Within four years of time span, as per the government data more than 3.12 crores households are provided with employment through out the country. This also states that around 122.45 crore person days are created and 7.32 lakhs assets are built, out of 26.14 lakhs taken up under the programme. The national bulletin of NREGA also puts on view that out of the total person days created 50% are the person days by the women laborers. Similarly, 29.9% are created by the laborers from SC community and 21.8% by the ST community laborers. However a swift look at these figures, giving a kind of contentment in terms of that the socially backward groups like scheduled tribes, scheduled castes as well as women participated in the programme but when it comes to social inclusion of these groups in a flagship programme like NREGA, it needs to be viewed critically.   

 

No doubt that NREGA is the first act in its type which is more inclusive in nature. It was primarily implemented in 200 districts (later on expanded to all the districts) in the country where poverty and backwardness are the major issues. Similarly, in the act there is the provision for giving preference to 30% of women in each works. There are provisions for land development of SCs, STs and IAY beneficiaries. The central portal also maintains a data base, where it indicates person days created by the scheduled caste, scheduled tribe, and persons with disability and women laborers.  Even though the data generated under NREGA views a bright picture in terms of inclusion issues but the state and regional wise data says a different story all together. It is like some states performing well and have successfully included these socially excluded groups where as many other states are lacking behind.

 

Let’s start with the figures of inclusion of women laborers in NREGA. Women are the half of the whole workforce. As per the national level consolidated figure, during the financial year of 2008-09, out of the total laborers, 47% were women. During the year of 2009-10 (six months) the percentage of women participation is 51%. That means the involvement of women in NREGA is moving upward, if seen in a national perspective.

 

However, State wise, it varies and in some states inclusion of the women is a matter of concern. For instance during the year of 2008-2009, in the states like Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, the percentage of women participations was either 30% or less than that. It should be noted here that these are the states where there is a good number of share of women in the total rural workforce. In addition to this there are also states like Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Haryana, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir where it is less than thirty percent or just touched it. I

 

In current financial year of 2009-10, till date Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir again remained in the same list where women participation is less than 30%. Even though in the states like Jharkhand (32%) and West Bengal (37%), in the current year the participation has increased but it is very minimal in comparison to the previous year. In terms of inclusion of women laborers the southern states have performed well. In the current year, Kerala stands on the top where, percentage of women participation is more than 83%.

 

Among other south Indian states, Tamil Nadu (78%), Andhra Pradesh (58%) and Karnataka (45%) performed well. It is clear here that even though the national percentage looks fine, but much needs to be done at the state level. The state governments like Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal needs to give much focus on this aspect to ensure the participation of more number of women laborers in NREGA. The inclusion of women in NREGA should be looked from a social, as well as political perspective and not merely an economic one.

 

Next in the inclusion ladders are the laborers from the scheduled castes and scheduled tribe communities. In India as per the 2001 census, the share of the scheduled caste population in total population is 16.2%. This is the community which have either no or less access to land. They depend on caste based occupation as well as on the daily labour activities. Therefore the rural employment guarantee act becomes a vital source of income for these communities. The national consolidated figure for the financial year 2008-2009, proves that the participation of different scheduled caste communities in NREGA is somehow fair, if compared to the share of the community in the total population.

 

 

In the said year, percentage of SC participation in NREGA was around 29% nationally. In the states like Punjab (74%), Tamil Nadu (60%), Haryana (53%), Bihar (50%), it was more than fifty percent. However in the states like Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa etc. the participation of SCs in NREGA is higher than their share in the states total population but it is not very much encouraging.

 

It is because the participation of SC laborers in NREGA was less than 30%. In the year of 2009-10, nationally the participation has only increased by one percent. In the current year, the states like Orissa, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan needs to be more proactive in ensuring the participation of laborers from these communities.

 

 Similarly, as per 2001 Census, the share of scheduled tribe population in total population is 8.1%. In the states like Chhattisgarh (31.8), Jharkhand (26.3), Maharashtra (34.4), Orissa (22.1), Madhya Pradesh (20.3) the share of tribal population is bit high in comparison to other states. These states are the backward states of India and the socio-economic condition of the tribal communities is also not good. They are normally excluded from many of the government programmes and schemes. NREGA created a scope for inclusion of these backward communities and improving their socio-economic conditions. In the year of 2008-09, the percentage of ST participation in NREGA was 25.43, where as in the year of 2009-10, it is 21.54%, till date.

 

The issue of people with disability and opportunity for them to get work under NREGA is one more concern from the beginning of the programme. However, things have improved in terms of engagement of the disables in NREGA but more efforts need to be done. It has experienced that the inclusion of people with disability in NREGA is an issue of mindset of the officials at the local level. It is a common mindset that disables people can not do physical labour and therefore not allowed to work by the local officials and representatives. A high number of disable persons having job cards in different states indicates that they are interested to be engaged in the work. In order to ensure their inclusion, the typical mindset of the ground level officials needs to be changed.

 

Only ensuring the participation of the deprived in NREGA is not the solution. The government has to ensure that the wage goes to them in time and as per their days of work. Along with that their participation in the process of planning, monitoring and evaluation of the scheme needs to be ensured very strictly.

 

NREGA has come with the objective of providing hundred days of employment to the rural laborers. But it should not be seen as a government welfare programme as like others. It might have a welfaristic approach but more of that it gives rights to the people to demand, work and earn wages to live their life. In this context it becomes important where the most deprived, scheduled caste, scheduled tribe, women and the disables included in the programme and got maximum benefit out of it. The state governments who are responsible for the purpose of implementing this flagship programme needs to keep it in mind. Although NREGA is a demand driven programme and the supply of work depends on the demand made by the laborers, but it is the duty of the government to carry out awareness programmes in such a way, so that the most deprived gets maximum benefit of the scheme.