'Making Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) More Care-Responsive'

Started as a pilot in 200 of the poorest districts of India in February 2006, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is a demand-based public works programme which entitles every rural household in India to 100 days of waged employment. MGNREGA envisages women’s inclusion and empowerment through a 33 per cent reservation for women in MGNREGA employment, equal wages at par with men, proximity of residences to worksites, and the provision of facilities such as crèches at worksites. Through its operational guidelines, it also expects categories of ‘vulnerable’ women, such as ‘widowed’, ‘deserted’ and ‘destitute’ women, to be specifically included in employment provision. Similarly, pregnant and lactating women are to be provided with ‘special works’ that require ‘less effort and [which] are close to their house’ (Ministry of Rural Development 2013: 79–80). Further, MGNREGA requires that women participate in the monitoring and management of the programme, and through its operational guidelines it recommends that states consider reserving 50 per cent of ‘mates’ (site supervisors) posts for women (Sudarshan 2011; Murthy 2015)