Synopses & Reviews
In an attempt to respond to the needs of the country's poor, the Indian government launched an ambitious workfare scheme, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) in 2005, which guaranteed hundred days of employment in unskilled manual labour at a minimum wage to every rural household each year.
The book assesses the effectiveness of formal and informal mechanisms-political representation, community social audits, access to information, membership in networks, political competition-in reducing corrupt practices and enabling NREGA to reach its intended beneficiaries in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan. The book tests several intuitions and finds that, among other things, political representation for scheduled castes and tribes, and women has produced dividends in the form of higher participation and higher earnings in the scheme by these groups. Low access to information, on the other hand, has hindered the effective functioning of these mechanisms. Written in non-technical language, it is one of the few studies of its kind that blends econometric and ethnographic analyses towards a better understanding of the effective implementation of the scheme.
About the Author
Shylashri Shankar is Senior Fellow, Centre for Policy Research, New Delhi.
Raghav Gaiha is Retired Professor of Public Policy, Faculty of Management Studies, University of Delhi, Delhi.
Table of Contents
List of Tables Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations
Introduction: Challenges in the Battle against Corruption
PART I: AN OVERVIEW OF NREGA
1. NREGA's Characteristics and the Methodology of the Study
2. Has NREGA Been Successful?
PART II: FORMAL MECHANISMS TO ENHANCE THE EMPOWERMENT FRAME
3. Install Vulnerable Groups in Positions of Power
4. Enabling Transfers to the Poor
5. Making Social Audits Accountable
PART III: INFORMAL MECHANISMS TO ENHANCE THE EMPOWERMENT FRAME
6. Inform the Poor
7. Networks, Vulnerability, and Agency
8. Does Political Competition Enhance Empowerment?
Conclusion: Is the Battle against Corruption Winnable?
Appendices
Glossary
Bibliography
Index