Channelizing MGNREGA with crop and livestock insurance in India
Dr Mayengbam Lalit Singh *
MGNREGA, at time of implementation, promised employment of rural labours in order to supplement their income levels. From macroeconomic angle, it is a kind of government expenditure which can enhance aggregate demand of poor people. It is also non-transfer payment from the angle of Public Finance where service can be returned from such payment.
In the course ten years since its implementation, the outcomes we experienced across the whole India are such that (a) when the exact timing of implantation is and (b) who the beneficiaries will be. Across whole over agrarian states of India, there had been many criticisms on faulty timing of implementation.
One of the main issues is that implantation of this scheme during agricultural season which lead to shortage of agricultural migrant labours in those states since the labours are diverted towards other sector from agricultural sector.
The policy makers should ensure its implementation during agricultural off season only so that the labours should be employed through the year. The second issue is that the scheme robed away the semi skilled labours which have been engaging other sectors such as labours in goldsmith, blacksmith, rural non-farm sectors, tailoring, pottery, etc.
Policy makers should frame policy on one-time payment to those labours engaging in the above mentioned sectors so that they can invest payment as their capital in those respective sectors and government need not pay in the successive years.
In the context of Manipur, almost all works under this scheme is reported as mechanised ones rather than manpowered ones. Most of those works are too difficult for manpower and is suitable to mechanised ones. Left out payment which is reportedly one fifths is reimbursed to beneficiaries.
Since the amount is too little to invest, households are found to spend them on unproductive activities such as drinks, movies, picnic, etc. In Public Finance such expenditures are considered as transfer payment where there is no return to government.
On other side, most of the rural households depend their earnings on agriculture, horticulture, pisiculture, non-farm sectors, etc. Such sectors are very much vulnerable to natural calamities such as flood, drought and epidemic diseases. In this year, state is suffered from flood which destroyed thousands of hectares of agricultural fields including pisciculture farms.
State government is not in a position to compensate households engaging in these sectors. Hence, the best policy for state and central government is to channelize these transfer payment into insurance schemes such as crop insurance and livestock insurance so that the value of households’ productions can be reimbursed whenever natural calamities take place.
At the same time insurance companies also multiply their deposits from households. At present there are many insurance schemes of all labours engaging in many sectors (industrial and service) except for labours engaging in agriculture and allied sectors.
By neglecting labours in these sector, India can not achieve the goal of being a developed nation.
* Dr Mayengbam Lalit Singh wrote this article for The Sangai Express
This article was posted on October 28, 2017.
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