People’s Participation at Grassroots Level Governance: Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (MGNREGP): a Micro Study

Abstract

People’s Participation at Grassroots Level Governance: Mahatma Gandhi
National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (MGNREGP): a Micro Study
1Dr. Vadranam Suresh
2Dr. Kaushlendra Dixit
1Post Doctoral Fellow (ICSSR, New Delhi), Department of Politics and International Studies,
School of Social Sciences, Pondicherry Central University, Puducherry India
2 Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, National P.G. College, Bhongaon, Mainpuri,
Uttar Pradesh

   Women in public Administration illuminates women’s past and rising challenges, in an exceedingly
male based public sector that are fundamental to practitioners, students, faculties of public
administration and policy makers. Traditionally, women bear primary responsibility for the well-being
of their families, which is the nucleus of the society. They play a constructive role in building up the
country by contributing their labour in both organized and unorganized sectors. Women empowerment
is the most frequently used term in development dialogue today. It is also the most nebulous and widely
interpreted concepts. However, studies of the transformative role of PRIs have generally been the
concern of policy-making institutions and there are actually very few academic works that specifically
study the theoretical impact of this type of representation, which goes well beyond the federal and
provincial level Policymakers in the developing world, quite often, argue for the need to increase quotas
(reservations) for historically disadvantaged and underrepresented groups in the local governments. The
Indian Constitutional 73rd Amendment Act allows for decentralized government at the local by
instituting Gram Panchayats (village councils) to better serve the needs of the voters. More importantly,
it allows for a randomized assignment of quotas for women in these councils to increase their political
participation. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is considered
as a “Silver Bullet” for eradicating rural poverty and unemployment, by way of generating demand for
productive labour force in villages.
Key Words: Decentralisation, Federal, Policy, Participation, Poverty, Representatio