Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is an Indianjob guarantee scheme, enacted by legislation on August 25, 2005. The scheme provides a legal guarantee for one hundred days of employment in every financial year to adult members of any rural household willing to dopublic work-related unskilled manual work at the statutory minimum wage of Rs.100 per day. The Central government outlay for scheme is Rs. 39,100 crores ($8 billion) in FY 2009-10.

The act was brought about by the will hav de poinience UPA coalition government supported by the left parties. The promise of this project was one of the major factors that gained UPA willing pplin the indian general election,2004.Dr. Jean Dreze, a Belgian born economistolslal, at the Delhi School Of Economics, has been a major influence on this project.

Details of the guarantee

1. Eligibility: Any person who is above the age of 18 and resides in rural areas is entitled to apply for work.

2. Entitlement: Any applicant is entitled to work within 15 days, for as many days as he/she has applied,
    subject to a limit of 100 days per household per year.

3. Distance: Work is to be provided within a radiu of 5 kilometres of the applicant's residence if possible,
    and in any case within the Block. If work is provided beyond 5 kilometres, travel allowances have to be         paid.

 

4. Wages: Workers are entitled to the statutory minimum wage applicable to agricultural labourers in the ,         state unless and until the Central Government “notifies” a different wage rate. If the Central Government,      notifies the wage rate is subject to a minimum of Rs 60/day

.
5. Timely payment: Workers are to be paid weekly, or in any case not later than a fortnight. Payment of
    wages is to be made directly to the person concerned in the presence of independent persons of the
   community on pre-announced dates.

6. Unemployment allowance: If work is not provided within 15 days, applicants are entitled to an
    unemployment allowance: one third of the wage rate for the first thirty days, and one half thereafter.

7. Worksite facilities: Labourers are entitled to various facilities at the worksite such as clean drinking
    water, shade for periods of rest, emergency health care, and child-minding.

calculating GDP..

The basic formula for calculating the GDP is:Y = C + I + E + G

where
Y = GDP
C = Consumer Spending
I = Investment made by industry
E = Excess of Exports over Imports
G = Government Spending

This formula is almost self-evident (if you take time to think about it)!

GDP is a measure of all the goods and services produced domestically. Therefore, to calculate the GDP, one only needs to add together the various components of the economy that are a measure of all the goods and services produced.

Many of the goods and services produced are purchased by consumers. So, what consumers spend on them (C) is a measure of that component. The next component is the somewhat mysterious quantity "I," or investment made by industry. However, this quantity is mysterious only because investment does not have its ordinary meaning. When calculating the GDP, investment does NOT mean what we normally think of in the case of individuals. It does not mean buying stocks and bonds or putting money in a savings account (S in the diagram). 

 

When calculating the GDP, investment means the purchases made by industry in new productive facilities, or, the process of "buying new capital and putting it to use" (Gambs, John, Economics and Man, 1968, p. 168). This includes, for example, buying a new truck, building a new factory, or purchasing new software. This is indicated in the diagram by an arrow pointing from one factory (enterprise) to another. In essence, it shows the factory "reproducing itself" by buying new goods and services that will produce still more new goods and services. NOTE: There is a money-flow relationship between personal savings, S, and investment, I, but this does not figure directly in calculating the GDP.

The next component is E, or the difference between the value of all exports and the value of all imports. If Exports exceeds imports, it adds to the GDP. If not, it subtracts from the GDP. Thus, even if a nation's people work very hard to produce products for exports, but still import more than they export, the nation's GDP will be negatively impacted. This is one of the reasons trade deficits are frequently a political target. Because the balance of trade can be either positive or negative, we can rewrite the equation, showing the components of E, using X for Exports and M for Imports:Y = C + I + (X - M)+ G

You may see the formula for the GDP written this way, and it may be easier for you to remember in this format.

The final component is G. The government buys (with your tax money) goods and services (G). These purchases are a measure of those goods and services produced. Be aware that many people make the mistake of thinking that the money paid in taxes and spent by the government is "lost" and therefore subtracts from the GDP. Tax money may indeed be spent inefficiently but this fact has no bearing on the calculation of the GDP.

Important Antipoverty Employment Generation Programs

1.Swaranjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGRY)Started on April 1, 1999. It has replaced the following programs:Integrated Rural Development Program (IRDP) : Started in 1978 - 79). Training Rural Youth for Self -Employment (TRYSEM): Started in 1978-79. Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA): Started in 1978 -79. Ganga Kalyan Yojana (GKY): Started in 1997. Million Wells Scheme (MWS): Started in 1989. Supply of Improved Tool-kits to Rural Artisans (SITRA). The yojana takes into account all the strengths and weaknesses of the earlier self-employment programs. Every assisted family will be brought above the poverty line. It is proposed to cover 30% of the rural poor in each block. To Target at atleast 50% Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, 40% women and 3% disabled.

