Mapping the performance levels of Mahatma Gandhi national rural employment guarantee scheme in Jammu and Kashmir

The study delves into the time-based and spatial aspects of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in Jammu and Kashmir using secondary sources of data. The main focus of the study is to map out the regional discrepancies in the performance of MGNREGS at the inter-district level and to identify the underlying determinants responsible for the high and low performance of various districts. The United Nations Development Program’s methodology (UNDP’s) was used to develop the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Performance Index (MGNREPI). Based on MGNREPI scores, the districts were ranked accordingly, and the levels of performance were identified. The results revealed the variation in terms of performance at both the divisional and district levels with the Kashmir division outperforming the Jammu division. The district-level analysis reveals that Kishtwar, Anantnag, and Doda are among the high-performing districts, whereas Budgam, Samba, Srinagar, Jammu, and Udhampur are the poorly performing districts of Jammu and Kashmir. The study identified several factors affecting regional performance including low wage rates, delayed payments, rural to urban migration, socioeconomic development, fund availability, and fund utilization. The study calls for policy intervention in terms of institutional reforms to pinpoint the loopholes of the program and reform the administrative procedures in the districts that are lagging behind so that variations in the regional performance can be addressed.