Evaluation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) in Tamil Nadu

This analysis of NREGA in Tamil Nadu shows many positive aspects of the program. Finds that Provision of job within the village is very much encouraging and the villagers consider NREGA as a boon for improving rural livelihood. Also points out few shortcomings and has suggested few changes desired in the act for better performance.
National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) under the ‘Ministry of Rural development’ strives for the enhancement of rural livelihood by providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. Ministry of Rural development (MoRD) has developed a Professional Institutional Network (PIN) for steady, sustainable interventions that enhance the quality of the NREGA to undertake concurrent monitoring and appraisal, evaluation and impact assessment and research. The Ministry has approached Rural Technology and Business Incubator (RTBI) of IIT Madras to conduct the impact assessment study in the state of TamilNadu. RTBI is a dedicated arm of IIT Madras fostering rural based initiatives in rural TamilNadu.