Financial Inclusion through Mgnregs in Virudhunagar District

• Author: Rifaya Meera, Kaleeswaran P.
• Pages: 22-27

European Integration - Realities and Perspectives. Proceedings 2017

22

Financial Inclusion through Mgnregs in Virudhunagar District

Rifaya Meera1, Kaleeswaran P.2

Abstract: Financial inclusion is the key to empowerment of poor & underprivileged rural households as they

constitute 70 percentage of the total Indian population. Financial Inclusion can help the down trodden to improve

their financial condition and the standard of living. To provide greater financial inclusion, the Government of

India in 2008 declared that wage payments, under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee

scheme be made throu gh banks and post offices. It is in this context, the present study has been conducted to

know how the scheme is helping in promoting financial inclusion in virudhunagar district. It will also highlight

that workers employment participation. Besides these, the study also makes few recommendations for enhancing

better financial inclusion.

Keywords: Financial inclusion; MGNREGS; Banking; post office

Introduction

Financial inclusion is the delivery of financial services to all the people in a fair, transparent and

equitable manner at an affordable cost. Financial inclusion has the potential to improve the standard of

living of the poor and the disadvantaged people. It is essential to make available the basic banking

services to the entire population without any discrimination. In order to increase the number the Reserve

Bank of India and the Government of India take various innovative steps. Financial inclusion mainly

focuses on the poor who do not have formal financial institutional support and getting them out of the

clutches of local money lenders. In this point of view MGNREGA is more successful one.

Financial Inclusion is one of the desirable goals of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment

Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA), which provides 100 days of wage employment in a financial year

to any rural household whose adult members are willing to participate in unskilled manual work. The

Act is an important step towards realization of the right to work and aims at enhancing people’s

livelihood on a sustained basis, by developing the economic and social infrastructure in rural areas. To

fasten the pace of financial inclusion Government of India in 2008 declared that wage payments, under

Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Guarantee Act, would be made through banks and post office.

Since then nearly ten core banks and post office accounts have been opened and around 80 per cent of

MGNREGA payments have been made through formal financial institutions, it is expected to have

resulted in enhancing the financial inclusion of poor and marginalized sections of the society.

1 Ayya Nadar Janaki Ammal College – Sivakasi, India, Address: Srivilliiputhur, State Highway 42, Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu

626123, India, Tel.: +91 4562 254 100, Corresponding author: sha.bathu@gmail.com.

2 Ayya Nadar Janaki Ammal College – Sivakasi, India, Address: Srivilliiputhur, State Highway 42, Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu

626123, India, Tel.: +91 4562 254 100, E-mail: Kalieisan1994@gmail.com.