2.Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yojana (PMGY)It was introduced in 2000-01 with the objective of focusing on village level development in five critical areas I.e., primary health, primary education, housing, rural roads and drinking water and nutrition with the overall objective of improving the quality of life of people in rural areas. Rural electrification was added as an additional component from 2001-02. It has the following components: Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yojana (Gramin Awas). Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yojana (Rural Drinking Water Project).

3.Sampoorna Gramin Rozgar Yojana (SGRY)It was started on Sept. 25,2001, with the mergence of the Employment Assurance Scheme (EAS) and the Jawahar Gram Samriddhi Yojana (JGSY). Earlier Jawahar Rozgar Yojana, which started in 1989, was merged with Jawahar Gram Samriddhi Yojana. The objective of the program is to provide additional wage employment in rural areas and also to provide food security.

4.Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY)The SJSRY came into operation in Dec, 1997, through a restructuring and streamlining of the earlier urban poverty alleviation programs, the Nehru Rozgar Yojana (NRY), the Urban Basic Services for the Poor (UBSP) and the Prime Minister's Integrated Urban Poverty alleviation Program (PMIUPEP). It seeks to provide employment to the urban employed or underemployed living below poverty line and educated up to IX standard through encouraging the setting up of self-employment ventures or provision of wage employment.

5.Antyodaya Anna YojanaLaunched on Dec. 25,2000. The scheme aims at providing food security to poor families. The scheme contemplates identification of 10 million 'poorest of the poor' families and providing the \m with 25kg of food grains per family per month at a low price of Rs.2 per Kg for wheat and Rs.3 per Kg for rice.

6.Annapurna YojanaInaugurated on March 19, 1999. Initially the scheme provided 10 kg food grains to senior citizens who were eligible fore old age pension but could not get it due to one reason or the other. Later on, it was extended to cover those people who get old age pensions. Food grains are provided to the beneficiaries at subsidized rates of Rs.2 per kg of wheat and Rs.3 per kg of rice.

Afghanistan:Indian options

The US has maintained its relentless Drone (pilotless plane) strikes on the suspected hide-outs and vehicular movements of the Afghan and Pakistani Talibans (Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan—TTP) in the North and South Waziristan areas of Pakistan. According to an estimate of the British Broadcasting Corporation mentioned in a report on its web site on June 11,2010, there have been about 70 Drone strikes since the beginning of this year resulting in more than 200 fatalities. The BBC estimate does not mention how many of these fatalities were of the leaders and other cadres of the two Talibans and how many were of civilians.


2. Reports from reliable sources in the area indicate that while there have been civilian fatalities they are not as large as made out to be by anti-US elements in the Af-Pak area. Many of the civilians killed would not come under the category of “innocents” in the sense that they had nothing to do with the Talibans. While many of them might not have been activists of the Talibans, they were providing them logistic help at the time they got killed. If one excludes their number, the number of innocent civilians killed due to poor intelligence or wrong targeting is quite small, the sources say.


3.US claims of having killed a number of senior and middle-level leaders of the Talibans and Al Qaeda are not exaggerated. Some of its claims have been subsequently corroborated by independent sources and even admitted by these organizations themselves. While the US has thus reason to be gratified by the success rate of its Drone strikes, it should be seriously worried by the failure of these strikes to have an impact on the ground situation, either in Afghanistan or Pakistan.


4. The loss of many leaders of the older vintage has not demoralized the Talibans. They have been able to find new leaders as motivated and as capable as the old. There has been no dent on the flow of new volunteers to join the ranks of the Talibans and there has been no weakening of capability and of the ability to take the US-led NATO forces in Afghanistan and the Pakistani security forces even in the non-tribal areas by surprise.


5. This became evident earlier this week when the Afghan Taliban managed to kill seven Americans, two Australians and one French soldier on June 7 followed by the deaths of three more NATO troops the next day. The deaths of 10 NATO soldiers made June 7 the deadliest day for foreign troops in Afghanistan since 14 Americans, including 11 US soldiers, died in two helicopter crashes on October 26, 2009. This has been further followed by the deaths of four more NATO troops on June 9 when their helicopter was brought down by suspected Taliban fire.


6.The same day ( June 9 ), upto 12 gunmen suspected to be from the Pakistani Taliban attacked a convoy of private trucks carrying logistic supplies for the NATO troops in Afghanistan from the Karachi port. The attack took place at Tarnol, 10 kms from Islamabad on the road to Peshawar. Seven persons believed to be drivers and cleaners of the private trucks in the convoy were killed and 70 lorries transporting fuel and other non-classified material were destroyed. The terrorists launched the attack when the trucks carrying the supplies had stopped for rest and refueling.


