A Study on Awareness of Job Card Holders Under Mgnrega in Tamenglong District Manipur

The awareness of job card holders under MGNREGA was studied in Tamenglong district of Manipur. 120 respondents were selected randomly from the 4 selected villages. The data were collected by personal interview, 8 independent variables were selected to find out their relationship and relative contribution to the dependent variables i.e. awareness of the job card holders on MGNREGA. The results of the study reveal that majority of the respondents belonged to middle ages group, more than half occupation were agriculture, most of them had education level up to middle school and majority of them were in no participation in any organisation.

• The Gram Panchayat will issue a dated receipt of the written application for employment against which the guarantee of providing employment within 15 days operates. • Employment will be given within 15 days of application for work, if it is not then daily unemployment allowance as per the Act, has to be paid. Liability of payment of unemployment allowance is of the States. • Work should ordinarily be provided within 5 km radius of the village. In case work is provided beyond 5 km, extra wages of 10% are payable to meet additional transportation and living expenses. • Wages are to be paid according to the Minimum Wages Act 1948 for agricultural Labourers in the State, unless the Centre notifies a wage rate which will not be less than Rs. 60/per day. Equal wages will be provided to both men and women. • Wages are to be paid according to piece rate or daily rate. Disbursement of wages has to be done on weekly basis and not beyond a fortnight in any case. • At least one-third beneficiaries shall be women who have registered and requested work under the scheme. • Work site facilities such as crèche, drinking water, shade have to be provided. • The shelf of projects for a village will be recommended by the gram sabha and approved by the zilla Panchayat. • At least 50% of works will be allotted to Gram Panchayats for execution. • A 60:40 wage and material ratio has to be maintained/no contractors and machinery is allowed. • The Central Government bears the 100 percent wage cost of unskilled manual labour and 75 percent of the material cost including the wages of skilled and semi-skilled workers. • Social Audit has to be done by the Gram Sabha.
• Grievance redressal mechanisms have to be put in place for ensuring a responsive implementation process. • All accounts and records relating to the Scheme should be available for public scrutiny.

Works permissible under the Act:
The works that can be taken up under the NREGA include: • Water conservation and water harvesting. • Drought proofing (including a forestation and tree plantation) Irrigation canals (including macro and micro irrigation work) • Provision of irrigation facility to land owned by households belonging to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes or to land of beneficiaries of land reforms or that of the beneficiaries under the Indira Awas yojana of the government of India. • Renovation of traditional water bodies (including desalting of tanks)Land development.
• Flood control and protection works (including drainage in water logged areas). • Rural connectivity to provide all weather access.

Planning of the scheme:
Planning is crucial to the successful implementation of any scheme. A key indicator of the success is the timely generation of the employment within 15 days while ensuring that the design of works is such that good quality assets are to be developed. The need to act within a time limit necessitates advance planning. District perspective plans have been prepared under national food for work programme and revised under NREGA. The 2 tier PRI bodies approve the annual action plan out of 5 years district perspective plan, but it is the gram Sabha and villagers at the lowest level which identify the works as per the felt needs and taking work demand into account. All works as permissible in the Act have been chosen for execution in the plan and the plan document envisages regeneration or strengthening of rural assets to make the village community viable or sustainable. It has been spelt out that the gram panchayat will execute 50% or more works in terms of cost as found place in the action plan. Line departments have also associated with planning process and their works have been integrated into the district plan after obtaining approval of the zilla parishad. The scheme is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) on a cost sharing basis between the Centre and the State Government at the ratio of 90: 10

Significance of the study:
The study will reveal the real picture of job card holders under MGNREGA in Tamenglong district, Manipur in relation to their socio-economic characteristics, opinion on benefit of NREGA and awareness level of job card holders on MGNREGA. The various constraint faced by the job card holders assume to be another significance of the study. So, the study will be of great value to the scholars and researcher, planners, administrators, programme officers, gram panchayat and other official staff of MGNREGS in executing training programmes and activities best suited to improve the awareness level of the job card holders under MGNREGA.

