A Study on MGNREGA and its impact on wage and work relation
BY
ABHISHEK THAKUR
SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK TATA INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES DEONAR, MUMBAI-400 088
2011
A Study on MGNREGA and its impact on wage and work relation
A Project Report Submitted to Academic Council of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master’s of Arts in Social Work
By
Abhishek Thakur
School of Social work TATA INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES Deonar, Mumbai-400 088 2011
Dr. Manish K. Jha (Research Guide)
Signature of Research Guide Date: 3rd March, 2011
Declaration
I, Abhishek Thakur, hereby declare that this dissertation titled “A Study on MGNREGA and its impact on wage and work relation” is the outcome of my own study undertaken under the guidance of Dr. Manish. K. Jha, Associate Professor, Centre for Community Organization and Development, School of Social Work , Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. It has not previously formed the basis for the award of any degree, diploma or certificate of this institute or any other institute or university. I have duly acknowledged all the sources use by me in the preparation of this dissertation.
Mr. Abhishek Thakur Date: 3rd March’ 2011
Certificate
This is to certify that the dissertation titled “A Study on MGNREGA and its impact on wage and work relation” is the record of the original work done by Mr. Abhishek Thakur under my guidance. The results of the research presented in this dissertation have not previously formed the basis for the award of any degree, diploma or certificate of this or any other university.
Date: 03th March’ 2011 ……………………. Dr. Manish K. Jha Research Guide Associate Professor, School of Social Work Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai
Dedicated to Late Mr. Shiva Dhakal
This research is dedicated to Mr. Shiva sir who was my research guide. Research skills that I learned from him are not only accumulated in this research but also can be seen in those researches that will be done by me in future. For me, he was like a god who came to meet me purposefully and went away after completing it. I am one of the auspicious students of TISS who got the opportunity to become his student and take valuable learnings from him.
Acknowledgements
I express my first and foremost deepest thanks to my research guide Dr Manish K Jha, associate professor, school of social work, Tata Institute of Social Sciences. I am thankful to him for accepting me as a research student at the later end of the year. I am grateful to him for step-by-step guidance and support. He was incredibly supportive, gave me freedom and an opportunity to learn many processes of research under his guidance. He was always there whenever I needed his help. His ability to understand students from their perspective is remarkable. I always felt bright, happy and enthusiastic after talking to him.
I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my mother Ms. Vineeta and
father Mr.
Rajkumar and my brothers Nitesh and Hariyom for making me the person I am, for their positive and jubilant spirit, for their love, care, support and immense encouragement and always being there for me.
I would like to thank Mr. Madhusudan Chouksey, Mr. Seemant Bais, Mr. Sukchan who helped me during the data collection of my research. It was their co-operation which enabled me to congregate very significant data for my research. I’m thankful to Mr. Jaydeep Bais and Mr. Shakti raj sing Thakur (Golu) for providing opportunity to attend workshop for strengthening Panchayat Raj institution in Madhya Pradesh. Through this opportunity I was able to understand various grassroots issues which extensively helped me in research. I am greatly thankful to my dearest friend Rushikesh Kirtikar. It was his mere presence that kept me working in the research. He always gave me timely and appropriate advice, suggestions and been a great listener and a constant support whenever required, and I’m grateful for that. I would like to express my sincere thanks to Mr. Naveen Venna who helped me in my research by proof reading and editing my research, it was encouraging to see his commitmen and sense of responsibility.
I express my deepest thanks to Ms. Jya Ramesh for her significant contribution in the research. I would like to thanks to Ms. Andrea and Ms. Amrita for providing their valuable time and suggestions in the research.
I thank Kailash Tandel coordinator of M. K. Tata Learning Centre who provided technical support and shared his previous research experiences. I express special thanks to Mr. Manoj kumar, Ms. Mausumi, Mr. Akshaya for their support and love during the process.
Last but not the least, I thank all my participant of research, who helped me to understand their views about MGNREGA gave me love and respect and always readily participated in interviews conducted by me.
I am feeling much contented to hand over this research to Tata Institute of Social Sciences and coming researchers in following years.
--Abhishek Thakur MA in social work 2009-11
ABSTRACT
The research study is about “Changing wage and relation: A study of MGNREGA and its impact on wage and work relations in Seoni district of Madhya Pradesh”. The objective of this study is to understand the sources of livelihood in this area and the impact of MGNREGA on their sources of livelihood. This study also attempts to understand the changing daily private wage rate after the implementation of MGNREGA and compare it to the time before its implementation. In addition to this, the study also attempts to understand the impact of MGNREGA on the changing relationship between farmers and labourers and on the pattern of agriculture. The places chosen for the study are 4 villages under Seoni and Keolari Blocks in the Seoni district of Madhya Pradesh. The present study is purely based on qualitative research. 56 sample sizes were chosen for the research study. Those laborers who have completed 100 days of work as per the Act and farmers who own vast starches of land were included in the study as the impact of MGNREGA on the variables specified above are completely observed in them. The primary data collection methodology is in-depth interview to get the qualitative data. The finding of the study shows the private wage rate has increased, the relations between farmers and labourers was altered and the agriculture pattern has also changed due to the implementation of MGNREGA.
Table of Contents Chapter-One
Introduction
1-11
Chapter-Two
Literature Review
12-19
Chapter-Three
Research Methodology
20-27
Chapter-Four
Profile
29-37
Chapter-Five
Case Narratives
38-49
Chapter-Six
Changing daily wage rate after the introduction of MGNREGA
50-60
Chapter-Seven
Changing relations and Agricultural Patterns after MGNREGA
61-77
Chapter-Eight
MGNREGA & its impact on life of the people
78-85
Chapter-Nine
Conclusion
86-91
References
92-93
Annexure
94-95
Chapter 1 Introduction The present chapter is introductory in nature describing various important aspects concerning the present study i.e., who is a wage labourer, who is farmer, the relation between the both the working classes. As this chapter tries to describe the above aspects it would also familiarize the reader with the topics such as what is employment, what is unemployment and situation of unemployment in India. This chapter also discusses several employment programmes initiated by the Government of India and the economic condition of India during the time of India’s independence in 1947 and the role of planning commission for drafting policies for the deprived section of country. This chapter also tries to give a glimpse of all the employment programmes introduced by the Indian government so far. The historical background of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural employment Guarantee act (MGNREGA) and salient features of the act and objective of MMGNREGA are also talked about in detail in this chapter. Today, the MGNREGA has millions of workers’ unresolved and un-addressed grievances and problems to be dealt with. A response system could not only radically improve the MGNREGA, but can impact and transform the whole face of rural governance. The concept of employment and wages can be noticed even during the times when Lord Buddha was alive where he is quoted to have said that men work to satisfy the primary or basic urges of hunger, thirst, and sex, as well as host of secondary wants and desires created by a commercial civilization. It is the active man who lives purposefully, who blesses the world with wealth and wisdom. So work is essential for happy living. Life without work would be an eternal holiday, which is the hell of boredom. Buddha state, a hungry man is an angry man. A man poisoned by discontent is hardly in a fit frame of mind to develop his moral and spiritual life. Unemployment and economic insecurity leads to tension, irritability, and loss of self-respect without which a healthy mental life is impossible. The right of work 1
should, therefore, be assured to all, as a pre-requisite for the good life. It is the duty of the state to uphold justice, and provide for the material and spiritual welfare of its subjects (Bogoda, 2005). Carlyle wrote in his book "Chartism", "A man willing to work, and unable to find work, is perhaps the saddest sight that fortune’s inequality exhibits under this sun". JANE ADDAMS states unemployment is a social misery in his book Twenty Years at HullHouse. The former president of USA Bill Clinton went further and said, "I do not believe we can repair the basic fabric of society until people who are willing to work have work. Work organizes life. It gives structure and discipline to life".
Looking from the above context the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MMGNREGA) becomes an interesting subject to study because it is not only giving employment to the rural poor'' but also creating sustainable and durable assets in the village. The act gives power to the daily wage labors to fight for their right to receive the wages that they must receive and not just a means of providing social security to its people but also an opportunity to promote overall village development and alter the balance of power in rural society. However, this right was missing prior to this act. This act plays a crucial role as a social change instrument which facilitates changes in the village, making it a significant field to study. Employment in simple words can be defined as an occupation by which a person can earn his living. Whereas unemployment is the inability of providing gainful works to people who are willing to work. In economics, unemployment refers to the condition and extent of joblessness within an economy. It is measured in terms of the unemployment rate, which is the number of unemployed workers divided by the total civilian labor force. Hence, unemployment is the condition of not having a job, often referred to as being "out of work, or unemployed (Siddharthan, 2010). While Economic growth is the central goal when the economy goes into a downturn, unemployment becomes a source of immediate concern. The unemployment rate (UR) expresses the number of people unemployed as a percentage of the labor force (LF)
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According to employment-unemployment survey by the Labor Bureau under the Labor and Employment Ministry, the unemployment rate in India is estimated at 9.4 percent or 94 persons out of 1000 persons in the labor force for financial year 2009-10. In the rural area, the worker population ratio is estimated at 329 persons per 1000 population.
Within the employed population, self employment is the dominant category. Out of 1000 persons employed, 439 persons are self employed, 168 persons are regular wage/salaried and the rest 393 persons are employed as casual labor at the overall level.
Findings of the present survey revealed that in the rural sector majority of the people employed are in the agriculture, forestry and fishing related industry (576 people out of 1000 people). This is followed by construction (72 people), manufacturing 67 people and community services 63 people (Siddharthan, 2010). People depend on the government to protect themselves against epidemics, social injustice, exploitation, unemployment, and poverty. Furthermore, government is expected to provide educational, medical, and housing facilities, build roads, bridges, and communication networks to ensure personal freedom and enforcement of contracts, and maintain our democratic institutions and cordial relations with foreign countries. The concepts of welfare state and economic planning have made modern governments active partners in the growth process. Hence, state's active participation in the economic life of a country is very significant (Sury, 1997). In this context one has to recognize the role of a programme like MGNREGA in influencing social and economic life of the people who are at the marginal level in the country.
India at the eve of Independence India achieved its independence in 1947 after the long freedom struggle against the British. At the time when India was born as a sovereign state, it inherited a social structure that had remained almost stagnant for hundreds of years, an economy which had been made an appendage of the British capitalist and industrial interests and an instrument of 3
governance based on bureaucratic structure. The vast stretch of the Indian land at the eve of Independence faced with economic problems such as the abject poverty. During the year 1948-49, India's National income was estimated to be Rs. 86.5 thousand million. This was equivalent to an annual income per person of Rs. 246.9 and constituted one of the lowest incomes per capita in the world. Agriculture is the backbone of the Indian Economy. Seventy two per cent of the total working force was occupied in agriculture, whereas the organized industries employed only about two per cent, a figure lower than the number of administrative workers (2.7 per cent). Less than 11 per cent of the working force was employed in all forms of industry, less than 8 per cent in trade and transport and less than 10 per cent in other services. Agricultural activities furnished nearly one half of the national income. Within the ambit of an overall backwardness, Indian economy was characterized by widespread regional imbalances. It was during the colonial rule that the inter-state and interdistrict disparities were quite sharp and kept widening. There were differences in the levels of per capita income and consumption, literacy, medical and health facilities, population growth, infrastructure development, employment opportunities. Independent India thus, inherited a backward economy in which prevailed extreme poverty and deprivation, characterized by stagnant agricultural output, an uneven and weak industrial sector and low capital resources (Narang, 1996). Economic development of a country depends on the proper utilization of both human and non-human resources. India, at the time of its independence, as mentioned above, had low level of economic and technological development, low per capital income, slow pace of development of economic and social institutions and outdated methods of production techniques. The government’s objective then was to attain and accelerate the economic development of the country (Bhuimali, 2004). Hence, the Planning Commission of India was established in March 1950 after the resolution of government to endorse rapid rise in the standard of living of the people through systematic utilization of the resources of the country, increasing production and offering opportunities to all for employment in the service of the community. The Planning Commission of India was given responsibility of making assessment of all resources of country, augment deficient resources, formulating plans for the 4
most effective and balanced utilization of resources and determining priorities. The planning commission of India is constantly striving to focus on rural development since its formation. Till date, numerous programmes have been taken up by Indian government to address the problem of rural unemployment so that the rural people are not forced to move out for survival. During the period of 1951 till 1972 some of the measures taken by the Planning Commission to encompass a wider proportion of laborers in employment are Land Reclamation Scheme, Integrated Area Development Scheme and The Employee’s State Insurance Scheme
In 1973 according to the recommendation of Bhagwati Committee report the Government of India undertook several measures. These are:, Rural works programme, Marginal fanners and agricultural laborers, Small fanners' development agencies, integrated dry land agricultural development, Agro service centers, Area development schemes, Crash programme for rural employment.
In 1972-73 Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS) was first announced in Maharashtra. It is the first Indian state to have an employment generating scheme based on a right to livelihood approach. In 1980 the food for work program was restructured and renamed as National Rural Employment Programme (NREP). It was based on 50% of the central funding. Around 3, 00,400 million man days and community assets of sustainable nature were expected to be produced. In the 6th plan, this programme was reviewed and continued. In the 7th plan, aspect of social forestry was introduced in NREP. Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme (RLEGP) was introduced in 1983 to supplement the NREP. It was 100% centrally sponsored scheme. Under this programme preferences were given to landless laborers, women, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes, who were found to be largely kept outside of the previous programs. All these programs were proposed to be integrated one programme that is Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP), in the 6th plan.
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In 1989 Jawahar Rojgar Yojana was introduced and all the existing programs were merged into this. Later in 1993, Employment Assurance Scheme (EAS) was introduced on the basis of EGS in Maharashtra (Datta, Sundaram, Indian Economy). In this context the legal aspect of all the previous schemes were missing, which made them inefficient in achieving their goals. In these programmes many people often lived under the mercy of Gram Panchayat members rather than asking them for employment as a right. In this way the programmes failed to achieve their goals.
Apart from above mentioned programmes, India signed the Millennium Declaration in September 2000. This calls for the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger by halving the number of poor people living on less than a dollar a day and those who suffer from hunger. In this way the Government of India recognized these goals as a legitimate policy commitment. Further, the Common Minimum Programme of the United Progressive Alliance government came up with commitments that the state needs to make improvement in the situation of the poor. These commitments were recognized by the Planning Commission as a national common minimum programme to mobilize resources for their implementation.
Importance of MMGNREGA The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) 2005 is landmark legislation in Indian history of social security legislation after independence. Enacted after a successful struggle for employment guarantee legislation, it is a partial victory towards a full‐fledged right to employment in any developing country context. The essential feature of this legislation which separates it from any other public service provisioning scheme is its enactment through the parliament of India. This legislation has been bringing about a silent revolution in rural areas of the country. MMGNREGA Act for the first time brings the role of the state as provider of livelihood within the reach of the participants/beneficiaries themselves. By design it is different from any employment generation scheme that has been previously implemented. It requires different approach towards employment generation 6
schemes and towards overall involvement of the State in providing the right to employment to its masses (Centre de Sciences Humanities and Institute for Human Development).
MMGNREGA at a glance The UPA Government passed the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005.Under this Act, any adult willing to do casual labor at the minimum wage is entitled to employment on local public works within 15 days, subject to a limit of 100 days per household per year at the statutory minimum wage. The Central government's outlay for schemes under this act is Rs. 40,100 crores in 2011. This act was introduced with an aim of improving the purchasing power of the rural people, primarily semi or un-skilled work to people living in rural India, whether or not they are below the poverty line. Thus, it is not just a programme but differs from other schemes because it gives the rural poor the rights to demand that they be given a job or unemployment allowance.
Salient Features of the Act
One of the most important features is that wages are to be paid every week not later than a fortnight. In case of any delay in the payment of wages, laborers are entitled to compensation as per the Payment of Wages Act, and no gender bias is permitted. Provisions made for compensation and treatment in case of injury and for on-site safe drinking water, care of small children, periods of rest and a first-aid box are some of the other features of the scheme. Between Government and laborers, contractors and machines have been banned. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 directs every State Government to prepare a Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (REGS) within six months, in order to implement the work guarantee. Thus, the Act provides the legal foundation of the work guarantee, and the Scheme is the means through which this guarantee comes into effect. This has brightened the hopes that have been built on MGNREGA as it is an Act which comes under national legislation, unlike previous scheme which were state-specific. 7
Although each state is free to frame its own Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, this is subject to certain "basic features" that are spelt out in Schedule I of the Act. For instance, Schedule I specifies the type of works that can be undertaken under REGS, and the minimum facilities that are to be provided at the worksite. Each REGS is also supposed to follow the "Operational Guidelines" issued by the Ministry of Rural Development in January 2006.
The Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme will be implemented by the State Government, with funding from the Central Government. According to Section 13 of the Act, the "principal authorities" for planning and implementation of the Scheme are the Panchayats at the District, Intermediate and village levels. However, the division of responsibilities between different authorities will be maintained.
