It is the last week of April and pre-monsoon thundershowers have started in the peninsular India. A month from now, the southwest monsoon, which is rightly called the real finance minister of the country, will arrive and is forecasted to be ‘normal’ by the India Meteorological Department.
It is the monsoon season rainfall between June and September that sustains a large part of the country’s agriculture and replenishes the surface water bodies and aquifers. Harvesting and conserving these rain drops are crucial to ensure there is no water scarcity in the country till the arrival of the next year’s monsoon.
Since March 25, in response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the country is under a nation-wide lockdown till at least May 3. On April 15, the Union ministry of home affairs issued consolidated guidelines, including those for the MGNREGS (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme at the state level) works. Apart from following physical distancing and wearing face mask/protective face cover, the ministry has stressed on priority under MGNREGS works to “irrigation and water conservation works such as construction of feeder canals… check dams for individuals and community, construction of irrigation open wells… farm ponds, mini percolation tanks… recharge pits…”
However, due to the lockdown, there has been a decline in wage employment under MGNREGA, or the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, which provides at least 100 days of wage employment in a financial year to every rural household whose adult member demands unskilled manual work.
Karnataka, which in the past has been facing recurring droughts, especially in the northern districts of the state, issued its own guidelines on March 27, within two days of the lockdown, to carry out MGNREGS works with physical distancing and by employing teams of villagers not larger than five people.
This is crucial during the lockdown, as most activities are shut in the country and daily wagers are out of work with no source of income. Additionally, water conservation works undertaken during the pre-monsoon period will help make the most of this year’s monsoon rainfall.
Amid the lockdown, between April 1 and April 23, Karnataka has generated MGNREGS work worth 1.48 million person-days, thereby providing wage employment to 1.06 lakh rural households by covering 1.76 lakh individuals, as recorded by the rural development and panchayati raj department of the Government of Karnataka. Half of the beneficiaries are rural women.
However, between January and March this year, 25 million person-days were generated in the state through the MGNREGS. Thus, on an average more than 8 million person-days a month, which is much higher than the 1.48 million person-days in 23 days of April. Last April, in 2019, 3.67 million person-days were generated under the MGNREGS in the state.
“The summer months typically see peak employment rates under MGNREGS. This is especially true in Karnataka, as it is the second most arid state in the country,” L K Atheeq, principal secretary with rural development and panchayati raj department told Gaon Connection.
Speaking about the dip in wage employment due to the lockdown, he said: “Compared to March and May months, we do see a dip in April for administrative reasons of the switch over from one financial year to the next. However, the main reason for the drop in April this year is clearly the lockdown. It is not normal to have this low a figure in April.”
But, the efforts are on to increase wage employment even though COVID-19 has not subsided. Physical distancing is being followed while undertaking MGNREGS works. Instructions have been issued to form small groups of labourers not exceeding five at a place. A minimum distance of three feet is being maintained between workers. Soap and water is available at all worksites.
Apart from this, gram panchayat task forces have been set up in 6,018 gram panchayats of the state to enforce all the necessary measures. Their members include panchayat development officers, elected members of the gram panchayat, ASHAs, anganwadi workers, police, and medical officers. These task forces have been trained in a phased manner through a YouTube Live session between March 25 and April 5.
“Although the lockdown has posed challenges, we have been successful in starting MGNREGS works this season… We have laid a lot of emphasis on building water conservation structures like boulder checks, check dams, trench cum bunds and farm ponds in the state,” he added.
Between April 2019 and March 2020, of the total works undertaken in the state under the MGNREGS, 64 per cent were for the natural resource management, such as bunding, farm ponds, restoration of traditional water bodies, soil moisture conservation works. The same has been continued in the month of April this year to maximise the benefits of the upcoming monsoon season.
A large number of these works have been undertaken in the north Karnataka region, which is drought-prone, and has been facing successive droughts. With 46,124 works, Belagavi district (formerly Belgaum) tops MGNREGS works in north Karnataka in the last financial year (see table: Number of MGNREGS works in select districts of Karnataka; April 2019 to March 2020).
Table: Number of MGNREGS works in select districts of Karnataka; April 2019 to March 2020
Source: Rural development and panchayati raj department, Government of Karnataka.
The pathbreaking Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, which guarantees 100 days a year work, is based on the Employment Guarantee Scheme in Maharashtra, which was launched during one of the worst droughts in the state in 1972-73.
The purpose of the 2005 Act is at least two fold — provide on-demand employment to the rural people and build sustainable structures/assets to enhance the rural economy. If built properly with right site selection, these structures — percolation tanks, farm ponds, bunds and trenches — can also help drought proof villages and regions.
During the ongoing lockdown, MGNREGS is providing income support to the rural people. It is increasingly become clear that COVID-19 is not just a health crisis, but has snowballed into a humanitarian crisis as the poor and the marginalised have lost their sources of income and have been forced to walk hundreds of kilometres to reach back their villages. Hundreds of thousands of them are still stranded in cities in migrant labour camps. The Central government has announced a Rs 1.70 lakh crore relief package for the poor, but it offers little help.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, MGNREGS has emerged as the crucial social safety net that is needed in a lockdown situation wherein vulnerable people have lost livelihoods and the country has witnessed a lot of reverse migration from the cities to the villages,” said Atheeq.
Between April 1 and April 23, the rural development department has booked a wage expenditure of Rs 47.66 crore under the MGNREGS works. The wage rate per person per day in the state is Rs 275. Meanwhile, between January and March this year, Rs 629.08 crore has been booked as wage expenditure and another Rs 238.52 crore released towards material component. Additionally, a material expenditure of Rs 267.84 crore was booked in this period.
Clearly, the next one month is crucial, both from the perspective of water conservation works and the livelihoods of rural people. By following physical distancing, MGNREGS works can help kill two birds with one stone.
