Post on 24-Dec-2015
Local contexts and impact on women: NREGA in
Kerala, HimachalRatna M. Sudarshan, Director, ISST
(on behalf of ISST team)IHD Seminar on NREGA and Women’s Empowerment, 31 August
2009
Work days generated: share going to women
Total work days – women, by state
Rajasthan
Tamil Nadu
Uttar Pradesh
West Bengal
Karnataka
Kerala
Uttarakhand
Punjab
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000
Total Number of Person Days for Women (in lakhs)
Total Number of Person Days for Women (in lakhs)
Share of person days to women (%) 2007
Share of Person days to Women (%) 2008-9
TAMIL NADU
RAJASTHAN
ANDHRA PRADESH
KARNATAKA
MADHYA PRADESH
JHARKHAND
PUNJAB
MIZORAM
ARUNACHAL PRADESH
UTTARAKHAND
SIKKIM
BIHAR
HIMACHAL PRADESH
0 40 80
Female share of to-tal person days (percentage) 2007
KERALA
TAMIL NADU
RAJASTHAN
ANDHRA
KARNATAKA
MAHARASHTRA
MP
ORISSA
HIMACHAL
GUJARAT
BIHAR
WEST BENGAL
J&K
0 102030405060708090
Share of Person days for Women (%) 2008-9
Variations observed across states and also within states in the percentage of work days going to women
Idukki
Kasargod
Palakkad
Wayanad
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
2008-9
2008-9
Districts in Kerala: women’s share in work days by district
Ottappalam
Mannarkad
Palakkad
Chittur
Alathur
Attappadi
Kollengode
Malampuzha
Nemmara
Kuzhal Mannam
Pattambi
Trithala
S.K. Puram
0 50000 100000 150000 200000 250000 300000 350000 400000 450000 500000
Column2
Days claimed by women, Palakkad district, Kerala
Kerala – variations within Palakkad district
Alathur
Attappady
Chittur
Kollengode
Kuzhalmannam
Malampuzha
Mannarkkad
Nemmara
Ottappalam
Palakkad
Pattambi
S.K.Puram
Thrithala
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Palakkad: No of women/ total individual applicants
Palakkad: No of women/ total individual applicants
2007-8
2008-9
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
SirmourChamba
Himachal: district wise variations in %age of women work days
Banswara
Dungarpur
Jhalawar
Karauli
Sirohi
Udaipur
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Column2
Women’s share in employment generated, Sirohi Rajasthan
Wages and systems of payment
Wages paid = min. wage in Kerala, Himachal
Market wage for men> min wage - little impact on male migration
Market wage for women well below min. in Kerala – NREGA a welcome opportunity: some evidence of upward pressure on women’s market wages
Wages
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
Average wage paid Malampuzha, Palakkad 2008-9
Average wage paid Malampuzha, Palakkad 2008-9
Malampuzha, Palakkad. Kerala. Average wage paid (min wage 125)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
Average wage paid
Average wage paid
Himachal – average wage paid (Min Wage Rs 100)
Payment patterns vary – Kerala, Himachal, payment is for number of days worked * min wages
In Rajasthan, computed as [value of completed work/ no of workers on muster roll] so actual earnings below min. wage; however trend increase over time
Time rate or piece rate
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Average wage paid 2007-8 Sirohi (selected blocks)
Average wage paid 2007-8 Sirohi (se-lected blocks)
Sirohi, Rajasthan – average wages paid (Min Wage Rs 100)
2006-7 2007-8 2008-9 2009-100
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
average wage Sirohi
average wage Sirohi
Management on worksites
• Management of worksites entrusted to Kudumbashree (state poverty eradication mission)
• Area Development Supervisor (women) maintain muster rolls, etc. Typically educated, between 32-45 years, attends a minimum of 10 meetings a month.
Institute of Social Studies Trust, New Delhi
Local Contexts: Kerala
ADS in charge of whole group
Kerala
Muster roll, Kerala
But even with good management systems, some participate much less◦ Young women with young children (< 30 years)◦ Tribal areas – Attapady –
difficult to mobilise into groups, distance to site greater, activities not always suitable to area; formation of Kudumbashree ‘adivasi only’ groups in
progress
Institute of Social Studies Trust, New Delhi
Local Contexts: Kerala
Kudumbashree groups are an exception – strong management, women’s groups, embedded in panchayat structure
Himachal: eg Sangrah village; Sangrah panchayat: Long established mahila mandal not active participant in NREGA
Possibility of partnerships between panchayat and independent groups??
Involving women
The NREGA Guidelines recommend districts to draw up a 5 Year Perspective Plan, based on annual shelf of works assembled by panchayats and consulting with gram sabha.
More often than not, panchayats lack technical knowledge; Civil engineers do not participate here; Women do not attend or participate in the gram sabha.
Assumptions in the design
Nature of Works – potential development impact
Beyond wages and a cash transfer to households, development impact requires building upon local context
Kerala, Rajasthan – tradition of wage work by women – question becomes one of identifying most needed works
Himachal – tradition of self employment on own farms – and coming together over shared natural resources
Development Impact
Drabil village, Drabil panchayat; block Shillai; district Sirmour:
.
Trenches created under NREGA will arrest soil erosion and retain water: however, should such trenches be cemented?
Ganog panchayat, block Sangrah, district Sirmour: Open cast limestone mining, besides wreaking havoc
on crops, water bodies and forests, has also aggravated alcoholism and violence.
Gully plugs and tanks under the NREGA proceeds alongside.
Development trajectories: complementary, competing?
One India, One NREGA? Developmental needs across the country are not uniform. In Himachal Pradesh, ownership of land is high and livelihood strategies are a combination of rain fed agriculture, livestock and seasonal migration.
Women, increasingly responsible for agriculture, are squarely facing the brunt of ecological degradation.
In Himachal Pradesh, it is asset creation and the eco-restorative essence of the NREGA (rather than wage employment) that resonates loudest.
In Kando (Kando Bhatnol panchayat, block Shillai, district Sirmour), women queue up beside the solitary functioning tubewell (below). Other taps and streams in the village had run dry. It was June but the monsoons were late. Women spent an average of seven hours every day foraging for fuel wood and fodder in the sere brown hills.