1.

The Nature of Rural Infrastructure: Problems and Prospects1

By Suman Bery, D B Gupta,
Reeta Krishna, and Siddhartha Mitra
Abstract
This paper looks at rural infrastructure facilities in India, the lack of which is demonstrated to
be an impediment to sustained economic development. We argue that problems of rural
infrastructure provision are different from those of the urban, given the smaller size, density and
per capita incomes of rural agglomerations. While privatization is now being considered as the
giver of increasing efficiency in the provision of urban infrastructure, this policy
recommendation has to be modified in the case of rural infrastructure. Private investors will
tend to shun rural areas, especially the ones remote or those that have low incomes or low
population density, because of low expected rates of return. Thus, social equity might be
endangered. It is necessary, therefore, to have a publicprivate partnership where subsidies or
incentives provided by the government would help to direct private investment towards these
disadvantaged areas.
2. Towards Transforming Rural India: Challenges and Opportunity of
NREGA
Organised by
Centre de Sciences Humaines, New Delhi
And
Institute for Human Development, New Delhi

3. PROCESSES, INSTITUTIONS AND MECHANISMS OF IMPLEMENTATION OF

NREGA: IMPACT ASSESSMENT OF BIHAR AND JHARKHAND
Sponsored by
Ministry of Rural Development
Government of India
and
United Nations Development Programme
by
Ashok K. Pankaj
INSTITUTE FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT
NIDM Building, IIPA Campus, IP Estate
Mahatma Gandhi Marg, New Delhi-110 002
Phones 2335 8166, 2332 1610 / Fax: 23765410
Email: ihd@vsnl.com, website: ihdindia.org
November 2008

4. The Impact of NREGA on Rural-Urban Migration:

Field survey of Villupuram District, Tamil Nadu
Naomi Jacob
CCS Working Paper No. 202
Summer Research Internship Programme 2008
Centre for Civil Society
5.

A STUDY OF NATIONAL RURAL EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE PROGRAMME

IN THREE GRAMA PANCHAYATS OF KASARAGOD DISTRICT
K. N. Nair, T.P. Sreedharan, M. Anoopkumar
August 2009

ABSTRACT
This paper attempts to study the impact of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme in three Grama
Panchayats of Kasaragod District,namely Madikai, Ajanoor and Trikarpur. It also looks into the organizational
arrangements for planning and implementation of the scheme. Various institutional aspects in the form of
Guidelines, Rules and Regulations brought out by the Government of Kerala have also been examined. The
identification of projects for NREGA is a grass root level activity with Ward Development Committee and Area
Development Society of Kudumbasree playing a pivotal role. The role of Grama Sabha in the formulation of a ward
level Action Plan is found to be weak. The worker registration is appreciably good in all the three Grama
Panchayats. Registration of SC and ST categories also is impressive. But there is a big drop in the number of people
who demanded jobs in 2007- 08. It is below one fourth in two Panchayats and just above one third in the third
Panchayat. There is a further drop in the number in the succeeding year. The rosy part is that all those who
demanded jobs have been provided with jobs. The percentage of man-days generated for SC and ST categories is
very low compared to that of the general category. Women of the general category constituted the major
beneficiaries of NREGA. Unskilled wages constituted the major component of expenditure. The number of projects
is large, most of them not leading to creation of public durable assets. There is lack of integration with other
schemes implemented at local level. The scheme is successful in raising the level of employment and income of the
rural household, there by enhancing their purchasing power. Working in groups has empowered the women socially.
In some cases NREGA works and agricultural works were operational at the same time aggravating the problem of
labour shortage in agriculture. The study recommends a few changes in the existing operational system to make the
programme more effective.
Key words: Kasaragod, Kudumbasree, NREGA, women empowerment.
JEL Classification: E24, J38

6. Good Governance and Employment Generation through NREGA: A case Study of

Gram Panchayat in West Bengal
Dipjoy Sen Roy, Debabrata Samanta
October, 2009
Prepared for the Conference on "Infrastructure, Finance and Governance: Push for
Growth."
New Delhi, India, November 2009
Abstract
The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), 2005 is landmark legislation iIndian
history. Potential implementation of NREGA needs adequate capacitated implementing body. In
west Bengal Gram Panchayat (village council) is the primary program implementing agency of
NREGA. In order to assess the performance of Gram Panchayat (GP) in performing core

characteristics of Good Governance and to explore the relationship between good governance
and employment generation through NREGA, the present paper makes a case study of GPs of
Paschim Medinipur (West Midnapore) district of West Bengal. Data regarding different
parameters, related to core characteristics of good governance reveal that the core components
of good governance has significant positive impact on creating average persondays per
household under NREGS in GP.
Key Words: NREGA, Good Governance, Gram Panchayat