Socio-economic determinants of employment in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in Jammu and Kashmir

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to look at the socio-economic determinants of employment in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) at both household and individual level. My results show that there is no discrimination in provision of employment to backward classes. Out of all the Indian States, J&K has lowest female participation in the scheme. My results show that women are discriminated against in provision of employment. Worksite facilities, like creche, can positively affect female participation in the scheme. Design/methodology/approach - The author uses multi-variate OLS regression model to analyse the data collected through primary survey of three heterogenous villages of district Ganderbal of J&K. Findings - The author finds clear evidence of discrimination against females in provision of employment along with slight evidence of elite capture of the scheme. The author also finds negative relationship between the number of children in a household and the number of workdays which highlights the importance of worksite facilities to increase female and overall participation for the scheme to be successful. Research limitations/implications - The possible limitation could be small sample size but given that this is the first study of its kind in the J&K State, researchers can build up on it. Originality/value - This is one of the first research papers which looks at the performance of MGNREGS in J&K in such detail. No comprehensive study of this magnitude and rigour has been undertaken in J&K till now.