National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and Migration from Rural to Urban Areas: A Case Study

The full-fledged employment guarantee scheme in India is National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) which was implemented from February, 2006. It is the flagship welfare programme of the UPA Government and the largest of its kind. My study deals with the impact of NREGS on internal migration in coastal Khejuri particularly in Khejuri-I panchayet samity in Purba Medinipur district, W.B. The scheme has significant positive impact on internal Rural – Urban Migration by providing rural workers with guaranteed employment during the lean seasons. Earlier a significant section of the villagers particularly living below the poverty line had forced to migrate different places for their livelihood. In coastal Khejuri unskilled manual work was available only in the agricultural seasons. Rest of the year they had no employment opportunities within their locality and no other alternatives except to migrate. But NREGS has changed the situation dramatically. It is evident that the rate and volume of rural-urban migration has decreased significantly due to available job opportunity in the locality. NREGS seems to have created reasons and opportunities for people to work and remain in their own villages. The strengthening of this perception in rural areas can have significant impacts on question of security, health and children’s education, all of which are often compromised, in one way or another during migration