The basic unit of implementation is the Block. In each Block, a "Programme Officer" will be in charge. The Programme Officer is supposed to be an officer of rank no less than the Block Development Officer (BDO), paid by the Central Government, and with the implementation of REGS as his or her sole responsibility. The Programme Officer is accountable to the "Intermediate Panchayat" as well as to the District Coordinator.
MMGNREGA was implemented in 3 phases. In phase I, 200 rural districts were covered in 2006-2007. These districts covered under the programme, which were the highest number of districts, were from the eastern region and western region which was followed by the northern and southern regions. In percentile weightage way it is 44 %, 27%, 17% and 13% respectively(National Council of Applied Economic Research, 2009, pp 8) In phase II and III, 130 and 274 districts were covered. From Rs 11,000 crores in 2006-07, funding has seen a surge. Rs 39,000 crores have been allotted in 2010 40,100 prearranged in 2011.
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and Rs
Objectives of the Act
The basic objective of the Act is to enhance livelihood security in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment on demand. This work guarantee can also serve other objectives: generating productive assets, protecting the environment, rural empowerment of women, reducing rural-urban migration and fostering social equity, development initiative, public investments for creation of durable assets, decentralized implementation, demand driven and so on.
This programme is different from all other such schemes that have been implemented in the country so far. A few non-negotiable features of this scheme gives a hope that this could be implemented plugging the loopholes for leakage of government money. This is a demand based programme where there is no limitation of the funds for the implementation. Any individual from the rural household can register under this act irrespective of the economic status of the family. Participatory Planning and Decentralized Implementation are the special features of the Act. It is mandatory to implement at least 50 per cent of the works by the Gram Panchayat (the units of local self government at the village).
MMGNREGA is poised to change all that. And there is no doubt that its promise has ignited the hearts and minds of the rural poor with unprecedented hopes and expectation. But the first three years of the programme have also shown that MMGNREGA suffers from many drawbacks leakages and delays in wage payments, non-payment of statutory minimum wages, work only for an average of 50 days per annum as against the promised 100 days, fudged muster rolls, few durable assets and even fewer sustainable livelihoods. The MGNREGA is India’s first law to codify development rights in a legal framework, and like the RTI, it has begun to set an example in a global context. Apart from the law, and a set of guidelines, there is a strong and immediate need to formulate rules to operationalise provisions in the Act; which includes guaranteeing grievance redressal in seven days, social audit twice a year, and mandatory transparency and proactive disclosure. Properly 9
incorporated and enforced, a comprehensive set of operational rules could strengthen the entitlement framework and fixing responsibility at every level. Once again, it would enable bottom-up pressure for implementation, which should be matched by a strong political mandate.
Before we get into the dynamics of the past method of production relation, it is essential for us to know the difference between a farmer and a daily wage labourer. A farmer is a person whose main source of livelihood is agriculture and its products. A farmer’s income may not be fixed per day/per month but is generally seasonal in nature. The kind of seasonal crop he grows marks his income for that year. A daily wage labourer is an agriculture worker whose wages are fixed as per day basis. These are mostly landless people and work on other’s land for a daily wage. A daily wage worker may also work under a farmer but for a wage as attached for his work on daily basis. Lerche (1999) in his study of villages in Jaunpur district of eastern UP, offers an interesting example of a type of production relation that is neither strictly sharecropping, nor strictly wage labor. It seems to be more of a type of piece-rate system for agriculture couched in sharecropping terminology. The balance of investment, risk and control over labour process between the landowner and the tenant is no more the same. Initially, pair of oxen and a plough was normally expected to be provided by the tenant, but in the present times, the landowner provides all inputs including a tractor for ploughing. Now the landowner retains control over the major inputs and over production itself while the “sharecropper” only provides his and his family’s labor-power. In a variant of this system, the tiseri system, “the landowner supplied 2/3 of expenditure for fertilizer and seeds, and provided irrigation, while the sharecropper provided all labor as well as the remaining share of inputs, and received one-third of the harvest.
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The concept of sharecropping started to decline because of the various employment schemes implemented by the Government. These programmes however could not be efficiently utilized by the people and hence they failed to serve their purpose until the implementation of MGNREGA when the relation as mentioned above is changing slowly due to MGNREGA. It was witnessed before the implementation of MGNREGA that there were fewer options in the hands of the villagers in terms of earning their livelihood other than agriculture. Hence, this led to most people being driven to landowner farmers to work under them for meager wages as the farmer too had little left for him. This kind of situation is no more a reality with the implementation of MGNREGA. This scheme offers enough jobs for everyone to have lot of options of work and not just agriculture. It is due to this scheme that the unemployment scenario in the villages is changing. This present study explores the various aspects of MGNREGA in relation to farmer and labour relationship, changing daily private wage rate, impact of MGNREGA in the pattern of agriculture and overall impact of the programme on working and worker class in the village
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Chapter 2 Literature Review
Indian Village life is a mixture of harmony, tranquility, quietude and innocence. Along with many small and big grass fields, several rivers, chirping of birds, swinging of emerald trees, speaking in a low voice the tale of languishment and love to the big and clear blue sky give a mesmerizing, captivating and bewitching effect to the Indian villages. The heart of India lies in its villages. The village life in India is blessed with its innocence, purity and uncomplicated saga making the village quaint, archaic, mystic yet charming places to rediscover nature. Where as an Indian village economy is largely dependent on the agriculture where one person or few persons own the land and other villagers work as labourers in their lands. Karl Marx says history of the humanity is the history of exploitation of man by man. He divides society in two classes, one is the exploiter and other is the exploited. Some own the means of production (land), others live by them and this is the reality of Indian villages. Marx and Engels wrote in the Communist Manifesto, "the history of all hitherto existing society is a history of class struggle" The conflict is there because those, who own the means of production, exploit the workers because of poor economic conditions to their own advantage. They give minimum possible wages to the workers and extract maximum possible labor. Since labor class lacks the necessary resources to produce for themselves, they are forced to work for others. Thus, during the feudal era, landless serfs were forced to work for the landowning person in order to gain a livelihood. In the capitalist era, the resources necessary to produce goods - tools, machinery, raw materials and so on - are owned by the capitalist class. In order to exist, members of the waged people are forced to sell their labor power in return for wages. Ownership of the land therefore provides the basis for ruling class dominance and control of labor in the village.
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Members of both social classes are largely unaware of the true nature of their situation, of the reality of the relationship between ruling and subject classes. Members of the ruling class assume that their particular interests are those of society as a whole, members of the subject class accept this view of reality and regard their situation as part of the natural order of things(Haralambos and Herald, 2006). In this modern era the state has some responsibilities towards its citizens. The character of the modern state, according to Laski, is determined largely by forces such as the rise of property of the working class and the class consciousness which has been generated by the industrial revolution. Further he added that the state cannot leave the individual alone but must become an instrument for securing the general welfare on the largest scale possible. It is an association to protect the interests of men as citizens. It is an agent of the society, a coordinating agency or a public service corporation. The individual is associated with the state in one form or the other and whatever be the character of the state, he would like to secure himself against the inevitable costs of life (Vermani, 1996). Hence, facilities against sickness and old age, the cost of education, fixation of wages and working hours in industries, giving free meals to school children, providing employment to the people etc are required to be provided by the state. The Indian Constitution, in the Directive Principles of State Policy, had already emphasized that ensuring what is now called "decent work" for all should be a crucial focus of state policy. Thus, Article 41 of the Directive Principles states that "The State shall, within the limits of its economic capacity and development, make effective provision for securing the right to work, to education and to public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement, and in other cases of undeserved want." Similarly, there is attention to the conditions of work and the level of wages in Articles42 and 43, which state that "The State shall make provision for just and humane conditions of work and for maternity relief... The State shall endeavour to secure, by suitable legislation or economic organization or in any other way, to all workers, agricultural, industrial or otherwise, work at living wage, conditions of work ensuring a decent standard of life and full enjoyment of leisure and social and cultural opportunities” (Ghosh, 2006). Rights are the condition in which the people get an opportunity for all round development. According to Harold Laski, "Rights are those conditions of social life without 13
which no man can be his best self'(ibid). Rights create an environment in which individual feels empowered, becomes self confident and develops him or her in the all aspects of life. In this context, India signed the Millennium Declaration in September 2000, which calls for the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger by halving the number of poor people living on less than a dollar a day and those who suffer from hunger. Thus, the Government of India recognized these goals as a legitimate policy commitment. Further, the Common Minimum Programme of the United Progressive Alliance government came up with commitments that the state had to make to improve the situation of the poor. These commitments were recognized by the Planning Commission as a national common minimum programme to mobilize resources for their implementation. Further, a citizens' charter was formulated by civil society activists (Grassroots Learning and Ways Forward). The UPA government unanimously passed the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in 2005. This act has been hailed as a major initiative in the Government of India’s commitment to providing an economic safety net to India’s rural poor. 71.9% of India’s population still resides in rural areas, therefore the MGNREGA can be thought of as a policy to boost rural income, stabilize agricultural production and reduce the population pressure on urban areas (Basu et al, 2005). Under this Act, any adult willing to do casual labor at the minimum wage is allowed employment on local public works within 15 days, with a limitation of 100 days per household per year at the legal minimum wage. This act was introduced with an aim of improving the purchasing power of the rural people, primarily semi or un-skilled work whether or not they are below the poverty line. Thus, it is not a programme and differs from other schemes because it gives the rural poor the rights to demand that, they be given a job or unemployment allowance. MGNREGA is the first legislation that compels the state to provide a social safety net for the poorest people of this country and seeks to address the urgent issues of hunger and rural distress that afflict large parts of India (Lakshman, 2007).
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MGNREGA and livelihood: Some of the field studies articulate, people are happy with the act and it is helping them make use of the agricultural off-season period to obtain work under MGNREGA. They feel, the act is a useful instrument to reduce migration.
MGNREGA was providing vital employment opportunities to the rural poor and helping to revive the local economy. “MGNREGA is the most successful programme of the poverty alleviation” (Sengupta, MGNREGA.nic.in/news). The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) conducted assessment of 2 initial years of implementation study of MGNREGA in 9 states and 12 districts. MGNREGA is not just about drought relief but relief against drought, says CSE. MGNREGA has huge potential for regenerating village economy in India, but only if its focus remains on the creation of productive assets, the study argues.
The Act brings with it huge possibilities of making a difference to the lives of 45 million rural households of our country. Over the two years that it has been in existence, MGNREGA has already created half-a-million assets and provided jobs to around three per cent of India's population. Mihir Shah moved forward and said, the MGNREGA as a good way to investments, which are both productive and labor-intensive. The aim has to be longterm drought- and flood-proofing, not merely short-term relief. According to him, if MGNREGA is implemented properly; the programme has the potential to liberate India of the nuisance of regular drought and flood. The field study of Panihari village of Sirsa district gives clear evidence what Mihir Shah has stated above. Utilizing the 'employment' opportunity that came their way through MGNREGA, residents of Panihari in Sirsa finished constructing a 2-km embankment on the Ghaggar river in February 2006. "Life was hell with the Ghaggar flooding our homes and fields every monsoon. The need to restrict the river was there for long. But we lacked consensus. Rich landowners don't suffer because they have an embankment on their side of the river. Only small time farmers
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and the landless have suffered," says Mandan Lal Panihari, a 38-year-old resident of Panihari village (Singh, 2008). In context of MGNREGA as presented above, Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey, see it in a different manner. According to them, MGNREGA has created sense of hope amongst the rural poor. This sense of hope can be further strengthened if people understand that the act gives them employment as a matter of right, and that claiming this right is within the realm of possibility. The MGNREGA, the flagship programme of the UPA government, was revolutionary in its promise of inclusive growth, the right to work and the dignity of labor and a rational, participatory relationship with the State. After the Panchayati Raj Act 1992, the MGNREGA is a law of the government where the direct participation of the people is required, from planning of work undertaken in the village to social audit for checking the irregularity in the implementation which is nurturing the grassroots democracy of the country and creating awareness.
The main objective of MGNREGA is to provide not only hundred day’s employment to the rural people but also provide livelihood security and durable and sustainable assets to the villages. The Act itself says- “An Act to provide for the enhancement of livelihood security of the households in rural areas of the country by providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.”(http://rural.nic.in/rajaswa.pdf)Regions of India where scores of farmers have been committing suicides and children are dying of starvation now have something to look forward to (Shankar, et. al, 2006). In contrast to high appreciation and expectation from the MGNREGA by the many people, there have been skeptics to highlight problems associated with the implementation of the programme. One of the country’s better known economists proclaimed when the debate for the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) was at its peak, ‘It is better to throw the money into a drain than to put it in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme’,(Aakella & Kidambi, 2007).
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Criticism has been raised against the validity of the above argument. Rural Employment generation schemes can create environment for much higher levels of economic activity and therefore growth, especially in the rural areas. Indian economy at this time must move towards generating employment, since the past pattern of jobless growth is neither economically desirable nor politically acceptable. Employment generation schemes, if creatively visualized and properly implemented, can have very large effects in terms of creating environment for much higher levels of economic activity and therefore growth, especially in the rural areas. Wage employment will give
money in the hands of rural workers who will therefore able to spend on basic
consumer items which will play an important role in reviving local markets and rural industries. Since the entire rural economy is in severe depression, such a positive effect is very important, since it will create conditions for the further expansion of private economic activity in rural India. Ultimately, the MGNREGA is a major move in the right direction. It can provide much-needed employment for the rural poor and can become the basis for the necessary regeneration of the rural economy, without which sustainable aggregate growth is not possible (Ghosh, 2004). As per the Census 2001, there are 54008069 rural households in all 27 states where the MGNREGA scheme is being currently implemented, out of which an estimated 16570504 families are living below the poverty line. Hence, a scheme like MGNREGA is the need of the hour to address the economic constraints of such a huge population in a sustainable manner (Roy, 2007). Wages means all remuneration capable of being expressed in terms of money, which would, if the terms of contract of employment, express or implied, were fulfilled, be payable to person employed in respect of his employment or of work done in such employment. The wage rate under MGNREGA appears, at first glance, to be a time-rated wage, but it is linked to the quantum of work done as indicated in the specific schedule of rates of each state government, making it in effect, a piece-rated wage. Generally speaking, systems of work that are piece-rated were originally designed to ensure efficiency but often degenerate into 17
systems of self-exploitation or in incentivizing children and other family members to also work in order to achieve an equivalent time-rated wage. Indian government is obliged to adhere to ILO’s Declaration of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, 1998.according to this the government should ensure complete abolition of forced labour, which in the Indian context means the payment of minimum wages at all circumstances and to all categories of workers. Thus, both on constitutional grounds and international commitments, the wages paid to worker must ensure their minimum rights of sustenance. Mihir Shah says “MGNREGA programmes visualize a decisive break with the past. Ever since independence, rural development has largely been the monopoly of local contractors, who have emerged as major agents of exploitation of the rural poor, especially women. Almost every aspect of these programmes, including the schedule of rates that is used to measure and value work done, has been tailor-made for local contractors. These people invariably tend to be local power brokers. They implement programmes in a top-down manner, run roughshod over basic human rights, pay workers a pittance and use labourdisplacing machinery. MGNREGA is poised to change all that. It places a ban on contractors and their machines. It mandates payment of statutory minimum wages and provides various legal entitlements to workers. It visualizes the involvement of local people in every decision — whether it be the selection of works and work-sites, the implementation of projects or their social audit.”(Shah, 2008) Thus, MGNREGA comes out as a potentially positive force to change the power structures working in the rural areas of India in favour of the poor.
The inherent inequality in wage payments for the same kind of work contained within MWA has been exacerbated by the fixation of wage rates by central government under MGNREGA at a uniform rate, which is lower than some states, than their minimum wages for unskilled work in agriculture. Work of a similar nature basically gets paid at different rates depending on employed at MGNREGA, a farmer or a PWD. (Sankaran, 2011) Declared Business Standard in one of its articles “The harsh truth that is often lost sight of is that the mandated minimum wage does not have much sanctity in rural areas 18
where the actual wages are determined by demand-supply equilibrium which varies with cropping season. Aligning wages under MGNREGA with minimum wages would distort the rural labour market further. Besides, it would pose difficulties for the Centre to strike a balance in allocating MGNREGA funds to different states. A better bet would, perhaps, be to fix a reasonable central wage rate and let the state governments augment it from their own resources if they so wish. This apart, the guaranteed employment under MGNREGA has restrained the usual seasonal labour migration, which had become the mainstay of farming in agriculturally progressive, but labour-starved, states. This has caused acute shortage of labour for agriculture. Particularly hit are plantations in the southern states, notably Kerala, and the cultivation of labour-intensive crops like rice, wheat and sugarcane. The farmers are forced to incur additional expenses for using machines and energy for doing farm operations which were earlier performed manually by migratory labour at far lower costs.” (Improving MGNREGA, Business Standard/New Delhi December 31, 2010 last accessed 1st March, 2011). Thus, it is quite evident that MGNREGA has been impacting rural wage structures which were highly exploitative, checking migration and creating conditions favourable for the poor agricultural labour of our country. Markets and competitions both play dominant roles in determining wages in the informal sector. (Marjit & Kar, 2009:60). In this context the MGNREGA can play significant role in the rural part of country. The MGNREGA gives opportunity to the people of the village for employment and the people who were dependent on the farmers for work will get opportunity of work in the MGNREGA and the farmers of the villages will face laborers problem therefore they will increase daily wages. The MGNREGA will create competition in the village which enhances the private daily wage rate.
