Ph. D Scholar, Department of Political Science, University of Delhi
Online published on 20 April, 2017.
The passage of 73rd constitutional Amendment Act, 1992 started a new era in the history of Indian Constitution since its enforcement. A new chapter was added in the federal framework with a provision of a separate third tier of government. The idea was to provide arms and teeth to the local self government. The legislation ensured delegating suitable power to the people in making and implementing decisions through appropriate, legal, political, and financial support by the centre and the state. Early reforms in this direction like IRDP, RLEGP, TRYSEM, FFW and SGRY were rolled out but witnessed limited success. The main reason for their failure could be attributed to the lack of constitutional status which only came after the 73rd Amendment Act. The other reason was the trickle down approach of the centre and state government which completely ignored the ground realities. The years between 1990–2000 witnessed a period of jobless growth. The condition of waged labour went from bad to worse. The 2001 Census Report reaffirmed this fact and reiterated the urgent need to relook into the massive rural poverty. Recognizing the ominous signs the union government enacted the NREGA in 2005. The programme aimed to address poverty and unemployment in rural milieu. During the lean season, through provision of mandatory work for hundred days in a year based on demand, generated additional 33 percent compulsory reservation to women in MGNREGA work as prescribed in the schedule mentioned in the Act. MGNREGA is a concerted effort by Centre, States and PRIs to address rural poverty and migration. It also has implicitly addressed the gender discord by according suitable reservation, benefiting women in true sense.
