NREGA: Opportunities and Challenges - Diksha

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NREGA: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGESTable: Agriculture land and its use in districts studied for this policy briefName of State Name of District Geographical Area Cultivable Area (%) Net Area Sown (%) Net Irrigated area (%)Andra Pradesh 14,189,936 56.08 39.10 13.39Ananthpur 1,934,888 63.70 52.52 6.80Ranga Reddy 756,372 59.79 37.28 9.78Jharkhand 7,209,332 45.60 27.47 3.35Pakur 172,961 43.23 26.46 3.40Karnataka 4,488,311 75.18 64.66 6.80Chitradurga 808,709 67.97 49.47 9.50Madhya Pradesh 11,613,831 52.30 45.10 10.11Sidhi 639,884 63.53 54.67 7.70Tikamgarh 463,884 60.62 51.76 36.50Orissa 8,145,787 49.10 40.00 7.52Balangir 538,418 69.30 56.80 7.50Rajasthan 3,869,625 49.61 40.80 8.44Dungarpur 382,648 40.63 30.62 3.25Tamil Nadu 2,640,608 68.80 47.70 20.08Nagappattinam 228,056 69.52 53.60 33.71Uttar Pradesh 9,389,391 75.82 65.80 36.70Banda 386,518 84.02 77.52 13.13Chitrakoot 210,941 69.98 63.79 11.20West Bengal 6,208,825 60.90 46.76 15.24Birbhum 454,293 72.84 56.51 26.64Source: Union Ministy of Water Resources, New DelhiRich lands, poor peopleIndia’s 200 backward districts are resource-rich, but their people are reeling under abject poverty. In fact,the country’s tribal areas, forested regions and mineral-rich lands overlap on its NREGA – read backwardareas. According to the Second Administrative Reforms Committee, the 200 NREGA districts occupy 38 percent of India’s area; they also hold close to 44.8 per cent of its forests and 85 per cent of its mineralresources. 13 These districts also account for 35 per cent of India’s cultivable areas (see Table: Agricultureland and its use in districts studled for this policy brief). Agriculture and forests sustain close to 87 per centof the population in these districts.They are also the least developed areas of the country, inhabited mostly by marginal farmers and forestdwellers. These districts hold 70 per cent of India’s poor. An analysis of their human development reportsindicates that all the NREGA districts hog the bottom positions in the per capita income list. A large numberof these districts are located in arid and semi-arid regions: 94 of these are covered under the DroughtproneAreas Programme (DPAP) and eight under the Desert Development Programme (DDP). Close to 80per cent of India’s rain-fed areas are in these districts. 14These districts account for 39 per cent of India’s total rural workforce. In 115 of them, the percentage ofagricultural labourers in the total rural working population is higher than the national average of 33 percent, indicating the large-scale landlessness in these districts combined with the lack of effectiveemployment opportunities in the non-agricultural sector. The Union ministry of agriculture’s sowing dataindicates that around 135 of these districts manage to cultivate only one crop. Absence of assuredirrigation is the single most cause of agrarian distress in these districts (assured irrigation, most farmerscan cultivate a second crop). The result: lower incomes for a large section of the rural population,contributing towards the backwardness of these districts.28
NREGA: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGESA ‘Situation Assessment of Farmers’, done by the National Sample Survey Organisation in 2002, points torampant indebtedness of farmers in NREGA states in general, and in the NREGA districts in particular. In19 out of the 27 NREGA states, close to 49 per cent of the farmers are indebted – up from 26 per cent in1991. Significantly, the two key causes for taking loans were found to be for productive purposes: capitalexpenditure and current expenditure in agriculture. Out of every Rs 1,000 taken as loan, Rs 584 had beenborrowed for these two purposes.Given that the NREGA covers most of India’s forested areas, the contribution of this sector to localeconomy has been substantial. The NREGA districts cover close to 40 per cent of India’s very denseforests and 47 per cent of its moderately dense forests (see Table: Forest cover in sleect districts of theNREGA states). Dependence of local people on forests for survival in these districts is very high. Studiesin Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand indicate that over 80 per cent of forest dwellersdepend entirely on minor forest produce; 17 per cent of landless people depend on the daily wage labourof collecting forest produce; and 39 per cent of people are involved in minor forest produce collection assubsidiary occupation. However, forest degradation and restrictive forest laws are stripping this vital sourceof livelihood. Out of 27 states under NREGA, 13 have reported forest loss. This means 138 districts out ofthe 200 are reporting deforestation.Given these socio-economic characteristics of India’s backward districts, NREGA holds immense potentialfor their long-term development. The ‘permissible works’ under the Act have the capacity to address thepoorest districts’ key problems like land degradation and water scarcity. Thus, for the poorest districts, theNREGA is more of a development opportunity than just creation of few daily wage jobs.Table: Forest cover in select districts of the NREGA StatesName of State Name of Geographical Total Forest Change in Total Forest % of Total ForestDistrict Area Sq. km Cover Sq. km Cover (2001-2003) Cover to State’sSq. kmGeographic AreaAndra Pradesh 171,044 28,956 -140 12.93Ananthpur 19,130 413 -98 2Ranga Reddy 7,710 392 11 5Jharkhand 67,328 18,803 -19 27.93Pakur 1,571 282 -12 18Karnataka 42,863 1,703 -244 3.97Chitradurga 8,440 445 11 5Madhya Pradesh 132,307 38,414 -858 29.03Sidhi 10,526 4,013 -81 38Tikamgarh 5048 325 -29 6.44Orissa 107,556 38,571 -47 35.85Balangir 6,575 952 -40 14Rajasthan 33,581 4,990 132 14.86Dungarpur 3,770 250 10 7Tamil Nadu 28,893 4,979 299 17.23Nagappattinam 2,140 53 -25 2Uttar Pradesh 95,722 7,403 287 44.63Banda 4,532 103 -80 2Chitakoot 3,206 36 1 0.55West Bengal 56,504 7,270 1,312 12.87Birbhum 4,545 59 0 1.30Source: State of Forest Report, Ministry of Environment and Forest, New Delhi29
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NREGA: Opportunities and Challenges - Diksha

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