Agro-ecological suitability of MGNREGA works and created assets driving these employment figures are key lenses
The authors' study found the average number of works on flood control in the flood-prone districts is lower than the average in the rest of the districts. File photo: CSE Is Bihar’s performance under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) merely reflected in its rank, or is there a deeper narrative waiting to be uncovered? While Bihar’s 27th rank out of 29 states in a recent study may seem discouraging, the past few years tell a different story.
Between 2019 and 2023, Bihar saw a significant jump in employment, with households benefiting from MGNREGA rising from 3.36 million to 5.02 million. The employment of Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) beneficiaries, as well as women, has also registered an increase in their respective share of employment in the same period.
Do these trends suggest a progressive change for the rural employment scheme in Bihar? Looking ahead, is Bihar preparing for climate-related challenges, where MGNREGA could be a crucial tool?
Answering these questions requires focus beyond employment: Decoding the nature of work and created assets driving these employment figures. Multiple studies and reports point to the importance of both asset and employment creation under MGNREGA.
The rationale is that if MGNREGA assets are created with the agro-ecological characteristics of the location and the community’s needs in consideration, they are more likely to be beneficial, thereby sustainable. In the context of climate change as well, ecological fit will be crucial.
Read more: Bihar agrarian crisis : Why crores in diesel subsidies may not be the answer
Utilising this rationale, the analysis of past five years’ works, along with primary data from a study in 2023 — survey of 2,074 households and key stakeholder interviews in 10 districts of Bihar — we attempted to decode the MGNREGA trajectory in Bihar.
We did not attempt a comprehensive analysis of MGNREGA in Bihar, rather we aim to offer key lenses to look at its works.
As of August 2023, Bihar ranked 5th from the top, ahead of Odisha, in terms of creation of persondays of employment. In contrast, it ranked 6th from last in providing employment to eligible workers (~43.43 per cent of eligible workers), whereas Odisha ranked among the top 10 with a corresponding figure of 73.32 per cent.
This latent demand for work in Bihar resonates with findings of our ongoing study in the state, where 97 per cent of the 2,074 households surveyed demanded MGNREGA employment beyond the stipulated 100 days.
Further, the availability of work emerged as the top priority for more than two-thirds of the respondents, ahead of other issues, like wage payment and quality of work, again pointing to the supply-demand mismatch.
Recent years have seen an evident increase in asset creation for the socio-economically vulnerable beneficiaries — category B works under MGNREGA (sheds for cattle, goats, pigs, and poultry, land leveling, pond construction, etc) — across the country.
The proportion of works on individual land in Bihar notably surged from 8.3 per cent to 88.8 per cent between 2016-17 and 2020-21, highlighted the Economic Survey of Bihar 2021-22.
Though our study found less than 10 per cent of respondents stating work on private land, the greater majority also expressed preference for individual asset creation under MGNREGA.
Similarly, despite agriculture being the backbone of rural Bihar’s economy, our study found meagre engagement reported for works involving the construction of food grain storage structures.
It is also vital to point out the storage of crop produce happens to be one of the most formidable challenges faced by smallholder farmers across the country, particularly in Bihar.
Read more: Flood victims take shelter on roads, embankments after June floods in Bihar
Furthermore, given the well recognised need for sanitation in rural India — also corroborated in our household survey and interviews — it was surprising to find miniscule overall spending going into rural sanitation works in the past five years. Particularly in the northeast alluvial plain zone of Bihar, this disparity was glaring.
In the context of climate change, water challenges will be crucial in Bihar (and beyond). Even otherwise, almost every year, while parts of north Bihar deal with waterlogging and floods, while many parts of south Bihar struggle with water scarcity.
In terms of inadequate rainfall, even north Bihar faces water scarcity and south Bihar also faces floods continuously. Therefore, water-related works merit special attention in Bihar, but is MGNREGA catering to them?
Based on location characteristics, one would expect more spending on drought proofing to go to drought-prone parts of Bihar. In the last five years, the rest of the state’s average spending on drought-proofing via MGNREGA was about two-and-a-half times more than in the six drought-prone districts identified by BSDMA.
Relatedly, the average number of works on drought proofing in the drought-prone districts is also quite low compared to the rest of Bihar.
Further on ecological fit, the same rationale of proportionally more spending on flood control and protection going to flood-prone districts vis-a-vis the rest of Bihar can be expected. Here too, the average number of works on flood control in the flood-prone districts is lower than the average in the rest of the districts.
Though the mean spending in the 15 flood-prone districts was higher, the median was found to be significantly lower. Adding to this inconsistency, the figure below also shows that the concentration of MGNREGA spending and density of waterbodies do not overlap in a number of districts.
Comparison of MGNREGA water projects spending versus number of waterbodies
Overall, drought-prone areas see less financial attention than expected and flood-prone districts, despite higher mean spending, lack a consistent focus on flood control works under MGNREGA in Bihar.
Interviews with key stakeholders also revealed that a popular work category, plantation, is also missing out on the selection of plants as per agro-climatic suitability.
Although this was not cross-verified with quantitative data as the MGNREGA data portal does not provide such data on plants and species used in plantations, this is an important concern. Given the “Jal, Jeevan, Hariyali” mission of the Rural Development Department in Bihar that aims to build on plantations, this concern is vital.
Interactions with public officials at the state and district levels in our study indicated a readiness towards the implementation of MGNREGA as per agro-ecological suitability.
By focusing on the potential synergies of the projects with ecological conditions, such as water-centric and plantation works, the efforts of the employment scheme in the state can be made more relevant and beneficial for the local populace.
We further want to emphasise that ecological and community needs are intertwined. To illustrate, water excess, or floods, and scarcity, or droughts, disproportionately affect the poor and the vulnerable. As such, community requirements and livelihoods, especially those of the most vulnerable groups, should take precedence.
Read more: South Bihar farmers say drought compensation too little too late
In this regard, projects like the Cluster Facilitation Teams (CFT) project and JEEVIKA’s Self Help Groups offer promising support structures for the community, facilitating their work and rights. Feedback from our study indicates these initiatives have largely been positively received at their active locations.
Initiatives, like the revival of small village canals and the application of the “Miyawaki” model of plantation in Madhepura district, should be disseminated for learning and possible implementation across Bihar.
Overall, as the state strives to improve its MGNREGA performance and tackles climate and development challenges, it would be crucial to go beyond the metric of employment generation. Aligning the ecological and community fit of created assets at the district level, which experts believe as a suitable unit for planning MGNREGA works, will be a crucial step.
Gautam Prateek and Pranshu Ojha are associated with XIM University, School of Rural Management. This ongoing study on MGNREGA is supported by PCI, Bihar and PRADAN, Bihar.
Views expressed are the authors’ own and don’t necessarily reflect those of Down To Earth
We are a voice to you; you have been a support to us. Together we build journalism that is independent, credible and fearless. You can further help us by making a donation. This will mean a lot for our ability to bring you news, perspectives and analysis from the ground so that we can make change together.
.png)
Comments are moderated and will be published only after the site moderator’s approval. Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name. Selected comments may also be used in the ‘Letters’ section of the Down To Earth print edition.