Impact of MGNREGA on Rural Employment and Migration: A Study in Agriculturally-backward and Agriculturally-advanced Districts of Haryana

The study conducted in the state of Haryana has investigated the impact of implementation of MGNREGA in two districts — one agriculturally-advanced (Karnal) and the other agriculturally-backward (Mewat). Besides demographic characteristics, the paper has investigated the difference in the employment status, income, landholding size, herd size and other assets of the sample farm households in these two districts by taking 120 farm families, 60 from each district. The impact of MGNREGA within a district has also been studied in terms of income and employment security, migration, debt repayment, extent of participation in MGNREGA works, socio-economic status, etc. by seeking information from 30 participating and 30 nonparticipating households in MGNREGA works in each district. A significant difference has been found in the extent of employment under MGNREGA works in agriculturally-advanced Karnal (13.7%) and agriculturally-backward Mewat (24.6%) districts. The study has observed that despite being a source of employment, MGNREGA has not been able to check the migration from the developed region because of higher market wage rates at destinations. The study has concluded that farmers owning large size of landholdings and more number of animals are not much interested in participating in MGNREGA works