Economic performance of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) implementation in rural India

The present study compares the implementing efficiency level of the MGNREG scheme in different states/UT of India. The Findings revealed that Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh recorded the highest percentage of households completing 100 days of employment. Recently the number of average person-days per household under MGNREGS was 50 days, the highest women person-days were recorded to about 54% and the average wages rate paid was Rs. 191 which is increased to Rs.200 wage rate per day per person while comparing the minimum agricultural wages to about Rs.300 per day. The efficiency of states in the implementation of the scheme was measured using Data envelopment analysis. Input oriented DEA model was used under the assumption of constant returns to scale (CRS). Nearly three states under the assumption of constant returns to scale were found to be efficient. Based on technical efficiency values Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Tripura, were considered as best performing states, whereas Jammu and Kashmir (Union territory), Arunachal Pradesh and Goa are the least performing states which imply effective and non-effective in better implementation across rural India.