Constraints Faced By The Mgnrega Beneficiaries In The Nalanda District Of Bihar

Abstract

Population wise Bihar is the third most populated state in India. In the state, more than 85% of the population stays in the rural area and the state is the least urbanized state in the country and has a low source of income which leads to an increase in poverty. National Rural Employment guarantee act (or, NREGA, later renamed as the “Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act” 2005, MGNREGA), is an Indian labour law and social security measure that aims to guarantee the ‘right to work’. The present study aims to analyse the knowledge and attitude level of MGNREGA respondents. The study was conducted in Nalanda district of Bihar which was selected purposively as the MGNREGA scheme is currently running in the district. Hilsa block was selected by purposive sampling for the study as the block has the largest number of MGNREGA beneficiaries. A total of six villages were selected for the study purposively because these villages have a greater number of MGNREGA beneficiaries. A total of 120 respondents were taken randomly. The data were collected by pre-structured interview schedule and appropriate statistical analysis was done to find out the meaningful results. The finding of the study reveals that the major constraints faced by the MGNREGA beneficiaries were local residents only eligible to work (70.83%), low wage rate (65.84%), delay in payment of wages (62.50%), the same wage rate for both men and women (56.67%), continuous work is not provided (51.66%), delay in issue of job card (47.50), 100 days of employment not given (41.66%), the same wage rate for all kinds of work (40.84%) and the person is not engaged at the work site to look after children (35.84%).