Top

Published in:

2018 | OriginalPaper | Chapter

8. MGNREGS: Political Economy, Local Governance and Asset Creation in South India

Author : Vinoj Abraham

Published in: Employment Guarantee Programme and Dynamics of Rural Transformation in India

Publisher: Springer Singapore

Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.

search-config

AI-assisted search

Off

Abstract

Any governmental policy or programme is envisaged and implemented in a particular institutional context. The specificities of the local-level institutions considerably influence the processes of planning and implementation, even if the programme is conceived beyond the local. This study aims to bring out the interplay between the regional- and local-level institutions and a centrally sponsored national-level programme. The dynamics of local-level institutions on the processes and outcomes is analyzed in this study. Exploring MGNREGS, the premier centrally sponsored rural employment programme, this study focuses on three aspects: the local-level governance capacity, local governance structure and the regional political economy in shaping the programme in South India. Much of the scholarship on MGNREGS has focused on its primary goal of employment creation, while scant attention has been directed to its equally important twin goal, rural asset creation for enhancing rural livelihood. This study, focusing on asset creation under MGNREGS, collected evidences from the four southern states, viz., Andhra Pradesh (erstwhile), Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala. A comparative analysis of the four states shows that the design of the scheme for asset creation is subject to considerably varied interpretations at the regional and sub-regional levels anchored on the above factors. Further, the type of projects selected and created, extent and nature of expenditure incurred, quality of assets created, and maintenance of assets were considerably affected by the structures of local governance, the interaction between the political class and the local governments, and the local manifestations of class–caste dynamics.

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 102.000 Bücher
über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

previous chapter Asset Creation Under MGNREGA and Sustainable Agriculture Growth: Impacts of Convergence Initiatives in Odisha and West Bengal

next chapter MGNREGA and Inclusive Development: A Case Study in Tripura, Northeast India

Available only for authorised users

For details of the survey, please see Report of the Evaluation of the MGNREGS cluster 6, Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram.

It is argued that while TDP ruled the state during 1993–04, the local bodies were largely held by the Congress, and hence there was great reluctance for the state to pass on power to the local bodies (Kumar 2009).

See Table 8.1 for the broad list of type of assets that is taken up under MGNREGS.

Unlike in Andhra Pradesh, where one of the prominent assets to be developed was ‘Investing on Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe lands for irrigation and land development duly fulfilling Special Component Plan/Tribal Sub-Plan norms in each Mandal’, this item was conspicuous by its absence. http://karnregs.kar.nic.in/Resource/KREGS_Scheme_Eng.pdf, accessed on 3 January 2015.

In Tamil Nadu, the priority list does not match directly with the MGNREGS guidelines, so the exercise is limited to the other three states.

Priority of works for Tamil Nadu are as follows: (a) Formation of new ponds. (b) Renovation of existing Ponds, Kuttais, Kulams, Ooranies, Temple tanks, etc. (c) Desilting of channels. (d) Desilting and strengthening of bunds of irrigation tanks. (e) Formation of new roads. (f) Other water conservation/soil conservation measures/flood protection measures. http://www.tnrd.gov.in/schemes/nrega.html, accessed on 3 January 2015.

For instance in a GP in Tanjavur district of Tamil Nadu, we came across a very industrious GP president who, along with all the elected members of the GP and his supporters, regularly featured in the worksites as MGNREGS workers. They also worked and gave directions at worksites and ensured that along with the workers the GP also gained by building some useful assets. This interaction and active involvement of the GP leadership in the scheme made the scheme hugely popular in the GP and was successfully used as an asset building as well as rural livelihood scheme. But in other GPs the elected members were wary that the scheme was depriving the agriculturists of their labour and making agriculture unviable.

However, it may be noted that at the GP level, there were claims of contractor involvements even in States with aggregate low levels of contractor interference. Byson Valley GP in Kerala, for instance, had 40% respondents claiming there was contract involvement.

