Financial Constraints and Governance Challenges in MGNREGA across Gram Panchayats in Jhargram: Towards some Explanations

Jhargram is one of the most backward blocks under Paschim Medinipur district of West Bengal. However, this study is based on two pronged approach – one elicits the financial and physical issues in MGNREGA across Gram Panchayats in Jhargram block during the period 2012-14 and the other is based on interviews with people knowledgeable about this programme based on their association with it. However, the fund utilisation ratio across GPs changed significantly in 2012-13, while the extent has gone down in 2013-14, but the relationship between the unspent balance of 2012-13 and the opening balance of 2013-14 is grossly incompatible across GPs in the block. During 2012-13, the fund surplus in seven GPs was higher than the unpaid labour payments, which raises a concern that why their wages was not meet up by such greater fund balance. Another important concern is the significant decline in employment provided to demanded ratio and in per household availability of funds. Finally, some plausible explanations on such occurrence of high unspent balances, subsisting due labour payments and associated governance challenges are presented by the summaries of key informant interviews.