Role of Mahatma Gandhi NREGA in Building Rural Infrastructure and Sustainable Development

This paper discusses the role of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in creating and strengthening various infrastructure assets in rural India. It critically analyses the number of assets, employment generation, and contribution to improving rural livelihoods. It also analyses the amount spent on each infrastructure activity, with a particular focus on agriculture, natural resource management, basic services-related works, and the construction of infrastructure to support the production activities of Self-Help Groups (SHGs). The information for the paper was obtained from the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) website. The analysis adopted is to work out the percentage of expenditures on various assets and the number of works carried out from 2013-14 to 2023-24. Based on the analysis, the paper has uncovered sufficient evidence of the growing trend of allocating funds to infrastructure strengthening, with over 60 per cent of Mahatma Gandhi NREGS funding allocated to assets related to agriculture and Natural Resource Management (NRM) activities. The last two years have seen an annual expenditure of around Rs. 30000 crore on building rural infrastructure, primarily in the agriculture sector, which has significantly strengthened rural livelihoods and reduced poverty. Finally, this paper provides policy suggestions to improve the governance for better implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA.