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The role of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act on

women empowerment in selected districts of West Bengal, India

Article in SN Social Sciences · February 2024

DOI: 10.1007/s43545-024-00857-1

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SN Social Sciences
https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-024-00857-1
ORIGINAL PAPER

The role of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee Act on women empowerment
in selected districts of West Bengal, India

Amit Biswas1 · Chandan Roy1 · Vishwambhar Prasad Sati1 ·

Saurav Kumar2

Received: 20 June 2023 / Accepted: 4 February 2024

© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024

Abstract
Women’s participation in employment sectors is significantly lower than men,
besides most women are actively engaged in domestic household work without
pay. The current study focuses on the role of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act on women empowerment in the selected districts of
West Bengal. The data for the study were obtained from the MGNREGA web
portal. A Panel Least Squares regression model was employed to measure the
impact of MGNREGA on the average annual per capita income of women. This
study depicts that the number of women and women’s annual working-days have
increased by 27.07 and 28.08% respectively since the financial year 2015–2016 in
West Bengal. Similarly, the per capita income of women has increased by 52.19%
during the same period. The correlation coefficient value of women’s working-days
revealed that one unit increase in women’s working-days leads to an 11.611 unit
rise in women’s average annual per capita income when all other factors are kept
constant. Finally, the study suggests that more women’s participation in
MGNREGA will improve the social and economic status of women in rural
West Bengal.

Amit Biswas
bamit752@gmail.com
✉ Chandan Roy
chandan96.roy@gmail.com
Vishwambhar Prasad Sati
sati.vp@gmail.com
Saurav Kumar
sauravdubey2802@gmail.com

1
Department of Geography and Resource Management, Mizoram University, Aizawl,
Mizoram 796004, India
2
Department of Geography, Royal Global University, Guwahati, Assam 781035, India
 SN Social Sciences

Keywords MGNREGA � Women’s empowerment � Per capita income �

Working-days � Gross annual income

Introduction

The Female Labour Force Participation Rate (22.80%) is very low in India against
males (56.08%) (Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation 2021).
Because most of the women are engaged in unpaid work (Kantor 2009; Kumar
et al. 2017). Women play a crucial role in every sector of our economy because
women may considerably contribute to economic and social development,
their effective participation is essential to the success of any programme (Tiwari
and Upadhyay 2012). According to the former president of India A.P.J. Abdul
Kalam, “A nation will be empowered only when its women population get
empowered.”
Many programs and schemes have been implemented since the independence to
eradicate poverty, provide employment, and livelihood security to the rural people.
However, National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) has proved to be
the most successful program, enacted by legislation in 2005, which was renamed as
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in
2006. The scheme came into force with some prime objectives i.e., to enhance
the growth of the rural economy, social safety of vulnerable groups, empowerment
of women, and improve the socio-economic status of people by providing 100 days
of wage work to rural unskilled adult person from every household (Ghose 2012;
Joyita 2013; Breitkreuz et al. 2017). MGNREGA is the first program that empha-
sized women’s empowerment by providing equal opportunity of employment to
women (Biswal 2017).
The daily wage rate and women’s participation, the number of working-days, the
amount of work provided by the government, etc. have increased at a remarkable
rate across the country in the last few years. With active participation, women are
widening their income, which leads to improving their social voice and control over
their life (Singh and Datta 2019). It has been observed that in the last few years, the
participation of women in MGNREGA has increased remarkably than men in
India (Sultana and Rao 2016). Households who have actively participated in
MGNREGA have seen significant improvement in their socio-economic status
(Sarkar et al. 2008).
West Bengal is the 9th poorest state of India as per Multidimensional Poverty
Index (MPI) score and the proportion of poor population is very high in some
districts e.g., Purulia (49.69%), Uttar Dinajpur (42.84%), Maldah (35.70%) (NITI
Aayog 2021). According to the census of India 2011, 68.13% of population in West
Bengal live in rural areas and 20% of them are under extreme poverty. Besides, the
workforce participation rate of West Bengal is 38.08% against the national average
39.79% and the state ranks 26th in terms of female workforce participation rate
(18.08%) (Biswas 2018). MGNREGA plays a crucial role in eradicating poverty by
proving employment across the state. But the performance of the scheme varies
among districts. Evidence from Nadia, Purulia and, South 24 Parganas districts
SN Social Sciences

