Ground Realities and Inhibitions in Execution of MGNREGA in Jharkhand, India

Abstract

India is one of the several fast growing economies of the world. Despite this, poverty is still pervasive in the nation, especially in rural areas where almost 70% of India’s 1.3 billion people dwell. For combating this debauched scenario, a wide range of poverty alleviation policies have been introduced in the country since the liberation of the country from colonial regime. Among them, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme outruns all the existing arrangements and stands out as the largest poverty alleviation scheme operational in the country. There is no denying that the scheme is outstanding in its vision, but due to certain loopholes, it has been partially successful in achieving its goal of eradicating poverty. The present paper backed with empirical evidences from a rural and tribal setup of Jharkhand, attempts to assess the institutional and non-institutional impediments which are encumbering the desired accomplishment of the scheme at the grass-root level. It also endeavors to forward a few recommendations for policy makers for enhancing and improving the implementation of the said scheme.

Keywords: Corruption, Jharkhand, MGNREGA, Panchayati Raj, Poverty Alleviation, Tribal People

JEL Classification: O15, O23, E24