European Journal of Development Research
Volume 30, Issue 2, 2018, Pages 178-194

The relationship between MGNREGA and internal labour migration in Tamil Nadu, India (Article)

Dodd W. , Wyngaarden S. , Humphries S. , Patel K. , Majowicz S. , Little M. , Dewey C.
  • a Department of Population Medicine, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
  • b Department of Population Medicine, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
  • c Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
  • d International Development Studies Program, Menno Simons College, University of Winnipeg and Canadian Mennonite University, Winnipeg, MB R3C 0G2, Canada
  • e School of Public Health and Health Systems, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1, Canada
  • f Department of Population Medicine, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
  • g Department of Population Medicine, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada

Abstract

India's constitution contains provisions for the 'right to work' and the 'right to movement' for all citizens. Established in 2005, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is broadly considered to operationalize this 'right to work'. At the same time, a public discourse persists that views MGNREGA as a substitute for internal labour migration. Drawing on the results from 300 household surveys in three panchayats in the Krishnagiri district of Tamil Nadu, we test the validity of this discourse in this setting. We find that households that rely exclusively on MGNREGA have different demographic and socioeconomic characteristics compared to households that rely exclusively on remittances from internal labour migration. Furthermore, 20 per cent of households surveyed use both MGNREGA and internal labour migration as complementary livelihood strategies. We argue that there is a need for better understanding and recognition of the complementary potential of MGNREGA and internal labour migration. © 2017 European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI).

Author Keywords

Internal migration Employment remittances human rights Development MGNREGA Rural livelihoods Poverty alleviation

Index Keywords

labor migration rural area Tamil Nadu India remittance employment human rights poverty alleviation household survey internal migration livelihood
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85034863272&doi=10.1057%2fs41287-017-0122-3&partnerID=40&md5=60bb6b558132b8d3a5a233ce46d59c4b
DOI: 10.1057/s41287-017-0122-3
ISSN: 09578811
Cited by: 1
Original Language: English