Exploring the Range of Activities Under MNREGA for Rural Development

When the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act was first enacted, critics dismissed it as a scheme for “digging ditches.” Two decades later, the list of works permissible under the programme tells a very different story. From reviving dried-up ponds to building Anganwadi centres, from constructing fish drying yards on coastal belts to installing soak pits behind rural homes, the scope of MNREGA has expanded into a sweeping rural development toolkit. Understanding exactly what kinds of activities are covered helps explain why this programme remains one of the most consequential welfare interventions in rural policy.

How the permissible works are organised 🔗

The Ministry of Rural Development has structured the activities under MNREGA into broad categories, primarily listed under Schedule I of the Act. The works have been divided into 10 broad categories covering watershed management, irrigation and flood control, agricultural and livestock-related works, fisheries, coastal area works, and rural drinking water and sanitation. These categories are not arbitrary. They reflect the twin aims of the Act: providing wage employment on demand and creating durable assets that strengthen rural livelihoods.

Most state-level manuals group these works under four operational categories – public works related to natural resource management, individual assets for vulnerable households, common infrastructure for self-help groups, and rural infrastructure. A closer look at each category reveals just how wide the net has been cast.

Watershed and water conservation works 🔗

Water has always been at the heart of MNREGA. Over the last decade, more than half of all NREGA funds have been spent on water-related projects, a priority driven by shrinking rural water bodies. The watershed category includes contour trenches, contour bunds, boulder checks, gabion structures, underground dykes, earthen dams, stop dams, and spring-shed development.

These are not random engineering interventions. A contour trench, for example, is dug along a line of equal elevation to slow down surface runoff, reduce soil erosion, and allow rainwater to percolate into the ground. In hilly regions, spring-shed development helps recharge traditional springs that entire villages depend on for drinking water.

Irrigation and flood control 🔗

The irrigation basket under MNREGA covers micro and minor irrigation works, creation and renovation of irrigation canals and drains, renovation of traditional water bodies such as desilting of irrigation tanks, and conservation of old step wells or baolis. Flood control works include drainage in waterlogged areas, deepening and repairing of flood channels, chaur renovation in flood-prone eastern states, and stormwater drains for coastal protection.

The renovation of traditional water bodies is particularly significant. Many village tanks, once the backbone of local irrigation, had silted up over decades. MNREGA labour has helped bring several of these back into productive use.

Agriculture, livestock, and fisheries 🔗

A substantial share of permissible works is reserved for agriculture and allied activities. Guidelines require that 60 per cent of the total expenditure should be spent on agriculture and related activities, and at least 65 per cent of the annual action plan cost must be earmarked for natural resource management works. This is a deliberate design choice to ensure that the scheme strengthens the rural production base rather than just providing short-term wages.

Permissible agricultural works include land development on the holdings of specified vulnerable households, farm ponds, dug wells, horticulture and plantation works, bio-fertiliser production units such as NADEP composting and vermicomposting, and the construction of warehouses for storing agricultural produce.

Livestock-related infrastructure 🔗

For livestock, the Act permits creating infrastructure for promotion of livestock such as poultry shelters, goat shelters, piggery shelters, cattle shelters, and fodder troughs. These small interventions directly affect household income, since livestock is often the secondary source of livelihood for marginal farmers.

Fisheries and coastal works 🔗

Fisheries have been given dedicated attention. Water harvesting ponds dug under MNREGA in states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal are often stocked with fingerlings to turn them into productive fisheries. Adopting culture-based fisheries with advanced fingerlings can substantially increase fish productivity in small rainfed water bodies.

In coastal districts, permissible works include construction of fish drying yards, storage facilities for the catch, and belt vegetation to protect the coastline from erosion and cyclone damage. For communities dependent on the sea, these are not peripheral activities – they are core to livelihood security.

Rural drinking water and sanitation 🔗

One of the more transformative additions to Schedule I has been the inclusion of sanitation-related works. These include individual household latrines, school toilet units, Anganwadi toilets, and solid and liquid waste management works. Drinking water works cover soak pits, recharge pits, and construction of small rural water supply systems.

