Public policies like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment
Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) are designed to mitigate unwarranted unemployment
and develop rural infrastructure and resources to have sustainable development in rural
India. The pandemics (e.g., flood, drought, and COVID-19) pose the greatest livelihood
challenge for these migrant workers. Does MGNREGS provide them with minimum
support for the sustainability of their familiesthrough wage employment? Does
MGNREGS work to contribute to rural sustainable development? To answer these
questions, this study attempted to have an appraisal of the performance of MGNREGS
both qualitatively as well as quantitatively across the country by taking a five-year
study period (including the COVID-19 period). The study was supported by a focus
group interview of migrant laborers who returned to Odisha during the initial phases of
the pandemic in India. In the second part, the previous five years’ data was collected
from the official website. A comparative cross-sectional analysis of employment
generation through MGNREGS in the pre and post-COVID-19 period was made. An
administrative efficiency index (AEI) of the program was prepared and compared to
the period from April- September 2016 to 2020 for the entire nation. The results
explored that there was a significant employment generation through MGNREGS for
migrant workers during this pandemic. A conceptual model of ‘migrant employment
during the pandemic’ was proposed on the basis of the empirical results. The model has
both theoretical and practical implications.
Keywords: COVID-19, Employment, MGNREGS, Migrant workers, Reverse migration.