Limitation of the study
The present study had the limitation of time and resources, as such, it was concentrated only in one particular district, though many other districts also existed in the state and there was inadequacy of the sample. The collection of date both the uneducated and educated job card holders may also leave a • Email: editor@ijfmr.com

IJFMR23045974
Volume 5, Issue 4, July-August 2023 4 margin of error in the correctness of the responses. Efforts were made the best use of the standardized tools and techniques in data collection, yet accuracy may not be guaranteed

Organisation of the study
The thesis has been divided into five chapters. The first chapters deals with the introduction, objectives, significance and limitation of the study. The second chapter deals with review of literature. The third chapter with research methodology applied in the present study, which was followed by findings and discussion in the fourth chapter. The fifth .chapter is the summary and conclusion of the study.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE
• The. socio-economic characteristics of Job Card Holdersunder MGNREGA • Kumar and Pandey (1997) reported that majority of JRYrespondents belonged to adult age group followed by young age and oldage group. • Kamaraj and Muralidaran (2004) revealed that the eligibility forgroup members, age group is between 18 to 60 years for theempowerment of rural women through SHG's. • District Programme Coordinator (2007) reported that 191.3%) workers were in the age group of 18 to 50 yrs and (1.2%) was of more than 65yrs in the entire district. The remaining (7.5%) workers were in the age group of 51 to 65yrs. • Ghuman and Dua (2008) reported that only (35%) were in the age group of 18 to 35 yrs whereas (65%) were in the age group of 36 to 65yrs. In 3 sampled villages 90 to 100% job card holders were in the latter age. • Mamidipally and Gundeti (2009) in a study on NREGA in Karimanagur district of Andra Pradesh showed that out of 500 NREGP workers (68.6%) were women and the rest were from the backward class communities. The study also showed that (39%)of the workers were in the age group of 40-50 years, (35%) from 20-30 years and the rest were in the age group of 40-50 years.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:
The research methods and procedures adopted in the present study for conducting the investigation are given under the following headings:

Research design
The entire process of planning and carrying out the research for investigation is called research design. Ex-post facto research design was adopted for this study. Ex-post facto research is the one in which the investigator attempts to trace an effect which has already occurred and the investigator has no direct control over the independent variables whose manifestation occurred first.

Locale of the study
The present study was conducted in the Tamenglong District of Manipur. Data was collected from the different villages of the selected block.

Selection of sample
Multi-stage sampling procedure is adopted for this study. Multi-stage sampling refers to a sampling technique which is carried out in various stages. In multi-stage sampling, the sampling units are of different type at different stages. Eg: if we are interested in obtaining a sample of "n" household from a particular state, 1st stage unit may be the districts, 2nd stage unit may be the blocks within the districts, 3rd stage unit may be the villages within the blocks. Finally,the households within the villages. Thus, each stage results in a reduction of the sample size.
Multi-stage sampling procedure is adopted to select the appropriate number of the respondents in Tamenglong District there are 5 Blocks. They are: 1) Tamenglongblock 2) Tamei block 3) Tousem block 4) Nungba block 5) Khoupum block Out of these 5 blocks Tamei block is selected randomly.

Selection of respondents:
A total of 120 respondents (job card holders) were selected by using simple random sampling from four villages.

Fig-2: Frame work of the study Selection of variables Age
Age here, refers to the chronological age of the respondents up to his/her recent birthday. It is measured in terms of completed years at the time of interview.
For analytical purpose the number of years was taken as score on the variable. The respondents were categorised as follows: SL.NO Categories Score 1.
Old More than Mean +S.D Middle school 5 6.

Social participation
Social participation refers to the involvement of the women in formal community/village work or as members of office bearers in organizations. The social participation of the respondents were measured with the help of scoring system developed by Trivedi, 1963. The social participation scale with 5 items was presented to the respondents with the scores assigned were 1,2,3,4 and 5 respectively.
Member of any organisation 2 3.
Member of more than 1 organisation 3 4.
Office bearer in any organisation 4 5.
Participation in any community or village work 5

Housing type
Housing type refers to the type of houses possessed by the respondents. In this study houses were classified as kuccha, semi-pucca and pucca house. And were scored as follows: SL.NO. Type of houses Score 1.

Pucca 3
Family type Family maybe joint or nuclear. In this study joint and nuclear family has been defined as "a family with more than a pair of couple with married children living together represents a joint family". And "a family with a single pair of couple with unmarried children living together represents a nuclear family". These family types were scored as follows: SL.NO. Family type Score 1.
Nuclear family 2

Annual income
It refers to the gross annual income of the respondent's family from all sources. It was measured in terms of rounded off rupees. One mark given to each 1000 rupees. The respondents were categorised as follows: Sl.No. Categories Score 1.
High Greater than Mean +S.D

Opinion on benefit of MGNREGA
Opinion on benefit of MGNREGAs refers to the opinion of of job card holders about the benefit of MGNREGAs. The opinion and benefit scale with 24 items was presented to the respondents on a 3 point continuum scale ranging from "most favourable" and "unfavourable". The score assigned were 3,2 and 1 respectively. The respondents were then categorised as below: Sl.No. Categories Score 1.
High Greater than Mean +S.D Selection of work 3.

