Is MNREGA affecting availability, wages and cost of labour in Indian agriculture? Discerning quantitative evidences

Contemporary economic and social change in the agricultural sector in India has ensured that labour shortages are an increasing reality for many primary producers. Present study is based on secondary data collected from various Government publications. The results show that after the implementation of the programme MNREGA, the labour wages all over the India has increased tremendously, especially after 2010. Due to increase in the wages by MNREGA the labour cost for agricultural operations has increased, which has further increased the total cost of production for almost all the crops in India, especially sugarcane, paddy and cotton, which are the labour intensive crops. Due to availability of employment in near the range of 5 km. now labours migration from the states like Bihar, UP, Jharkhand and Odisha has decreased, which has created a situation of labour scarcity for agriculture operations.