Wage and Earnings from Participation in MGNREGA Works in Jharkhand

Abstract

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (2005) is regarded as largest public employment programme in the world. As per the official parlance MGNREGA belongs to the core of core programmes of Government of India. Majority of participants of MGNREGA are poor and vulnerable sections of the society. ₹480 billion has been allocated for the programme in Central government budget in 2017–18. However, in recent years there are criticisms on the government to weaken and dilute the key features of the programme to the detriment of the interest of poor labourers. On the other hand many see the programme as unnecessary drag on public money. In this context this article aims to study recent trend and patterns of participation, employment and income generation from MGNREGA among casual labourers in Jharkhand which happens to be one of poor and tribal dominated states of India.

Keywords

Manual work public works programmes rural labour market labour force participation unemployment daily wages and earnings MGNREGA

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