Indian Research Journal of Extension Education Special Issue (Volume I), January, 2012 169 : An Initiative towards Poverty Alleviation through Employment Generation Indira Bishnoi 1, Sarita Verma 2 and Swati Rai 3 1. Professor, 2. Research Scholar, 3.Post PG Student, Department of Home Science (Extension and Communication), Banaras Hindu University, Varansi, UP. indira bishnoi indira255@yahoo.com ABSTRACT On 25th August 2005, the parliament passed an Act called National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), the most accessible approach to rural India for poverty alleviation through employment generation. NREGA came into force in September 2005 and was launched by the then Prime Minister Mr. Manamohan Singh, on February 2nd 2006, in the village called Bandlapalli in Anantpur District of Andhra Pradesh. The UPA Government on 2nd October 2009 renamed the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (), on the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi s 140th birth anniversary. The Programme is sponsored by the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India. The present study was conducted in Khota Mahawa village of Babhani Block of Sonbhadra District of Uttar Pradesh, with the objective of analysing performance of MNAREG. For this, hundred beneficiaries both male and female were selected and information was collected with the help of structured Interview schedule and data was analysed with the appropriate statistical tools as; frequency, percentage and mean and result were drawn from it. It was found that respondents were well aware of the procedure of the such as registration, having job cards, 100 days employment in a year, process of opening bank accounts, accessing bank, receiving payment from bank and about the process of wage payment in.the main problem faced by the beneficiaries was delay in wage payment, and accessing bank account. Other significant finding was that Gram Pradhan played a very constructive, positive and active role in giving information about. It can be concluded that can be an important step towards poverty alleviation by giving employment to rural people. Key words : Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (), Poverty and unemployment is the basic problem of the rural India. More than 65 per cent of the country s population lives in rural areas and about 193 million rural people are poor and every three of the four people lives in rural India survive on less than US $ 1 a day. India s unemployment rate as per 2008 estimated as 10.4 per cent and as per 2009 it had increased to 10.7 percent. In the rural area, the proportion of unemployed is estimated as 37 persons/1000 population. Therefore, Employment generation and poverty alleviation are major priorities drawing the attention of the government and economic development planners all over the world. The approach in tackling unemployment problem has varied from time to time. The first wage employment programme was introduced in 1960s to provide employment to rural unemployed particularly during the lean agricultural season. Than National Rural Employment Programme (NREP) in 1980, Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme (RLEGP) in 1983, Jawahar Rojgar Yojana (JRY) in 1985 and was redesigned in 1999 as Jawahar Gram Samriddhi Yojana (JGSY), Employment Assurance Scheme (EAS) in 1993,Sampoorn Grameen Rojgar Yojana (SGRY) in 2001(JGSY and EAS were merged to form SGRY in 2001 because of having some drawbacks) and National Food For Work Programme (NFEWP) in 2004. Similarly, a new attempt of central government came into existence in the form of Act, on 25th August 2005; the parliament passed the Act called National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), the most accessible approach to rural India for poverty alleviation through employment generation. NREGA came into force in September 2005 and was launched by the then Prime Minister Mr. Manamohan Singh, on February 2 nd
170 Indian Research Journal of Extension Education Special Issue (Volume I), January, 2012 2006, in the village called Bandlapalli in Anantpur District of Andhra Pradesh. The UPA Government on 2nd October 2009 renamed National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) as Mahatma Gandhi, on the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi s 140th birth anniversary. This Programme is sponsored by the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India. As aims for employment at least 100 days in a year,therefore present study was undertaken with the following objectives, 1. To study the socio demographic information of the respondents. 2. To study and analyze the performance of in terms of- 2.1 Awareness and Accessibility of 2.2 Employment generation under 2.3 Process of Wage payment in 2.4 Extent of satisfaction of respondents about 3. To study the bank accessibility of beneficiaries. 