NREGA and Quality of Life of Beneficiaries

With NREGA scheme India embarked on an ambitious attempt to battle poverty by guaranteeing employment to those who demand work. It also aims at transforming the rural areas by scaling up the quality of life of people with guaranteed minimum wages and capital formation within rural economies which can redress poverty and boost overall development in the country. This book focuses on the positive impacts NREGA brought into the house-holds with the wage payment availed by its beneficiaries. Impact of NREGA scheme on the overall quality of life of its beneficiaries is been examined here by gauging different indicators associated with the improvement of overall quality of life. The indicators assessed are impact on economic condition purchasing power and consumption of food and non-food items health and nutrition education of children household and cultivable asset’s creation social life of beneficiaries in terms of their participation in social and religious pro-grammes and organizations and impact on out-migration. Findings reveal that NREGA has brought changes in the lives of beneficiaries especially in their purchasing power and consumption pattern even if there is a feeling among a substantial proportion of them that the changes brought by NREGA are negligible and temporary. This book is largely based on the empirical findings of a study conducted by collecting primary data from selected 3 districts of Gujarat state.