Resource Sustainability and its Determinants in the Context of MGNREGA in West Bengal

Abstract

This study investigates the impact of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) on the sustainability of resources in rural West Bengal, constructing a Resource Sustainability Index, which is a five-dimensional resource indicator that covers the levels of groundwater, availability of drinking water, land quality, green cover, and asset maintenance. This study uses both primary and secondary data. We collected primary data from April to September 2023 by conducting direct interviews in five districts of West Bengal, chosen based on their NRM expenditure performance from 2018-19 to 2021-22. We categorised the districts into three groups: high-performing, low-performing, and moderate. We adopted a multi-stage sampling method, selecting one block per district, two gram panchayats per block, and two villages per gram panchayat, for a total of 20 villages. We selected 25 beneficiaries from each village, with 60% being individual asset beneficiaries and 40% being community asset beneficiaries. According to beta regression analysis, factors such as per capita income, assets created per household, the number of MGNREGA workers, the percentage of BPL households, and the percentage of general caste households influence the resource sustainability index. These factors have a positive effect on the resource sustainability index under MGNREGA. The resource sustainability index is high in the North 24 Parganas and Hooghly districts, while Bankura and Nadia underperform, and Malda performs moderately. This study emphasises the need for targeted interventions in underperforming districts, such as Bankura and Nadia. Thus, the findings suggest that policies should focus on increasing project shares related to water conservation, land development, and afforestation, as well as sustaining the assets created under MGNREGA for long-term sustainability.