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CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Methodology plays a significant role in the research process. The researcher adapts the methodology on the basis of the type of research study he is engaged with. It does not only help the researcher to formulate the research question but also guides him to adopt scientific methodology to answer the research concern he is investigating. This research is purely based on qualitative methodology. This chapter discusses objectives, location of study, sampling procedures, tools of data collection, research design, limitation of study and fieldwork experience etc.
Objectives •
To understand and analyze the perspectives of farmers and daily wage labourers on
MGNREGA. •
To understand the effect of MGNREGA on the daily wage rate in the village.
•
To understand the changes in the relations between the farmers and labourers and the
patterns of agriculture
Concepts and variables Livelihood A livelihood comprises the capabilities, assets (including both material and social resources) and activities required for a means of living. Livelihood is sustainable when it can cope with and recover stresses and shocks and maintain or enhance its capabilities and assets both now and in the future.
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The researcher interviewed rural labourers who are working in the informal sectors such as agriculture, construction sites, and so on. These
labourers are dependent on their
daily wages for their livelihood. In case these labourers miss a single day then they do not get that day’s wage. Although they work for longer time in a day, they receive very less money. The consequence of this is that they are unable to meet their expenses. As a result of this they do not even educate their children because they are unable to feed their stomach which is primary concern for them. In addition to this, for livelihood farmers exclusively depend upon agriculture where there is more manpower required to work on the farm. However, due to the introduction of MGNREGA (Government scheme) it is affecting the farmer’s production in the farm because they do not get labourers to work on their farm. Because, labourers enroll themselves under MGNREGA scheme which guarantees hundred days work and comparatively more money. 2. Private daily wage rate: Private wage earners are those who agree on the minimum wage and work conditions made by the capital owners. The investigator wanted to compare the wage rate between last five years and at present. Last five years the minimum wage for labourers was ranging from Rs. 25 to 30 as compared to now.
Rational of study Enactment of MGNREGA act and subsequent policies and programmes of the government have produced vast effects in the field of rural development and implement the right to employment. Since the implementation of MGNREGA, several studies and reports have been written about its impact on life and livelihood of rural wage labourers, however no empirical study has been come in the light in context of understanding the right to work and government supported programmes in the rural area is impacting relations between earlier employer (farmers) and agricultural labourers. Indian society has traditions and history of relations between the farmers and agricultural labourers must have had impacted with the enactment of MGNREGA. In order to understand the change if any and shift in the relationship and also working timings, changes in the pattern of agriculture, the researcher realized that it will be significant to investigate this aspect empirically. As has been referred 21
by the researcher above, though innumerable numbers of reports on MGNREGA functioning. the researcher has yet to find an empirical study which had looked in to the relationships aspect, shift in to it, and how farmers and agricultural labourers perceived this programme in their daily life. Therefore the researchers would like to explore above mentioned aspects.
Location of the Study The present study is located in Seoni district of Madhya Pradesh. It is the 6th backward region in India. In addition to this the population in Madhya Pradesh state is approximately over 60 million. Moreover, the third human development report of Madhya Pradesh (2002) estimates that 10 lack jobs will have to be generated every year to productively absorb the growing workforce for the livelihood challenges. Therefore, the researcher has chosen Seoni district of Madhya Pradesh for his research study in order to see the changing relationship between farmers & agricultural labourers due to MGNREGA.
Tools of data collection The researcher has made use of qualitative tools in his study. This study comprises of primary and secondary data. The primary data was the data collected through the in-depth interview, participant observation and through observation by using interview guide. The researcher would also like to show the significance of these methods in his research study. The researcher would discuss how he has used these tools in his research study. He would like to discuss these above mentioned components separately in the research study.
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PRIMARY TOOLS OF DATA COLLECTION: In-depth interview In-depth interview is an interview where researcher uses semi structured interview schedule with the respondent in order to gain an in-depth understanding of a particular event or issue. Through this method the researcher was trying to understand the major source, selfrating of sources of livelihood in terms of flow of income or resources. Moreover, he was also trying to understand the source of livelihood. In addition to this, the investigator was also trying to compare the wage among labourers in the last five years and at present.
Participant observation Participant observation is a very useful technique of data collection through which the researcher not only observes the events but also participates in the process in order to gain the information on the research he is investigating. The researcher used this technique to explore work patterns of Daily wage labourers as well as the agricultural pattern. The researcher visited Seoni district of Madhya Pradesh where majority of them were farmers and daily wage labourers where he participated in their work culture and agriculture pattern. The researcher used this technique to see the impact of the introduction of MGNREGA Government scheme in Seoni district of Madhya Pradesh. The investigator also interacted with farmers and the labourers who are all working on farmers land in order to find out how they manage their farm when these wage labourers discontinued working on the farm. What kind of facilities do the wage labourers get while working on the farm? What is the channel of communication in farmers and Daily wage labourers?
Observation Observation is the method of data collection. Through this method the investigator observes events or realities which exist in the field. He observed what the house are made up of, whether it is pakka house or kacha house, availability of facilities in the villages, labourers daily working hours, patterns of communication between farmers and daily wage 23
labourers and their facial expression. In addition to this he has also observed that do the workers get the provisions which are made in the act such as drinking water, medicines, shades, crèche facilities for the children, availability of muster roll at the work side, reasons for payment delayed, kind of work they are engaged with and the sustainability of project etc.
SECONDARY DATA The secondary data would be collected mainly through published works in the form of books, articles, and internet resources. The investigator made use of secondary data in order to understand literature review with respect to the topic he has chosen for the research study. Through this secondary data he could scrutinize and extract that information from this data which was significant for the research study. From these published works, the researcher was able to theoretically understand the research study he is engaged with, and he could was able to draw on the concepts which were relevant for his study.
Sampling and sample size Multi stage sampling, purposive sampling and convenient sampling. The researcher used multi stage sampling for chosen Seoni district of Madhya Pradesh. Within the district he chose two blocks one was most develop in the district and other was relatively less developed. While choosing two village in the both the blocks the researcher used purposive sampling where he chose those villages where the village Panchayat utilized more than ten lakh rupees for MGNREGA work in last financial year (2009/2010). While interviewing farmers and the labourers of the village the researcher used convenient sampling for determining people for the interview. The sample size for the research is 56.
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Fieldwork experience The researcher interacted with various people for his data collection, such as daily wage labourers, rich farmers, different stakeholders who are responsible for implementing MGNREGA in the district. Each person with whom the researcher interacted gave an opportunity to understand MGNREGA from their perspective. On one hand, the labourers of the village who are working under MGNREGA were happy with the act. On the other hand, farmer’s response was mixed. They were happy with the development which is taking place in the village through MGNREGA but on the other side they were discontented with the act because labourers are not working in their field or they have to pay more daily wages to the labourers as a daily wage rate. The researcher felt, the village life is much easier where people don’t bother for anything and live their life with pleasure. When the researcher met with the Panchayat members he observed that, Panchayat members was feeling uneasy and trying to make good relation with the researcher. Although the researcher explained them, his purpose of coming in the village to congregate data for his research which would help him in his study but still Panchayat people were treating researcher like he came to discover any corruption in that village. Through this experience the researcher felt that, there are many irregularities going on in the village with regard to MGNREGA. The researcher stayed minimum two days to maximum four days in each village where he collected data for his research. Through this experience the researcher learned many characteristics of village life. The caste system is still present in the village however the lower class people are now empowered. They are no more dependent in the wealthy people of the village and now they have their own status in all aspect of life. They have good houses and their tiles of the houses are made with Balaghati Khapra. It is a kind of tile which used in the roof of the house and it is expensive one. Earlier this kind of tiles could be found only in the wealthy people’s houses. While the discussion with the farmers of the village (other than the research interview) the researcher felt that now a days the farmers also understand the situation and started dealing with the daily wage labourers nicely but this is because they know that, they don’t have any alternative left now. The researcher observed that because of the MGNREGA the wage demand of the labourers has increased and farmers 25
are not in position to pay high daily wage rate to the labourers. Consequently the labourers don’t like to work with the farmers Under MGNREGA the workers are entitled to basic worksite facilities such as shade for periods of rest, Safe drinking water and first aid. Also, if more than five children under the age of six are present at the worksite, one of the woman labourers is supposed to be deputed to look after them. Except for natural shade in some cases, none of these facilities were available at any of the sample worksites.
In the Seoni district, the work of the
MGNREGA is done by the task bases. Therefore the payment of the person who is appointed for providing drinking water or the lady, who is taken care of the children, is paid from the amount of the labourers. Because of this the labourers don’t like to appoint additional labour for drinking water or crèche facility. It is because of the fact that the money gets cut from their daily wages some of the lady also informed the researcher that the carrying child to the worksite is very tuff job; the child can fall sick with fever or any other disease. One participant informed the researcher that, if one lady is appointed in the village for taking care of their children then it will be good because the child will be in the village and his care can be taken well. The act also permits land improvement works on Land owned by SC/ST families. However, the researcher found that much of this Potential had been wasted. Most of the works had not been completed, and were in danger of being washed away in the coming monsoon. In other cases, the work had been completed but its productive value was doubtful. For example, the well which was dig up in the Kalarbanki village had been left in between and most likely wipe out in the coming rainy climate.
Limitations of the study: The researcher encountered following limitations in his study: The study undertaken by the researcher focuses a particular community of Seoni district of Madhya Pradesh. It may not be applicable in the other parts of the country. 26
However, certain characteristic of MGNREGA implemented village in Madhya Pradesh may be the same and that can be generalized across the country. The researcher couldn’t much interact with the government officials due to time constraints, therefore the decision-making people’s views regarding MGNREGA can not included in the research. The researcher got very less time to gather all the primary data. Consequently, a range of issues had been left out from the research. The MGNREGA act came in to the force in 2006 therefore very less books are written related to this subject as a result of which the researcher congregated his most of the secondary data from field reports, news paper articles and internet sources only.
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Characteristics of MGNREGA
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Chapter 4 PROFILE Introduction This chapter describes the area of research, Seoni a small district in Madhya Pradesh. Within this district the researcher focused on the two blocks Keolari and Seoni with two villages under each block. The villages are Jamunpani, Kalarbanki, Lopa and Gorakhpur. The profile of respondent is mentioned in the last section of this chapter. Seoni is primarily a tribal dominated district of Madhya Pradesh, formed on 1st November 1956. The district name Seoni has the origin from the word "SEONA" (or gudina arborea), a species of tree belonging to the verbanaleal family which was commonly found in this area. The district is situated on a narrow, North-South section of satpura plateau in the South of Jabalpur Division. The District lies between latitude 21 36' & 22 57' North and longitude 79 19' & 80 17' East. Seoni district is rich in timber resources. Teak is most important tree growing in and around Seoni district. Wainganga river is the lifeline of Seoni district. Asia's largest mud dam has been built on this river at Bhimgarh village in Chhapara block of the district. The district Head quarters lies on Nagpur Varanasi National Highway-27 and is in between Jabalpur & Nagpur. Total area of district is 8758 sq kilometers. As per 2001 census the population of district is 1166608 out of which 1045921 is rural population and 120687 is urban population. The scheduled tribe population is 429104. The district is predominantly tribal with five out of the eight blocks being tribal dominated and about 37% and 10% of the total population being Schedule tribes and schedule caste respectively.
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In Seoni district out of eight blocks, five are tribal dominated blocks and majorities of the population are scheduled tribes. Of the total population, 36.78% are scheduled tribes (ST) and10.34%scheduled castes (SC). In the district about 41.45% of the families residing in the rural areas are below poverty line which is very much higher than the national average (28.6%) and a little higher than that of state (37.43%). The high incidence of poverty in the district can be explained by the fact that though major economic activity of the district is agriculture but due to the undulating terrain, soil conditions, lack of irrigation facilities, dependence on rain-fed agriculture ad due to dependence on traditional methods of farming the agriculture productivity is low. A vast majority of the population either depends upon NREGS or they migrate to the neighboring districts like Narsinghpur and Jabalpur during the sowing and harvesting seasons to work as agriculture laborers. Below Poverty Line Background and land holding classification of District (Source – District Statistical Office, Seoni)
Seoni's economy banks heavily on the rich timber resources of the district. The primary occupation of the majority of the population in the district is agriculture and allied activities. About 43.22% of the total land is under agriculture but only 11.93% of the land is double cropped and 11% of the land is under assured source of irrigation. By and large the agricultural practice followed in the district is of traditional type and is of sustainable nature, the fertilizer consumption per hectare is only 16.2 kg as against the national average of 86.7kg. The infrastructure facilities of the district in the field of electricity, connectivity education and health are inadequate. Though about 97% of the villages are electrified but the percentage of households electrified is low. Similarly in the education and health sector there are teachers and health workers available but due to inadequate infrastructure facilities they are not able to make much impact. Also road connectivity is poor in district which decreases the agriculture income and productive employment opportunities. 30
The district has huge potential to develop. It is rich in natural resources with 37.5% of the land under forest cover which is a source of various timber and non-timber forest produce. The district also forms the upper catchment of some of the important rivers of the Godavari and Narmada basin. If harvested in proper way, assured source of irrigation can be provided to greater part of the agricultural land. But unfortunately most of these resources are lying untapped due to lack of proper infrastructure. The researcher conducted his study in two blocks of the Seoni district namely Seoni and Keolori. In each block, the researcher chose two villages. The profile of each village is given below:
Block
Keolari:
Lopa Village Social and Developmental Canvas of the village Statistical analysis base : Census 2001 unless mentioned otherwise No of Households
261
Total Population
1390
Population below 06 yrs
182
Male Population
717
Population below 06 Male
103
Female Population
673
Population below 06 Female
79
Total Agriculture Labour
44
Marginal Agriculture Labour - 11 Male
Marginal Agriculture Labour - 33 Female
Literate Population
Illiterate Population
767
31
623
Male Literate
447
Male illiterate population
270
Female Literate
320
Female illiterate population
353
No of Households
261
Working Population
507
Main working population
47
Main Working Population Male
14
Main Working Population Female
33
Main Casual Working Population
1
Total Casual labour
Main Casual Working Population 1 Male Number of SC
64
Male SC Population
30
Number of ST
93
Male ST Population
44
Main Casual Working Population 0 Female
Female SC Population
34
Female ST Population
49
Source: census 2001
Jamunpani village Social and Developmental Canvas of the village Statistical analysis base : Census 2001 unless mentioned otherwise
No of Households
75
Total Population
429
Population below 06 yrs
32
69
Male Population
222
Population below 06 Male
37
Female Population
207
Population below 06 Female
32
Total Agriculture Labour
111
Marginal Agriculture Labour ‐ 10 Male
Marginal Agriculture Labour ‐ 101 Female
Literate Population
204
Illiterate Population
225
Male Literate
127
Male illiterate population
95
Female Literate
77
Female illiterate population
130
No of Households
75
Working Population
228
Main working population
123
Main Working Population Male
12
Main Working Population Female
111
Main Casual Population
Working 11
Total Casual labour
Main Casual Population Male
Working 2
Main Casual Working Population 9 Female
Number of SC
18
Male SC Population
9
Number of ST
330
Female SC Population
33
9
Male ST Population
173
Female ST Population
157
Source: census 2001 http://www.voiceofbharat.org/Seoni/view_results_detail.asp?ID=304&mVarTable=[Sheet1]\
Gorakhpur village
Statistical analysis base: Census 2001 unless mentioned otherwise No of Households
119
Total Population
570
Population below 06 yrs
113
Male Population
280
Population below 06 Male
56
Female Population
290
Population below 06 Female
57
Total Agriculture Labour
120
Marginal Agriculture Labour ‐ Male
51
Marginal Agriculture Labour ‐ 69 Female
Literate Population
210
Illiterate Population
360
Male Literate
131
Male illiterate population
149
Female Literate
79
Female illiterate population
211
No of Households
119
Working Population
282
Main working population
127
34
Main Working Population Male
54
Main Working Population Female 73
Main Casual Working Population
7
Total Casual labour
Main Casual Working Population 3 Male Number of SC
70
Male SC Population
34
Number of ST
350
Male ST Population
172
Main Casual Working Population 4 Female
Female SC Population
36
Female ST Population
178
http://www.voiceofbharat.org/seoni/view_results_detail.asp?ID=421&mVarTable=[Sheet1]\
Kalarbanki Village Social and Developmental Canvas of the village Statistical analysis base : Census 2001 unless mentioned otherwise No of Households
132
Total Population
650
Population below 06 yrs
117
Male Population
313
Population below 06 Male
55
Female Population
337
Population below 06 Female
62
35
Total Agriculture Labour
99
Marginal Agriculture Labour ‐ Male
12
Marginal Agriculture Labour ‐ Female 87
Literate Population
355
Illiterate Population
295
Male Literate
195
Male illiterate population
118
Female Literate
160
Female illiterate population
177
No of Households
132
Working Population
282
Main working population
119
Main Working Population Male
15
Main Working Population Female
104
Main Casual Working Population
20
Total Casual labour
Main Casual Working Population 3 Male
Main Casual Working Population 17 Female
Number of SC
120
Male SC Population
62
Number of ST
157
Male ST Population
75
Female SC Population
58
Female ST Population
82
Source: http://www.voiceofbharat.org/seoni/view_results_detail.asp?ID=1120&mVarTable=[Sheet1]
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The researcher conducted his study in Seoni district of Madhya Pradesh. He interviewed farmers and the daily wage laborers to understand the impact of MGNREGA in the village from both perspectives. The farmers as well as laborers participant’ profile is given below: Farmers: The researcher interviewed twenty eight farmers of four villages. All the farmers own land ranging up to 25 to 40 acre. The main source of income of farmers is agriculture. They do intensive cropping in the both the season. Farmers cultivate rice, Soybean, pulses and beat. Most of them have domestic animals such as cows and buffalos ranging up to 2 to 4. The farmers sell milk to nearby villages also. Some of them have tractor and other agriculture vehicles. They provide services in the other farmers agriculture work and generate revenue out of it. Only one farmer has water tanker also. A small number of farmers also own small shops in the village. All farmers are literate they studied from class fifth to masters degree. They belong to upper cast and their religion was Hindu. Only one farmer was Muslim. Some of the farmers live in the nuclear family and majority of them lives in the joint family.
