Introduction:

The Indian economy continues to be predominantly rural, with 71 per cent of population
living and 75 per cent of workers earning their livelihood in rural areas. The rural economy,
however, has witnessed significant changes, i.e. agriculture has become a marginal activity in
terms of their contribution to income and non-agricultural activities have not only increased
their share, but have undergone large changes in composition. But rural India continues to
grapple with the problems of poverty and unemployment. So far as the rural employment is
concerned, the situation has not been encouraging, especially during the reform period. There
has been huge deficit in employment, both in its quantitative and qualitative dimensions. To
address the problem of employment challenges, inter alia, the Government of India has
initiated a plethora of direct employment programmes. As a marked departure from the
earlier interventions, in 2006 MGNREGA was floated as the largest public employment
programme as a statutory right to enhance livelihood security of rural households by
supplementing their income through wage employment. Prior to MGNREGA, for the
generation of employment and poverty eradication, the government of India brought many
schemes and programmes such as Integrated Rural Development Programme (1978-79),
Training of Rural Youth for Self-Employment (1979), National Rural Employment
Programme (1980), Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme (1983), Jawahar
Rojgar Yojna (1989), Employment Assurance Scheme (1993), Rural Employment
Generation Programme (1994), Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (1999), Sampoorna
Gramin Rojgar Yojna (2001), National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (2006).

History of Programmes:
Just after the attainment of independence, the government of India giving special emphasis on
the poverty and unemployment reduction brought many employment and poverty reduction
programmes. These programmes aimed not only at providing employment to the rural poor
but also creating the assets and providing training to the beneficiaries that would give them
sustained income. The government implemented various wage employment and rural welfare
programmes. Some of the programmes and schemes are as follow:
Maharashtra Employment Guarantee Scheme:
Maharashtra is a semi-arid region, agriculture here is a seasonal activity and during lean
season there is widespread unemployment in the state. To address this issue the Government
of Maharashtra launched its own employment guarantee programme in 1972-73. This
programme gave recognition to right to work. The employment was given to those
households whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work on piece rate basis.
The projects under taken under the programme were moisture conservation, water
conservation, land development, soil conservation, roads etc. The expenditure of the scheme
were met by imposing taxes specially for EGS and state government‘s contribution.

Integrated Rural Development Programme:

With the aim of raising the below poverty line (BPL) families in the rural areas above the
poverty line Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP) was launched in 1978-79.
Initially it was implemented in 120 selected districts and it was extended to all the districts in
1980. The objective of IRDP was to provide income generating assets to the beneficiaries,
here it was stipulated that 50% of the beneficiaries are Schedule caste and Schedule tribe. The
activities covered under the programme were weaving, handicrafts, animal husbandry. The
selection of the beneficiaries was based on Antyodaya i.e. selection of the poorest of the poor
first. District Rural Development Agency was responsible for the implementation of the
programme. The survey conducted by NABARD found that 47% of the selected beneficiaries
were able to raise their household income.
Training of Rural Youth for Self-Employment (TRYSEM)
TRYSEM was started in 1979 with the objective of reducing the unemployment among the
youth in the rural areas. The aim was to train around 2 lakh rural youths every year to make
them self-employed. The youths of the families with family income less than 3500 Rs. per
year were eligible for giving training under the scheme. Preference was given to SC and ST
families and women, there was 50%, 40% and 3% reservation for SC/ST, women and
physically disabled respectively.
National Rural Employment Programme (NREP):
The National Rural Employment Programme was launched in 1980 with the aim of helping
those rural population who do not have any source of income during lean season. The sharing
of the burden of finance between the centre and the state was on 50:50 basis. Under the
programme the community assets like drinking water wells, irrigation wells, schools, roads
etc. In 1989 the programme was merged into Jawahar Rojgar Yojna.

Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme:

The programme launched on the Independence Day in 1983 aimed at providing gainful
employment and creating assets in the rural areas. The objectives of the programme was to
provide 100 days of guaranteed employment to every landless rural household in a financial
year and creation of durable assets for strengthening the rural infrastructure. Total fund of
500 crores was fully financed by the central government of India in the 6th plan.
Jawahar Rojgar Yojna
By merging the NREP and RLEGP, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi launched Jawahar Rojgar
Yojna in 1989. The main objective of the programme was to lift the poor people above the
poverty line by providing them gainful employment in rural areas. The subsidiary objective
the programme was to create sustained assets for the continuous benefits of people. Here also
like in TRYSEM, preference was given to SC/ST, minimum 33% of beneficiaries were
women. Moreover people of below poverty line were also the target under JRY. The works
which were undertaken under the scheme were social forestry on government land and social
land, road side plantation, works related to the conservation of land and water, construction
of roads, schools, panchayat ghars etc. The number of wells constructed were 10 lakh by
1996-97 with the total expenditure of Rs. 4021 cr.

