Does the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) lead the poor to become more poor?

No. Not at all. The sort of failures that people attribute to the Scheme itself as (MGNREGA) lead the poor to become more poor, is nothing but the stupidity of the political opposition. Do you remember when the BJP came to power in 2014, the first thing they did was laid the Scheme to rest by not continuing the working of it - no funds and withdrawal of the implementation. They just wanted it to run in their own way that led the poor to be more poor.

Yes. It is a possibility, but indirectly. MGNREGA scheme in villages, has improved living conditions of some families sure, mostly with women, but it has severely affected farming for want of daily wage earners.

Farming is hard labour oriented and farmers shall ensure supply of labourers on specific times to get any benefit….MGNREGA desrupted supply of labour in time. This agains affects farm income and farm activity. Most of the farmers being small and marginal farmers , they suffer the most. MGNREGA attracts women workers because they need not do hard labour, just clearing shrubs on road sides most of the time. Any farm productivity suffers and conversion of farm lands in to non farm activity is happening fast.Paddy cultivation in the state of Kerala and coastal Karnataka has just stopped. Buildings, or plantations are coming up on paddy fields. In next 20 years nation will suffer shortage of food grains.

MNREGA certainly keeps poor to remain nothing else but WAGE-LABORERS. That way hope of capitalism being alive is enhanced as there would be a reserve army of the surplus labor which can be deployed if capitalists are in no position to deploy Automation/Robotics. They will cry about Robotics by reply on such wage laborers (when MNREGA itself goes —hitherto Corona gave it an extended lease of life).

MGNREGA is only a relief and not a remedy. The government, the society, and the people concerned, need to improve it further. Now it is only a near subsistence allowance. Nation’s progress is linked to it, for which, people’s cooperation and hard work is also a component.

If properly implemented ,” The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA)” should not lead the poor to become more poor. It was designed to reduce underemployment of seasonal workers in the villages dependent upon Agriculture etc..,