Profile of laborers participants: The researcher interviewed 28 MGNREGA workers. On an average seven workers were interviewed in each village, where the researcher conducted his study. The main sources of livelihood of the laborers are manual laborer work which they perform either in the MGNREGA or in the agricultural work. Most of them rear goat also and when it mature, they will sell it and earn income. The laborer also gathers forest product such as Mahua and Tandy leafs and sell it to the nearby markets. Most of them belong to lower caste such as Chamar, Basore and Mather. There are few laborers who belong to the upper cast. Only three of them were Muslim. Majority of them were belongs to Hindu religion. Few laborers studied from class second to bachelor degree. Most of them are illiterate. Only two were resided in the joint family most of them were staying in the nuclear families.
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CHAPTER 5 Case Narratives
This chapter consists of selective cases who are interviewed by the researcher. The objective of narrating these cases is that the readers get a fair idea about the conditions of the labourers and farmers and also some of the aspects which are not dealt with in this study. Note: The names mentioned below are not real. They have been changed in order to keep the name of the source confidential
Interview with MGNREGA labor Case 1: Labour, Rushi, village Kalarbanki
Rushi, a 65 year old illiterate native of Kalarbanki village of Seoni block of district Seoni He lives with his wife and one son. He has a daughter, who got married five years back, and currently lives with her husband. He is landless and works as a daily wage laborer. Rushi works in MGNREGA and when his hundred days of work with MGNREGA is over, he works for the landlords or other private work. Five years back, Rushi was working with landlords on a yearly basis. He discontinued this as he felts the work was very hard and the wage very meager. He says, that working with the landlords is like an obligation (Girma may Bandha); further he added that when he was working with the landlords, he was socially excluded as he could not attend any kind of social events like marriages or lunches offered by relatives on various occasions. If he took a day off, his landlord would cut wages for almost 2 days.
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He said that many laborers, who were previously working with the landlords on a yearly basis, are now working in the MGNREGA. Their first preference is to work in the MGNREGA and then only they are willing to work for the landlords but only on the daily basis. They sell their services to the highest bidder changing daily wage rate due to MGNREGA. Rushi says that five years back, he used to get Rs.25 as daily wages but now there is drastic change in the daily wage rate. Even a farmer now pays Rs.60 – 70 per day. The reason is the increase in the daily wages because of the MGNREGA. He feels that in the absence of MGNREGA the labourers had no other choice than to work for the farmers at a daily wage of Rs.25. Rushi got a small plot from the Gram Panchayat to build a house. He has built a kaccha house for himself using the money saved from the annual payment received from landlords. 3 months ago, Rushi replaced the tiles (Balaghati Khopara) with the money his son earned from MGNREGA. Rushi says that as compared to the work in MGNREGA, working for the landlords meant hard work and extended hours. When working as group in MGNREGA, they could chat and discuss various topics which made it a very enjoyable experience.
CASE – 2: Labour, Ramlakhan Kalarbanki village.
Ramlakhan, 40 years old, is a native of kalarbanki village of Seoni district of Madhya Pradesh. He has no education but can read and write a little. He can also do some calculations and is self taught. His family consists of himself, his mother, wife, 2 sons and a married daughter.
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Ramlakhan neither owns land nor cattle. Primarily, he is a daily wage laborer. His wife also works on daily wages, but not frequently. Ramlakhan works either in the MGNREGA or with the farmers of the village. According to Ramlakhan the farmers did not create a problem if he chose to work in the MGNREGA rather than in the farmer’s field, because of the higher pay. Ramlakhan has refused to leave his work in the MGNREGA and work for the farmers many times. He added that he doesn’t have to go asking for work from the farmers since MGNREGA has been implemented. Now, reverse is happening – farmers request him to work for them as everyone needs laborers to perform their work. His refusal to work for the farmers does not cause any conflict with them. Ramlakhan says, the Rs.100 per day wages given by MGNREGA has led to the farmers also increasing their daily wages to Rs.60 – 70. Additional facilities offered by the MGNREGA are drinking water, shade at the worksite and so on. He also remarked that though the daily wages have increased, inflation is also mounting; He worked for 100 days in 2009/10 in the MGNREGA along with his wife. Ramlakhan built himself a house on the plot allotted by the Panchayat, 15 years back with the money saved from the annual payment received from farmers. This was possible because he quietly slogged in the farmer’s fields. Working with MGNREGA cannot give him sufficient support for building a house or any other major investment; it can only help him in his survival.
Case 3: MGNREGA Mate, Kailash, Jamunpani village
Kailash is 26 yrs old and his family consists of his mother, father and one sister who are married. He works as a mate in MGNREGA since last six yrs. The primary source of income of his family is daily wage labor even though they own a small tract of land. The 40
main source of livelihood is MGNREGA because Kailash works as mate and his mother and father also work separate 100 days in the MGNREGA. Kailash says that implementing MGNREGA in the village is his sole responsibility and labors don’t demand work because they are not aware of their entitlement under the act. He said that there was the problem of delayed payment from the district and he had to face the laborers pressure for timely payment of their wages. Apart from this there was no problem in the MGNREGA. Kailash informed that MGNREGA offers work in the summer season, because there is no work to be done in the fields then. He stops work of the MGNREGA so that laborers are available for the farmers when they need them. Kailash commented that MGNREGA is highly corrupt and commission has to be paid at the district level to get engineer to come for evaluation of the work done. This corruption leads to a reduction in their wages. Kailash feels that implementation of MGNREGA has brought about huge changes in the laborer’s life. Farmers in the village are suffering losses as labor is not available as before and their work gets delayed as before and their work gets delayed. Farmers using tractors are doing well but those using oxen to plough their fields are facing problems. They are not able to pay increased wages demanded by the laborers as paid by the MGNREGA, as their profits are going down. Kailash says that 5-6 yrs back laborers were treated like slaves but the rich have started giving them respect. This was because of MGNREGA lead to increase in the wages. He informed that there are 50 laborers working in the MGNREGA who have totally stopped working in the farmers. After their stint with the MGNREGA, they work on their own land.
Case – 4: MGNREGA compounder, Lakhan Kalarbanki village Lakhan is 32 year old of Kalarbanki village and a 12th class pass and is the compounder of the village, presently working in the MGNREGA worksite, providing medication to the labor. He did a course under the JAN SWASTHYA yojana which came 41
before the National Rural Health Mission in the state. Lakhan lives with father, mother and elder brother. Lakhan‘s parents work for daily wages and his brother runs a small shop near the bus stop of the village. The family also owns a hector of land. Though the MGNREGA scheme, they dug a well in their land but they did not strike water even at a depth of 18 feet. Lakhan admits that his family earns more from daily wages through MGNREGA work as elsewhere. The earnings from their land and income from his brother’s shop augment the family income. Although he is not in a position to match the wages paid by MGNREGA, the labors work for him as they feel they are working in their own fields. (Kam to chalana padta hai). Lakhan’s opinion that labors have benefited a lot because of the MGNREGA as they get additional facilities such as drinking water, medicines and shelter at work site, things they cannot dream of when they work for farmers. Besides, MGNREGA helps in the self development of labor and contributing to the increase in their income and making them prosperous. MGNREGA has resulted in rapid development of the village. Road are being constructed enabling people to move about easily. Newly roads constructed through MGNREGA are for the residents of the village and not the policy-makers. Lakhan studied up to class twelfth, after that he went to Seoni district to do Industrial Training Institutes (ITI) but had to discontinue due to lack of funds. Then he joined the compounder training course in the village under the Gram Swasthya yojana. After that he took up job as a daily wage labor with the farmers and fund the work was very hard and the hours very long –around 10 hrs a day. Besides the farmers did not treat him well when MGNREGA came into force in his village, he started to work in the MGNREGA and totally stopped working with the farmers. According to Lakhan, MGNREGA has empowered laborers today and they have given up working in yearly basis. Farmers have realized the situation and deal with their labor more decently. Lakhan added not working for the farmers was not that difficult but farmers delay their payments and also exploit the illiteracy of the labor class.
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Providing suggestion to make the implementation of the act made effective, Lakhan commented that there is a need to educate the laborers about their rights and entitlements under the act. The government should impart training to the laborers to ensure their claiming of their rights under the provisions of the act. Lakhan conducted that there would be no corruption if labors were able to measure the quantum of work done by them and understand the amount he is entitled to receive.
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Interview with the farmers
Case 1: Santosh Thakur, 60 years old, Gorakhpur village
Santosh Thakur lives in the Gorakhpur village since his childhood. He owns 80 acres of land and works along with his two sons an it. He has a big house with all the modern amenities. He is known as the Patel of the village (very wealthy person of the village). He does intensive cropping during both the seasons. His source of livelihood is primarily agriculture. He owns domestic animals which yield milk that he sells in the nearby villages. He also has a tractors and a water tanker. He earns by renting and his tractor to other farmers and his water tankers provide water for social occasions to the villages for a free. Santosh Thakur does organic farming in his land even though the production was less when compared to other farmers using pesticides. He doesn’t spend money on pesticides. This farming practical have changed over the years from using oxen to plough the field to use of tractors, also the use of harvester machine has resulted in decreased dependency on labor. Santosh Thakur has observed that though the population of the country is rising, the population of the labors is falling. This is due to the various programmes of the panchayat running in the village. Santosh Thakur comments that farmers cannot match this. He says labor is more expensive in villages than in cities. In the cities people work for 800 to 1400 Rs. Per month, but in the villages they can earn Rs 800 in eight days (in the MGNREGA) he feels that the implementation of MGNREGA in the village has brought immense change in the life of the labors. The increased daily ways have contributed towards improving the quality of their life. Five year back Santosh Thakur used to pay Rs.20 per day to his labors, now he pays them Rs 50 to 60 per day. He is dependent on labor for much of this agricultural work but faces a shortage of the labor in the village. His problem is getting labors to work in his 44
fields at the agricultural times. He says “ Dal Ka Chukka Bundar Or Samaya
ka Chukka
Kisan”, meaning if the monkey misses while jumping from branch to branch he may fall and get hertz and if a farmer doesn’t get labor in time this hardest weld suffer. This weld mean reduced yield as delayed harvest results in damaging the crop. Santosh Thakur feels that the MGNREGA is responsible for this. Laborers are getting paid more for less work in the MGNREGA and so refuse to work for the farmers. The remarks that though MGNREGA is a very good policy of the government for the deprived section of the society which is getting more prosperous and also the villages are developing this main concern is the fall in agricultural production due to non-availability of labor. He sincerely feels that the work of the MGNREGA should completely stop so as to make labor available to the farmers at the time of cultivation.
Case2: Rameshavar Prasad of Jamunpani Village
Rameshavar Prasad aged 70 years is the owner of 38 acres of land in the village. Earlier he lived in the Banda district of U.P. till the age 13, when his maternal uncle adopted him and brought him to the Seoni district. Rameshavar Prasad goes to Banda twice in a year to visit this brother though he doesn’t own any land in Banda. He cultivates wheat, pulses same times masoor dal. He is hard pressed to find labor for his fields, so he uses machines. He says the farmers in Jamunpani village cannot afford to pay Rs100 to 125 per day as determined by the government. Ten year back he used to work with labors but now he uses machines. He says that the condition of the labors was pathetic earlier they could barely have one meal per day and would eat dalia, mahua, etc. now a days the labors lives have changed tremendously and they can afford to good diet. Rameshavar Prasad can no longer get labor to work for him and a yearly contract like before. Labors live in Jamanpani village but migrate to cities like Jabalpur and Nagpur.
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Rameshavar Prasad believes that after the MGNREGA, there is immense development in the village-like new roads constructed all over the village.
Case 3: Kamal Prasad village Jamunpani
Kamal Prasad, 47 years old, is a native of Jamunpani village of five members in his family three children two of which are boys who are studying and one girl who are too small to go to school. His wife works along with him in the fields. Kamal Prasad cultivates rice, wheat, gram and peas in his field. These are the sources of livelihood. He is new planning to open a fertilizer shop in the village. He is putting in a lot of effort to get the license from the government. Once he gets that he will sell urea, DAP and rice pesticide in his shop. Kamal Prasad cannot find the required number of labors for his field work. With great difficulty he finds one when he needs four (he was very annoyed as he made this statement). He says that labors either work for MGNREGA as migrate to cities like Nagpur, Jabalpur and Mumbai for work. Because of the scarcity of laborers in the village he started to work along with his wife in the fields. He needs labor for harvesting and threshing crops. In the absence of labor he uses harvester since three years for harvesting wheat from the fields. However, he cannot depend entirely on the harvester for he needs fodder for his cattle. There was no harvester available in the village before three years and had to the brought from Punjab. Kamal Prasad could not acquire new land to the contrary; he sold off 3 acres to finance his children’s education. . Kamal Prasad does not employ labourers in yearly basis and says that now a day’s depending on labor is reducing and people are finding other ways of performing their work.
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Commenting on the immense changes brought by the implementation of MGNREGA, kamal Prasad says scarcity of available labor was the main problem as laborers preferred to work in the MGNREGA. The Jamunpani village is being developed and setting converted into “Nirmal Gram” a mate temple build and Rahatkar roads are being constructed. People of the village called MGNREGA as Rahatkar because it was started by the Government for giving relief to the poor and unemployed. Earlier the poor used to get 6 Kg. wheat and Rs 6 for buying oil (Tail Tali) that is how the name rahatkar was given to MGNREGA which is now called MGNREGA. The laborers, though ensured of 100 days employment say there is still a lot of corruption. “Sarkar to aisa hi kahti hai, baki pata nahi.” The governments feign ignorance on this matter. Before 4-5 years there was no water in the village till the Bhingur dam was built near their village. Due to increased wages in MGNREGA, the farmers have also gradually increased from 10-12 rupees to 20, 25, 30…… and today it is 60-70 rupees per day. Kamal Prasad himself has worked for Rs 1.50 to 2 per day in digging canals. This has made it possible for the laborers to change their meager diet from Dal, daliya Lachka diluted they can afford green vegetables they are better clothed and can use soap for the bathing in place of sand. The farmers convince the laborers of their inability to match the MGNREGA wage structure. They would prefer to use labor for harvesting rather than use harvesters which lead to loss for the fodder for their cattle. The harvester takes 3-4 hours to cover 10 acres and the charges are Rs. 600 per acre. Kamal Prasad uses harvester for the half his land and the other half he himself and his wife works along with laborers and find that less expensive. (Ab to khud ko kudali uthana padta hai). This way he also gets the fodder required for his cattle which comprises of 3 buffaloes and a new born calf. Earlier he has 2 buffaloes and 4 cows, which he has to sell off as there was no grass land to graze them. After the Bhingar dam has been constructed, no field lies fallow. He cultivates rice on 3 acres during the rainy season and allows grass to grow over the rest of the land for the buffaloes to graze on. There is no government land left in the village as below the poverty line” people have been allotted land. Besides the government has used up 50-60 acres for a forestation has taken over all the grasslands. Since labor is scares, farmers have started to depend more on tractors harvesters and hand cutting machines. Flouring, souring and harvesting is all done by machines. They have no choice; otherwise the ripe 47
harvest will fall to the ground. Then farmer request to the labourers and say “Bhaiya Sasta Mahenga Kaisa Bhi Kato”.
