Rural Development In Nigeria

In a rural agrarian economy, which is also labour surplus, the population depends on the wages they earn through unskilled casual manual labour. They are vulnerable to the possibility of sinking from transient to chronic poverty in the event of inadequate labour demand or in the face of unpredictable crisis like ill-health and disaster. In the context of poverty and unemployment workfare programme have been important intervention in developed as well as developing countries for many years. This programme typically provided unskilled manual workers with short-term employment on public works like irrigation, infrastructure, forestation, soil conservation and road construction. The rationale for workfare programme provide income transfer to poor

The UPA Government renamed NREGA into Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGREGA) on 2nd 2009 as the country celebrated 140th birth anniversary of our Father of nation. In August 2005, the Parliament passed the landmark legislation, National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. It is a national law funded largely by the Central government and which guarantees hundred days of wage employment per year per household. The Act placed the enforceable legal obligation on the state and gives bargaining power to the labourers. It calls for providing minimum statutory wages to the workers. The most remarkable feature of MGREGA is that it completely denied the role of contractors at any stage of the

The secondary objective is to create durable community assets and development of infrastructure. The choice of work suggested in the Act addresses causes of chronic poverty like drought, deforestation, soil erosion. The scheme has an additional objective which is to provide one-third of employment to women with the purpose of empowering them. Since the Act lays stress on constant and consistent audits it calls for quality of work as a central objective. The local government is legally bound to provide employment to the applicant.

Salient Features of MGNREG Act

1. Adult members of a rural household willing to do unskilled manual labour may apply for registration in writing or orally to the local Gram Panchayat.

2. The Gram Panchayat after due verification will issue a Job Card. The Job Card will bear the photograph of all adult members of the household willing to work under NREGA.

3. The Job Card should be issued within 15 days of applying for