Infrastructure Development and National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in India: The case of Bankura District, West Bengal

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) of India is the world’s largest workfare programme that comes with a guarantee of 100 days of employment to every citizen of India as guaranteed by the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA). Thus MGNREGA is expected to ensure a social safety net for vulnerable groups by providing a fall-back source of employment as a matter of right, which is undoubtedly its immediate goal. However, the long-term goal of MGNREGA is to create durable rural assets and infrastructure as per local need in order to address chronic poverty and to foster a model of governance based on the principles of grass-root democracy and transparency. The present study looks at the performance of NREGS under three aspects – the type and quality of the assets created; the use and upkeep of the projects and community participation in planning, implementation and maintenance of the projects. The study is based on primary data collected from 82 completed projects of various types executed in the period 2008 – 10 in 23 villages located in 10 Gram Panchayats in Bankura district of West Bengal in (eastern) India. On the basis of this primary data, the study reveals that at least in Bankura district, most of the projects under NREGS pertain to local need and are of good quality. The projects are being utilized by the local villagers for various economic and social activities. But, there is no system of maintenance of the projects once they are constructed. However, wherever community participation in NREGS is good, it is seen that the projects are well-maintained…