NREGA

Public works programmes can reduce poverty and improve wellbeing by creating jobs and generating wider economic spillovers, such as higher wages and better infrastructure. Their effects, however, vary widely by place and design, as they are not a one-size-fits-all solution to poverty or unemployment.

A governmental employment-guarantee programme designed to provide economic security to rural households in India has unintentionally reduced women’s labour force participation—deepening gender disparities within households. By guaranteeing employment...

Welfare programmes, even when designed to prevent misuse, can be subverted by a political party and may encourage the centralisation of corruption.

Improving the payment infrastructure for India’s National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme raised incomes — mostly through increases in non-programme earnings

Through providing guaranteed employment for a period, workfare programmes provide insurance against the shocks to income that can lead to conflict

India’s NREGA programme increased rural and urban wages and reduced rural to urban migration