Case 4: Mohan Rai, 50 years old, of Kalarbanki village
50 year old Mohan Rai has studied till class 10th. He lives in Kalarbanki village of Keolari block in Seoni district with his wife, three sons and two daughters. All his children are studying. He own 25acres in Kalarbanki village and does intensive farming in both seasons. He cultivates wheat, chana mushroom and peas in the Rabi season and rice, soya bean and arhar, dal in Kharif season. In summer, he prepares the farm for cultivation, using a tractor. As soon as the rains set in, he sows soya bean. He also has to face labor shortage due to MGNREGA work available in the village. It is very difficult to get laborers below Rs 100 as daily wages. Thus farmers have started implementing modern farming techniques, but still labor is required for spraying pesticides, de-weeding and irrigation. He employs labor at MGNREGA rate when he needs them. Laborers do not want to work for 8 hours in the field- they report for work at around 11:00 am in the morning and stop at 5:00 pm in the evening. They also take one hour off for lunch. Farmers are not happy with the quality of the work and have to face the loss. The need for fodder necessitates manual harvesting on part of the land using labor, at times paying them more than the MGNREGA. Mohan Rai Comments that nowadays he is substituting machines for men though it is a very expensive option. Cost of fertilizers, diesels are backbreaking and the returns are not proportionate. Scarcity of water also adds to woes. 48
Loss of fodder due to use of harvesters and allotment of grasslands to the poor for building houses means either farmers reduce the number of cattle or spend on their fodder. Mohan Rai formerly employed labor on an annual basis. Now he employs them at daily wages. He admits exploiting the laborers earlier as there were limited opportunities for them to find work. Now the laborers have an upper hand and demand huge sums from the farmers. Thus he feels MGNREGA is to be held responsible for this situation. According to Mohan Rai, MGNREGA on the one hand has played a major role in the economic development of the labor class but on the other hand MGNREGA is causing great loss to the middle class. They are unable to match the pay given by MGNREGA. MGNREGA has led to the development of the villages- new roads have been constructed facilitating travel between various villages. Mohan Rai makes a relevant comment that the Government should invest in agriculture since we are an agricultural country and true development can happen only then. He feels that it is essential to build small dams for irrigation. This would lead to prosperity for the farmers first and then improve the condition of labor too. He resents that MGNREGA exists only for giving employment and farmers do not benefit from it. He suggests that an engineer be present at the Gram Panchayat meetings to recommend sustainable work to be done under MGNREGA.
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Chapter 6 Changing daily wage rate after the introduction of MGNREGA
This chapter deals with the sources of livelihood and the changing daily private wage rate. The researcher tried to understand the sources of livelihood of farmers as well as labourers. He also attempted to understand the role of MGNREGA in the source of livelihood of the labourers of the village and its effect on the farmer’s livelihood. The differences in the livelihood of both the classes have been treated in this chapter separately. Changes in the daily private wage rate after the introduction of MGNREGA, the comparison between the private daily wage rate before five year and now and the basis of the same have been discussed concisely in this chapter. Based on the findings, the researcher seeks to present analysis in the last part of this chapter.
Sources of livelihood of Farmers
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Source of Livelihood of Labourers
Sources of livelihood of farmers: The main source of livelihood of farmers is agriculture work. They own the land ranging from 25 acre to 40 acre in the same village where they stay. The village covered by the researcher has double crop capability in most of the land. All the farmers do intensive cropping in both the seasons. In the Rabi season they cultivate wheat, gram, maser and peas. In the Kharif season, it is rice, soya bean and arhar dal. In the summer, all the farmers prepare the farm for cultivation using the tractor. Besides most of them own cattle- the animals include cows and buffaloes... They get milk from these animals and put up for sale in nearby villages. Thus animal husbandry is additional source of income for the farmers. Few farmers have tractor and other equipments which help them in their own agricultural work as well as they generate revenue out of it.
Very few farmers have small shops in the village
which is looked after by their wives or other family members.
Sources of livelihood of labourers: “There is no industry available in the village; all the villagers are involved in the agricultural work” 51
Ramshingh1 30 year old labour of Jamunpani village The labourers of the villages work on daily wages. There are few labourers only that have small piece of land. Earlier the labourers were working with the farmers on a yearly basis and they were getting eight to ten thousand rupees in a year. The primary source of income of the labourers is daily wages. Labourers works in the MGNREGA for hundred days and when their hundred days are over, some of them work with the farmers of the village and others go to cities like Nagpur and Jabalpur and work there. The participant labourers also carryout collection of Mahua and Tandu leaves and put up for sale to the buyers who buy from them and sell it to the companies who produce different goods from out of Mahua and Tandu leaves. Some of the labour participants also have domestic animals like goats. They get milk from the goats as well as they get to sell the kids when they are six months old. A goat gives birth to 3 kids at one time. Very few labourers own the small piece of land and they do agriculture work as well as work as a daily wage labour in the village. The labour participants who own the land informed that their land condition is not good and they get very less production out of it. They don’t have any irrigation facilities in their land. Hence the participants consider this as secondary source of income. The participant labourers first work hundred days in the MGNREGA with their family members and after that work in the agriculture work with the farmers of the village. The participant labourers told that their all family members work as a daily wage labour either in the government work (in the MGNREGA) or other manual labour work such as agriculture work with the farmers or stone -breaking machines which are running in the village for producing sand from rock The children who are below the age of eighteen work with the farmers in their agriculture work.
Analysis: On the one hand, farmers own large amount of land and they are having modern ways of doing agriculture work and their land yields double crop. On the other hand, very few labourers own the land and their land quality is also not good. They are able to produce only 1
The name has been changed for the purpose of maintaining confidentiality.
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single crop in the year. Labourers don’t have any modern ways of doing agriculture work. They are dependent on the traditional ways of doing farming; hence their production is very low. The farmer participant owns the land therefore they need labour to work on it. Since no other alternative of employment is available in the village other then agriculture work, all the labourers work as a daily wage labour in their fields. On the one hand, farmers have domestic animals like cows and buffalos, through which they get milk and sell in nearby villages and gets additional income other then farming. On the other hand, very few labourers have domestic animals like goats. They cannot sell milk of goat because there is no demand for it. Labourers can only sell their goat in the market when it is grownup in order to get income out of it. There is difference in the animal rearing between the farmers and the labourers. According to researcher, this is because of the farmers have large amount of land, they can produce fodder from their land or they can buy from elsewhere since they can afford it. But labourers don’t have land so they cannot get fodder for their animals therefore they rear goats. Rearing goats is not hard work because the goad eat very less as compare to cow. The labourers also collect firewood every day for fuel. They get leaves with the wood and take it home so that their goat can be fed. A goat gives birth to 3 kids at one time and cow only gives one kid in a year therefore the poor people can earn soon through selling goat in the market. Big farmers who are using modern equipment like tractors provide services to the other farmers in their agriculture work on the other side; labourers collect Mahua and Tandu leaves and sell it to buyers. In the village, according to researcher, agriculture alone is not sufficient for the income for the farmers and daily wage labour work is not enough for the labourers hence both the working class are trying to generate income from other sources also. This is the clear evidence that, neither farmer is happy with his agriculture production nor the labour is happy with the daily wage rate which he receives from the farmers. Therefore, both the working class is working extra to fill the gap in the earning. The labourers first complete their hundred days in the MGNREGA after that only they work with the farmers of the village because after hundred days they don’t have any choice to work in the village. Some of the labourers also migrate towards the cities like Nagpur and Jabalpur because they are not
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happy with the wage rate which is paid by the farmers of the village. The labourers who cannot go outside for work, work with the farmers in the village. The children of the labourers who are below the age of eighteen are working with the farmers. Since the children have not crossed the age of eighteen therefore they are not eligible to work in MGNREGA work. In India any child who is below the age of eighteen and found working, will be considered as a child labour and there are strict laws in the country to punish people who employ child. Hence the Sarpanch doesn’t allow children to work in the MGNREGA work. Farmers are employing children in their agriculture work because all the labourers who are above age of eighteen first works hundred days in the MGNREGA and only then will work with the farmers. Because of this the farmers are employing child labour in order to get their agriculture work done. Children are source of income for the poor people. Since the labour class is lacking their basic need of food and it is a primary concern for them, they employ their children and do not provide education to them.
Changing daily private wage rate after the introduction of MGNREGA:
Perception of farmers: “At present there is hundred rupees is minimum daily wage rate in the village below this labour don’t work” 54
-Sunni Lal2 40 year old farmer of Gorakpur 3village of Seoni block According to the farmers, earlier there was no work available in the village for the labourers and they were dependent on the farmers for work. Hence they accepted whatever they were offered by the farmers. Now there is immense change in the daily wage rate. Participants feel that, if government is paying hundred rupees for labour, then farmers also have to pay sixty or seventy rupees and then only they will work in the fields. Farmer participants state the reason for paying low wages to the labour while working in their agriculture field- according to them, under the MGNREGA labourers work from eight O’clock in the morning till six O’clock in the evening and there they have to perform very hard jobs, but while working with the farmers labourers have to work only five hours in the day and work is very easy as compared to MGNREGA. According to them, the daily private wage rate before the introduction of MGNREGA was ranging up to Rs. 25/- to Rs. 35/- daily and working hours was also more as in contrast to present working hours. As mention in the above case studies, participants remark that, since the work of the MGNREGA is running in the village and all the labourers are getting hundred rupees as a daily wages, they go to work in the MGNREGA. According to the participants, after the introduction of MGNREGA they started to pay ranging up to Rs. 60-70 per day as a daily wages to the labour. One of the participants informed, that daily wage rates are increasing- earlier it was 10-12 rupees after that 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50 and now its 60 or 70 Rs/- per day. The farmers informed that, they are not in the position to pay Rs.100 per day to the labours as daily wages. According to them, their investment in the agriculture is getting high before because of the increased prices of pesticides and oil .Therefore expenditure in agriculture is very getting high. Besides this, the productivity of the land is decreasing. Therefore, they cannot pay wages comparable to government rates.
2
The name has been changed for the purpose of maintaining confidentiality.
3
The name has been change for the purpose of confidentiality
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Perception of daily wage labourers: The researcher interviewed labourers of the villages that are dependent on the daily wage earning for their survival. The main source of their income is labour. They work either in the MGNREGA or they work with the farmers of the village in their fields. Very few labourers migrate to cities like Nagpur or Jabalpur to earn. The researcher tried to understand their perception about the changing private daily wage rate in the village after the introduction of MGNREGA ‘Before five years, I use to get 25 rupees as daily wages but now there is drastic change in the daily rate after the introduction of MGNREGA in the village’ Rame Singh4 40 year old labour of Kalarbanki village The labour participant informed that, five years back, most of the labour of village was working with the farmers in their agriculture work on a yearly basis where they used to get approximately eight thousand to ten thousand rupees as a compensation for the year. One of the participants informed that , earlier very few farmers used to give money to the labourers as a daily wage, most of the farmers used to give rice, wheat and so on (whatever available with the farmers) in lieu of wages. The daily wage rate before five years was ranging up to 25 to 35 rupees. But now according to labourers, the farmers are also giving Rs.60 to 70 as a daily wage to the labourers. According to them, this is because of implementation of MGNREGA in the village. In their opinion, the main reason of increasing daily private wage rate is introduction of MGNREGA in the village. One of the participants remarked that, if the MGNREGA was not available in the village then farmers still might be giving Rs 35 to 45 as a daily wage to the labourers and labourers go to the farmers for work because they don’t have any choice to work elsewhere in the village. The labourer strongly gives credit to MGNREGA for rising private daily wage rate in the village. The labourers also consider that, the farmers are not position to pay daily wages comparable to MGNREGA (hundred rupees) to the labourers. According to them, the
4
The name has been changed for the purpose of maintaining confidentiality.
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farmer’s yield is very low in agriculture; as a result of this farmers are not position to match the MGNREGA wages. Most of the participants live in self-built Kaccha houses in the village and the researcher observed that, many of them have used good tiles for roofing. Balaghati Kapra- is a kind of tile which used in the roof and it is expensive. . All the labourers who have constructed house for themselves got land from the village Panchayat through a government scheme. They said that the construction of house is the result of working with the farmers on the yearly basis without complaining and because of this the labourers were able to get some amount of money and made houses for themselves. One of the participants informed, that before the days when the 5canal was being constructed under the Bhingur dam project. He worked there and received Rs.6 as daily wages. After that the daily wage rate was 10 rupees and now it is RS100 in the MGNREGA. Now he is getting 100 rupees as a daily wage rate. Further he explains,
now wheat is Rs.20 per K.G, potato is Rs.15; oil is Rs.50 per liter,
Haldi is Rs.180 per K.G. “kan ko Khi Say Parko Baraber Hai” Meaning thereby, ‘If you catch ear from any side there is no difference’. According to him,
there is no benefit in earning hundred rupees in a day. When he was earning Rs.6 as
a daily wage, that time he was able to save some amount of money, but now he hardly can save only Rs.10 in the day. He added, the inflation is very high nowadays, if the rate of food production will come down only then can labourers think of progress. Although labourers believe that though they are getting a higher rate in the MGNREGA but they also think that, the daily wage rates of the MGNREGA only help them for survival, labourers neither do any investment nor do they save any money for any kind of emergency.
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It is Asia’s largest mud dam which is situated near the participant’s village. Under this project the canal was constructed for enhancing the irrigation facilities for agriculture.
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Analysis: The International Labour Organization made convention to insure the minimum daily wage rate for remuneration of workers in those industries where the level of wages was substantially low and the labour was vulnerable to exploitation, being not well organized and having less effective bargaining power. Therefore the Minimum Wages Bill was passed by the Indian Legislature and came into force on 15th March, 1948. Under the Act both State and Central Government are “Appropriate authorities” for fixation/revision of minimum rates of wages for employments covered by The Schedule to the Act. However, giving daily wage rate to the labourers according to the minimum wage act seems to be out of reach in the villages of district Seoni where the researcher spoke to the people. Five years back, the labourers were receiving Rs.25 to 35 as daily wages in the agricultural work despite the fact that, the minimum wage rate was very high at that time than the actual daily wage rate paid to the labourers by the farmers.
As a result the minimum wage law was failed in its
objective to make sure of minimum daily wage to the labourers. As findings of the research shows, there is immense change in the private daily wage rate since five years. On the one hand, farmers blame MGNREGA for rising daily wage rate in the village. On the other hand, the labourers of the village praise MGNREGA for increasing the same! Both the working classes believe the MGNREGA played very significant role in determining daily private wage rate in the village. As Marjit & Kar (2009) state that, Markets and competitions both play dominant roles in determining wages in the informal sector. In this context, before the MGNREGA there was no work available to the labourers of the village, they were totally reliant on the farmers of the village to provide work. Since no competition existed in the village, whatever amount farmers use to pay to the labourers, they use to accept it. But after the implementation of MGNREGA the situation is altered now. Since the labourers are receiving hundred rupees as a daily wages, they have started to work in the MGNREGA. On the other side, the farmers need labourers for many hours in their agricultural work. Although the farmers trying to reduce dependency on the labour in the agricultural work , still they need labourers for long periods for activities such as putting pesticides in the field, removing weeds near the crops, irrigation of the land and so on and so forth. Therefore the farmers of the village started to pay increased daily wages to the labourers. 58
The farmers informed that they are not in the position to pay hundred rupees as a daily wages to the labour- this is because of high rate of all agriculture investments. The labourers of the village also accept this fact and feel comfortable with the Rs.60 to 70 as a daily wage rate. This point draws attention towards the agriculture policy of the country. Agriculture is described as the backbone of Indian economy, mainly because of three reasons. One, agriculture constitutes largest share of country's national income, two, more than half of India’s workforce is employed in its agriculture sector and three, growth of other sectors and overall Economy depends on performance of agriculture to a considerable extent. Besides, Agriculture is a source of livelihood and food security for the vast Population of India. Agriculture has special significance for low income, poor and vulnerable sections of rural society. Because of these reasons agriculture is at the core of socio-economic development and progress of the Indian society, and proper policy for agriculture sector is crucial to improve living standards and to improve welfare of masses. As above data shows, farmers are investing more capital in the agriculture and not receiving appropriate returns from it. Though tremendous progress has been made to exploit agriculture potential of the country, but there is a lot to be done. There is the need to enhance agriculture policy of the country, Proper infrastructural development, subsidized agriculture loan and adequate crop price has to reach to the farmers so that the farmers will be able to get appropriate profits from the agriculture and labourers get appropriate daily wage rate.
