Factual achievement of MGNREGA calls for an optimal planning using fuzzy logic

Abstract

The model used in this study can be applied to any new Block and it is evident from the above result that the output will be more economically viable and acceptable on the basis of purpose of MGNREGA. In fact, the achievements of NREGA programmes at different Blocks in terms of generation of man-days and creation of assets largely depend on many physical factors and social constraints, besides importance and preference of sectors in the area of operation. It is also confirmed that the output of work per unit investment widely varies depending on several locally significant physical conditions. Of course, it varies from sector to sector and naturally preference and likeliness of sector selection significantly influence the dimension of achievements. Meticulous supervision and efficient management of programme execution may do a lot in attaining the planned targets. Blocks and specially GPs often suffer from inadequacies in this respect and hence necessary actions are required to be taken to meet such deficiencies. To obtain real output for any Block, information on the variables and parameters must be realistic and precise to their level best. Using the output from the model for work allocation, each Block must prepare their MGNREGA schemes in the coming years for implementation and operate the same model for validation in respect of previous few years to learn the lapses. There is no supply-side selection of beneficiaries. This requires in-depth understanding of region-specific labor demand and its seasonality so that a demand-based scheme of projects can be implemented at a frequency matching with the demand for work instead of supply-side provisioning. Failure to do this may result in imprudent use of funds, as inability to provide employment on demand will impose the burden of compensation, in the form of unemployment allowance, to the state government. Random sampling method can be applied after getting allocation of man-days from the above model to avoid biased on selection of beneficiaries and possible to restrict the number of days for each beneficiary to uniformly distribute the job to all demanding job card holders. Planning considering 53 defined Sub-schemes with their specific characteristics is also possible.