Management of Mahatma Gandhi National rural employment guarantee scheme in Haryana: Issues and challenges

In Haryana, majority of the population still depends on agriculture for their livelihood. To reduce the burden on agriculture and to control the rural out-migration, MNREGA was initially introduced in two districts of Haryana namely, Mahendragarh and Sirsa in 2007. The scheme was further extended to the rest of the districts in the following years. This paper attempts to understand the issues relating to implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) in Haryana. The study is based on both secondary and primary data collected from among a sample of 80 beneficiares (participant households) and 60 non-beneficiaries (non-participant households) in four villages/Gram Panchayats of Mahendergarh district spread over its three blocks, namely Mahendergarh, Narnaul and Nangal Chaudhary. The analysis of the data covers various aspects of implementation of the MNREGA in Haryana. For effective implementation of the MNREGA, the paper suggests that the scope and coverage of the scheme should be expanded.