World's largest employment guarantee program - Part 3

 In this third part series regarding MGNREGA, we would see how the rural job guarantee scheme along with other government schemes acted as a cushion in minimizing the onslaught of corona outbreak on rural economy which otherwise had very much potential in creating an unrest through out the interiors of the country with the arrival of migrant workers from urban areas which experienced shutdowns for months together. 

Along with Prime Minister Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY), the time-tested job scheme or MGNREGA came as a big relief for millions of migrant workers who returned to their villages in most desperate conditions. As said earlier, the Union government pumped an additional Rs. 40,000 crore to the existing budget allocation for 2020-21 taking it to Rs 1,01,500 crore. Further, wage rate was enhanced from Rs 182 to Rs 202. MGNREGA which acts like social protection by providing 100 days’ work to a member of rural household had generated unprecedented demand during corona lockdown.

To illustrate, a record number of 175.97 crore person days has been created. In a desperate bid for survival, return migrants have steadily turned to the scheme and the job demand has witnessed an unprecedented rise with states like Uttar Pradesh (UP) (57.13 lakh workers), Rajasthan (53.45 lakh workers) and Andhra Pradesh  (36 lakh workers) leading the trend. Reports claim that in at least 26 states, more households have demanded work in the first 25 days of June alone than the average of the past seven years (2013-14 to 2019-20).

However, there were glitches in this too especially meeting the work demand.  As per recent data,  27.78 lakh households in 31 districts of UP availed work during corona year as compared to 6.71 lakh households in the last year. The challenge was that there was no work days left in the state quota for coming months. Similar situation was faced in other states such as Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal among others. Second issue about MGNREGA is that while the scheme has come as big relief in the time of crisis, its major drawback is it is meant for unskilled workers. The diversification of the scheme is a far cry to which not many governments have paid serious attention. Its scope can easily spread to agriculture, dairy, poultry, horticulture, vegetable cultivation and others allied rural activities, even skill training.

Source: https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/covid19-and-indias-informal-workers-a-scrutiny-of-states-response

To be continued....

Pseudo-Migration (weaponisation of poverty) - Part - 2

This is in continuation to previous post, as mentioned migration is all about entering a new horizon bereft of any nativity backing, completely new to the whereabouts. Its like entering a circus without knowing who is the ringmaster yet hoping for a consonance with the process.   

There are many cinemas which highlight the emotional changeover required to adapt to the destination, subjecting oneself to the pertinent unwritten tenets to flourish over there. 

Discussing about migration and not recalling the corona pandemic would be a dire injustice. Till then migration which was more of diplomatic subject took a turn of being a matter of public safety. With each nation playing safe and applying brakes to mobility of transit population from different parts of the world from having access to their territory. With no clear cut rules bereft of universal goals busted the myth that world was global as it was pictured by optimists.

More than mentioning international migration, the internal migration highlighted the discontinuities existed within the centralization when it comes to treating the migrants who felt directionless w.r.t. the establishment. Government which needs to appreciated for tackling global pandemic using technology to vaccinate population did not find it meritorious to use the same technology in facilitating the migrants who wanted to stay close to their dear ones during the testing times.