As MNREGA completes ten years, the Government is conducting a pilot study in seven States on environmental benefits and green outcomes due of the world's largest anti-poverty public works that guarantee jobs for 100 days annually to the rural poor.
The Rural Development Ministry will carry out the two-month-long project from next month with the help of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 14 gram panchayats, two each from seven agro-ecological zones of the country in Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.
A senior official from the Ministry said that the pilot study, to be carried out by the Hyderabad-based Watershed Support Services and Activities Network (WASSAN), will be a precursor to finalising the methodology related with green audit.
A range of green works are conducted under the MNREGA. (See Box)
In fact, this is the second such study by the Government, the first being in 2013 by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and other national institutions which had noted that the scheme generated environmental benefits in a number of States.
The study analysed the impact of MGNREGA in five States -- Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Sikkim - found that because of the rural job scheme, ground water levels and drinking water availability had improved in these areas.
Other works like check dams, percolation tanks, desilting of natural water tanks also contributed to an increase in the area irrigated by borewells.
This has also led to increased crop yields in 30 out of the 40 study villages, according to the study.
Till January 2016, nearly 16.5 lakh water related works (8.9 lakh water harvesting, 4.6 lakh micro irrigation and 3 lakh renovation of traditional bodies have been carried out, as per the Ministry's data.