7.In January, the Pakistani Taliban had twice attacked trucks carrying supplies for the NATO near Karachi and now they have attacked a convoy at a place close to Islamabad without being prevented by the Pakistani security forces. Their ability to organize successful strikes----- though still sporadic---- in the non-tribal areas shows that the claimed successes of the Pakistan Army in re-establishing control over areas under the sway of the TTP in the Swat Valley and South Waziristan have not dented the capability of the TTP to divert its operations to the non-tribal areas. While the Afghan Taliban continues to seek territorial dominance, the Pakistani Taliban no longer does so. Instead, it has sought to maintain its tactical mobility and flexibility and ability to provide back-up support to the operations of the Afghan Taliban. The two Talibans are working in tandem effectively.


8. According to a spokesperson of the US Transportation Command in Washington DC, about 60 per cent of the supplies----food, fuel and some equipment--- is still moved from Karachi by road, 30 per cent by train across Russia and the Central Asian Republics and the remaining 20 per cent consisting of ammunition and other classified items is flown by air directly to Afghanistan. The spokesperson claimed that attacks such as the one near Islamabad----though serious---- have not had any significant impact on the NATO’s ability to replenish itself.



9. The revamped US strategy in the Ad-Pak area consisting essentially of attempts at ground dominance in the Afghan territory and stepped-up Drone strikes in the Pakistani territory is nowhere near bringing about a turning point in the US battle against the Afghan Taliban. The efforts of President Hamid Karzai to identify and wean away the inadequately motivated elements in the Afghan Taliban through offers of money, perks and a share of power under his continuing leadership are not making headway despite reported secret contacts with claimed Taliban elements in places such as the Maldives and the recent jirga, which was a spectacular event, but nothing more. There have been no substantive political results and there are unlikely to be any.



10 The ideological solidarity in the two Talibans remains strong. Their bases of support in the Pashtun communities on both sides are intact. Mr.Karzai has no significant support from the Pakistani Pashtun community except from the followers of the Awami National Party now in power in the province of Khyber Pakhtoonkwa ( the old North-West Frontier Province). His support in the Afghan Pashtun community is more, but not sufficient to slow down the flow of volunteers to the Afghan Taliban. The Afghan Taliban, headed by Mulla Mohammad Omar, has been able to draw volunteers from the Pashtun communities in Afghanistan as well as Pakistan. The recent successes of the two Talibans show that their ability to plan and carry out operations at a time and place of their choice remains strong.



11. The US is far from prevailing over the Afghan Taliban and being able to bring about a turning point on the ground which would facilitate a down-sizing of the US presence in time for it to make a favourable impact on Mr.Barack Obama’s bid for re-election in 2012. It looks as if the final outcome in the Af-Pak area will be determined by who has the better battle stamina and staying power. The stamina and staying power of the US-led NATO forces do not seem to be strong enough to bring about a turning point favourable to them.



12. The success of the Indian policy in Afghanistan would depend on the final success of the US-led NATO forces and the Afghan National Army on the ground. That success is not yet in sight. Is it time to have a second look at India’s policy? What should be India’s objective in the present circumstances? Continuing to expand India’s role in the hope that the NATO and the ANA would finally prevail? Consolidating its present role without further expanding it till the ground situation starts improving----if at all it does? Is there scope for a compatibility between the interests and roles of India and Pakistan in Afghanistan? Should India diversify its contacts in the Pashtun communities of Afghanistan and Pakistan? What role can the generally India-friendly ANP play in this regard? These are questions which need serious examination by our policy-makers.



13. India’s Afghan policy has passed through three phases. Between 1947 and September 1996, when the Taliban captured power in Kabul, it was Pashtun-centric. Between September 1996 and the defeat of the Taliban by the US in 2001-end, it became Tajik-centric with India, Russia and Iran jointly supporting the Northern Alliance. Since the assumption of power by Mr.Karzai in Kabul, India has been re-cultivating the Pashtuns of Afghanistan while seeking to keep intact the goodwill earned by it among the non-Pashtuns. The six years of rule by the National Democratic Alliance Government under Shri Atal Behari Vajpayee saw an erosion of the goodwill of the Pakistani Pashtun community loyal to the ANP towards India. The present Government of Dr.Manmohan Singh has not attempted to re-establish our traditional contacts with sections of the Pakistani Pashtun community. Our traditional friends in the Pashtun community have not played an adequate role in the evolution of our Afghan policy. Our policy is influenced more by strategic calculations than by historic affinities. It is time for a course correction.(12-6-10)








(credit:B.Raman)

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