MGNREGS and women's participation in Karnataka

Compared to other southern states, Karnataka has had low participation of women in the MGNREGS

Jyoti Selvaraj from Shivapura gram panchayat in Chamarajanagar recounted the struggles when her husband, who worked as a coolie was out of work during the first lockdown. This was when the gram panchayat functionary approached families to enrol them for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), which prompted Jyoti and her husband to make their job cards. They earn Rs 275 a day, and Jyoti has a separate bank account where her wages get credited every 15 days. Her earnings contribute to household expenses and take care of her thrift in the local Self Help Group (SHG) and repay the loans.

For many like Jyoti, MGNREGS has been a lifesaver through the pandemic. With large-scale migration back to villages and loss of livelihood, many women in the rural areas of Karnataka have taken up MGNREGA work in the past year and a half to substitute for the loss of family income. Compared to other southern states (Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana), where women are found to be in the majority among the MGNREGS workforce, Karnataka has had consistently low participation of women in the employment generation programme. However, in the post-pandemic period, participation has seen a spike in the state.

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We studied four districts that we identified based on women's high and low participation in the programme. Within the districts, two grama panchayats based on high and low participation were selected to collect the primary data. The study covered 213 women across the four districts. This article looks at the drivers and barriers affecting women's participation in the employment generation scheme.

Community-based organisations (CBOs) play a crucial role in bringing more women to the workforce. For instance, women working for the past two years in the scheme in LK Doddi gram panchayat of Raichur district recollect how they were unaware of approaching panchayats to fill form 6 or demand for work. However, a CBO organised the group and demanded work. Interestingly, LK Doddi is one of the better performing GPs in terms of women participation in the district. Over the years, women have worked in the desilting of open wells and nalas, building trenches cum bund, cattle sheds, soak pits, construction of houses, forest, horticulture, and sericulture works in the panchayat.

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If we look at the neighbouring state of Kerala, where women make up around 90 per cent of the total MGNREGS workforce, convergence with CBOs has proved to be a differentiating factor. One of the turning points in the implementation of MGNREGA in Kerala was the decision to choose supervisors from within the Kudumbashree network. Kerala is the only state which has 100 per cent women supervisors. Greater integration of panchayats with CBOs might prove crucial in Karnataka's efforts to increase women's participation in the MGNREGS.

Another prominent driver in aiding the increasing participation has been the concerted efforts of the gram panchayats through campaigns such as Mahila Kayakotsava to reach out to women and create awareness about the scheme. Some interesting practices were noticed on the ground, where gram panchayat functionaries went from door to door or used mike announcements from lane to lane to attract more women workers. A similar practice was found at play in Ibrahimpur gram panchayat, where announcements were made from religious places to reach out to potential workers. The efforts of the panchayats in reaching out to beneficiaries directly have greatly helped to bring more women into the fold of the MGNREGS.

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Along with this, the flexibility of work hours has proved to be another important driver in improving women's participation. For instance, in Raichur and Dharwad, women preferred to start their work early in the day around 7 am and get back home by lunch to be with their families. On the other hand, in Chamrajanagar and Belagavi districts, women start their day by 10:30 am and work till evening by taking a lunch break in between where they go back home to feed their children. This flexibility has proved beneficial for women and not something they otherwise would be able to do in the open labour market.

On the other hand, there continue to be several barriers restricting the participation of women in the MGNREGS in Karnataka. Many workers remain uninformed about the various provisions of the scheme, such as unemployment, sharpening, transportation allowances, etc. In LK Doddi gram panchayat, for instance, women had to go to a work site more than six km away, and they were found to pool funds and hire autos to travel to the worksite. Workers were not aware of the provision to claim 10 per cent of their wages per day for transport expenses. Similarly, none of the women was aware of the equipment sharpening charges of Rs 10 per day.

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Another barrier observed is that work is not continuous during the non-agricultural season, which adversely affects disadvantaged families, more so the women in the household. It is important for panchayats to spread work across the year and limit it during seasons when other channels of work are readily available, as this will ensure a steady source of income to the families. For instance, in Gundulpet taluk, workers mention that the MGNREGA work coincides with the seasonal turmeric harvest in the region, which fetches them better remuneration.

While the MGNREGS has undoubtedly provided huge employment opportunities for poor communities, especially women, there is scope for improvement so that the scheme benefits the poorest and marginalised sections of the community, who continue to be on the margins of such initiatives. Major complaints revealed through the household include non-issuance of dated receipts, non-payment of unemployment allowance, incomplete wages, and delayed payments.

To ensure that the MGNREGS works effectively for women, the state needs to make concerted efforts to minimise the constraints that limit/impede women's participation by ensuring their participation in the gram sabha, identification of women-friendly work sites to enable and encourage women to come forward to avail the MGNREGS and also promote semi-skilled and skilled jobs such as social services and rural health. This will encourage women to be associated with rural literacy, health missions, and infrastructural activities.

(The writers are with Indus Action, an NGO, which describes itself as "a public policy do-tank")

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