Making MGNREGA work

Shortcomings such as delayed payments must be fixed

The government’s flagship rural employment initiative under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) set several performance records in 2020-21, thanks to the pandemic-driven reverse migration, which caused a huge surge in demand for jobs in rural areas. Yet this massive programme has failed to shed its unenviable image of being an unwieldy and inefficient provider of productive employment. Many of the problems with the scheme since its inception in 2005-06 have continued to mar its performance despite liberal funding and other support from both the Centre and state governments during this period.

The most glaring drawbacks that