given. Flexibility is also therevin terms of choosing work period for employment. All 100 days need not be covered by the same person. 60
5.3: Women participants States Tamil Nadu Kerala Rajasthan Andhra Pradesh Karnataka Gujarat Tripura Uttaranchal Chattisgarh Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Sikkim Orissa Haryana Mizoram Manipur Meghalaya Assam Himachal Pradesh Arunachal Pradesh Nagaland Jharkhand Bihar West Bengal Punjab Uttar Pradesh Jammu & Kashmir All India
2008 – 09 (%) 82.01 71.39 69.00 57.75 49.77 46.54 44.51 42.77 42.05 41.67 39.99 36.73 36.39 34.44 33.62 32.80 30.87 30.85 30.11 29.58 29.36 27.17 26.62 16.99 16.29 14.53 1.08 49.33
According to the data two years back, we see that women participation was quite low, though better when compared with states like Jammu an Kashmir.
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Of course, more than the willingness to work there are other reasons to the staggering number of women sorting jobs through NREGA in Tamil Nadu, but that is a different course of study. When present data is considered, participation of women has increased to more than the minimum of 33 percent. Successful working of NREGA With the staggering increase in the number of participants itself it is evident that people are responding positively. And more than men, it is is the women in Bihar who are showing the eagerness. The answers to the questions below, further substantiate this. 5.4: Response to NREGA S.
Opinion of the Scheme
Yes
No
1.
Improving standard of living
43
7
2.
Useful to unemployed person
38
21
3.
Providing Additional Employment
49
1
4.
Purchasing power increase
27
23
5.
Budget became easy
24
21
6.
Even uneducated people can improve 48
No.
2
their income 7.
Saving of some of the money
62
17
33
Many are not aware about the employment programme called MNREGA. But those who are, are benefiting out of it. 50 women of which many were emplolyed through MNREGA responded as above, to the questions posed. As can be deduced from the table, most women have replied positively and it is evident that MNREGA is a success in Bihar. Since the study is on women empowerment through, we now look at the female participation in MNREGA. When comparing few of the states we see a staggering difference. Provision of jobs is done in a systematic manner such that they are beneficial for the worker as well as employer. Since the Ganges moved away from Patna water conservation is of main priority and like wise.
5.5: Allotment of jobs Water conservation Rural connectivity Land development Provision of irrigation facility for land owned by SC/ST Other activity
Significance for single women
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46 % 21 % 19 % 10 % 4%
We have seen that NREGA offers the relatively high (compared to the private market) statutory minimum wage and women workers are paid the same as men. Work conditions on NREGA worksites are better and there are perceived dignity in doing NREGA work. Social barriers in the case of NREGA employment are lower. In the case of single women, these benefits are magnified. In this short section we use testimonies gathered during the survey to highlight the benefits to some single women in the sample. The extremely vulnerable position of widows is brought out by the case of Timmo Kuwar, a 40-year old widow from Danapur district, Patna. She has hardly any land (only 0.05 acres) and even that, she said, her brother was trying to usurp. NREGA work was very important for her because earlier she had to migrate out in search of work, whereas now she got work locally. Earlier she worked at breaking stones, which she said was very dangerous and if she does not get NREGA work, she would have to go back to that. In Darbhanga, Takdiri, a widow, said that NREGA had “changed her life because earlier she was able to get work at Rs. 35 per day, whereas now she earns Rs.100 per day. Bejni Devi (Araria district, Bihar) said that she was glad to have access to NREGA employment since the wage she can now earn in the village has increased significantly. The wage she would get for locally available work was Rs.15 per day, whereas she gets Rs.75 for NREGA work (as opposed to the statutory minimum wage of Rs.82/day in Bihar). If she had not got this work, she would have had to migrate with her four-month old child, since she had not got any other local employment in the past three months. 64
NREGA work allows some measure of protection from having to migrate in search of work, or, given the small amount of work currently available, at least allows them to postpone migration. This protection from migration implies a significant improvement in the quality of life because of the costs and risks associated with migration. Tejki Dhira’s (a widow from Sirohi district, Rajasthan) case illustrates this: she is 61 years old and migrating to Ambaji to sell wood is very difficult for her. This is what Tejki would have done if NREGA employment had not been available.
