An Analysis of Communication Dissemination for MGNREGA - Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act

Abstract

In this dissertation, the communication dissemination approach applied for MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) by the government of India has been studied. Launched in India for rural people in 2006, MGNREGA went on to become world’s largest public employment guarantee program in 2015. The MGNREGA guideline mentions that the program is designed to achieve three goals: reduce poverty, improve infrastructure, and to boost a stronger democratic process at the local/village level. MGNREGA functions as a social safety net for vulnerable rural beneficiaries by providing them with a guaranteed 100 days employment within or around their villages in a year. The government of India allocated INR 55,000 crores (INR 555 billion) for MGNREGA in the budget presented in February 2018. As on May 2018, there were in total 24 crore registered beneficiaries and 11 crore active beneficiaries. The literature review revealed that MGNREGA beneficiaries’ low level of awareness on aspects such as free job card, unemployment allowances, work site facilities, direct transfer of money acted as a hurdle for proper implementation of MGNREGA in rural areas. Further, the literature review emphasized that for a scheme as big as MGNREGA awareness generation through integrated communication tools such as advertising (TV, print, radio and outdoor), direct marketing and public relations should be done to make more and more rural people participate and benefit from MGNREGA. Communication dissemination’s major objectives are to create awareness amongst the target audience by informing them, persuading them and convincing them. In the present research, communication dissemination mechanism of MGNREGA has been studied by meeting the MGNREGA beneficiaries and asking their opinions on various matters concerning to MGNREGA’s communication dissemination mechanism. The present research focus on MGNREGA’s TV, print and radio advertisements by registering the beneficiaries’ reactions to existing MGNREGA TV, print and radio advertisements. Further, the present research focus upon MGNREGA beneficiaries’ reactions regarding stakeholders’ roles in implementing the communication dissemination in their respective villages. The present research also study beneficiaries’ reactions to MGNREGA TV, print and radio advertisements basis demographic factors such as gender, age, income and education. To meet the aforesaid objectives, 5 districts from the North Gujarat region namely, Mehsana, Sabarkantha, Arvalli, Mahisagar and Gandhinagar were chosen. For the data collection, in total 23 villages were visited, 420 MGNREGA beneficiaries were contacted, 23 Sarpanchs (village heads) were contacted and 10 Gram Rozgar Sahyaks (employment assistants) were contacted. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Tools such as factor analysis, content analysis, cluster analysis, Z test, Chi Square test and ANOVA have been used for data analysis purpose. Various communication vehicles such as TV, radio, newspaper, poster, banner, wall painting, public announcement, hoarding and street play were used for MGNREGA communication dissemination in rural areas. The results revealed that MGNREGA communication dissemination requires more emphasize through the higher frequency of TV, radio and newspaper advertisements. MGNREGA beneficiaries were able to comprehend and remember MGNREGA advertisements but they did not find them unique, fresh and innovative. At the same time, from the demographic perspective, income appeared as a strong variable influencing the reactions of rural beneficiaries for MGNREGA’s TV, print and radio advertisements. Beneficiaries opined that the existing communication dissemination requires a fresh relook and rebranding. Results also revealed the need for integrating the communication vehicles such as TV, radio, newspaper, hoarding, wall painting, street play and others to bring in the synergy and create effective reach. At the same time, professional advertising and media agencies should be hired to develop a meaningful advertising and media approach. Lastly, more money should be injected in MGNREGA’s communication budget to reach out to stakeholders such as beneficiaries, Sarpanch, Gram Rozgar Sahayak and implementing agencies. In brief, effective communication dissemination can help to create more awareness which can make beneficiaries and other stakeholders more aware, alert and can boost their confidence to demand work/s under MGNREGA.