After the introduction of MGNREGA the pattern of wage payment has changed. Earlier farmers use to give wheat, rice, and other crop to the labourers as a daily wages but after the introduction of MGNREGA the cash payment has started in the village. Earlier there are programs of the government like food for work where labourers use to get wheat or rice as a daily wage but now since MGNREGA is paying cash payment to the labourers, so all the farmers also started to pay cash as a daily wages to the labour. Previously where farmers use to employ labourers on yearly basis and they use to pay labourers at the end of the year. But after the introduction of MGNREGA, labourers have stopped working on yearly basis with the farmers. Labourers first work in the MGNREGA as a daily wage worker after that 59
they work with the farmers and get daily wages. Although the labourers of the village now receiving daily wage, according to them, the daily wage payment only help them in their survival they cannot do any kind of savings for their future. Most of the labourers have constructed houses for themselves and they informed that this was a result of working with the farmers for a long time. Because of this labourers could be able to save some amount of money and build house for themselves. Although the provision of the act strictly says that the payment has to be given to the labourers within seven days or cannot late more than fifteen days. But labourers feel that they earn and spend shortly thus not able to save any money for the future. Now there is bank payment system there in the MGNREGA which can help to the labourers to save money for the future and also the government is cutting some amount of money from the MGNREGA labourer’s payment so that labours can save some amount of money and can take from the government at the time of emergency. This kind of step is very useful which can help labourers in their thick and thin situations.
60
Chapter 7 Changing relations and Agricultural Patterns after MGNREGA
The present chapter describes about the changing relations between the farmers and the laborers and its impact on the pattern of agriculture after the introduction of MGNREGA in the village. In India, farmers own large tracts of land in the village and do agricultural work, where as the land less people work with the farmers in order to earn income. The farmer’s and laborer’s relationship has continued since long time. It is dependent on the various aspects such as: Employment on a yearly basis of the laborers by the farmers, and sometimes farmers provide accommodation for the laborer and his family. The whole family contributes in the farmer’s agricultural work. Some of the farmers employ laborers for short period of time and pay them daily wages. Some time laborers take land from the farmers for production of a crop. Laborers work on the farmer’s land, which provides all the things which are needed for the farming. When the crops are harvested and sold in the market the farmer takes half the profit and bears all the expenses incurred such as cost of seed, pesticides, charges of tractor, and so on and so forth. However, the introduction of MGNREGA has brought the issue of cash payment and the rights of laborers in more effective way and this has had an impact on the relationship among the laborers and farmers. This is affecting pattern of agriculture in the village. This chapter broadly discusses the changes in the relationships among the farmers and the laborers. It also deals with the changes in the pattern of agriculture after the introduction of MGNREGA in the village. The researcher spoke to the farmers of the village to understand their views regarding the same and how these farmers were adjusting with this. The researcher also attempted to understand what will be the consequences of changing patterns of the agriculture in future of the country. Changing relations and the agriculture 61
pattern have been treated separately in this chapter.
Based on the evidence available the
researcher tried to draw his analysis at the end of this chapter.
Changing relations among the laborers and farmers after the introduction of MGNREGA:
Before the introduction of MGNREGA, the laborers use to work with the farmers of the village on a yearly basis. During their period of work laborers are not allowed to take any holiday from work. They constantly worked in the farmer’s field for survival of their family. After the introduction of MGNREGA the laborers got the choice to work in the village and they can earn almost equivalent amount from MGNREGA in hundred days only as in contrast to what they receive from the farmer in the whole year. The laborers started to first exercise their rights to getting employment for hundred days in the MGNREGA and afterwards they worked with the farmers of the village on the daily wage rate. The farmers require laborers to perform their agriculture work and the laborers are not working with them as they used to work before the introduction of MGNREGA. Therefore the researcher tried to investigate the changes in the relations amongst the laborers and the farmers after the introduction of MGNREGA. He also tried to study the presence of conflict if any between both the working classes with the feeling of their empowerment and reaction of the farmers regarding the same. The separate views of laborers as well as farmers about the changes in the relations are treated in this chapter. On the basis of the information gathered from the participants, the researcher has attempted to draw the analysis.
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Perception of laborers: The researcher spoke to the laborers, who are dependent in the daily wages for their survival. In the past (before five years) these laborers used to work with the farmers on a yearly basis. According to the laborers, after the introduction of MGNREGA in the village they stopped working with the farmers in their fields . The reason the laborers gave for not working with the farmers of the village as they did before, was that working with the farmers is like an obligation ‘Girma May Bandhna’ (tie neck with the rope like an animal). The participants explained their experiences in working with the farmers. According to them, when they were working with the farmer, the laborers were not in a position to attend any kind of social functions like marriages or partake lunch offered by the relatives on the occasion of different social functions.
The laborers felt that, they were socially excluded
while working with the farmers. According to them, if laborers missed one day of work in the farmer’s field the employer used to cut almost two days’ payment. The laborers also informed that, they had to perform very hard work while working with the farmers and their working hours were more as compared to MGNREGA. Besides this, behave the farmers did not treat them well. Therefore the laborers who were working on a yearly basis with the farmers, discontinued to working with them.
The laborers also informed that, on the one hand, farmers used to pay very meager amount as wage and very few farmers paid in cash. Most of the farmers used to give them a measure of the yield of the crop as payment. Besides, farmers used to keep delaying payments of the laborers. Therefore all the laborers joined the work of MGNREGA where they received prompt cash payment and as compared to farmers. The participant informed that, previously when the MGNREGA was not in existence in the village, the laborers use to go to the farmers for asking work but now farmers come to the laborers and request them to work in their fields. According to them, while the work of the MGNREGA was running in the village, they refused to work with the farmers and when
63
the work of the MGNREGA was not running in the village, laborers preferred to work with farmers willing to pay them wages on par with MGNREGA
Some of the participants informed that, after the implementation of MGNREGA in the village, the laborers had become empowered and they are no longer the slaves of the farmers. Wherever they get a bigger amount as daily wages they will go there and work. One of the participants remarked that the farmer he was working with at that time used to treat him as though he was a slave and the farmer, his master. Further, he added, that nowadays farmers started to give respect to the laborers. According to him, everyone needs laborers; no work can be done without the laborers. Since the MGNREGA is running in the village, and laborers are working on it, as a consequence of this the farmers also realized the value of laborers in their agricultural work and started giving respect to the laborers. Participants also informed, if they had an alternative to work either in the MGNREGA or with the farmers of the village then they would choose MGNREGA. This is because of the working hours of the MGNREGA is less as compared to agricultural work. They get more amount of money in the MGNREGA and there all the laborers work in a group, while working in a group they chat, sing and enjoy working. Therefore they prefer to work in the MGNREGA.
One of the participants who also own a small portion of land informed that, since the MGNREGA is functioning in the village, the farmers do not get laborers. The large farmers who have advanced ways of doing farming using tractors and harvesters, do not face much problems but the small farmers who are still
continuing the old practices
of doing
agricultural work and are not in the position to afford advanced ways of farming are in facing great losses. According to him, large farmers somehow can pay increased daily wage and gets laborers. But the small farmers neither adopt new ways of farming nor are they in the position to pay more wages to the laborers.
64
The mate (in charge of MGNREGA worksite) who also gets the same amount of money which the MGNREGA laborers get, informed that, at the peak time of agricultural work the farmers request to stop work of the MGNREGA so that the farmers can also get laborers to perform their work. The mates also informed that, many laborers who work in the MGNREGA are small farmers and at that time they also want to work in their land so mates of MGNREGA stop the work of the MGNREGA. According to them the laborers are not aware of their rights under the MGNREGA act so no laborers take objection in stopping work and farmers gets laborers to perform their agricultural work. One of the female participants informed that, when her hundred days of MGNREGA were over, she would look for work in the village and work for the farmer who offered her the highest wage. She also emphasized, that she would not be influenced by anyone in making her decision.
She also remarked, that if she does not get a sufficient sum of money
then she will look for work in the nearby villages. She said that, she is a laborer and her existence depends on her manual labor.
The participant also informed that, nowadays farmers also understand that, wherever laborers get higher wages, he or she will go there and work. The laborers informed that, if they refuse to work with the farmers then there will be no conflict among the laborers and farmers. This is because the farmers also understand the situation and treat laborers well as they are the members of same village community.
Views of the farmers: The researcher spoke to the farmers of the villages to understand their views regarding the changing situation. He also tried to learn how these farmers are dealing with the problem of not getting laborers to perform their agricultural work and how they are adjusting themselves to this changed environment and what they feel regarding the same.
65
The farmer participants informed that there is scarcity of the laborers in the village in the present. According to them all the laborers are there in the village but they are very much busy in the Panchayat work (in the MGNREGA) where all the laborers receive more money as a daily wage therefore they don’t work with the farmers now a days. The farmers need laborers to work for long hours in their field. There are many crops which cannot be harvested with machines. From removing weeds near the crops, putting pesticide in the field, farmers need laborers everywhere. According to one of the participants, nowadays government is only making policies for poor people and not doing anything for the farmers. Further he added the work of the MGNREGA is not sustainable as the government is running schemes like MGNREGA for just sake of giving work to the laborers. There is no benefit to the farmers with the work of the MGNREGA. According to him, when the MGNREGA will stop in the future, at that time the condition of the laborers will be same as it was previously in the village. If the government invests this money in the development of agriculture then the situation would be different. India is an agricultural country its true development can happen if the government will invest in the development of agriculture. . Through this process the farmers of the village would be wealthy and through farmer, laborer’s condition would also become better.
Another participant said that the population of the country is rising every day but the population of the laborers is getting less every day in the village. Further he added, labor rate is very expensive in the village as contrast to cities, He explains, in the cities people work for only eight hundred rupees or fourteen hundred rupees in month but in the village if a laborer worked for eight days he can earn eight hundred rupees (in the MGNREGA). Other participant explains that, he doesn’t get laborers when he needed and he is facing a big problem continuing his cultivation. He said that because of the low availability of the laborers in the village, he started to work along with his wife in the fields. Further, he added that in the present time the dependency on the laborers is reducing and people are finding other ways to perform their agricultural work.
66
If a laborer is not doing any work then he comes to work in the fields. When they work in the MGNREGA and if participant also need them, he tells the laborers, ‘you are getting 100 rupees at MGNREGA. I can pay you only Rs. 70 because I am farmer and cultivate crops in the field and do not get appropriate benefit out of it, so am not in a position to pay you 100 rupees’.
If we have to choose to do agriculture work with the labors or harvester, it is beneficial to work with laborers. If we harvest land by the harvester, we cannot get fodder for the animals. It is costly to do work with labor but we get fodder easily.
Laborers are demanding hundred rupees in the day, and their working period is hardly four to five hours per day. Therefore the amount of work done is less and expenses are high.
Not getting laborers for the agricultural work is the big problem for large farmers, because they are not good at the work and they consider themselves as sahibs (boss) so they give either land in contract, on sharing basis or they sell it. But the people who are habituated to field-work and regularly working in their fields are not facing this problem.
Today’s farmer is well-designed The people are working for the farmers and not being enslaved. Farmers feel that times are changing and they have to adjust with that. They treated laborers smartly, the farmers reminds the relationships to the laborers which they are having since long time. They say, ‘oh, we are living in this village since long time, I’m your Mama, Kaka, Dada we are the member of one family only. By doing this there would be no conflict in the village and environments is good. Laborers also understand and feel ok.
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One of the participants informed, that there is problem of labor. Firstly labor is hard to get, if available, very costly which cannot be afford by the farmers (government rates) He accepts that, yield of the farmers is also increasing but it is still less when compared to the investment of the farmers and the profit from it. In one acre of land farmers produce 8 to 9 quintal of Soybean, after that, farmers also have to use pesticides in it. Then only will it reach up to the farmers. Keeping this in view the earning is still low. But people are working on that- they are using various fertilizers and when the production increases they will get good profit because Soybean fetches high returns.
After that problem of the laborers will not exist, hope the farmers. They will be able to offer the laborers, whatever they want. Secondly the farmers have two three members in the family. They will do some amount of work through family, and some amount of work they can perform using tractor and other machines’ and where they require labor they will appoint and pay them, thus they can solve this problem.
Analysis: Introduction of MGNREGA in a way has redefined the understanding of daily wage rate and its pattern, the act played major role in delineating the relations amongst the employer and the employee in the village. Whereas, before the MGNREGA, farmers used to employ laborers on an yearly basis but now it is not so. Before the MGNREGA there were few farmers who used to give money to the laborers but in the present time most of the laborers are receiving cash payment as a daily wage. The MGNREGA gave bargaining power to the laborers. Presently they are empowered enough to take decision in terms of work. Today, the laborers of the village go wherever they get higher wages. The MGNREGA gave opportunity to self development and made them aware in terms of their rights as a laborer and improved their social status in the village. The act provided opportunity for the 68
landless laborers of the village as against the agricultural work and because of this the bargaining power of the laborers has improved. As the
Micro-level studies also tell
the great importance of non-farm rural employment in setting the terms of farm employment. Deepankar Basu, in his essay on Bihar has also commented on this issue. Availability of nonfarm options is expected to improve the bargaining power of agricultural laborers and hence improve their wages. The importance of non-agricultural employment has indeed steadily increased in most parts of the India. In west UP, between 59 and 70 per cent of income of landless households came from non-agricultural employment (Lerche 1999). Srivastava (1999) in village studies conducted in west, central and east UP also underlines the importance of non-agricultural employment. Thus the MGNREGA provided the opportunity of non agricultural work to the land less laborers of the district Seoni. Today, the farmers who used to treat laborers as their slaves have started giving them respect. Now the farmers have understood the value of laborers in their agricultural work. They are treating laborers well; they are reminding the laborers of the relations which they have had since a long time. Before the MGNREGA the laborers were reliant on the farmers for work whereas, now farmers come to the laborers and request them to work in their field. The MGNREGA played very significant role in changing social fabric of the village. Because of MGNREGA laborers are not working with the farmers in their agricultural field. Small farmers who cannot do their agricultural work using advanced methods of farming because they cannot afford it and need laborers to work are at a great loss because they cannot pay increased daily wages to the laborers. On the one hand, the government is doing much to create change in the life of poor people in rural area through providing them employment through MGNREGA, education for their children, nutrition through midday meals, health care services and so on and so forth. On the other hand, there are very few policies available for the small farmers in the village. The rich farmers can afford to pay increased daily wage to the laborers but the small farmers also need attention of the government.
Very small farmers also need to hire labor during the peak season of
agricultural work
and it is easy to understand that they would find an increase in wages
harder to pay than the larger farmers, and hence would be likely to oppose such increases. 69
As can be imagined this situation greatly complicates class politics on the ground, setting small and marginal peasants (who may themselves also be working sometimes as wage workers) against agricultural wage-workers. On the flipside, this also means that agitations for lower input prices (cheaper seeds, fertilizer, pesticides, electricity) and higher output prices can draw on support of peasants as well as landless laborers since more remunerative prices can make higher wages more affordable for them. As one of the participants remarked, since there is scarcity of the laborers in the village, therefore he and his wife along with his children work in the fields. Since there is less availability of labor in the village, the family members of the farmers work in the fields. This has both positive and negative impact on the people. On the one hand, the rich people who used to treat themselves superior are learning to work in the field and realizing the hardship of working in the field at noon time. Now these people have realized the pain of the labor class and the value of their work. As a result of this these people started to give respect to the laborers. On the other hand, the farmers started to take their wives to work in the fields. This is the clear evidence of female gender exploitation because now woman has to carry out household duties like preparing food for the family members, cleaning house, taking care of children and so on and so forth, and also
has to go to the fields for doing
agricultural work which is making her life more difficult than ever. Along with the wife of the farmers, the children have also started to work in the field in order to fill gap of scarcity of the laborers in the village Though these children are expected to be in schools, they are deprived of the joys of childhood due to their being engaged at the agricultural work. Although the Article 45 of the Constitution of India says, the State is to provide free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of 14. According to Article 39E of the Constitution, children of tender age should not be abused and citizens should not be forced by economic necessity to enter vocations unsuited to their age and strength. 70
Article 39 F mentions that children should be given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner in conditions of freedom and dignity. It also maintains that childhood and youth should be protected against exploitation. Besides all these provisions of the constitution the ground realities are very much different. The source of livelihood of the farmers is their agricultural work without which they cannot survive. The agricultural production is first priority for them .It does not matter to them that they are employing their own children in the field and unknowingly depriving their children of their education and besides this they are putting them in the risk of losing their childhood. However the Patron client relationship was
principle of the exploitation between the
haves and have-nots. Though MGNREGA has not understood and is confused in trying to find the solution of all problems of laborers because it also suffers from many drawbacks leakages and delays in wage payments, non-payment of statutory minimum wages, work only for an average of 50 days per annum as against the promised 100 days, fudged muster rolls, few durable assets and even fewer sustainable livelihoods. But the act played significant role in shifting social structural change in the villages. The act made the farmers of the village to rethink and revise their wages and pattern of the same. It alters farmers understanding about the value of labor. It gave bargaining power to the laborers and made them empowered in terms of work. Changing in the pattern of agriculture after the introduction of MGNREGA:
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In India, more than seventy percent of the population is working in the agricultural field. Indian agriculture is mostly dependent on the traditional ways of farming. In the recent times there have been many developments in the field of agriculture to reduce dependency on the laborers and faster growth of the crops. Still farmers need laborers to perform their agricultural work. Earlier when there was no source of employment available other then agriculture in the village, all the laborers use to work with the farmers of the village, but now since the MGNREGA is providing work opportunity to the laborers, they started to work in the MGNREGA. The farmers who need laborers many times in their agricultural work are facing problem to perform the same. Therefore the farmers are changing their earlier pattern of doing agriculture work. This section deals with the changes in the pattern of agriculture after the introduction of MGNREGA in the village. The researcher spoke to the farmers of the village to understand their views regarding the same and how these farmers were adjusting with this. Since the farmers are engage in the agricultural work therefore the researcher spoke to the farmers only.
