One bad impact of NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) implementation that I could see….. People willing to do farm work is steeply declining, when far less physical labor could earn them somewhat similar wages with this plan… the ultimate impact is in the agriculture sector, where the normal Rs.200 per day wage fail to impress workers for whom the farmers take the bottom row of any employment now. This results in unwillingness amongst youth to take up the challenges of agriculture and they prefer to be unemployed rather than being a farmer.
And from the current trend, what we could infer is that, the hundred days paid labor is at a higher position compared to farm work and a farmer’s outfit. Comparatively low wages is not tampering its general outlook.
In my opinion, some thought work is missing in its implementation now. For states which are largely dependent on seasonal crops, if it is possible to distribute the work in such a way to fill up non-farming times, then there would not have been this workers scarcity. With the current planning, there won’t be anyone to help the farmers during correct manuring, watering or harvesting seasons. And from the 101st day onwards, as the workers start alternate searches, there will be hardly anything they can do to prevent the farmers from big losses.
In short, we could see the crops failing, harvest sessions missed, reduced production owing to lack of timely manuring and the overall productivity falling down. Ultimately, only the agriculturalists who are willing to work in their own field and the old farmers who are age over or not willing to re skill are left out to save our agriculture. And for them it would be heartbreaking to see that results of their hard works being ruined beyond recovery.
