Household Livelihood Security in Tamil Nadu: Role of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme

Change in governments both in centre and state in a federal state such as India eventually leads to change in public policies. The UPA government when assumed power in 2004 initiated the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Programme (MGNREGP) in order to provide employment to every household for 100 days in a year. The programme, despite several drawbacks, had reached thousands of households in terms of livelihood security. It was doubted if the new incumbent BJP-led NDA government in 2014 would terminate the programme or reduce it to few blocks in the country. Nevertheless, the MGNREGP continues to function with an additional 1, 000 crore allotted in the budget 2014–15. In this connection, this paper aims to justify the decision to continue the programme and also suggests measures to make it more effective in terms of household livelihood security.