Department of Economics and Sociology, College of Basic Sciences and Humanities, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, 141004, Punjab, India
Online published on 13 December, 2019.
The present study was conducted in Punjab to examine the extent and socio-economic characteristics of the job card holders under MGNREGA. The formulations of the study are based on the primary data collected from a sample of total 120 job card holders selected through a multi-stage random sampling technique. The majority of the job card holders were in their productive age group which had more strength to work. In zone I, 25% of the employment of women did not match with the spirits of the Act which emphasized on the of employment of 30% of women workers under it. Majority of the job card holders belonged to scheduled castes and were illiterate and married. More than half of them had five to six members in the family. About 90% of the job card holders under study were landless and their main occupation was labour. The study found that only about six percent of the income of the MGNREGA workers had come from the employment under it and there was a high income debt ratio on the families of the respondents taken under study.