The researcher also attempted to understand what will
be the consequences of changing patterns of the agriculture in future of the country. Based on the evidence available the researcher tried to draw his analysis at the end of this chapter.
‘Nowadays farmers are adopting modern ways of doing agricultural work’ says Gangadhar 650 year old farmer of Kalarbanki village
As mentioned in the above cases, the farmers strongly feel that, after the implementation of MGNREGA in the village there is large change in pattern of agriculture. Before four-five years, laborers use to work from 11 O’clock to 5 O’clock in the evening without any difficulty. For example, if they required one laborer, five would be available to work. However, the situation has altered now. Nowadays if the demand is for ten laborers, only about two would be available and that too with much difficulty.
6
Name change for the purpose of confidentiality
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Previously farmers use to do their agriculture work through traditional way of farming involving cattle and employing labor. When the tractor came, big farmers started to do cultivation through it. Thus the dependency on the cattle reduced but labors continued to work with the farmers. After the implementation of the MGNREGA, the labors stop working with the farmers because they get more money in the MGNREGA and working hours ares less. The farmers adopted new patterns of doing agriculture work.
“There was no harvester available in the village before three years and all harvesters came from the Punjab” says 7Ramthas- 35 year old farmer of Jamunpani village Harvesting machine is a mechanical device used for harvesting. A typical Harvesting Machine comprises of a traveling part, a reaping part and a baler part. Reapers are employed for cutting cereal grains, threshers are used for separating the seed from the plant; whereas corn or maize harvesting is performed by using a specially designed mechanical device called 'mechanical corn pickers.' Harvesting Machines are also employed for controlling the production of weeds. Machines such as the field choppers, balers, mowers, crushers, and windrowers, are the common examples of the machines of this category. A forage harvester is
employed
for
cutting
and
chopping
of
almost
all
silage
crops.
Source
:(http://www.agriculturalequipments.com/harvesting-machines/crop-harvestingmachine.html).
Now farmers are using harvester machine which can cut crop from the field and thresh it simultaneously. The crop directly comes to the home which saves their time and also facilitates human resource management. While doing this process the farmers don’t need laborers as they required previously. Through using harvester machine in the agriculture field, farmers are substituting labor. Most of the participant informed that, although they were using harvester to reduce dependency on the labors but through this process farmers
7
The name has changed for the purpose of confidentiality
73
doesn’t get fodder for their animals and they have to buy fodder from outside for survival of their animals.
As mentioned in the fifth chapter, most of the participants harvest their agricultural land half with the help of harvesters and half with help of labor. According to them, although harvesting agriculture land with labor is very hard these days but they get fodder easily for their animals. The participants also reduced their animals because of lower availability of laborers who tend to them and also there are no grasslands remaining in the villages now because all the vacant government land has been given to the poor people for constructing houses.
Apart from this, they don’t get fodder through harvesting their land
with the harvester machine therefore now a day’s farmers are reducing their domestic animals and losing their extra source of income which is selling milk to nearby villages. One of the participants informed that, now farmers are paying more amount of money to the labors as a daily wage rate.
Five, six year back there was very little opportunity for the
labors to find work because of that, they were compelled to work according to the farmers convenience but now the situation has changed farmers are working according to the laborers’ convenience. Whatever amount labor demands, Farmers have to yield to the demand the labor. The participant held responsible MGNREGA for this situation. Another participant explains his problem of not getting laborers at the time of agricultural work in this proverb “Dale Ka Chuka Bander Or Time Ka Chuka Kisan” meaning there by, if monkey miss branch of the tree while jumping then he has to face tough consequences he may fall down and get hurt, in the similar way if farmer didn’t get labor in time he has to face trouble. His production may get low because if the crops are not harvested at an appropriate time then it starts falling down automatically in the field. So farmer can’t let it stand. He will either pay more to the laborers or will call harvester and harvest his crop. According to farmers, all the laborers live in the village only but nowadays they are very busy in Panchayat work. One of the participant remarked, that “Population of the country is rising every day but population of the laborers is getting lower every day in the village”. The farmers informed that, because of the less availability of the labors in the village, they started to adopt new ways of doing 74
agriculture work. Because agriculture is their primary source of income and they cannot leave it at any cost. One of the participants informed that since there is labor problem in the village, farmers are selling their land and setting up shops in the city (Seoni) and starting business so that they can earn from it. Another participant informed that, previously every family was having 400 acre or 200 acre of land- at that time the farmer needed more hands for the agricultural work but now every generation is dividing land among themselves and farmers are holding smaller tracts of land. Half part of land is harvest through harvester machine and half through labor and family members of land holder.
Analysis: The researcher discussed with the farmers of Seoni district of Madhya Pradesh where a majority of the population is dependent on agriculture and tried to understand the effect of MGNREGA in the pattern of agriculture, and how these changes are affecting the overall farming system of the villages. As the above
data shows, after the introduction of
MGNREGA the laborers of the sample selected to stop working with the farmers of the village. Consequently the farmers who use to do their agriculture work through laborers were adopting new ways of doing farming. Nowadays the farmers have started to use harvester machine due to scarcity of available labor
When the farmers harvest crop through this machine they require less number of laborers in the field. On the one hand, using this machine reduced dependency on the laborers and work gets done very fast. It saves the time of the farmers and also facilitates human resource management. On other hand, the farmers don’t get fodder through this process. Every farmers who rears domestic animals needs fodder for them. Fodder is like a buffer stock for the animals because in summer the grass cannot be acquired for the animals and that time farmers can feed fodder to their animals. Since the process of harvester not provide silage, the farmers who used to rear ten to fifteen animals have reduced their cattle to a great extent. This can effect overall production of milk in the country. 75
A survey published in the economic times said
"Considering that the requirement
of milk in 2021-22 is expected to be 180 million tonnes the current level of milk production is 112 million tonnes, the milk production must increase to 5.5 per cent per annum in the next 12 years, “Though the country's milk production has grown more than six times since Independence, the average annual growth rate in the milk production in recent years has been close to 4 percent. The survey noted that India's per capita milk availability at 263 gram per day in 2009-10 falls short of world average of 279.4 grams/day as per FAOSTAT (Food and Agriculture Organization Statistic Database, 2009). As survey indicates that, the more amount of milk needed in the future to satisfy need of the population of the country and there is already adecline in the production of the milk in the country. According to the farmers, since there is no laborer available to look after domestic animals and there is no grass land left anymore in the village. Therefore the farmers started to reduce their animals. The recent changes in the agriculture pattern,
as above data shows, can effect
overall milk production of the country.
There are limitations of the harvester also. First, the harvester machine cannot work if there are stones on the field and this machine cuts crop from little above the ground, hence ten to fifteen percent crops remain in the field only and most of the time get spoilt. The government of India is doing much through its agriculture policies to increase overall production of crops in the country, thus using harvester in the agricultural field may affect the overall productivity of the country.
Reducing the migration is one of the main objectives of the MGNREGA and it has achieved this to a great extent in the sample selected. The laborers who earlier used to migrate now stay back in the village itself. Whereas, the farmers who use to do their agricultural work in the village since generations are now selling their land and trying to shift to the cities..Since these farmers don’t get laborers to perform their agricultural work therefore they are selling their land of the village and purchasing shops in the cities so that 76
they can start their business and earn there. On the one hand laborers are coming back to the village because they are getting work in the village and on other hand farmers are not getting laborers for agricultural work therefore they are planning to migrate from the village.
If the farmers face scarcity of the labor in future then they will prefer those crops which can be harvested through harvester machine only. The crop like rice which cannot be harvested through harvester machine because of small sludge wall in the field which made for storing water in the field and harvester cannot go inside the field because it is a big machine which can break all sludge walls therefore only laborers can work in the rice field. If he farmers face labor problem then they will stop harvesting rice in the agricultural field which will overall effect of the rice production in the country.
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Chapter 8 MGNREGA and its impact on life of the people
The MGNREGA provides a social security to the poorest people of this country and tries to address the urgent issues of hunger and rural distress that creates problems for a large part of the Indian population. This act in a way has redefined the private wage system of the village, it restructured the relations between the peasant and land less people, the act bringing development and creating changes in the overall life of the daily wage labourers. This chapter discusses the effect of the MGNREGA in the overall life style of the daily wage workers, their perception about the act and views regarding the same. The researcher interviewed those labourers of the village who exercise their rights of hundred days of employment under the MGNREGA during the financial year 2009/2010. He aimed to understand the impact of the act on the labourers’ life and development of the village from their point of view. He also tried to learn the experiences of the labourers in working under the MGNREGA and its role in providing a source of livelihood opportunity to the labour class of the village. The researcher also visited MGNREGA worksite of the sample selected in order to understand the kind of work been undertaken, facilities available and other benefits and opportunities as per the provisions of the act. The researcher also interviewed the farmers of the village to understand their views regarding the MGNREGA. He tried to understand how the scheme was affecting the overall livelihood of the farmers of the village and to what extent the work undertaken in the village was beneficial to the farmers in their agricultural work. Changes in the lifestyle of the labourers from the perception of the farmers have been also dealt with in this chapter. On the basis of gathered findings the researcher attempted to draw analysis at the end of this chapter.
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Perception of Labor ‘MGNREGA is helping labourers in their self-development; it is leading them towards the source of good income and making their life prosperous’ says Ramesh Kumar 32 year old labour of Kalarbanki village of district Seoni. The labourer participants determined MGNREGA as their primary source of income. Most of them are working under the act since it started in the village. Most of them completed their hundred days of work under the act twice or thrice in the previous years. The labourers feel that, the act gave them good opportunity of livelihood and prevented them from migration. Some of the labourers, who migrated towards the nearby cities for work, came back to the village to utilize the opportunities provided under this act. According to them, working outside is very difficult because life is very complicated in big cities like Nagpur and Jabalpur. Now these migrated workers initially exercised their right of employment under the MGNREGA and then look for work in the village, if they do not get satisfactory daily wage then, they migrate outside for work.
One of the participant remarked that the labourers of the village have benefitted a lot because of the MGNREGA. Further, he added that the kind of worksite facilities such as drinking water, shade, medicine and crèche for the children who are below the age of five. He also said, whereas working with the farmers of the village the labourers cannot even 79
dream of getting assistance that they are receiving in the MGNREGA. Another participant commented that in the course of implementation of MGNREGA the village is developing and nowadays people can move inside the village without any difficulty. Other participant emphasized that the road constructed under the MGNREGA should not be used by those people who made policies. It is for the people of the village!. Providing the suggestions to make more powerful implementation of the act, one of the participants recommended that, there is a need to educate the labourers about their rights and entitlements under the act. The government should provide training to the labourers to insure their claiming of the rights in the provision of the act. Further he added labour should do measurement of the work done by them so that they will understand how much work he or she did and what are the rates which he is entitled too. According to him, if this happens, then there would be no corruption and labourers will get their payment without any fraud. Another participant feels that after the MGNREGA her life has changed. She is eating good food, wearing good clothes and her condition has improved. She feels, there is a little development in the village after the implementation of MGNREGA but there is lot to be done.
The labourers said that, they are getting daily wage rate on the task basis, but most of them are not be familiar with the Piece rate determined by the government, therefore they don’t understand the system of wage payment. The labourers informed that, they go along with their wives to work in the MGNREGA in order to get more income.
The participant labourers informed that, the work of the MGNREGA should be extended up to one year as against the hundred days. The participant feels that, after the completion of their right of hundred days of MGNREGA, they again depend on the farmers for the agricultural work. One of the female participant informed that, she is working in the MGNREGA worksite along with her three daughters, because her husband is terminally ill so that there is no earning member in the family left and she has to marry off her three 80
daughters, therefore, in order to get more income she works with her three daughters. One of the participants suggested that, the rights of hundred days’ work of the MGNREGA should be provided to the all family members of the household who cross the age of eighteen. According to him, if four five members of the family who are above the age of eighteen work in the MGNREGA, then their hundred days over very soon and again they have to look for work in the village.
Perception of farmers The participant farmers feel, the MGNREGA is playing very significant role in the development of village. New roads are constructed in the village. Through those roads, villages are connected with each other. The village is developed and being converted into Nirmal Gram, Mata temple was constructed and Rahatkar roads are being constructed. People of the village earlier used to call MGNREGA Rahatkar because government started it for giving relief to those people who were poor and unemployed. Nowadays farmers can bring their yield from the field to the home easily through those roads which were constructed under the MGNREGA. Farmers feel, there is great change in the life of the labourers of the village. Earlier labourers ‘conditions was very pathetic; labourers could afford only one meal a day. In the evening labourers have to survive on Daliya, Mahua, etc. Nowadays Labourers are able to afford the food that the farmers are eating. They are better clothed, there is a change in their way of life also; previously when they take bath they had to make do with scrubbing with sand, they couldn’t afford soap but now they have capacity to buy basic needs like soap. Their financial situation has improved, they have become more aware, they see if the work of the MGNREGA is running in the village, then they work in that otherwise they go outside cities Jabalpur and Nagpur. There they get high wages and hence prefer to work there even if the work is harder. Many of them have mobiles, TV, bicycle, their living condition is good, their diet is good and their house condition is also improved they made good roof for themselves. 81
The Labourers get daily wages and they have also become aware in the terms of the fact that if they do not have work in the village, they go Nagpur and Jabalpur in search of work. And when the work under the MGNREGA starts in the village, they come back and start working here.
Another participant remarked that there is need to create small dams for irrigation of the land of the village under the MGNREGA scheme. Through this process the farmers of the village would be wealthy and through farmer, labourers’ condition would also improve. He suggested that, while taking decision in the Gram Panchyat meeting regarding the work of the MGNREGA, there should be an engineer available so that he can suggest which work has long term benefits for the village.
According to the farmers, because of the MGNREGA the private rate has gone up, farmers are facing difficulty to perform their agricultural work because of the scarcity of the labour in the village and farmers have started to use machines to perform their agricultural work. The participant farmers strongly feels that, the work of the MGNREGA should totally stop at the time of peek season of agricultural work so that the farmers also get labourers to perform their agricultural work.
Analysis: The MGNREGA gave employment opportunity to the rural people. Most of the labourers consider that MGNREGA is their primary source of income. Most of the labourers who used to migrate towards the nearby cities are now working in the MGNREGA. Reducing migration is one of the main objectives of the act and according to the researcher this objective has been fulfilled to a great extent in the sample selected. Now there are very few people who migrate from the village, most of them work in the MGNREGA and after that in the agricultural work. The act is changing the social structure of the village. Under the act people are getting hundred days’ right to work which is making their life more prosperous. 82
Although there are many policies of the government in existence in the village, the researcher observed that, the MGNREGA is the policy of the government which is affecting all aspects of life of the people of the village. On the one hand, landless people are getting employment under the act. On other hand, the MGNREGA is contributing to development which helping farmers in bringing their crops home from the field.