Awareness of job card holders on MGNREGA (Y1)
Payment of wages 4.
Work site facilities 5.
Investigation observation

Overall awareness of the job card holders on MGNREGA
Awareness on MGNREGA refers to the awareness of job card holders on MGNREGA. The schedule developed for awareness of job card holders consisted of 30 different questions related to job cards, work application, selection of work, payment of wages, work site facilities, monitoring, and investigation observation was presented to the respondents on a 3 points continuum scale ranging from "full awareness", "partial awareness" and "no awareness". The scores assigned were 3, 2 and 1 respectively. The respondents were then categorised as below: Sl. No Categories Score 1 (No awareness) Low Less than Mean -S.D 2 (Partial awareness) Medium In between Mean +-S.D 3 (Full awareness) High Greater than Mean +S.D

Collection of data Tool of data collection
Personal interview of the respondents i.e the job card holders with the help of an interview schedule which was prepared for collection of data.

Techniques of data collection
Both primary as well as secondary data were collected for the present study. The primary data were collected by the investigator herself from the selected respondents using the interview schedule which was prepared in English language. Questions in the interview schedule were put to the respondents in local Liangmai language, translation was instantly done by the researcher herself a Liangmai is her mother tongue. And the secondary data on different aspects of MGNREGA were obtained from the reputed published sources and from the program officer of MGNREGA.

Statistical analysis
The data collected were properly tabulated and analysed keeping the objectives of the present study in mind. The measures and tests used in the study were as follows: Arithmetic Mean: It was used in the categorization of respondents and in finding the mean value of different practices under study. It is the arithmetic average and is denoted by Mean.

Simple correlation coefficient (r):
When an increase or decrease in one variate is accompanied by an increase or decrease in the other variate, the two are said to be correlated and the phenomenon is known as Correlation coefficient (r) a measure of the relationship between two variables which arc at the interval or ratio level of measurement and are linearly related. A person product-moment 'r' is computed by the formula Where, X and Y = original scores in variables X and Y N = number of paired scores ∑ = each of X multiplied by its corresponding Y, then summed ∑ = sum of X scores ∑ ² = each X squared, then summed ( ∑ )² = sum of X scores, squared ∑ = sum of Y scores ∑ ² = each Y squared, then summed ( ∑ )² = sum of Y scores, squared.
The range of correlation coefficient is from -1 to +1. This means that -1 is perfect negative correlation, +1 is perfect positive correlation. An idea of positive and negative correlation is given here. If the number of errors increases with in typing speed, it indicates positive correlation. If the number of correct words decrease with increase in typing speed it is indicative of negative correlation. A correlation coefficient to be acceptable should be statistically significant. Otherwise, it is presumed that no significant relationship exists between the variables.

Multiple Regression:
The correlation coefficient only expresses association and by itself tells us nothing about the causal relationships of the variates. Thus, purely from the knowledge that two variates x and y are correlated, we cannot say whether variation in x is the cause or the result of the variation in y or whether the association results from mutual dependence of the two variates or from common causes affecting both of them. Similarly, the more existence of a high value of correlation coefficient is not necessarily indicative of an underlying relationship between the two variates. A multiple correlation coefficient measures the combined relation between a dependent and series of independent variables. It can also be explained as the correlation between the observed values of the dependent variable and its estimated values from the independent variable values, estimated with the help of the multiple regression equation (Chandel, 1970).

FINDINGS OF THE STUDY: Age
There was no significant relationship between age and awareness of job card holders. This indicates that awareness of job card holders was not affected by age.

Occupation
There was no significant relationship between occupation and awareness of job card holders. This indicates that awareness of job card holders was not affected by occupation.

Education
There was no significant relationship between education and awareness of job card holders. This indicates that awareness of job card holders was not affected by education.

Social participation
It was found that there was positive and significant relation between social participation and awareness of job card holders. It indicates that higher the social participation level higher was the level of awareness of job card holders.

Housing types
It was found that there was positive and significant relation between housing type and awareness of job card holders. The reason is because those people living in kuccha houses have low income and belong to the poorest of the poor. Thus, they more interested and eager to know about the various scheme provided by the government which guarantees livelihood security to some extent. Thus, higher the housing type higher was the level of awareness of job card holders.

Family type
There was no significant relationship between family type and awareness of job card holders. This indicates that awareness of job card holders was not affected by family type.

Annual income
There was no significant relationship between annual income and awareness of job card holders. This indicates that awareness of job card holders was not affected by annual income.