5.6: Profile of Sample Workers Women Proportion of NREGA workers who are
Men
32
68
Scheduled castes (SC)/scheduled tribes (ST)
75
71
Illiterate
82
52
sources of cash income in the past three months
30
55
Collect their own wages
78
92
Keep their own wages
69
51
Prefer payments through banks
53
44
Statutory minimum wage (Rs/day)
88*
88*
Agricultural work
47
53
Other casual labour
58
71
NREGA wage
85
85
Proportion of NREGA workers who are
Proportion of NREGA workers who had other
Average wage (Rs/day)
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The money she earned by working under the NREGA helped her repay the loan she took to treat her husband’s illness and to perform the death ceremonies. Access to work in the village is also critically important for those who are coping with illness of a family member. Kali Bai (from Sirohi district, Rajasthan) had a constant source of income when her husband was alive. Now, it is her NREGA wages that allow her to sustain herself and her son who has a mental health problem. In the same district, another widow, Jamnabai Galbaji said that NREGA wages were crucial for her child’s heart treatment. For those widows who are not getting widow pensions NREGA employment offers relief and confidence. Keshi (a Rajput widow from Maner) is one such woman. While earlier there was uncertainty as to whether she would have enough food to eat, she is now in a position to contribute to the family pot by paying for her grandchildren’s education. Like many others, she reports improved credit-worthiness. Importantly, for some women and especially for women heading households, the NREGA has made loans more easily available (earlier lenders wondered whether they would get their money back, now there seems to be easier availability of credit) and in some cases, women say they have been able to repay at least part of their loan. The “dignity” associated with doing government work and not having to seek work from private landlords or contractors is also a very significant benefit for women workers. Baby Pusaji Rawal (Sirohi district, Rajasthan) said that NREGA employment suited her because she does not have to go out and find work, and she does not need to wait for work. Government work opened under the
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NREGA has allowed her to leave work with private landlords and contractors which is often replete with an underlying threat or possibility of sexual abuse and exploitation. These very same issues are highlighted by Herring and Edwards (1983) in their study of the Employment Guarantee Scheme implemented since the 1970s in Maharashtra. Women heads of households who Herring and Edwards spoke with stated that they consider government work under the Maharashtra EGS “safer” and that EGS work provided by the government has led to a reduction in subtle forms of coercion and overt sexual exploitation faced by women workers (1983: 583).
5.7: Participation over the years in bihar Employed women
2006 17 %
2008 26.62%
2010 33.69
Many widows also spoke of the harsh working condition in the private labour market. Aansi Bai (Punpun district,) said that at the private contractors worksite she used to get Rs 50 for 12 hours of work. NREGA pays her more (Rs.100/day) for eight hours of work. Several respondents (27% ) stated that work provided under the NREGA has allowed them to stop doing hazardous work or work they did not want to do (e g, working at quarries, going to the forest to cut wood, etc). Rina Devi (Rajiv nagar) said she no longer needs to go the jungle to cut wood where wild animals were a constant threat. Several female respondents in Palamu district (Jharkhand) and Sirohi district (Rajasthan) said that NREGA employment has allowed them to avoid working at a stone quarry, which was hazardous. Before
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moving on, it is worth noting that though we have focused only on widows in this section, the category of single women is not restricted to widows. Further, many women in the sample who were primary wage earners (i e, not necessarily single women) found themselves facing the same vulnerabilities as single women and presented very similar testimonies. Present situation The presence of MNREGA shows lots of promises for the future of the Bihari population. As can be clearly seen from the table below, more applications are accepted, more jobs cards are being issued, increased funds are being tipped in and of course the employment opportunities as well as the average income per head is growing. 5.8: Total progress Districts
23
Rural households
89,43,456
Applications
24,01,836
Job cards
10,71,522
Employment provided
5,05,281
Number of works
17,619
Funds released
40503.38 crores
This is the present scenario in which Patna dwells.
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CHAPTER VI
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CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS Empowerment of rural women has emerged as an unintended consequence of NREGS. Women have benefited more as workers than as a community. Women as individuals have gained because of their ability to earn independently, made possible due to the paid employment opportunity under NREGS. Independent and monetized earnings have increased consumption choices and reduced economic dependence. This has helped women in registering their tangible contribution to the household’s income. The overall effects of these have translated into an increased say for women in household affairs. Women as a community, however, have been slow in realizing the potential benefits of the scheme. Nevertheless, their increased presence in the gram sabha, the increasing number of women speaking out in 70
the gram sabha, frequent interactions with government officials and PRI representatives, and access to banks and post offices are new developments. Additionally, the female mate system has reversed the traditional gender roles, albeit in a limited manner. Findings •
Today there is 33.69% women participation in MNREGA.
