MGNREGA Works and their Impacts-A Rapid Assessment in Kalaburagi District of Karnataka

This paper presents the results of a survey of works created under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) 4 villages in Kalaburagi district in Karnataka. It has two goals: the first was to verify the existence of the assets and the second was to elicit user perceptions of the problems and benefits they associate with the work. The survey indicates that 87% of the works exist and function and over 75% of them are directly or indirectly related to agriculture. A bulk of the rest constitutes rural roads that connect habitations to farms and provides access to agricultural markets. The study also finds that 92% of the randomly selected users paper that their main occupation is farming; half of them are small and marginal farmers, owning less than 1.6 hectares of land. An overwhelming 90% of respondents considered the works very useful or somewhat useful; only 8% felt the works were useless. Out of total (48) number of works, 87.50 per cent and 90.00% were the works related to natural resource management and 12.50 and 10.00 per cent of works pertains to other works in fully and partially implemented MGNREGA villages respectively. The total number of works (42 and 18) in fully and partially implemented MGNREGA villages that were helpful in conservation of natural resources like soil and water for their sustainable use, and the rest were executed under MGNREGA were like construction of roads/rural connectivity. Overall it appears that the works are supportive of agriculture and of small and marginal farmers. There is however scope to improve the design of assets and to have a more inclusive process of work selection.