Opinion on benefit of MGNREGA
There was no significant relationship between opinion on benefit of MGNREGA and awareness of job card holders. This indicates that awareness of job card holders was not affected by opinion on benefit of MGNREGA.

REGRESSION ANALYSIS
Regression analysis gives an idea or information about the extent of contribution of independent variables towards the change in dependent variable. The technique of multiple regression analysis using linear mode was employed to get the estimates of predictive abilities of the independent variables to the dependent variable.
The findings were presented below in table-13 The table-13 reveals that out of total independent variables only one of themi.e. social participation Is found to be significant at0.01 level of significance. This indicates that this variable was important in contributing towards the change in awareness of job card holders. The R 2 value (0.403) suggests that (40.3) was contributed towards the changes in awareness of job card holders due to independent variables. Besides the above independent variables the other independent variables were also responsible in contributing towards the change of dependent variable even though they were not significant. Further, the variable whose regression coefficient value were found to be significant ( social participant) could be term as good predictors of awareness of job card holders on MGNREGA.

CONSTRAINT FACED BY JOB CARD HOLDERS UNDER MGNREGA:
In the present study, nine constraints were identified related to MGNREGA. These were ranked on the basis of response of the respondents and presented below:

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
Since, MGNREGAs serves as a strong social safety net for the vulnerable groups by providing a fallback employment source, when other employment alternatives are scarce or inadequate and empowerment of rural poor through the process of right based law. Effective and efficient awareness of this scheme by the beneficiaries is needed to achieved the objectives and goal of MGNREGA which is the right to work for 100 days in a year at a rate decided by the government and to enhance peoples livelihoods on sustained basis by developing economic and social infrastructure in rural areas. Keeping in view the importance of MGNREGA and its awareness "A study on awareness of job card holders under MGNREGA in Tamenglong district, Manipur", was as taken up with the following objectives: To study the socio-economic characteristics of job card holders under MGNREGA.

Research methodology
The present study was conducted in Tamenglong district of Manipur using the Ex-post facto research design. A multi-stage sampling procedure was employed in obtaining the sample for the study. Four villages were selected by proportional sampling. The data were collected using structured interview schedule. The data collected were then analysed using appropriate statistical tools. (70.8%) were found in medium category in their annual income and majority of the respondents (72.5%) were in medium category of opinion on benefit of MGNREGA.

Awareness of the job card holders on MGNREGA
Majority of the job card holders (74.1%) were found to be in medium category with respect to awareness of the job card holders. This medium category indicates denotes partial awareness by the respondents i.e. job card holders.

Relationship between independent variables and dependent variable
Age, occupation, education, family type, annual income and opinion on benefit of MGNREGA were not significant related with awareness of the job card holders of MGNREGA. Social participation and housing type were significantly related with awareness of the job card holders on MGNREGA.

Regression Analysis
In regression analysis it was found that out of the total independent variables only one i.e. social participation was found to be significant at 0.01 level of significance. Further, the variable social participation could be termed as good predictors of awareness of job card holders on MGNREGA.

Constraint faced by the job card holders
In present study, nine constraints were identified related to MGNREGA. It was found that less man days was the most important constraint felt by the job card holders under MGNREGA followed by lack of basic facilities at work site. Other major constraints include delay in payment of wages, low wage payment.

Conclusion
It may be concluded that there is a need of sound and sustainable strategy to improve the awareness of the job card holders on MGNREGA through organising effective and efficient training programme regarding guidelines of MGNREGA its objective, goals, silent features and most importantly about the rights given to the job card holders under MGNREGA. Thus, by organising training program frequently and implementing earnestly the awareness of the respondents can be improve leading to proper function of the scheme, development of rural people, socio-economic upliftment and providing livelihood security to the poorest of the poor in rural India.

Suggestion for future strategy
Based on the research finding and experience gained in the field following suggestions may be recommended for future strategy.
Since majority of the respondents had medium level of opinion on benefit of MGNREGA. It is desirable to have high level opinion on benefit of MGNREGA by implementing earnestly the program and appointing a whole time programme officers who must be dedicated, committed and honest persons.
Majority of the respondents had medium level of awareness on MGNREGA, the govt., programme officers and the concern staff members of this scheme should take necessary steps in arranging frequent training program regarding the fundamental objectives of MGNREGA and the rights given to the beneficiaries.

Suggestion for future research
• The present study was mainly confined to awareness on MGNREGA by the job card holders. Similar studies on other aspects and behaviour of job card holders under MGNREGA may also be taken up. • A study with significantly large number of variables may also be taken up on a fairly large number of respondents within the state of Manipur. • The present study was conducted only in one district of Manipur. Such are required to be conducted in the other districts to arrive at some generalization.