shows that due to the lack of work through MGNREGA, people are migrating to
other places in search of livelihood (Singh 2022). As a result, the status of women is
very poor in some districts of the state. Generally, the question arises that what is
the reason for this disparity and how will MGNREGA plays a significant role to
empowering women in West Bengal? Many researches have been carried out to
assess the performance of MGNREGA and the impact of the scheme on women
empowerment in West Bengal, but no systematic study has been done on the
district-wise variation of the performance of MGNREGA. The prime objective of
our study is to assess the status of MGNREGA on women empowerment in West
Bengal during the last 7 years, it further examines the impact of MGNREGA on
women empowerment in the selected districts of West Bengal. The study suggests
that if more participation of women in MGNREGA is ensured, the women will be
more empowered.

Study area

The state of West Bengal is situated in the eastern part of India, stretching from the
Himalayas in the north to the Bay of Bengal in the south. The geographical
extension of the state is 58°50′ E to 89°50′ E and 21°25′ N to 27°13′ N and it
covers an area of 88,752 square km (Fig. 1).
The state is bounded by Bangladesh in the east, Sikkim, and Bhutan in the
north, Behar, Jharkhand, and Orissa in the west, and the Bay of Bengal in the

Fig. 1 Location map of the study districts in West Bengal

 SN Social Sciences

south. The state of West Bengal is divided into five administrative divisions
(Jalpaiguri, Maldah, Burdwan, presidency, and Medinipur divisions). While the
whole of South Bengal lies on the plain, a large part of North Bengal is
mountainous, and a part of the Himalaya. Since 2006, MGNREGA’s role is
increasing in rural areas, mainly for women empowerment. But, the status of
improvement is not equal in all districts of the state. Currently, West Bengal is
divided into 23 districts and for the present study, we have categorized the
districts of West Bengal based on the per capita income as very high, high,
medium, low, and very low as per the report on the State Domestic Product
and District Domestic Product of West Bengal, 2014–2015 (SDP and DDP
of West Bengal 2016). The selected districts are Darjeeling, Haora, North
24 Parganas, Maldah and Purulia. The percentage of the multi-dimensional
poor population is very high in Purulia (49.69%) and Maldah (35.70%).
Comparatively lower percentage of the multi-dimensional poor population is
noted in North 24 Parganas (9.80%), Darjeeling (11.41%) and Haora (12.84%)
(NITI Aayog 2021). According to the census of India 2011, comparatively
high female workforce participation rate is found in Purulia (36.21%), Maldah
(28.29%), and Darjeeling (28.31%). The district Haora (9.19%) and North 24
Parganas (11.33%) recorded comparatively lower female workforce participa-
tion rates (Biswas 2018)

Methodology

Data sources

The present study is based on secondary data gathered from the Ministry of Rural
Development’s Management Information System (MIS) report (link: https://mnre
gaweb4.nic.in/netnrega/MISreport4.aspx) (FY 2015–2016 to 2021–2022).
A cross-sectional study is done to gather data on the effectiveness of
MGNREGA for every financial year. The report includes all the necessary
information, such as beneficiary details, worker account details, planning of the
work, demand and allocation of the work, muster roll and wage list, physical
progress, financial progress, Direct Bank Transfer (DBT) reports, social audit,
Geographical Information System (GIS) planning modules, etc. In order to get the
desired outcomes, the authors of the present study demonstrated four variables,
including the annual average number of working days per woman, the percentage
of women working-days to the total working-days, the gross annual income
produced by women, and the per capita income of women for the each
financial year.

Explanatory variable

We have selected three explanatory variables for this study based on the literature
reviewed to measure the effects of the average annual per capita income on women
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empowerment. Those explanatory variables are average annual paid wage, average
annual working-days per woman, and percentage of women working-days.

Experimental variable

The dependent variable of this study is the average annual per capita income of
women.

