The participation of women in projects carried out under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in Uttar Pradesh has been steadily increasing in the last few years and constituted 37.60 per cent of the total persondays in the current financial year, according to the state government.
According to the government, the women’s participation in the rural job scheme rose from 34.28 per cent of persondays in 2019-20 to 37.60 per cent in 2022-23.
UP, which was among the worst-performing states with respect to women’s participation in the MGNREGA scheme before 2017, has been successful in raising the number of women beneficiaries in the last five and a half years, the government said.
“Several measures taken by the state government enhanced the participation of women in the rural job scheme,” GS Priyadarshi, Commissioner, Rural Development Department, said.
“In 2022-23, a total of 1738.41 lakh persondays were created under the scheme, of which 653.64 lakh were women persondays, constituting 37.60% of the women participation… In 2021-22, 3258.42 lakh persondays were generated, including 1212.13 lakh (37.20 per cent) women persondays, whereas in 2020-21, a total of 3945.41 lakh persondays were created, of which 1325.26 lakh were women persondays, accounting for 33.59%,” he added.
According to the government, Mahila mates are being appointed in the villages to increase the participation of women. Mahila mates are women assistants for management and supervision of MGNREGS jobs and job sites.
“Women from Self Help Groups (SHGs) formed under the Livelihood Mission have been selected, and a target has been set to provide employment to more than 35,000 Mahila mates in the state… Against the target, the work has been provided to 16,660 Mahila mates,” the officer added.
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The MGNREGA legally enshrines the “right to work” and ensures livelihood security in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.
According to MGNREGA guidelines, at least one-third of the beneficiaries shall be women who have registered and requested work under the programme.
The state government has set a target under the MGNREGA for the year 2022-23. The annual target of 2,600 lakh mandays for employment generation has been approved by the Ministry of Rural Development in UP, out of which, 1697.77 lakh mandays have been created till August 23, an official said. The official said that Aadhar seeding of workers is being done to ensure transparency in the process. So far, the Aadhar seeding of 1.35 crore active workers has been completed against the total of 1.71 crore workers.