4. To find out the constraints face by the beneficiaries in wage collection. METHODOLOGY The present study was conducted in Khota Mahawa village of Babhani Block in Sonbhadra District of Uttar Pradesh.This village was 5 km. away from Bhadani town.100 beneficiaries both male and female were selected randomly irrespective of cash and financial conditions. Data was collected with the help of pre-tested structured Interview Schedule. Period of data collection was from January 2011 to March 2011, data was collected during February 2011 To March 2011, collected data was tabulation was analysed by using frequency, percentage and mean. RESULT AND DISCUSSION Majority of the respondents (44 per cent) were of 26-35 years of age group, followed by 26 per cent in the age group of 36-45 years and rest were above 45 years. 54 per cent respondents were male while 46 percent female. It shows that rules were followed in giving work to female. All the respondents were married and 44 percent belonged to joint family and rest belonged to nuclear family. 44 per cent respondents belonged to large size family having more than 10 members.20 per cent of the respondents belonged to schedule caste and 80 per cent to Schedule Tribes, 86 per cent of the respondents were illiterate and 12 per cent respondents had primary education. 58 per cent respondents were BPL card holders, 12 per cent respondents were APL card holders and rest 30 per cent had Antoaya Cards. All the respondents had kaccha house. Majority of the respondents (68 per cent) had their monthly income Rs.1000-1500, 26 per cent had monthly income Upto Rs.1000 rest had monthly income of Rs. 2000 per month. All the result proves that all the beneficiaries were from very poor financial background as none of the respondents had even half kaccha and half pacca house. For them working in was really worth working. Table 1. Socio-demographic profile of the respondents (N=100) Characteristics Categories No. (%) Age 18-25 years 04 26-35 years 44 36-45 years 26 Above 45 26 Sex Male 54 Female 46 Marital status Married 100 Family type Nuclear 56 Joint 44 Family size Small (upto 5 members) 28 Medium (6-12 members) 28 Large (>10 members) 44 Religion Hindu 100 Caste Schedule Caste 20 Schedule Tribes 80 Education Illiterate 86 Primary 12 High school 02 Land Holding Landless 18 Upto 2 Bissa 48 2-4 Bissa 34 Card Holding B.P.L. Card 58 A.P.L. 12 Antodaya Card 30 House Type Kachha house 100 Monthly Income Upto 1000 26 Rs.1000-1500 68 Rs.1501-2000 6
Indian Research Journal of Extension Education Special Issue (Volume I), January, 2012 171 To study and analyze the performance of in terms of- 2.1. Awareness and accessibility of Table No. 2.1.a, Distribution of respondents according to the sources of Information about Sources of information about Gram Panchayat/Gram Pradhan 100 B.D.O. 00 Panchayat Sachiv 00 T.V./Radio 00 Table No. 2.1.a, reveals that Gram Panchayat/ Gram Pradhan was the only source, who had given information about to all the villagers, while other sources could not contribute any information in any form to beneficiaries. Table No.2.1.b. Distribution of respondents according to their Knowledge about Registration for Knowledge about Registration Had Knowledge 87 Had No Knowledge 13 Table No.2.1.b. reveals that majority of the respondents (87 per cent) had knowledge about registration which is requirement for getting work under this scheme, while rest had no knowledge about registration. Table No. 2.1.c. Distribution of respondents according to the time period since respondents were benefited by Time period since respondents were benefited 6 Months 10 1 Year 21 2 Years 32 3 Years 37 Table No. 3.1.c reveals that majority of the respondents (37 per cent) were benefited by for the last 3 years and 32 per cent of the respondents were benefited by from 2 years and rest 10 and 21 per cent were benefited from six months and one year respectively. 2.2. Employment generation under Table No.2.2.a. Distribution of the respondents according to the process adopted by them for registration in Process adopted by respondents for registration in Written 14 Oral 86 Table No.3.2.b. Reveals that majority of the respondents( 86 per cent) reported that oral process was adopted by them for the registration in and rest 14 per cent respondents had adopted oral process for registration. Table No.2.2.b. Distribution of the respondents according to issue of job cards Issue job cards to Individual 26 Households 74 Table No.3.2.b. reveals that 26 per cent of the respondents were issued individual job cards and 74 per cent of the respondents were issued household job card. Table No.2.2.c Distribution of the respondents according to their responses on 100 days of employment guaranteed under provide 100 days work It provides 100 days work 92 It did not provide 100 days work 08 Table No.2.2, c. Majority of the respondents (92 per cent) reported that they were getting 100 days of employment under and rest 8 per cent reported that they were not getting 100 days of employment. Table No.2.2.d. Distribution of the respondents according to the kinds of work assigned to female beneficiaries of Kind of work assigned to female beneficiaries Less labourious work - Assisting male workers - Carriage of soil, sand and bricks - Above all 100