Employment Assurance Scheme:

Employment Assurance Scheme which aimed at providing employment to the rural people
during the lean season was launched in 1993. Under this hundred days of unskilled manual
work was provided to up to two members of the family. Initially the scheme was
implemented in 1778 backward blocks and in 1994-95 more 409 blocks were covered under
the scheme. Under the programme different blocks were classified into three categories- A, B
and C for releasing the fund. These classification was based on the level of backwardness and
need for employment in these blocks. The sharing of the fund was on 80:20 basis between the
centre and the state.
Rural Employment Generation Programme:
On the recommendation of High Power Committee headed by the prime minister, Rural
Employment Generation Programme was launched in 1994. The programme aimed at
generating employment for people in the rural areas, developing entrepreneurial skills among
the youth in the rural areas. From the inception of the scheme to 31 March, 2005 total
2,09,705 projects were financed, for the same period total number of employment
opportunities generated were 28,05,235 and margin money utilised under the scheme was Rs.
1,37,186.8 lakh.
Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY):
With the emphasis on organising the rural poor into Self Help Groups, the Swarnajayanti
Gram Swarojgar Yojna was launched in 1999. Here apart from organisation of poor into Self
Help Group, other aspects like training, capacity building, technology support and marketing
linkages were also covered. SC/ST, women and physically disabled were given special
safeguards by reserving 50% of benefit for SC/ST, 40% for women and 3% for PH.
Maximum 10 activities could be selected by the block and out these 10, the focus should be
4-5 activities. These activities were based on local resources, occupational skills of the
beneficiaries and market availability. Subsidies were given on credit taken by the
beneficiaries but the subsidy was different for different class for e.g. for open category
individuals the subsidy was 30% of cost of project subject to the maximum 7500/-. For
SC/ST individuals the subsidy was 50% of cost of project subject to maximum 10000 rs. The
group subsidy would be 50% of total cost of the project subject to the ceiling of Rs. 1.25 lakh
or per capita subsidy of 10000 whichever less is. For micro irrigation projects, there would be
no limit to monetary subsidy.

Sampoorna Gramin Rojgar Yojna:

By merging Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojna, Food for Work Programme and Employment
Assurance Scheme, Sampoorna Gramin Rojgar Yojna was launched in 2001. The primary
objective of the scheme was to provide employment in the rural area, further the objective
was to improve health and nutritional level of poor by providing them food for work. The
secondary objective was to create durable assets and development of rural infrastructure.
Under the scheme 100 days of employment was provided in lean agricultural season.

The review of these programmes and schemes showed the potential weaknesses in them such
these programmes were not able to provide employment to the poor in the rural areas in times
of severe droughts or natural calamities, employment generation was not as per the
expectations, corruption and leakages, inadequate provision of employment per household,
inadequate supply and use of funds, supply driven, less involvement of local people, lack of
awareness among the poor, lack of proper planning and monitoring
In view of the problems and limitations of these programmes the government of India
launched the revolutionary programme Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment
Guarantee Scheme in 2006, Mahatma Gandhi NREGA was a paradigm shift from earlier
schemes.

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme:

Mahatma Gandhi NREGA enacted in 2005 and implemented in 2006 is a revolutionary and
flagship programme that entitles all the rural households of 100 days of guaranteed wage
employment. The act aims at improving the livelihood security of all rural poor by providing
100 days of wage employment in a financial year to every rural household whose adult
members of the family volunteer to do unskilled manual work. The scheme was renamed
from National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Scheme. It was implemented in three phases. In the first phase 200
most backward districts were covered in 2006. More 130 districts were covered under the
scheme in the second phase i.e. in 2007 and in 2008 i.e. in the third phase all the districts of
the country were covered under MGNREGA.

Need for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme:

The annual growth rate of labour force in India is 2.5% which is higher than the employment
growth rate (2.3%), this results in increasing unemployment in the country. The Employment
Unemployment Survey of Government of India (2010) estimated that the aggregate
unemployment in the country in 2009-10 was 9.4%. The unemployment was higher in rural
areas. The unemployment in urban areas was 7.3% while it was 10.1% in rural areas. Since
the unemployment is higher in rural India, there is need of the scheme like NREGS in the
rural areas of the country.

In 2004-05, India's overall labour force was 420 million and overall workforce was 385
million. Labour force in rural India was 303 million and rural workforce was 278 million
(data from NSS). Women comprise 48.3% of the population but their share in the labour
force was only 26.4%. (Ravikiran, 2012)

Between 2004-05 and 2011-12, there has been a decline in women participation from 25% in
2004-05 to 17% in 2011-12. (NSSO 66th Round). However MGNREGA has helped in
commuting this situation. With 47% of participation, women are much more actively working
under MGNREGA than any other work. (NREGA Sameeksha, 2012)

The findings suggest that women’s employment in MGNREGA has improved the economic
status of some women and enhanced their decision-making power slightly in some
households. (NREGA Sameeksha, 2012). Equal wage rates for both men and women is
positively affecting the women participating under NREGA (Dutta.)
A large section of rural poor are illiterate and ignorant, they are paid less for work. Still in
many occupations they are paid just 100 Rs. per day for their full day work. Under
MGNREGS we have always seen upward shift in the wage rate. The wage rate given under
MGNREGS is according to Minimum Wage Act and because of MGNREGS the wage rate in
other sectors such construction, farm labour or any other manual work the wage rates have
increased.