Checking of the serial autocorrelation

The presence of serial autocorrelation can produce inaccurate results and it is

a significant issue when working with time series data (Jayanta et al. 2021). The
‘Durbin Watson statistic’ (Durbin and Watson 1950 1951) is widely used to detect
the presence of residual serial correlation from least squares regression analysis
(Chen 2016). Generally, the ‘Durbin Watson statistic’ (d) value ranged from zero to
four, if ‘d’ value is less than 1.5 and greater than 2.5 it indicates that there is
presence of serial autocorrelation problems in the data. Otherwise, if ‘d’ value
between 1.5 and 2.5 indicates there is no autocorrelation or zero autocorrelation in
the data. In the present paper authors have employed ‘Durbin-Watson statistic’ to
detect the presence of autocorrelation for each study districts. The results of test
make it clear that, there is no serial autocorrelation problems in the data. The
autocorrelation results maintain the reliability of the results to draw a concrete
conclusions (Tables 1 and 2).

Table 1 Results of the Dubin-

District Durbin-Watson statistics (d)
Watson statistics to detect the
presence of serial Darjeeling 2.24
autocorrelation Haora 2.26
North 24 Parganas 2.19
Maldah 1.79
Purulia 2.3

Table 2 Definitions of the study variables used in the study

Variables Definition
Percentage of women working-days Annual proportion of women’s working days compared to the total
working days
Average annual working-days per Average number of working days generated by a single woman in
women a financial year
Goss annual income generated by Total income generated women in a financial year
women
Average annual per capita income Average per capita income generated by a single woman in
of women a financial year
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Data analysis

A quantitative method was employed to analyze the trends of different variables

over the years and MS-EXCEL 2021 was used to prepare graphs. A detailed
description is given below.
A Panel Least Square Regression Model has been applied to know the impact
of MGNREGA on women’s per capita income. An EViews V.12 software was
used to run a Panel Least Square Regression Model. Further, the model was
selected based on Breusch Pagan’s test result. The equation of the Panel Least
Square Regression Model is as follows:
yit ¼ α þ βxit þ ’it

Where,
y = Experimental Variable, x = Explanatory Variables, it = One indices for indi-
vidual and time, i, t = One indices for individual and time, φ = Error term.

Results

MGNREGA and women empowerment in West Bengal

Table 3 reveals that in the last 7 years the participation of women in MGNREGA
has increased significantly (27.07%). Generally, women are more involved in
domestic work and they cannot do outside work every day, so their annual working-
days are much lower than men. However, women’s annual working-days have
increased by 28.08% (153,623,465–170,068,296 days) between the financial of
2015–2016 to 2021–2022. Besides, gross annual income, average annual per capita
income and average annual per capita working-days increased by 52.19%, 19.77%
and 0.79% respectively.

Table 3 Assessment of the status of the MGNREGA on women empowerment in West Bengal
Indicators 2015–2016 2021–2022 Change in
Men Women Men Women women’s
status (%)
Annual number of 2,088,646 4,020,650 2,488,391 5,109,164 27.07
participants
Annual 153,623,465 132,779,867 194,164,846 170,068,296 28.08
working-days
Gross annual 26,115,989,050 22,572,577,390 27,565,838,348 34,353,795,792 52.19
income (₹)
Average annual 12,503.79 5614.16 11,077.78 6723.96 19.77
per capita
income (₹)
Average annual 73.55 33.02 78.03 33.29 0.79
per capita
working-days
Source Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India
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MGNREGA and women empowerment in the selected districts of

West Bengal

Percentage of women working-days

The growth of women working-days out of total working-days is not equal in all the
case study districts. The highest X (mean) of the percentage of women working-days
between two financial years (2015–2016 to 2021–2022) was found in North 24
Parganas (52.83%), followed by Darjeeling (50.46%), Maldah (48.67%), and Purulia
(45.55%) districts. However, the lowest X (mean) of the percentage of women
working-days was found in Haora district (43.74%) (Table 4). The percentage of
women working-days in North 24 Parganas increased to 51.30% in FY 2021–2022
from 44.07% in FY 2015–2016, the district got the highest position due to the increase
in the percentage of women working-days in the intervening financial years 2017–
2018, 2018–2019 and 2019–2020. Though the annual growth rate of women working-
days in Darjeeling in the last seven financial years was relatively low (49.47–51.94%),
the district ranked second because women in the district participated more in
MGNREGA since FY 2015–2016. Based on the women working-days out of total
working-days and its X (mean) Maldah district (40.82–52.96%) ranks third followed
by Purulia (42.87–45.63%) and Haora (36.27–44.44%) district (Fig. 2).