172 Indian Research Journal of Extension Education Special Issue (Volume I), January, 2012 Table No.2.2.d. Reveals that all the respondents were agreed that all the above kinds of work assigned to female beneficiaries of. Table No.2.2.e. Distribution of the respondents according to provision of work within 5 km. Provision of work within 5 km. Work provided within 5 km. 100 Not provided within 5 km. 00 Table No.3.2.e All the 100 per cent of the respondents were aware of the provision of work within 5 km. 3. Process of Wage payment in Table No.2.2.a. Distribution of the respondents according to Payment received within 15 Days. Payment received within15 Days Received 92 Not Received 18 Table No.2.2.a. 92 per cent of the respondents reported that payment were received within15 Days and rest did not receive their payment within15 Days. Table No.2.2.b. Distribution of the respondents according to the average amount paid in Amount of wage paid < Rs.100 per day - Rs.100 per day 100 >Rs. 100 per day - Table No.2.2.b All the 100 per cent of the respondents were paid Rs.100 per day in. 2.4. Extent of satisfaction of respondents about - Table No.2.4. Distribution of the respondents on their level of satisfaction about Extent of satisfaction Less satisfied 10 Satisfied 15 Fully satisfied 75 Table No.2.4 Reveal that the majority of the respondents (75 Per cent) were fully satisfied and 15 per cent were satisfied rest were less satisfied with. 3. Bank accessibility of beneficiaries 3.1 Process of opening account Table No.3.1.a Distribution of the respondents possessing bank accounts Bank Accounts Had no bank accounts 00 Had bank accounts 100 Table No.3.1.a reveals that all the respondents had bank accounts. Table No.3.1.b. Distribution of the respondents on the basis of type of bank account Type of Bank Accounts Individual Account 26 Joint Account 74 Table No.3.1.b. Reveals that majority of the respondents (74 per cent) had joint account and 26 per cent of the respondents had individual account. Table No.3.1.c. Distribution of the respondents on the basis of amount paid for opening a bank account Amount paid for opening Bank Accounts Rs.100 46 Rs.150 56 Table No.3.1.c. reveals that majority of the respondents (56 per cent ) had opened their account with Rs.150 and 46 percent had opened their account with Rs. 100. 3.2. Process of receiving payment Table No.3.2.a Distribution of the respondents according to modes of payment in Payment received In Cash - Bank Accounts 100 Table No.3.2.a Reveals that all the respondents had received their payment in their bank accounts. Table No.3.2.b. Distribution of the respondents according to collection of their wages from the bank Collecting wages from the bank through Self 14 Gram Rojgar Sewak 86
Indian Research Journal of Extension Education Special Issue (Volume I), January, 2012 173 Table No.3.2.b. Reveals that majority of the respondents (86 per cent) were collecting their wages from the bank through Gram Rojgar Sewak while 14 per cent were collecting their wages from the bank themselves. 5.Constraints faced by the Beneficiaries in wage collection TableNo.5 Distribution of the respondents on the basis of kind of problems faced by them in collecting their wages Types of constraints faced in Collecting wages Problem in accessing bank 23 It takes Long time 12 Delays in wage payment 44 Asked to come another day 21 Table No.5 Reveals that majority of the respondents(44 per cent) reported that they faced the problem of delay in wage payment,23 per cent respondents had problem in accessing bank and 21 per cent reported that they were asked to come another day for wage payment and rest were reported that wage payment process took long time. CONCLUSION It can be concluded from the present study that respondents were well aware of the procedure of the such as registration, having job cards, 100 days employment in a year, Process of opening bank accounts, accessing bank, receiving payment from bank and about the process of wage payment in. They were aware of employment generation process. they faced the problem of delay in wage payment, problem in accessing bank and were asked to come another day for wage payment Further, it also reveals that there was monitoring of work at all levels from Gram Pradhan to Block Officers.Other important points which had emerged that Gram Pradhan played a very constructive, positive and active role in giving information about. So it can be concluded that can be an important step in poverty alleviation through employment generation in rural population. REFERENCES Kurukshetra : A Journal of Rural Development. March 2011.P.P.41-42. Kurukshetra : A Journal of Rural Development. December 2009.P.P.2-41. Nrega.nic.in/presentation/implement-NREGA.ppt. http://narega.nic.in/nrega_guidelineseng.pdf http://www.cs-delhi.com/events/downloads/nrega-concept_note.pdf http://extension OF NREGA ACROSS THE COUNTRY<<India current affairs.htm