Bring in machines

Bring in machines

MGNREGS design can provide states with more flexibility without diluting its core objectives.

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme is the country’s primary vehicle to ensure rural livelihood security. Open to adults who are willing to do unskilled manual work, it guarantees 100 days of employment at pre-determined wage rates. Given the diversity of conditions across states, the scheme could do with more flexibility. It is in this context that government should view the requests of the three states, which want to use machines in carrying out work in rocky terrain.

Two conditions govern MGNREGS today. The wage to material ratio has to be maintained at 60:40 level, and contractors and labour displacing machinery are disallowed. If livelihood security is the primary aim, creation of rural assets is an attendant objective of the scheme. It’s possible to ensure both aims are simultaneously met even after providing states more flexibility by way of machines. Flexibility to accommodate regional differences is not alien to the scheme. To illustrate, the wages vary between states, based on local conditions. Therefore, states are not asking for something entirely new.

Three states, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, reportedly want relaxations of the bar on machines to tackle rocky terrain. About 260 different kinds of work are permissible under the scheme. If the scheme design is restrictive, it may come at the expense of utilising the full spectrum of activities possible. Even if greater flexibility is granted, there are ways of keeping track of activities to make sure none of the core objectives are diluted. For instance, geotagging is now mandatory and over 36 million assets under the scheme have been tagged. The lesson here is that MGNREGS should evolve with time and the process need not compromise government’s legal obligation to provide livelihood security. Expanding rural assets is also important.