MGNREGA in Kashmir: An Analysis of Labour Market Outcomes and Livelihood Security

Mushtaq Ahmad Malla

Indian Journal of Human Development, 2020, vol. 14, issue 3, 424-446

Abstract: This article attempts to examine the coverage and labour market outcomes of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in Kashmir. It is based on a cross-sectional mixed-method study of 200 households, 40 bureaucrats and local political representatives conducted in Kupwara, one of the poorest districts of Jammu & Kashmir. The article argues that MGNREGA is poorly implemented and is not functioning as a guaranteed safety net for the poor households that suffer from job scarcity. Considerable benefits are directed towards the non-poor, while several poor and deserving households are excluded. This bias is a result of rationing in local distribution by middlemen in collusion with bureaucrats to further their political and economic interests. In addition, the administration’s orientation towards MGNREGA as a development policy instead of a social protection, supply shortage in the provision of MGNREGA work and administrative delays in project operationalisation are some of the key bottlenecks. The article contends that the policy has enormous scope and potential to achieve its anticipated objective of acting as livelihood protection for job scarce workers in rural Kashmir, if it is implemented as a social protection policy following its provisions in its true spirit.

Keywords: Social protection; MGNREGA; Kashmir; targeting; labour market; local politics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:inddev:v:14:y:2020:i:3:p:424-446

DOI: 10.1177/0973703020954660

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