Do the MGNREGA Beneficiaries Participate in Gram Shaba? A Case Study of Morigoan District of Assam

Several social expenditure schemes were under taken by the government since independent in almost all the prospects of human development like education, health, employment generation etc. But none of the scheme has yielded any satisfactory result so far. Several studies have reveals that the major reason behind its failure is the top down approach adopted in the implementation of the schemes. Taking into considerations the loopholes of the earlier development scheme, the UPA government launched another rural development programme namely MGNREGA with the bottom up approach of development with due importance to people's participation. The term people participation gain momentum after the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (WCARRD) in 1979 concluded with a note of concern that the failures of most of the development programmes in developing countries are mainly due to the lack of active participation of the people for whom these programmes are designed. By now almost all the nations have increasing realization of the importance of people participation in the development programmes. This paper attempts to list out the people participation friendly provisions adopted in this programme and also the awareness level of the participants regarding this provisions and their participation in the gram sabha in the study area of Morigoan district of Assam.