Employment Generation Programmes

Much of the Indian population is poor. Since labour is abundant and jobs scarce, unemployment is high and wages low even in rural areas. Over the period since Independence, moreover, growth in labour force has outstripped growth in employment. Hence the Government, has striven to devise and start programmes which would help to generate employment. Higher pay would help to pull people out of poverty. This section discusses some such programmes. 

Employment Generation schemes Prior to the Sixth Plane

During the Third Plan the Rural Manpower Programme was started to give employment opportunity and covered  1,000 community Blocks by the end of 1964-65.

In the Fourth Plan, the government introduced a special scheme called the Crash Scheme for Rural Employment (CSRE) for creating employment. It was introduced as a non-plan programme with the following objectives: 

• generating, on average, employment for 1,000 persons per year in every district, and 
• creating durable and productive assets related to local development plans. 

CSRE was included in the Fourth Plan for the years 1972-73 and 1973-74 with an outlay of Rs. 50 crore for each year. As part of the CSRE, a Pilot Intensive Rural Employment Project (PIREP) was launched. This project aimed to collect data on the dimensions of CSRE in terms of its ability to provide employment to everyone who was willing to work. The CSRE was implemented over a three year period, and spilled over to the first year of the Fifth Plan. The main drawback with CSRE was that resources were spread thinly over a large number of small projects and works instead of being concentrated on a few small ones. 

In 1977, a new programme called Food For Work (FFW) was started. It aimed at providing employment the rural poor by paying wages in return for building and developing infrastructure and durable community assets. It was a non-plan scheme to augment the funds of State Governments for maintenance of rural public works which included minor irrigation works, soil and water conservation, afforestation on existing highways, construction of drains etc. 

National Rural Employment Programme 

The National  Rural Employment  Programme (NREP) was launched in 1980 to increase employment in villages. In the process it sought to redistribute income and consumption in the rural areas; this was viewed as a crucial step towards poverty alleviation. In 1981, NREP replaced the FFW programme and was made a part of the Sixth Plan.

NREP had the following objectives: 

• generating additional gainful employment for unemployed and underemployed  persons (both men and women) in rural areas; 
• creating productive community assets for direct and continuous  benefits to the poor, and for strengthening rural economic and social infrastructure which would lead to rapid growth of the rural economy and steady rise in the incomes of the rural poor, and 
• improving the overall quality of life in rural areas. 

In all works under NREP preference was given to landless labour and among the landless labour, those belonging to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes were preferred.  Both individual and community works could be taken up under NREP, during any time in the year. Under NREP, contractors could not be engaged. There could be no middleman. 

Under NREP wages were paid partly in cash and partly as foodgrains-about  1 to 2 kilos of foodgrains per head per day being the norm. The advantage of having foodgrains as part of wages was that rural labourers were protected from the fluctuations in prices of foodgrains. Another advantage was that workers were assured of a minimum quality of foodgrains. Also, this was an effective way of utilising surplus food stocks. Wages under NREP were to be given as stipulated under the Minimum Wages Act. 

The NREP was implemented by the District Rural Development Agencies (DRDA). Panchayati Raj institutions and voluntary organisations were also sought to be involved in the programme. At the State level the programme was planned, implemented and monitored by the State Level Coordination Committees (SLCCs). At the Centre, a Committee for NREP had been set up to provide overall guidance, give guidelines and undertake continuous monitoring of the programme. NREP was a centrally sponsored programme with the Centre and the states sharing expenditure equally. The central share was released in two equal installments. The state governments released the entire amount of central assistance to the DRDA. They added the matching contributions to the central share. Training facilities were provided at the Central, and Block levels. At the State level organisations like Council for Advancement of People's  Action and Rural Technology (CAPART) and National Building Organisation (NBO), were involved in imparting training. 

NREP has had a mixed record. Among its benefits were stabilising wages and prices of foodgrains in rural areas, creating different kinds of community assets, and raising the living standards of the rural people. It also helped to raise wages and strengthened  the rural infrastructural base. In many cases, most of the works under NREP was being executed by  Gram Panchayats (about 90 per cent). Voluntary agencies and block agencies executed about 8 per cent of the work. 