In the Seoni district, the payment of the labourers made after the measurement of their work by the engineer. The labourers work on the worksite in the piece rate in order to earn daily wage. The provision of piece rate is for ensuring the efficiency of the work done by the labourers at the worksite. But this method of payment is encouraging labourers to work through involving their family members in order to earn more income. As data shows, most of the labourers works in the MGNREGA along with wives in the MGNREGA worksite which is promoting female exploitation because all the male labourers bringing their wives so that they both can work in order to earn more daily wages . Now a woman (whether she wants to work or not)has to come for doing manual labour in the MGNREGA along with her husband. Beside this she has to perform her household duties, which is making her life difficult. Another aspect of piece rate as Yamini Aiyar (2007) pointed out,
the general
practice in wage employment programmes is for payments to be made on the basis of the ‘task’ performed, or the total output per day. So if an MGNREGA labourer is working on a worksite to extract gravel for building a road, her daily rate is determined on the basis of the total quantum of gravel extracted through the day. To manage this process, a junior engineer — usually a block level officer — is assigned the task of taking measurements at the worksite and on that basis calculating the total wage due. It is, of course, impossible for the junior engineer to make daily visits to each worksite in his area of jurisdiction and he usually waits till the work is completed before taking measurements. A great amount of secrecy surrounds this calculation process. Consequently, the individual labourer is never quite aware of the correlation between individual work done and wages received. This encourages free riders — after all, what incentive would you have to work if you knew that your wages depended on the output of hundred others? As a result productivity suffers and minimum wages rarely received. 83
The right to hundred days of work in the MGNREGA is not sufficient for the labourers of the village. They have to again depend on the farmers of the village for work. The families which have four to five members and work in the MGNREGA are not happy with the hundred days provision of the act for each household. They are demanding rights of hundred days for every member of the same family who is above the age of eighteen.
Wherever MGNREGA has
been implemented well, it has made a huge difference in the life of the poor. For example interviews conducted by (Neera Burra) of MGNREGA workers in Andhra Pradesh give clear image of effect of MGNREGA in the life of the labourers. Talari Yadamma, 45 years old belongs to a dalit family. She has worked 30 days on EGS works and received Rs. 120 per day. She worked with her daughter. The main tasks she was involved with were bundling, pitting and watering of plants. She said that she needed more work. ”EGS work is good because it is continuous. We need more work. When I worked in agriculture I used to be out of the village for a month at a time. We travelled almost 100 kilometers in search of work. We had to spend Ugadi (Telegu New Year) outside the village and we got paid only Rs. 30 per person per day. Groups of 15 persons went with the labour contractor in a lorry to far off villages. We went twice last year. Now that we have got work in our own village, why should we go out in search of work? After EGS works started, we have stopped going out to work.”
Where the researcher interacted with the farmers it was evident from their words that they are happy with the development of the village which happened due to MGNREGA but they are unhappy because labourers are not working with them as they used to work before. The farmer wants to make MGNREGA more agriculture development- oriented. So that their yields increase and they can earn more benefit in their agricultural work. According to them, if they earn more, then they will pay more wages to the labourers of the village. In this context there is one thing which stands out- dominance of the farmers on the labourers which is continuing since long time. Since the MGNREGA is available in the village and the labourers is not working with the farmers, the farmers are becoming conscious about the decline in the status that they have enjoyed for generations in the village. Now the farmers are demanding that, the work of the MGNREGA should be agriculture-oriented so that their 84
economic condition improves and through paying more daily wage rate to the labourers they can sustain their domination over the working class.
According to the farmers, there is large improvement in the life of the labourers after implementation of the act. Now labourers are also eating the same things which farmers are eating. After the implementation of the MGNREGA the labourers’ purchasing power has increased -now labourers also have access to all electric goods which used to be considered made for wealthy people only. As Ghosh, (2004) said, MGNREGA, if creatively visualize and properly implemented in the country, can have very large effects in terms of creating environment for much higher levels of economic activity and therefore growth, especially in the rural areas. Wage employment will give money in the hands of rural workers who will therefore able to spend on basic consumer items which will play an important role in reviving local markets and rural industries. Since the entire rural economy is in severe depression, such a positive effect is very important, since it will create conditions for the further expansion of private economic activity in rural India. Ultimately, the MGNREGA is a major move in the right direction. It can provide much-needed employment for the rural poor and can become the basis for the necessary regeneration of the rural economy, without which sustainable aggregate growth is not possible.
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Chapter 9 Conclusion
MMGNREGA is providing vital employment opportunities to the rural poor and is helping to revive the local economy of the Indian villages. The researcher conducted his study in the four Gram Panchayats of two blocks namely Seoni and Keolari in the district Seoni of Madhya Pradesh. The researcher interacted with the MGNREGA workers and the farmers of the village in order to understand the impact of the MMGNREGA in the daily wage rate of the village, sources of livelihood of laborers and the farmers, the pattern of agriculture after the introduction of MGNREGA and changes in the relations among the laborers and the farmers and overall impact of MMGNREGA in the village.
Sources of livelihood of the villagers: There are very few opportunities in the village for work. The farmers are engaged in agricultural work and the laborers are engaged to work in the field owned by the farmers. After the introduction of MMGNREGA in the village the laborers started to find opportunities of working in the villages itself and many laborers who used to migrate to cities from the village came back and started working in the MGNREGA. The researcher observed that, neither farmers are happy with their agricultural production nor the laborers happy with the wages paid by the farmers, hence both the working classes are trying to fulfill the gap in their earnings. There is a need to create employment sources in the village. The MGNREGA is a policy of the government which is trying to give hundred days per year employment opportunity to the rural people. After that these laborers do agricultural work with the farmers of the village; but laborers are not happy with the daily wage rate which is paid to them and the farmers are not in a condition to pay daily wage rate at par with MGNREGA. There is a need to enhance the agricultural policy of the government. The farmer should be in a condition to pay good wages to the laborers of the village. 86
Changes in the daily private wage rate after the introduction of MGNREGA: Before the MGNREGA was enacted the farmers used to pay Rs 25 to 30 to the laborers of the village and mostly they would give a measure of the crop as a wage payment. However, the daily private wage rate has gone up after the introduction of MGNREGA in the village. Now farmers are also paying cash payment ranging up to 60, 70 rupees to the laborers. On one hand the pattern of payment has been changed. Earlier it was in the form of agricultural product but now it is in the form of cash. markets and competitions both play dominant roles in determining wages in the informal sector. Since there was no option available to the laborers to work they used to work with the farmers for low daily wage but MGNREGA created competition in the village and hence farmers were forced to increase the daily wages of the laborers and started to pay higher daily wages to the laborers.
Although the minimum wage law is enforced in the country since 1948, the agricultural laborers used to get very low daily wages than the actual wage prescribed in the law. However the private wage rate has gone up but it is still less than as prescribed in the Minimum Wages Act. The researcher spoke to the farmers as well as laborers and learned that, farmers are not in the position to pay minimum daily wage to the laborers. This is primarily because of decreased yields of crops. More often than not, the farmer’s investment is very high in the agriculture and returns very low. Therefore the farmers are not in a position to pay daily wages according to minimum wage law. The laborers also accept this and work with the farmers at a low daily wage rate. This situation gives the clear evidence of the condition of village economy which is in great depression, where the farmers are not getting actual profit on their investment and the working class is selling their labor cheap. There are many programmes of the government that are operation in the village but until and unless the people become economically empowered, the other objectives such as achieving hundred-percent literacy, improving health, and removing poverty cannot become a reality in the villages of the country.
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Changes in the agricultural pattern after the introduction of MGNREGA: India is an agricultural country. More than 70% of its population is reliant in the agricultural work. Majority of farmers of the country do agricultural work through traditional ways of farming. Few people of the village own the land in villages where the researcher interacted with the people. Before the MGNREGA, the landless people use to work in the fields with the farmers of the village but after the introduction of the MGNREGA in the village these laborers have stopped working with farmers. The farmers started to face problem in their agricultural work because of the reduced availability of the laborers in the village, therefore they started to use those machines in the agricultural work which can reduce the dependency on the laborers. However creating change in the pattern of the agriculture work was not the objective of the MGNREGA but it is affecting the way of doing agriculture in the sample selected. Now the farmers are using harvester machine to perform their agricultural work. Since the farmers are using this machine, they don’t require laborers as much as they needed before. Doing agricultural work with the harvester machine saves time and also reduces dependence on human resources; but the farmers don’t get fodder through this process. Most of the farmers do animal husbandry also hence they need fodder for their animals. While interacting with the farmers of the village the researcher came to know that, the farmers who use to rear ten to fifteen animals reduced up to two or three. According to researcher, since the farmers are not getting fodder for their animals therefore they are reducing the same. This has large impact on the economy of the country. The production of milk countrywide is still low; selling milk nearby villages is the extra source of income for the farmers. If the farmers reduce their domestic animals then they lose their extra source of income as well as the overall production of milk will reduce in the country.
The important aspect discovered by the researcher is that, the farmers of the village are discontinuing those crops which cannot be harvested buy the harvester machine. For example, the harvester cannot work in the rice field because of small areas created in the 88
field for storing water for rice, if the harvester goes inside the field then those boxes will be ruined and the field will not be eligible for rice in future. Hence farmers must need laborers for the rice crop and they are not getting the same therefore farmers are avoiding rice crop. This modest change of the sample selected can be story of other parts of the country because the MGNREGA is implementing every nook and corner of the country.
Changes in the relations between the farmers and laborers after the introduction of MGNREGA: The MGNREGA in a way has redefined the understanding of the private daily-wage rate in the village, employee-employer relations, and the pattern of employment of the laborers with the farmers and so on. This has a direct effect on the relationship between the laborers and farmers of the village which has been continuing since long. The laborers use to work with the farmers on the yearly basis and not allowed to take any holiday from the work. The laborers have to perform very hard work and their yearly payment was very meager. Beside this, the farmers use to keep delaying the payment of the laborers.
When the MGNREGA started in the village the laborers got opportunity to work at higher daily wages, hence the laborers stopped working with the farmers and the relations which existed since a long time has broken down. The MGNREGA gave bargaining power to the laborers. It educated the laborers about their rights in terms of work and empowered them. Whereas, before the MGNREGA laborers used to go to the farmers and request for work but now situation has changed, presently farmers come to the laborers and request them to work for them.
After the independence of the Country, the government is regularly making policies to empower poor people of the village. The land reform law is the apparent example of this, but very less has been achieved by this so far. The MGNREGA is the policy of the 89
government which is giving right to choice and providing economic empowerment to the poorest of this country. It is giving bargaining power to the laborers which is improving their social status in the all aspects of life. Changes in the village after the introduction of MGNREGA: The MGNREGA gives employment to the rural people . It gives bargaining power to the labor class of the village. The MGNREGA has redefined the understanding of the daily private wage rate in the village and, because of this programme, the private rate has gone up which is effecting the relationship amongst the farmers and the laborers. The villages are being developed, new roads constructed and now people can move easily inside the villages. The act empowered the laborers, and now they are aware of their rights; they are no more slaves of the farmers. The laborers’ purchasing power has improved now they have access to all those goods and services which earlier considered only for the wealthy people.
The MGNREGA has changed the pattern of agriculture in the village. Since there is less availability of the laborers in the village hence the farmers are adopting new ways of doing farming. While doing agricultural work with machines the farmers don’t get fodder for their animals therefore nowadays farmers reducing their domestic animals.
On the one hand MGNREGA has brought large change in the life of the laborers; on the other hand its impact on the agriculture is very poor. However, the MGNREGA does not intend to affect the agricultural pattern but because of changes brought about through it is directly affecting the agricultural system of the sample selected and can be generalized in the larger context in the country.
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Suggestions for Future Research During the study by the researcher, it was found that the data about MGNREGA which is supposed to be fair and transparent is not adhered to by the village Panchayat members. This may be due to two reasons; one reason is that there might be some element of corruption or unfair practices going on under the MGNREGA by the Panchayat members which may impede its growth in reaching to the labourers. The other reason may be because the Panchyat members themselves being unaware of the terms and conditions of the MGNREGA. Future research in the field of MGNREGA could be in the areas of transparency of the Act and about the awareness among the people about its benefits for the poor. The impact of MGNREGA on the change in the pattern of agriculture though dealt with in this study, needs deeper focus as it can give us deeper instincts about the future scenario of the Indian Agriculture and necessary steps can be taken the Government so as to use this changing scenario to its advantage.
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Reference Aakella ,Karuna Vakati and Saumya Kidambi (2007), Challenging Corruption with Social Audits, Economic and Political Weekly February 3, 2007 pp. 345-347 Anil, Sharma, Laxmi Joshi & Sahu (2006), Evaluating Performance of National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, Public Interest Foundation, New Delhi Basu, Arnab K, Nancy H. Chau & Ravi Kanbur (2005): “The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of India, 2005”, processed, Department of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. Basole. A. (2007). Agrarian Change in North India: Evidence from Haryana, Sanhati. September 27, 2010 accessed at http://sanhati.com/excerpted/2750/ access on 23 feb 2011. Bhuimali & Anil (2004). Relevance of M.K. Gandhi’s Ideal of Self-Sufficient Village. Economy in the 21st Century, Sarvodaya: 1(5) Bogoda. R., Jootla. S. M. & Walshe. M. O’C (1997).The Buddhist Layman, Indian Tax Institute Delhi India: 2 Breman, Jan (1997), The Village in Asia Revisited, Oxford University Press: pp16. Business Standard (Dec 31st, 2010), Improving MGNREGA Chand. R.(2001) Emerging Trends and Issues in Public and private Investments in Indian Agriculture: a Statewise Analysis, Indian Jn. of Agril. Economics: 56(2), 161-184.
Deshpande. R. S. (2005). AN EVALUATION STUDY OF PRIME MINISTER’S ROJGAR YOJANA (PMRY), Agricultural Development and Rural Transformation Unit Ghosh, Jayati (2004), The case for employment guarantee, accessed at http://www.hindu.com/2004/10/26/stories/2004102602731000.htm. on 11 feb 2010 Haralambos, M. and R. M. Heald. 2006. Marxism. In Sociology: themes 92
Lakshman, Nirmala (2007), The hundred days basket, The Hindu dt 14/08/2007 accessed at http://www.thehindu.com/2007/08/14/stories/2007081454930800.htm Lerche, J. (1999). “Politics of the Poor: Agricultural Laborers and Political Transformations in Uttar Pradesh,” in Byres, T.J., Kapadia, K., and Lerche, J. eds. Rural Labour Relations in India, London: Frank Cass, pp. 182-241. Narang. A. S. (1996) INDIAN GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS, GITANJALI PUBLISHING HOUSE Sankaran. K. ( 2011). MGNREGA Wages:Ensuring Decent Work, , EPW Vol XLVI No 7, pt 23-25 Shankar , Vijay. P. S., Rao. R., Banerji. N, Shah. M, Bhopal Gas Tragedy: 'New' Victims Betwa Sharma Government ‘Schedule of Rates’: Working against Rural Labour, Economic and Political Weekly April 29, 2006 Shah, M (2005), Saving the EmploymentGuaranteeAct, Economic and Political Weekly February 12, 2005 pp 599-602. Shah. M. (2008). The Real Radicalism of MGNREGA. The Hindu(28th May, 2008) Sunil (2010), Understanding Capitalism through Lohia, EPW October 2, 2010 Vol XLV NO 40 pp 57. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 Vermani, R.C.(2006), An Introduction to Political Theory, Gitanjali Publishing House New DelhiISBN 81-85060-28-2Printed at Mehra Offset Press, Delhi
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Annexure
How has NREGS impacted the existing livelihoods of the people in the village? Individual: (NREGS worker/ others who employ laborers) 1. Sources of livelihoods/income/earning/ flow of resources in the family 2. Major source, self‐ rating of sources of livelihood in terms of flow of income or resources 3. Security of sources of livelihood (risk involved) 4. Any changes in the sources of livelihood? Why? When? 5. Major issues in securing livelihood 6. Contribution of MGNREGA in livelihood Individuals: Civil society/ government officials who are not NREGS beneficiaries 1.
View/ understanding on sources of livelihood in the villages
2. Issues related to livelihoods in the villages 3.
Views on livelihoods and the NREGS
4. View on impact of NREGS on the overall livelihood of the villages
Have there been any changes in labor relations in the MGNREGA implemented villages? Individual: laborer / NREGS worker/ other who have been employing the laborer/ both labour and also employ labourers 1. Forms of labour relations (self a labour, employs labour, both, those who fetch labour/ agent) 2. Forms of labour relations vis‐à‐vis the livelihood sources 3. Wage rate: Payment to the laborer (men, women children…) 4. Duration of work 5. Changes in the duration work and rate? 6. Reasons for changes 94
7. Labour availability in the villages 8. Problem faced 9. NREGS and labour issues
Do the NREGS laborers have choice in-terms of employment in the village? Has NREGS provided an employment options to the laborers? 1. NREGS vis–a‐vis choice of employment 2. Private/ government employment 3. Preference 4. Reasons
Has MGNREGA changed the self-perception of people in-terms of their existing social status? 1. Choice 2. Risk 3. Status 4. Feeling 5. Changes in relationships because of NREGS What is the perception of different stakeholder groups regarding the impact of NREGS in the villages?
Understanding of the NREGS and the entitlements
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