Impact of Workfare Programmes on Quality of Life: A Case Study of National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in India

Abstract

This study attempts to analyse the effectiveness of implementation of The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 in India and its impact on quality of life in the Anekal taluk of Bangalore district in the Indian State of Karnataka. Data was collected from a sample of two hundred households who were beneficiaries of the NREGA, randomly selected from four different panchayats in the taluk. To measure the quality of life, two dimensions were considered. First, the household-level quality of life, comprising the variables of income, housing conditions, education level and health condition; and, secondly, village-level infrastructural development, including drought-proofing, land development, rural connectivity, renovation of traditional water bodies, irrigation, and drainage/sewerage. An index for quality of life was constructed using the variables above, which was used to analyse the impact of NREGA. The study found that there was a widespread variation in the effectiveness of implementation of NREGA among different panchayats in Anekal taluk. The results suggest that the NREGA has a significant impact in both village-level infrastructural development and also in household quality of life. However, there is also an urgent need for immediate rectifications of some of the flaws observed during the survey to make NREGA more effective and responsive to the needs of the underprivileged citizens.