Among the areas of concern regarding NREP was that productive use of labourers has not gone up substantially. There has also been lack of systematic planning, as well as lack of coordination among various agencies. There has often been mismatch of projects and manpower. The roads built under NREP  have been kutcha in many cases. Popular support for the programme has been lacking. 

Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme (RLEGP) 

This programme was launched in 1983 with three basic objectives: 

• improving and expanding scope for employment for the rural people, particularly landless labour, so as to be able to guarantee employment to at least one member of every landless household up to 100 days in a year; 
• creating productive and durable assets for direct and continuing benefits to the poor and for strengthening rural economic and social infrastructure which would lead to rapid growth of the rural economy and raise employment opportunities and income levels of the poor, and 
• to improve the overall quality of life in rural areas. 

This programme gave preference to rural landless households and among them, to women, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.  Labour intensive projects were emphasised, particularly during lean agricultural seasons. The RLEGP aimed to stabilise agricultural labour supply by guaranteeing employment to one member of each landless labour household. 

The works taken up under RLEGP were the ones considered relevant to the Minimum Needs Programme and the 20-point programme, like construction of rural link mads, land development reclamation of wastelands, construction of sanitary latrines and so on. Also small sized dwellings under another programme called Indira Awaas Yojana could be part of works taken up under RLEGP. 

RLEGP, unlike NREP was funded entirely by  the Centre. Funds were released under RLEGP in two half yearly instalments, except that for social forestry, which was released in the first instalment itself. The Centre released RLEGP funds to the States which in turn released them to the District Rural Development Agencies 

(DRDAs) within a month of receiving central funds. The DRDAs are the district level agencies for implementing employment generation and poverty alleviation programmes. 

Wages in RLEGP too were paid according to the Minimum Wage Act. Moreover, wages were paid partly in foodgrains. Resources for RLEGP were allocated by the Centre to the States according to prescribed criteria giving 50 per cent weightage to the number of agricultural labourers, marginal farmers and landless labourers, and 50 per cent weightage to the incidence of poverty. DRDA was the main agency implementing and monitoring RLEGP. Moreover, Panchayati Raj institutions and voluntary organisations were sought to be involved. At the State level the State Level Coordination Committee was in charge of the programme and at the Centre, the Central Committee for NREP and RLEGP acted as the apex body. 

Let us go over some of the points of similarity and dissimilarity between NREP and RLEGP. The two programmes were similar to the extent that both were target oriented employment generation programmes and were directed at the rural poor; both aimed at creating durable community assets, both paid part of the wages in foodgrains, had wages statutorily fixed and had similar mode of payment of wages, both were implemented  through the DRDA, contractors were not permitted under both programmes;  and both sought to involve the Panchdyali Raj institutions and voluntary organisation. The main points where RLEGP differed from NREP was that the RLEGP focussed primarily on the rural landless; unlike under NREP, expenditure  under RLEGP was fully funded by the centre; and while RLEGP aimed at giving guarantee of employment to one member of each landless rural household upto 100 days in a year, NREP did not give any such specific guarantee. 

If we turn to the performance of RLEGP the first thing to be kept in mind is that the guarantee part of the programme could  not be put into operation due to scarcity of resources. Contribution of micro habitat for SC/ST under the Indira Awaas Yojana has been the more successful areas under RLEGP. The Seventh Plan envisaged the construction of one million microhabitats. The second important component of RLEGP was social forestry. In 1985-86, 20 per cent of the funds were set aside for this component and was raised to 25 per cent in subsequent years. Another important component of RLEGP was the Million Wells Scheme. This scheme was started in 1988-89 to provide open irrigation wells free of cost to small and marginal farmers belonging to SCs and STs and free bonded labourers. For that year a target of 95,930 units of wells was fixed. This necessitated an investment of Rs 154 crore for that  year. 

