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Preventing Corruption: Ups and Downs of India’s Employment Guarantee

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  • Drèze, Jean
  • Somanchi, Anmol

    (IDinsight)

Abstract

This paper reexamines evidence of corruption in India’s Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), the largest public-works programme in the world. We estimate “validation ratios”, defined as the proportion of MGNREGA person-days that are reflected in independent surveys such as the National Sample Surveys and the India Human Development Survey. In the initial years of the programme, estimated validation ratios were as low as 50% or so, but they rose steadily, and by 2011-12, the bulk of MGNREGA employment was validated by two independent national surveys. The more recent Periodic Labour Force Surveys, however, suggest that validation ratios fell again after that, and may be as low as 40% or so today. In other words, MGNREGA seems to be back to square one as far as corruption is concerned. We note that PLFS data on MGNREGA may not be entirely reliable, yet the evidence of resurgent corruption is hard to dismiss. We discuss possible reasons for this setback. Briefly, MGNREGA seems to be trapped in a vicious circle of underfunding, erratic wage payments, worker discouragement and high leakages.

Suggested Citation

  • Drèze, Jean & Somanchi, Anmol, 2026. "Preventing Corruption: Ups and Downs of India’s Employment Guarantee," SocArXiv zvtua_v1, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:zvtua_v1
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/zvtua_v1
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