MGNREGA_SAMEEKSHA

52 MGNREGA Sameeksha
labour, 42 there is no significant impact of MGNREGA
on out-flow of labour. 43 This may be because, to begin
with only a limited percentage of population migrates
out of the state for migration. In a study to assess
the impact of MGNREGA on migration in Punjab,
it was found that only around 5 per cent of the 300
households in five districts reported migration from
the village due to employment opportunities. 44
The World Development Report 2009 contended
that a reduction in migration, as caused by
MGNREGA, is posing a barrier to internal mobility
thus limiting economic growth of these households.
A majority of the studies on the subject note that
the Scheme has caused mostly a reduction in
distress migration, and opportunistic or aspirational
migration in search of better and more lucrative
opportunities continues as before (particularly
because MGNREGA cannot match the wages of
skilled labour in cities). 45
The reduction in distress migration may be
more apparent in the case of households that need
to migrate with their families; the entire family
is forced to migrate to cities due to limited work
opportunities. This leads to a disruption of children’s
education and access to family health care. 46 A study
across 12 districts of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh,
Maharashtra and Rajasthan, found that out of 938
beneficiaries, 55 per cent of the respondents felt
that migration had been reduced in their families
as a result of MGNREGA. Thirty-five per cent of the
respondents (out of 938 respondents) felt that their
children’s education had been positively benefitted
by MGNREGA, while 30 per cent felt that their
clothing had improved. 47 A longitudinal study across
six districts in Andhra Pradesh also highlights the
positive impact of the Scheme on reduction in child
labour. As per the research, MGNREGA reduced
the probability of a boy (whose family was provided
Box 5.1
MGNREGA: Stemming Distress Migration
Recurring drought in western Odisha, has diminished opportunities for labour employment in the agriculture sector
forcing people to migrate in large numbers to far off places like the brick kilns of Andhra Pradesh the carpet industry in
Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. Most of these migrants are the landless and marginal farmers who resort to distress
mortgaging or selling of their little yet precious land and other assets and migrate out along with their families, taking
their school-going children with them, leaving behind the old and aged.
The interventions of eight partner organisations of the National Consortium of Civil Society Organisations (NCCSO)
on MGNREGA working in western Odisha helped GPs to prepare plans worth Rs 18 crores in 59 villages between 2008
and 2009. In a distress migration zone, in 2009–10, the number of migrating families came down to 45 per cent of the
level in 2008–09.
For instance, Ucchab Kumar’s family has been migrating out of their village in distress for the past three generations
to work in Andhra’s brick kilns. Adhikar, a CSO working in Bolangir district, helped the GP plan and construct this
farm pond under NREGA on Ucchab’s land in Juba village. This minor investment has helped to completely stop his
and his family’s migration. Ucchab’s farm pond not only protects the main paddy crop on his own 2.5 acres but also
provides protective irrigation to 5.5 acres of adjacent farm land belonging to his neighbours.
Source: National Consortium of Civil Society Organizations (NCCSO), ‘MGNREGA: Opportunities, Challenges and the
Road Ahead’, Second Report of the NCCSO on MGNREGA, 2011.
42
Cf. T. Shah and R. Indu, MGNREGA in Indo-Gangetic Basin: Fieldnotes from Here and There, Anand: International Water
Management Institute (IWMI), 2009.
43
K. Vatta, D. K. Grover and T. Grover, ‘Impact of NREGA on Wage Rates, Food Security and Rural Urban Migration
in Punjab’, Ludhiana: Agro-Economic Research Cente, Punjab Agriculture University, Report submitted to Ministry of
Agriculture, 2011.
44
Ibid.
45
S. Verma, ‘Multiple Use Water Services in India: Scaling up Community based MUS through MGNREGA’, International
Water Management Institute (IWMI), 2011.
46
P. Mistry and A. Jaswal, Study on the Implementation of NREGS: Focus on Migration, DISHA, 2009.
47
Ibid.