Though most works done in Andhra Pradesh were private in nature, two GPs in Ibrahimpatnamblock of Krishna district and the three GPs in Vidapanakkal block of Anantapur had about 30–40% respondents claiming that assets were public.

In Kerala, there were specific GPs that did complete private works, while some had a mix of both private and public; and some had only public works. In Idukki district, Kanchiyar and Kattapana were two GPs that had very high share of private works, in all other GPs private works were not the majority of the works. In both these GPs, KC (M) was ruling in coalition with the Congress, while in other panchayats their role was in the opposition or marginal.

Exchange labour system is a traditional system of labour sharing, wherein the small farmers pool their labour together and work in each other’s farms. This practice, which was waning earlier, had resurged in the recent past due to rising wages of wage labour and unavailability of unskilled labour in the local labour markets in Idukki.

Minutes of the meeting of the Empowered Committee to scrutinize and discuss Anticipated Labour Demand of Tamil Nadu for 2013–14, 15 February 2013, http://nrega.nic.in/Netnrega/WriteReaddata/Circulars/Minute_TN_meeting15Feb13.pdf, accessed on 7 January 2015.

Ananth Pur, K., and M. Moore. 2010. Ambiguous Institutions: Traditional Governance and Local Democracy in Rural South India. Journal of Development Studies 46 (4): 603–623.CrossRef

Ananth Pur, K. 2007. Dynamics of Local Governance in Karnataka. Economic and Political Weekly, Feb 24.

Besley, T., R. Pande, and V. Rao. 2007. Political Economy of Panchayats in South India. Economic and Political Weekly, Feb 24.

Chathukulam, J., and M.S. John. 2002. Five Years of Participatory Planning in Kerala: Rhetoric and Reality. Economic and Political Weekly, Dec 7.

De Neve, G., and G. Carswell. 2011. NREGA and the Return of Identity Politics in Western Tamil Nadu, India. Forum for Development Studies 38 (2): 205–210.CrossRef

GoK. 2009. Report on Committee for Evaluation of Decentralized Planning and Development, Government of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram.

Harriss, J., J. Jeyaranjan, and K. Nagaraj. 2010. Land, Labour and Caste Politics in Rural Tamil Nadu in the 20th Century: Iruvelpattu (1916-2008). Economic & Political Weekly, July 31, 45 (31): 47–61.

Heller, P., K. N. Harilal, and S. Chaudhuri. 2007. Building Local Democracy: Evaluating the Impact of Decentralization in Kerala, India. World development 35 (4): 626–648.

Isaac, Thomas T.V., and K.N. Harilal. 1997. Planning for Empowerment People’s Campaign for Decentralised Planning in Kerala. Economic and Political Weekly, Jan 4–11, 32 (1/2): 53–58.

Kumar, V.A. 2009. Federalism and Decentralisation in India: Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Working paper 208, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore.

Manor, J. 2007. Change in Karnataka over the Last Generation: Villages and the Wider Context. Economic and Political Weekly, Feb 24, 42 (8): 653–660.

Narayana, D. 2005. Local Governance without Capacity Building: Ten Years of Panchayati Raj. Economic and Political Weekly, June 25, 40 (26): 2822–2832.

Oommen, M.A. 2014. Deepening Democracy and Local Governance Challenges before Kerala. Economic and Political Weekly, June 21, 49 (25).

Rajasekhar, D., S. Lakha, and R. Manjula. 2013. How Effective are Social Audits under MGNREGS? Lessons from Karnataka. Working Paper No. 294, Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore.CrossRef

Sivasubramaniyan, K. 2006. Sustainable Development of Small Water Bodies in Tamil Nadu. Economic and Political Weekly, June 30, XLI (6).

Title: MGNREGS: Political Economy, Local Governance and Asset Creation in South India
Author: Vinoj Abraham
Publisher: Springer Singapore
Book: Employment Guarantee Programme and Dynamics of Rural Transformation in India
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-6261-2

Electronic ISBN: 978-981-10-6262-9

Copyright Year: 2018
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6262-9_8