IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/ijlaec/v61y2018i3d10.1007_s41027-018-0141-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What Determines Labour Force Participation in MGNREGA? An Investigation in Odisha

Author

Listed:
  • Narayan Chandra Nayak

    (Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur)

  • Pulak Mishra

    (Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur)

  • Bhagirath Behera

    (Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur)

  • Runa Sen Chatterjee

    (Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur)

Abstract

A decade has elapsed since the inception of the MGNREGA. While this scheme has been able to act as viable source of alternative rural employment, the major challenge pertains to job demand and employment creation by as much as stipulated. The present study aims to identify factors influencing the incidence and extent of household participation in MGNREGA in Mayurbhanj and Ganjam districts of Odisha. The findings suggest that ‘clientelism’ is an overriding force under MGNREGA, indicating thereby that this scheme is a potent means to create ‘political society’. It is the awareness of the prospective benefits of a job card that motivates people to exhibit their willingness to have it and to get access. This awareness leads to creation of employment for those seeking jobs. The results also signal the possibility of ‘elite capture’. Households possessing more land holdings may possess job cards, despite demanding fewer jobs, as they seem to be influential in rural social–political milieu. However, the programme appears to be pro-poor and gender-sensitive. In order to make it more effective, it may be necessary to overcome the possibilities of ‘clientelism’ and ‘elite capture’, and improve the awareness level.

Suggested Citation

  • Narayan Chandra Nayak & Pulak Mishra & Bhagirath Behera & Runa Sen Chatterjee, 2018. "What Determines Labour Force Participation in MGNREGA? An Investigation in Odisha," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 61(3), pages 493-514, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:ijlaec:v:61:y:2018:i:3:d:10.1007_s41027-018-0141-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s41027-018-0141-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s41027-018-0141-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s41027-018-0141-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. World Bank & International Monetary Fund, 2016. "Global Monitoring Report 2015/2016," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 22547.
    2. Dilip Mookherjee & Pranab K. Bardhan, 2012. "Political Clientelism and Capture: Theory and Evidence from West Bengal, India," WIDER Working Paper Series wp-2012-097, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    3. Mookherjee, Dilip & Bardhan, Pranab K., 2012. "Political Clientelism and Capture: Theory and Evidence from West Bengal, India," WIDER Working Paper Series 097, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    4. Khera, Reetika (ed.), 2011. "The Battle for Employment Guarantee," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198070627.
    5. Shankar, Shylashri & Gaiha, Raghav, 2013. "Battling Corruption: Has NREGA Reached India's Rural Poor?," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198085003.
    6. repec:bla:devpol:v:28:y:2010:i:4:p:457-479 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Afridi, Farzana & Dhillon, Amrita & Roy Chaudhuri, Arka & Saattvic,, 2022. "Measuring performance: Ranking state success over two decades in India," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Das, Ritanjan & Dey, Subhasish & Neogi, Ranjita, 2021. "Across the stolen Ponds: The political geography of social welfare in rural eastern India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    2. Narayan Chandra Nayak & Bimal Kishore Sahoo & Mamata Jenamani & Alok Ranjan Mohanty & Runa Sen Chatterjee, 2021. "Does Convergence of Rural Development Schemes Improve Household Welfare? An Investigation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in Odisha, India," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 64(4), pages 1023-1042, December.
    3. Sheahan, Megan & Liu, Yanyan & Barrett, Christopher B. & Narayanan, Sudha, 2014. "The political economy of MGNREGS spending in Andhra Pradesh:," IFPRI discussion papers 1371, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    4. Gustavo J. Bobonis & Paul J. Gertler & Marco Gonzalez-Navarro & Simeon Nichter, 2022. "Vulnerability and Clientelism," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(11), pages 3627-3659, November.
    5. Subhasish Dey & Kunal Sen, 2016. "Is partisan alignment electorally rewarding? Evidence from village council elections in India," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series esid-063-16, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    6. Prakash, Nishith & Rockmore, Marc & Uppal, Yogesh, 2019. "Do criminally accused politicians affect economic outcomes? Evidence from India," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    7. Khanna, Madhulika & Majumdar, Shruti, 2020. "Caste-ing wider nets of credit: A mixed methods analysis of informal lending and caste relations in Bihar," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 20(C).
    8. Pranab Bardhan & Dilip Mookherjee, 2018. "A Theory of Clientelistic Politics versus Programmatic Politics," Boston University - Department of Economics - The Institute for Economic Development Working Papers Series dp-317, Boston University - Department of Economics.
    9. Ali, Amin Masud & Savoia, Antonio, 2023. "Decentralisation or patronage: What determines government's allocation of development spending in a unitary country? Evidence from Bangladesh," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    10. Kumar, Santosh & Prakash, Nishith, 2017. "Effect of political decentralization and female leadership on institutional births and child mortality in rural Bihar, India," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 185(C), pages 171-178.
    11. Anindya Bhattacharya & Anirban Kar & Alita Nandi, 2016. "Local Institutional Structure and Clientelistic Access to Employment: The Case of MGNREGS in Three States of India," Working Papers id:11549, eSocialSciences.
    12. Bharatee Bhusana, Ferris, J Stephen Dash & Stanley L. Winer, 2018. "Measuring Electoral Competitiveness: With Application to the Indian States," CESifo Working Paper Series 7216, CESifo.
    13. Bobonis, Gustavo & Gertler, Paul & Gonzalez-Navarro, Marco & Nichter, Simeon, 2023. "Does Combating Corruption Reduce Clientelism?," Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley, Working Paper Series qt13k514pd, Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics, UC Berkeley.
    14. Khemani, Stuti, 2015. "Buying votes versus supplying public services: Political incentives to under-invest in pro-poor policies," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 84-93.
    15. Elvisa Drishti & Bresena Kopliku & Drini Imami, 2022. "Active political engagement, political patronage and local labour markets – The example of Shkoder," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 44(6), pages 1118-1142, April.
    16. Pan, Yao & You, Jing, 2020. "Successful Social Programs over Local Political Cycles," MPRA Paper 98968, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Indrajit Roy, 2019. "Class Politics and Social Protection: A Comparative Analysis of Local Governments in India," Journal of South Asian Development, , vol. 14(2), pages 121-150, August.
    18. Gustavo J. Bobonis & Luis Raúl Cámara Fuertes & Harold J. Toro & Julie Wilson, 2021. "Development and Decay: Political Organization, Economic Conditions, and Municipal Corruption in Puerto Rico, 1952-2015," Working Papers tecipa-687, University of Toronto, Department of Economics.
    19. Vivekananda Mukherjee & Saheli Bose & Malabika Roy, 2020. "Allocation of village public goods at community level: does political reservation help?," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 31(3), pages 363-393, September.
    20. Pranab Bardhan, 2016. "State and Development: The Need for a Reappraisal of the Current Literature," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 54(3), pages 862-892, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:ijlaec:v:61:y:2018:i:3:d:10.1007_s41027-018-0141-4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.