NREGA and its Assets: A Comprehensive Assessment of NREGA Assets in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Orissa

Aims & Objectives: The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) is an ambitious centrally‐sponsored scheme with the potential to transform rural life by providing on‐demand wage employment, while creating useful assets whose benefits can be reaped to further improve livelihood status. It aimed at studying the impact of various assets constructed under NREGA in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Odisha.

Methodology: The study employed a mixed method approach using quantitative and qualitative tools. A multi-stage sampling approach was adopted for the selection of sample for the study i.e. two districts from each of the three states. In each of the six districts, two blocks were sampled – one CFT block and one non-CFT block. Thus, a total of twelve blocks were selected for the survey with two Gram Panchayats from each block.

Thus, a total of twenty-four Gram Panchayats were selected for the study. The qualitative information was collected through 48 FGDs, 24 in-depth interviews with Gram Rozgar Sewak (GRS)/Mukhiya/Sarpanch at Gram Panchayat level and 12 in-depth interviews with Block Programme Officer (BPO) or Additional Programme Officer (APO) at the Block level.

The study primarily probed the direct beneficiaries of the assets created. The information provided by them and their perception about the impact of the assets formed the basis of the study. The total number of beneficiaries surveyed for impact assessment of MGNREGA assets was 336 across the states of Jharkhand, Odisha and Chhattisgarh which comprised of 182 beneficiaries of individual assets and 126 beneficiaries community asset.

Findings:

• The beneficiaries of individual assets reported a significant increase in income compared to the beneficiaries of community assets after the asset’s construction under the impact assessment of MGNREGA assets.
• In terms of the quality of MGNREGA assets, 66 percent out of 336 beneficiaries reported that the quality of the assets was very good. In Chhattisgarh, 83 percent beneficiaries reported quality of MNREGA assets to be very good with Jharkhand and Odisha as the second and third best performer (67 percent and 48 percent).
• Most of the beneficiaries from Non-CFT Block (62 percent) reported the quality of the assets to be very good.
• Assets wise performance shows that the 82 percent beneficiaries reported that the quality of assets i.e. cow, goat, and poultry shed, vermin compost, etc. to be very good.