BHILWARA, India (AlertNet) - India's pioneering scheme to provide 100 days of guaranteed work to millions of impoverished and marginalised people is not only helping to lift rural households out of poverty, aid workers say, but also empowering
women.
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) is the largest programme of its kind in the world and since it was introduced two years ago, it has helped millions of women earn an income for the first time in their lives.
In the western desert state of Rajasthan, the scheme -- which provides a guarantee of work for unskilled labourers at a minimum wage -- has been welcomed by rural women, who are building roads,
bridges, wells and constructing water harvesting areas.
Scores of women wearing colourful saris, dig soil from a dusty wasteland, loading it into baskets which they carry on their heads to a nearby field in Rajasthan's Bhilwara district.
"For the last few years, the climate has changed and we are suffering more and more drought, so we needed to do something about it," says 30-year-old Asha Devi, mother of four.
"The government is paying us 100 rupees a day to build a water catchment area so we have enough water for our crops."
Asha, whose husband is a farmer, says her life has changed because of the scheme. For the first time, she is the breadwinner in the family, earning her respect in the community and giving her economic power.
BRIDGING THE DIVIDE
Rajasthan -- due to its conservative culture and patriarchal traditions -- has some of the country's worst social indicators for women and girls.
The state, where maternal mortality rates are high and female literacy is low, ranks 32 out of India's 35 states and union territories on the Gender Development Index and 24 on Gender
Empowerment, according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
The illegal practice of female infanticide and foeticide is still present in Rajasthan, where there is a strong preference for sons, and domestic violence remains a reality for many women, say women's rights campaigners.
The NREGS, which stipulates that at least one-third of beneficiaries must be women, is currently benefitting around 44 million people across the country.
"Studies show women have found a new identity and economic empowerment -- taking wages directly through their own accounts -- increasing their spending on food, consumer goods, education
of children as well as offsetting debts," said Amita Sharma, joint secretary of India's Ministry of Rural Development.
According to a new report released on Monday by UNDP on the status of women in the Asia-Pacific region, women's participation in the workforce can boost economic growth in developing nations.
In countries like India, conservative estimates show that GDP would increase by up to two to four percent annually if women's employment rates were raised to 70 percent, closer to the rate in many developed nations.
"I think the NREGS is a very important way of supporting women's economic rights in India's rural areas," Helen Clark told villagers during a visit to NREGS projects in Bhilwara over the
weekend.
"It could play quite a critical role in supporting India to meet the Millennium Development Goals because if you can reduce
poverty, you can make a lot of other things possible."
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