Average annual working-days

The status of women in the Darjeeling district was better based on the growth of
average annual working-days per woman and its X (mean) during the last seven
financial years. The average annual working-days per woman in Darjeeling was
46.35 days in FY 2015–2016 and it increased to 60.55 days in FY 2021–2022. It
was followed by Haora (37.77–55.18 days), North 24 Parganas (36.57–41.27 days)
and Maldah (29.51–34.46 days). However, Purulia (21.48–30.16 days) recorded the
lowest average annual working-days per women among the five districts (Fig. 3).
The highest X (mean) of average annual working-days per woman in the last seven
financial years was also noted in Darjeeling district (51.64 days) followed by Haora
(48.46 days), North 24 Parganas (45.82 days), Maldah (37.49 days), and Purulia
(29.14 days) district (Table 4).

Table 4 Mean of the study variables

Districts Women working-days out of Average annual Gross annual Average annual
total working-days (%) working-days per Income (₹) per capita income
women (Days) (₹)
Darjeeling 50.46 51.64 636,931.73 9881.34
Haora 43.74 48.46 627,341.19 9201.23
North 24 52.83 45.82 1,379,719.95 7877.14
Parganas
Maldah 48.67 37.49 1,328,148.76 6621.10
Purulia 45.55 29.14 831,604.64 5031.76
Source Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India
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70

60
Working-days (%)

50

40

30

20

10

2021-22
2015-16

2017-18

2019-20

2021-22

2016-17

2018-19

2020-21

2015-16

2017-18

2021-22

2016-17

2018-19

2020-21

2015-16

2017-18

2019-20
2019-20
Darjeeling Haora North 24 Parganas Maldah Purulia

Fig. 2 Percentage of women working-days out of total working-days

3000000

2500000
Income (₹ 1000)

2000000

1500000

1000000

500000

0
2015-16

2017-18

2019-20

2021-22

2016-17

2018-19

2020-21

2015-16

2017-18

2019-20

2021-22

2016-17

2018-19

2020-21

2015 -16

2017-18

2019-20

2021-22

Darjeeling Haora North 24 Maldah Purulia

Parganas

Fig. 3 Average annual working-days per women

Gross annual income

The gross annual income through MGNREGA depends on the number of partici-
pants, annual working-days, average wage rate, and some other factors. In the last
seven financial years the highest growth in gross annual income was found in
Maldah followed by North 24 Parganas, Purulia, and Darjeeling. On the other
hand, Haora recorded the lowest growth (Fig. 4). Although the gross annual income
of women was highest in Maldah in FY 2021–2022, the X (mean) of gross annual
income was noted highest in North 24 Parganas (₹1,379,719,950). It was followed
by Maldah (₹1,328,148,760), Purulia (₹831,604,640) Darjeeling (₹636,931,730)
and Haora (₹627,341,190) (Table 3).
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3000000

2500000
Income (₹ 1000)

2000000

1500000

1000000

500000

0
2017-18

2019-20

2021-22

2016-17

2018-19

2020-21

2015-16

2017-18

2019-20

2021-22

2016-17

2018-19

2020-21

2015-16

2017-18

2019-20

2021-22
2015-16

Darjeeling Haora North 24 Parganas Maldah Purulia

Fig. 4 Gross annual income generated by women

Average annual per capita income

Between FY 2015–2016 to 2021–2022, the district of Darjeeling recorded the

highest growth in average annual per capita income followed by Haora, North 24
Parganas, and Maldah. However, Purulia recorded the lowest average annual per
capita income among the five studied districts (Fig. 5). The highest X (mean) of the
average annual per capita income was also observed in Darjeeling (₹9881.34) in the
last 7 years. It is followed by Haora (₹9201.23), North 24 Parganas (₹7877.14), and
Maldah (₹6621.10). Purulia (₹5031.76) was at the bottom (Table 4).