• Political awareness and participating in elections. • 75% of them are collecting and 67% keeping their wages to themselves, and in the process learning banking. • 61% had other sources of cash income in the past three month. • In spite of being a conservative economy, 39% have gained social respect and have a say in family and society matters. • 57% female participants said that the wages had helped them avoid illness in the family. • 72% of the widows advocate of having upheld their self respect because of MNREGA • To those widows not getting pension, NREGA offers relief. • 69% of the female respondents reported having faced less hunger due to employments • Apart from keeping their own wages, 44% women have a substantial say in how to spend it. On the flipside, working hours for women have increased; leisure time has vanished; and there are physical and emotional strains related to such work.
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Lactating women and women with young children work under emotional strain, as they remain separated from their children for long hours. Some adolescent girls are reported to have left their studies to avail of the job opportunity under NREGS. The challenges lie in horizontal and vertical expansion of benefits first. The high participation of women ensures horizontal spread of benefits. Realisation of greater numbers of persondays ensures better individual-level effects. Districts with high SC and ST populations and states with high human and gender development indices and greater levels of state and civil society mobilisation have benefited more. However, other than SC, ST, and OBC women, others are not forthcoming in availing this paid job opportunity. Suggestions Apart from implementation issues, there are social and cultural contexts that restrict women’s participation in some places. Persistent social and community mobilisation and a proactive role for the state can compensate for some of these social and cultural deficits. This will also be helpful in bridging the gap between work participation and process participation. Certain initiatives and changes can also prove helpful. The realisation of sufficient numbers of person-days to earn a critical minimum income that triggers household-level effects is the first condition. Timely payment of wages through individual accounts of women workers encourages participation, and greater control over earnings. A daily wage 72
system instead of wages as per the SOR has been helpful in realising minimum wages. The experience of HP is proof of this and the Act does not prohibit it. Alternatively, a gender-sensitive SOR, as has been introduced in Bihar,18 can be experimented within other states as well. Working conditions need to be made more conducive by enforcing and strengthening existing provisions and adding new ones. For example, breastfeeding breaks for lactating women and flexibility in working hours may be considered. Crèche provision may be linked with the Anganwadi or Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) centres, panchayat bhavans, local school buildings, etc, to make them more practical. Among others, maternity relief for women, along the lines of MEGS, make-shift toilets at the worksite and innovations in work instruments so as to reduce work drudgery may be adopted. Increased participation in procedural aspects and greater control over the types and management of assets can increase social and community benefits. The Kerala model of linking NREGS with women’s groups (Kudumbashree) may be useful for greater process participation. A minimum representation of women among the NREGS functionaries like programme officers, rozgar sevaks, ombudsmen, members of vigilance and monitoring committees, mates, etc, would be useful. Some of the assets created, if properly chosen, may reduce the load of unpaid work like fetching water, fodder, etc. Creation of skill-generating assets like horticulture or fisheries through ponds can also be further explored to ensure better lateral benefits from such assets.
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Hence, inspite of all difficulties and hardships, the women in bihar have come a long way and now stand equal to men. NREGA has helped them to come forth in society with their dignity and self respect.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Articles and journals 1.
Anish Vanaik, Siddhartha (2008) “Bank payments: End of Corruption in NREGA?” Economic and Political Weekly, 43 (12): 33 – 39.
2.
Arun Jacob, Richard Varghese (2006) “NREGA Implementation-I: Reasonable Beginning in Palakkad, Kerala, Economic and Political Weekly, 41 (48): 4943 – 4945.
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3.
Aruna Bagchee (2005) “Political and Administrative Realities of Employment Guarantee Scheme”, Economic and Political Weekly.
4.
Chhaya Datar (2007) “Failure of national employment Guarantee Scheme in Maharashtra”, Economic and Political Weekly, 42 (34): 3454 – 3456.
5.