An outlay of Rs. 500 crore was made when the programme was launched in 1983. In the period 1983 to 1985, the employment generation target was 360 million mandays. However, only 260.18 million mandays of work could be generated. The Seventh Plan proposed to provide a limited guarantee of providing 80 to 100 days employment to landless labourers. The Seventh Plan provided an outlay of Rs 1,774 crore for RLEGP. Given a wage material cost ratio of 5050, it envisaged generation of 1,013 million mandays of employment under RLEGP. 

Jawahar Rozgar Yojana 

We have discussed some schemes of employment prior to the Sixth Plan. We have also discussed two main employment generation programmes,  namely NREP and RLEGP launched in the Sixth Plan. In this sub-section we will talk about a new employment generation programme launched in the Seventh Plan. 

The NREP, which was launched as a modified form of the Food for Work Programme had as one of its main characteristics, payment of a part of the wages in foodgrains. The main focus of RLEGP was on providing employment with special stress on landless labourers. It aimed to generate employment to at least one member from each rural labour household upto 100 days in a year. A need was, however, felt to devise a new programme which would aim to provide intensive employment in backward areas. The emphasis was on attacking unemployment in economically backward villages. 

A new scheme for employment generation was announced by the  then finance minister in his budget speech in 1989-90. This new scheme was named Jawahar Rozgar Yojana. A provision of Rs. 500 crore was made for this scheme in that year's  budget. The funds allotted for this were to be in addition to those allotted under NREP and RLEGP. Another thing which was stated was that NREP and RLEGP would be merged and implemented as a centrally sponsored scheme with a 7525 sharing of funds between the Centre and the States. 

Later the whole matter was reconsidered. The new programme called Jawaharlal Nehru Rozgar Yojana, as well as NREP and RLEGP, would be merged into a single programme to be called  Jawahar Rozgar Yojana. The expenditure under this programme is to be shared on a 80:20 basis between the Centre and the States.The central share under this programme is released directly to the DRPAs which are the district level implementing agencies for this programme. Not less than 80 per cent of the share received by the DRDAs are to be released to the village panchayats. 

Let us now look at this programme in somewhat greater detail. The main objective of the programme is to generate gainful additional employment for the unemployed and underemployed in the rural areas. Other objectives include creating productive community assets to help the poor and thus strengthening infrastructure, and improving overall quality of life in rural areas. 

The target group for the programme consists of persons living below the poverty line, with preference given to those poor who belong to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. Moreover, it is required that 30 per cent of the beneficiaries be women. 

All works leading to creation of durable community assets can be taken up under the programme, with works helping the poor and being amenable to use as infrastructure in anti-poverty programmes being given priority. Indira Awaas Yojana and Million Wells Scheme have been retained under JRY. For social forestry, participation of NGOs is sought. 

Wages under JRY can be paid partly in foodgrains. But the distribution of foodgrains is not to exceed 1.5 kg per manday. Wages are paid, as far as possible, according to the Minimum Wages Act. 

The financing of JRY is shared by the Centre and the States on a 4:l basis. The central assistance is allocated on the basis of percentage of rural poor in the State/Union Territory out of the total rural poor in the country. The States allocate their share to the districts on the basis of an index of backwardness. This index is worked

out on the basis of the percentage of agricultural labourers to main workers in rural areas, percentage of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in the total rural population, and inverse of agricultural productivity. 

At the district level, the main agencies responsible for implementation of the JRY are DRDAs and Zilla Parishads and at the village level, grampanchayats. Thus the JRY, the Panchayati Raj institutions are directly involved in the implementation process. 

The central funds are given directly to the DRDA or Zilla Parishads. These funds are released in two installments. In the first, the entire amount for lndira Awaas Yojana and social forestry, and 50 per cent of the balance is released. The second instalment is released on the request of the DRDA/Zillaparishad on their fulfilling certain conditions like the following : 

• Fifty per cent of the available funds should have been utilised by the district;
• The opening balance in the district is not less than 25 per cent of the district allocation of the year; and 
• 8  Audit and progress reports of the district have been sent directly. 

The State governments are required to release their  funds to the DRDAs or Zilla parishad within a month of the release of the Central share.