Employment Guarantee Scheme and Its Impact on Rural Poverty: A Case Study

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), has emerged as major initiative for alleviation of rural poverty in post-independence period. This scheme provides guaranteed employment of at least one hundred days in every financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work’ It is a new life line of the rural people who earn their livelihood as wage earners. In this paper, I have tried to find out the impact of NREGS on rural poverty in coastal Khejuri of Purba Medinipur district, West Bengal. The study has been undertaken in eighteen villages choosing three each from six Gram Panchayets through stratified random sampling method. The data regarding income before and after joining the scheme from the respondents depicts the positive change brought by NREGS in the economic condition of the beneficiaries. Actually NREGS provides a chance to live with dignity for the rural poor as it provided hard cash to them and they are getting an opportunity to purchase essential items for their daily purposes. My study indicates that while the impact of the NREGS on overall poverty reduction is moderate, it certainly results in reducing the intensity of poverty of the beneficiary households, which is directly related to the days of participation in the scheme and innovative ways of planning the works. Actually, it can be said that even though NREGS has brought changes in the quality of life of beneficiaries especially from economically and socially backward communities, a lot more has to do to achieve the expectations of the society at large.