The NREGA signal (Indian Express)

Mains Paper 3: Economy
Prelims level: MGNREGA scheme
Mains level: Youth of MGNREGA indicating the distress in economy

Context

• As this paper has reported, the proportion of young workers, those in the age group of 18-30, in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act or MGNREGA scheme, has begun to rise, especially after 2017-18, when the economy was hit first by demonetisation and later by the implementation of the GST.

Highlights of the report says

• The number of young workers employed under the demand driven social security scheme rose to 70.71 lakh in 2018-19 — up from 58.69 lakh in FY18.
• This seems to be on an upward trajectory also, with 57.57 lakh having been employed upto October 21 this year.
• After the contraction of factory output by 1.1 per compared to the past year.
• The sharp decline in commercial credit in the year till September and cent in August other such gloomy indicators, come fresh signs of the deepening slowdown.

Reflecting the data

• MGNREGA is a scheme targeted at the hinterland, aiming to provide 100 days of work to each rural household.
• It is clearly a reflection of the little or limited opportunities for the young in rural India to venture out to bigger towns or cities given the slump in construction, real estate and manufacturing and the informal sector besides services, especially the hospitality business.
• The warning signs were evident much earlier, including in the last fiscal, when the demand for work under the MGNREGA, rose almost 10 per cent compared to the previous year.
• It given mounting rural distress and low farm support prices.

Issue with MGNREGA

• The government pegged the allocation for this scheme for FY20 at Rs 60,000 crore.
• This is a marginal decline compared to the revised estimates for the last fiscal.
• A minister said that the government did not want MGNREGA to be a programme in perpetuity.

Way ahead

• Nobel laureate Abhijit Banerjee had recently pointed to what he reckoned is a worrying factor — average consumption expenditure at 2018 prices had fallen from Rs 1,587 per person each month in 2014 to Rs 1,524 in 2017-18 in rural areas, according to NSSO data.
• Banerjee has suggested raising wages under MGNREGA and farm support prices.

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Prelims Questions:

Q.1) With respect to “World Elder Abuse Awareness Day”, consider the following statements:
1. Its objective is to voice opposition to the abuse and suffering inflicted on elderly people.
2. According to the UN, around 1 in 6 older people experience some form of abuse.

Which of the statements given above are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c) Both 1 and 2
(d) None of the above

Ans: C
Mains Questions:
Q.1) What are the key issues with MGNREGA scheme? How it can be resolved?