Impact of MGNREGA on women empowerment through income generation

Table 5 shows a Panel Least Square Regression Model with selected expla-
natory variables to assess the impact of MGNERGA on the average annual per
capita income of women in five selected districts. The result of our regression

14000
12000
10000
Income (₹)

8000
6000
4000
2000
0
2019-20

2021-22

2016-17

2018-19

2020-21

2015-16

2017-18

2019-20

2021-22

2016-17

2018-19

2020-21

2015-16

2017-18

2019-20

2021-22
2017-18
2015-16

Darjeeling Haora North 24 Parganas Maldah Purulia

Fig. 5 Average annual per capita income of women

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Table 5 Panel least square regression model of selected explanatory variables to measure the effects of
‘MGNERGA’ on the Average Annual Per Capita Income of Women
Variable Coefficient Std. Error t-Statistics Prob.
C −7775.895 383.686 −20.266 0.001
Average annual paid wage 46.002 1.925 23.893 0.001
Average annual working-days per women 182.757 3.097 59.001 0.001
Percentage of women working-days 11.611 5.344 2.172 0.037
Dependent Variable (C) = Average Annual Per Capita Income of Women, significance level at 0.05

model shows that different indicators of MGNREGA have a strong relation

with the per capita income of women. The coefficient value of the average
annual paid wage indicates that one unit increase in the average annual paid
wage leads to 46.002 units (Coef. 46.002, p < 0.001) increase in the average
annual per capita income of women, keeping other factors remaining constant.
On the other hand, the coefficient value of average annual working-days per
woman reflects that if the average annual working-days per woman increased
by one unit, then the average annual per capita income of women increases by
182.757 units (Coef. 182.757, p < 0.001. Similarly, the coefficient value of the
percentage of women working-days shows that one unit increase in
the percentage of women working-days leads to 11.611 units (Coef. 11.611,
p < 0.037) increase in average annual per capita income of women. However,
if explanatory variables do not affect experimental variables (i.e., average
annual per capita income of women) then the average annual per capita
income of women decreases by −7775.895 units. The p-value (p < 0.001) of
all explanatory variables indicates that the model is statistically significant,
which means our results reveal more than a 95% of confidence level.

Model fit statistics

According to the model fit statistics table, R-square (0.995) and adjusted R-square
(0.994) explains more than 99% of variations in the experimental variable over
explanatory variables. In other words, the adjusted R2 values in this table explained
that the model has more than 99% variability as measured by goodness of fit.
The F-statistics values are one of the important parameters for hypothesis testing
and checking the fitness of a specific model with other parameters. In addition, the
Probability of F-statistics is highly significant with more than a 99% confidence
level (F: 2235.186, p < 0.0000). For the significance of the model, we have applied
a Breusch Pagan test (BPT), the test indicated that the model is significant for this
dataset (BPT: 0.022, p < 0.883) (Table 6).

Discussion

A woman’s empowerment refers to having greater control over her strategic life
decisions and maximizing her potential. The empowerment of women is influenced
by factors such as financial independence, freedom of movement, access to
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Table 6 Model fit statistics R-squared 0.995

Adjusted R-squared 0.994
F-statistic 2235.186
Prob (F-statistic) 0.001
Breusch Pagan Test 0.022
Prob (Breusch Pagan Test) 0.883

education, and household decision-making authority (Nayak and Mahanta 2017;

Abbas et al. 2021). On the other hand, a study conducted by Rodriguez (2022) in
India, found that when MGNREGA employment increases, the demand for micro-
finance among women increases, and violence against women decreases.
Furthermore, a study conducted by (Acharya et al. 2010) in Nepal found that the
employment of women is positively associated with women decision-making cap-
abilities. Hence, we can assume that women’s empowerment in rural areas enhances
their household decision-making through financial independence.
Eradication of poverty and hunger, women empowerment, gender equality, etc. are
the prime objectives of MGNREGA (Farooqi and Saleem 2015) But in our male-
dominated society, women have been neglected in all social and economic activities
since ancient times. Although, women are participating in many developmental
activities nowadays, a part of them is still confined to raising the family, especially
in rural areas. Generally, women are engaged with different types of unpaid work
throughout their life e.g., providing services for households and its member, taking
care of the child and the elderly, etc (Khera and Nayak 2009). MGNREGA gives
priority to women in such a way that at least one-third of the worker should be
women who have registered and requested for the work (Sudarshan et al. 2010). Our
study reveals that in the beginning, the participation of women in MGNREGA was
very low than men in West Bengal. But evidence from the last seven financial years
shows that gradually women’s participation is increasing and catching up with men.
Not only women’s participation has increased but also annual working-days, annual
per capita working-days, gross annual income, and average annual income has
increased significantly between FY 2015–2016 to 2021–2022, which proved that
MGNREGA plays a significant role in empowering women in West Bengal.
Although the overall impact of MGNREGA on women empowerment in West
Bengal is quite significant but the picture is not the same in all the districts. As our
study shows that the growth percentage of women working-days is quite high in
North 24 Parganas because the growth of the annual number of women participa-
tions is very high. The percentage of women working-days is high in North 24
Parganas; however, its annual growth rate is varying considerably. Purulia district
recorded lowest growth in the percentage of women working-days because of very
low participation of women. Meanwhile, Darjeeling is the only district where the
annual growth rate of women working-days is consistent and the district occupied
the second position among the studied districts.
Furthermore, based on the average annual working-days per woman, highest
growth was observed in Darjeeling district. Because MGNREGA provides
 SN Social Sciences

