IASSI-Quarterly

This paper is motivated by concerns about resistant complaints of ‘delayed MGNREGS payment’ which is alleged to be limiting the extent of success of the scheme. The paper analyzes, through field survey, the implication of delayed payment under MGNREGS on the livelihood of the rural labour households. The survey of the above-mentioned study was conducted in the financial year of 2016–17 and three of the 10 most backward agricultural districts of West Bengal namely Birbhum, Bankura and Utter Dinajpur were purposively selected on the basis of MGNREGA work intensity to permit comparative analysis among district persistently excelling (Birbhum), district with average performance (Bankura) and district displaying the poorest MGNREGS performance (Utter Dinajpur), for the period of three to four years at a stretch (2012–15). Within the districts, 3 Panchayats and 5 villages were surveyed that matched the afore-mentioned criteria. The sample size of the study was 300 households with 70 percent weightage to MGNREGS participant households and 30 percent to MGNREGS non-participant households The results of the survey indicate that MGNREGS participant workers, being pervaded by the problem of delayed wage payment to the extent of 3 to 3.5 months, rather ran into debt and sorted to variable borrowing, in contrast to the very objective of the ‘noble’ Social Protection Scheme of reducing poverty and indebtedness. The intensity of MGNREGS implementation and degree of indebtedness of participant households seemed to move in same direction. Consequently the rural labours of the studied areas preferably accelerated their period of distressed migration outside the state to settle the debt. Yet worse becomes the situation of non-migrating households In the absence of sufficient rural farm and non-farm works, with the receipt of MGNREGS payment, a large share of money was used to pay off the debt rather than investing in household consumption. So in other words, MGNREGS, coupled with the curse of ‘delayed payment’, proved to be a bane rather than boon wherever it provided intense coverage.