When farmers make no money, the rural economy comes to a standstill. Incomes shrink. Wages of agricultural labour have declined in the past two years and activists working at the grassroots say there is acute rural distress. The Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) was supposed to be a fallback in troubled times such as these by providing 100 days of work and timely payment.
However, just when it is most needed, MGNREGA is beset with problems. It is inadequately funded, payments to workers are inordinately delayed and social audits, to check corruption, aren’t being done.
MGNREGA. . .
