Assets created under MGNREGA has had a positive impact on agricultural productivity, says Economic Survey 2023

The assets created under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme has had a positive impact on agricultural productivity, production-related expenditure and income per household along with a negative association with migration and fall in indebtedness, especially from non-institutional sources, the Economic Survey 2022-23 said.

These works include creating household assets such as animal sheds, farm ponds, dug wells, horticulture plantations, vermicomposting pits etc., in which the beneficiary gets both labour and material costs as per standard rates, it said.

“This, the Survey notes, has long-term implications for aiding income diversification and infusing resilience into rural livelihoods,” it said.


As per the Survey, a total of 56 million households availed employment and a total of 2258 million person-days employment has been generated under the Scheme until January 6 2023 with steady increase in the number of works done under MGNREGS from 8.5 million completed works in FY’22 and 7.06 million completed works so far in FY’23 (as on January 9 2023).

According to the Survey, tabled by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman IN Parliament on Tuesday, the rural economy is normalizing due to strong agricultural growth and a swift bounce-back from Covid-19.

“This is evident from the year-on-year decline in monthly demand for work under MGNREGS,” it said.

As per the Survey, 65% of the country’s population lives in the rural areas and 47% of the population is dependent on agriculture for livelihood.

“The government’s emphasis has been on improving the quality of life in rural areas to ensure more equitable and inclusive development. The aim of engagement of the government in the rural economy has been “transforming lives and livelihoods through proactive socio-economic inclusion, integration, and empowerment of rural India,” it added.