Drèze, Jean and Naresh Sharma (1998): “Palanpur: Population, Society and Economy” in Peter Lanjouw and Nicholas Stern (ed.), Economic Development in Palanpur over Five Decades (Oxford: Clarendon Press).
6.
Drèze, Jean and Reetika Khera (2009): “The Battle for Employment Guarantee”, Frontline, Vol 26, No 1, 3-16 January.
7.
Gaiha, R. (2005) ‘Does the Employment Guarantee Scheme benefit the rural poor in India? Some recent evidence’, Asian Survey, November/December 2005, Vol. 45, No. 6.
8.
Jandu, Navjyoti (2008): “Employment Guarantee and Women’s Empowerment in Rural India”
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9.
Kannan, K. P (2005) ‘Linking employment guarantee to human development’, Economic and Political Weekly, October 15.
10.
Pankaj, Ashok (2010) “Empowerment effects of the NREGs: A study of four States”, Economic and Political Weekly, July 24
11.
Pinaki Chakraborty (2007) “Implementation of employment guarantee: A preliminary appraisal, Economic & Political Weekly, 42 (7): 548 – 551.
12.
Prakash Louis (2006) “NREGA Implementation – II Birth Pangs in Bihar”, Economic and Political Weekly, 41 (48): 4946.
13.
Puran Singh (2006) “National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme”, Kurukshetra, 54 (7): 42 – 43.
14.
Mehta, Varsha (2010) “NREGA: Bane or boon”
15.
Randall Wray (2006) “Lessons from Argentina’s Employment Guarantee” Economic and Political Weekly; 41 (23): 2293 – 2296.
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16.
Vaidyanathan. A (2005) “Employment Guarantee: Need for involvement of states, Economic and Political Weekly, 40 (33): 3646 – 3648.
17.
Venkata Reddy (1989) “Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme: an observation”, Kurukshetra, (39 – 41).
18.
Unterhaltar, Elaine (2001) “Gender, education and women’s power: Indian states and civil society intersections in DPEP” Institute of Education, University of London, Compare, Vol. 31, No. 1
Websites www.nrega.nic.in www.scribd.com www.planningcommission.nic.in www.ruraldevelopment.nic.in www.righttofoodindia.org www.tn.gov.in www.rural.nic.in www.jstor.org. www.hindu.com
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ANNEXURE Questionnaire for survey
Women Empowerment through NREGA General 1. Name
:
2. Age
:
( ) 20-35
( ) 35-55
( )Above 55
3. Religion
:
( )Hindu
( )Christian
( )Muslim
4. Community
:
5. Marital Status
:
Single
Married
Widow
6. Family
:
Nuclear
Joint
78
( )other
7. No. of children (if any)
:
8. Family members(no.)
:
9. Employed family members
:
10. MNREGA allotted present occupation
:
Put a tick mark on the appropriate answer 11. Were you employed previously?
Yes
No
12. Has anyone else in your family been given jobs by MNREGA?
Yes
No
13. Does your family have objections to your earning equal to men?
Yes
No
14. Are working hours well defined?
Yes
No
15. Is salary given on time?
Yes
No
16. Are men and women given equal salary?
Yes
No
17. Is travel allowance given for extra distance?
Yes
No
18. Is day care and water facility available at the worksite?
Yes
No
19. Is the supervisor a female?
Yes
No
20. Were job cards distributed impartially?
Yes
No
21. Do you think that details on the job cards are tampered with?
Yes
No
22. Are jobs distributed according to the applications submitted?
Yes
No
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23. Are you a beneficiary of NREGA? ( ) Yes ( ) No 24. How long does it take for salary to be given, after work is over? 0-5 weeks 5-10 weeks 10-12 weeks can’t say 25. How far is your home from the work site? 0-5 km 5-10 km 10-15 km 26. The nature of your employment? Agriculture Daily wage earner
more than that
Government job
Unemployed
27. Have you taken any bank loans after joining NREGA? ( )Yes ( ) No 28. Do you vote? ( ) Yes
( ) No
29. Which grama panchayat/district do you belong to?
30. What is your daily wage? Do you think it is enough for the work you do?
31. How many women work in your site?
32. Does your family have objections to your earning equal to men?
33. Are you aware of the facilities that should be given to you, as per the act?
34. Why do you think that the number of working women is so less?
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35. Can you suggest a way to increase the number of working women?
Map of Bihar
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