After 5.32 lakh hectares of cropped area suffered damage to the extent of 33 per cent or more in prevailing drought conditions, the Odisha government’s announcement to provide 200 days of work under MGNREGA, one of the measures to provide meaningful engagement to people, appears unrealistic to achieve.
The State government has hardly been able to provide more than 45 average days of employment per household during the past three financial years. As against average 36.44 days of work made available in 2014-15, the performance in the current fiscal has dipped to 26.52.
Job cards
In Odisha, job cards have been issued to 66.05 lakh households having total 1.77 crore workers. Of 66.05 lakh household with job cards, 11.3 household worked under the flagship rural employment programme. Similarly, out of 1.77 crore workers, only 16.4 lakh individuals engaged in the MGNREGA works.
Interestingly, total number of households who have completed 100 days of work in 2015-16 has been estimated to be 13,121 only. They constitute less than 1 per cent of total households who possess job cards.
Delay in payment
One of the shortcomings of MGNREGA is delay in payment of wages. The State government has also faltered on this front. Less than 50 per cent of total payments were generated within 15 days of work.
Intensive Participatory Planning Exercise was mooted to prepare labour budgets from village and undertake focused implementation of MGNREGA. As many as 181 blocks in 23 districts of Odisha were selected under IPPE. The average days of work provided in these districts were 28.19. Similarly, only 11,263 households out of 36.43 lakh households having job cards have completed 100 days of works in 2015-16.
Against this backdrop, the State government’s claim to provide 200 days of work to people hit by droughts sounds improbable.
Earlier, the promised 150 days of work for migration prone pockets in western Odisha districts.
