This paper attempts to study the impact of the National Rural
Employment Guarantee Programme in three Grama Panchayats of
Kasaragod District,namely Madikai, Ajanoor and Trikarpur. It also looks
into the organizational arrangements for planning and implementation
of the scheme. Various institutional aspects in the form of Guidelines,
Rules and Regulations brought out by the Government of Kerala have
also been examined.
The identification of projects for NREGA is a grass root level
activity with Ward Development Committee and Area Development
Society of Kudumbasree playing a pivotal role. The role of Grama Sabha
in the formulation of a ward level Action Plan is found to be weak.
The worker registration is appreciably good in all the three Grama
Panchayats. Registration of SC and ST categories also is impressive. But
there is a big drop in the number of people who demanded jobs in 2007-
08. It is below one fourth in two Panchayats and just above one third in
the third Panchayat. There is a further drop in the number in the succeeding
year. The rosy part is that all those who demanded jobs have been provided
with jobs. The percentage of man-days generated for SC and ST categories
is very low compared to that of the general category. Women of the general
category constituted the major beneficiaries of NREGA.
Unskilled wages constituted the major component of expenditure.
The number of projects is large, most of them not leading to creation of
public durable assets. There is lack of integration with other schemes
implemented at local level. The scheme is successful in raising the level
of employment and income of the rural household, there by enhancing
their purchasing power. Working in groups has empowered the women
socially. In some cases NREGA works and agricultural works were
operational at the same time aggravating the problem of labour shortage
in agriculture.
The study recommends a few changes in the existing operational
system to make the programme more effective.
Key words: Kasaragod, Kudumbasree, NREGA, women empowerment.
JEL Classification: E24, J3
