ISS Faculty organize Workshop on National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) in India

Organized by Professor Arjun Bedi and Dr. Anirban Dasgupta and funded by the Dutch Science Foundation (NWO), the workshop will be held on August 5-6, 2010 at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences in Calcutta, India. It will be attended by academic researchers, policy makers, government officials and practitioners from different parts of India who work on NREGS. Based on inputs from this workshop a detailed research proposal on the evaluation of the NREGS will be submitted for research funding to the NWO.

What is NREGS?

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, launched in 2006, is the Indian government’s largest social programme and in 2009-2010 had a budget of USD 7.8 billion. The programme has already been accessed by over 40 million households and in theory provides 100 days of wage employment per year to every household that demands work. Its immediate goal is to provide a strong social safety net and enhance food and livelihood security, while the long-term goals are to create durable rural infrastructure in order to address chronic poverty and to empower rural poor through the processes of a rights-based law.

The research team

The research team that will prepare the proposal for funding based on this workshop includes:

• from ISS - Professor Arjun Bedi, Dr. Anirban Dasgupta, Dr. Arjan de Haan and Professor Ashwani Saith
• from UVA - Amsterdam, Professor Kris Lieten
• from the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, New Delhi - Professor Pinaki Chakraborty
• from the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta - Dr. Saibal Kar

Workshop programme