About the Session
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 is a landmark law which guarantees 100 days of livelihood to rural households. Yet even after a decade of its implementation the Act faces serious challenges to its implementation. While Budget 2017 seemed to have significantly increased allocations to MGNREGA, the Act continues to face a crisis of funds resulting in low wage rates and consistent delay in the payment of wages to beneficiaries. Over the past few years, a team of researchers, including Rajendran, have been measuring the extent of this fund crisis and its impact on wage payments in 10 states. This discussion will share some of their main findings and highlight the reasons behind the delay of funds (including the dynamics between centre-state in determining wage rates), and the impact this will have on livelihood security in rural India.
About the Speaker
Dr Rajendran Narayanan is an Assistant Professor in the School of Liberal Studies at Azim Premji University, Bangalore. He completed his Ph.D in mathematical statistics from Cornell University. He has held academic positions in Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, Cornell University, and Ashoka University. Since his Ph.D, he has been an intrinsic member of LibTech India, an informal group of researchers and activists that work on questions of transparency and accountability in MGNREGA and the Public Distribution System. The group works with several civil society organisations in Jharkhand, Bihar, Telangana, and Andhra. As a group, LibTech India tries to understand rural citizen experience in times of technology mediated policy initiatives and aim to create bottom-up, people-driven, “Janata Information Systems (JIS)”. The group hopes that this will lead to continuous monitoring of government programmes, leading to more empowerment and better participatory democracy.
About the Policy In-Depth Series
The Policy In-Depth Series hosted by Accountability Initiative at the Centre for Policy Research deliberates on the implementation of key welfare programmes in India, the policy decisions that direct their course and the impact this has on citizens.
Kindly click here to register or RSVP at ashrivastava@accountabilityindia.org.
The full discussion will be live streamed through Facebook on Accountability Initiative’s Facebook page.