comparatively higher employment in Darjeeling and the women participation rate is

also high in the district. The districts of Haora and North 24 Parganas showed
moderate growth and the growth rate of average annual working-days per woman in
Maldah was very low. Purulia recorded the lowest growth, because the performance
of MGNREGA is very poor in the district.
Improvement of income status could be a fruitful strategy to empower people
(Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) 2013). We observed that the
gross annual income of women through MGNREGA was higher in North 24
Parganas and Maldah due to higher participation and higher percentage of women
working-days. The women in Purulia, Darjeeling, and Haora district recorded
comparatively lower gross annual income due to the lower percentage of women
working-days.
Economic development and women empowerment are closely related. Economic
development can empower women and economically self-dependent women, who
are capable to make the decision for herself and family (Duflo 2012). This study
reveals that between FY 2015–2016 and FY 2021–2022. The average annual per
capita income of women has improved highest in Darjeeling and Haora districts due
to higher per capita working-days and average paid wage. Moderate growth was
observed in North 24 Parganas and comparatively lower average annual per capita
income of women was observed in Maldah district. The Purulia District recorded
the lowest improvement because the per capita working-days of women participa-
tion in MGNREGA was low and the average paid wage was very low.
As per our study, it can be clearly noted that among the case study districts, the
status of women has improved high in the Darjeeling district through MGNREGA
because of their high participation. Further, it has been noted that in those districts
where the women’s involvement in MGNREGA is high, the women’s economic
status has improved and vice-versa. Therefore, in the Purulia district, the women’s
status is low because of their less participation. Ghosh (2017) also noted in his
study that women empowerment through MGNREGA is least noticeable in the
Purulia district because of their low participation and low wage rate.

Conclusions

The MGNREGA is a potent and effective anti-poverty weapon, providing 100 days
of wage employment to every rural household in India. As per the government data,
MGNREGA has contributed significantly to women’s empowerment. This study
shows that women’s participation in MGNREGA is quite impressive in all the case-
studied districts, with significant wide ranges of variation in various variables. It
can be concluded that MGNREGA has significantly improved the status of women
in the Darjeeling, Haora, and North 24 Parganas district over the last seven years.
On the other hand, the district of Maldah and Purulia lags behind compared to other
districts. To reduce this disparity and to improve the status of women in backward
districts, the government should give emphasis on raising the per capita income of
women by increasing the amount of work provided and ensuring an increase in
women’s per capita working-days. The government should also take strong step to
SN Social Sciences

reduce the wide gap between notified wage rates and paid wage rates in backward
districts to increase the rate of women empowerment. The government should
provide new job possibilities within the MGNREGA programme, where women
would have more opportunities to participate and have opportunities to utilise their
skills in the real world, in order to improve their status.
Acknowledgements Not applicable.

Author contributions AB, CR and VPS contributed to the conceptualization and study design. AB, and
CR performed the statistical analysis. AB interpreted the results and discussed the findings. AB, CR,
VPS, and SK finalized the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.

Funding Not applicable.

Data availability The MGNREGA data has a website that is open to the public for research and
publication. As a result, there is no need to seek additional ethical approval from authorities.
Link: (https://mnregaweb4.nic.in/netnrega/MISreport4.aspx)

Declarations
Ethical approval Not applicable.

Informed consent The secondary sources of data were used for this study. The concerned field agency
obtained necessary informed consent from the respondent when they conduct the survey for data
collection. Hence, there is no need to take additional ethical approval for this study.

Conflict of interest The authors do not have any conflicts of interest to disclose.

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