This integration effectively links MNREGA with the Swachh Bharat Mission and the Jal Jeevan Mission, allowing convergence of funds and labour. A single village can now use MNREGA wages to build a toilet while drawing on Swachh Bharat subsidies for materials.

Construction of Anganwadi centres 🔗

The inclusion of Anganwadi centre construction was a milestone moment for child welfare in rural India. Guidelines for construction of Anganwadi Centres under MGNREGS were jointly issued by the Ministry of Women and Child Development and the Ministry of Rural Development on 13 August 2015, with expenditure up to Rs. 5 lakh per AWC building allowed under MGNREGS and additional costs borne by ICDS funds. This means every village can now build a dignified early childhood care centre using a combination of the two schemes.

The social ripple effect of this is significant. A proper Anganwadi building improves nutrition delivery, pre-school education, and maternal health services – all delivered in a physical space built through the labour of the same community it serves.

Rural infrastructure and community assets 🔗

Beyond agriculture and water, MNREGA also funds core rural infrastructure. This includes rural road and drainage works, construction of compounds and playgrounds for government schools, development works for Gram Panchayat buildings, cyclone shelters, rural markets, graveyards, and rural warehouses. Approach roads for level crossings and railway stations, along with plantation of trees along railway boundaries, are also permissible.

Such works serve a dual purpose. They absorb surplus rural labour during the lean agricultural season and they leave behind physical assets that boost local economic activity. A new link road, for example, cuts transportation costs for farmers taking produce to market.

Individual assets for vulnerable households 🔗

A distinct feature of MNREGA is that it allows the creation of assets on the land of specified vulnerable households. These works can be taken up on land or homestead owned by Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, below poverty line families, beneficiaries of land reforms, beneficiaries under the Indira Awaas Yojana, small or marginal farmers, and other traditional forest dwellers. This provision turns the scheme from a public works programme into a direct tool for asset redistribution among the poorest.

Geo-tagging for transparency and accountability 🔗

With millions of works being sanctioned every year, the big question was always whether these assets actually existed on the ground. The answer, increasingly, is being provided by satellite technology.

An MoU was signed between the Department of Rural Development and the National Remote Sensing Centre of ISRO on 24 June 2016 for geo-tagging assets created under MGNREGA. The NRSC developed the Bhuvan geo-portal app, a mobile-based geo-tagging application that captures GPS location along with two photographs of each completed asset. These records are then uploaded, verified at the block level, approved by a state nodal officer, and published on the Bhuvan web platform in the public domain.

How geo-tagging works in practice: A Gram Rozgar Sahayak or technical assistant designated as an MGNREGA Spatial Enumerator visits the completed site, captures the coordinates and images on the Bhuvan app, and uploads the entry. It is mandatory for states and union territories to ensure that any work completed from 1 April 2017 onwards is geo-tagged within 30 days of completion.

The scale of this exercise is impressive. Within a few years, crores of assets had been geo-tagged and put in the public domain, allowing any citizen to verify whether a sanctioned check dam or farm pond actually exists at the claimed location. The Ministry also launched Janmanrega, a citizen-centric mobile application that lets users locate geo-tagged assets on the Bhuvan map, view their attributes and photographs, and provide feedback based on their current location.

The Yuktadhara and NMMS platforms 🔗

Transparency tools have continued to evolve. Yuktadhara, a geospatial planning portal developed by NRSC and launched on 23 August 2021, facilitates Gram Panchayat level planning using eleven thematic maps, while the National Mobile Monitoring System app, mandatory since 16 May 2022, captures real-time worker attendance with geo-tagged, time-stamped photographs twice a day. This has reduced the possibility of fake muster rolls, a historical weak point of the scheme.

Why this wide scope matters 🔗

The broad activity list under MNREGA is what distinguishes it from a simple cash transfer or a narrow public works programme. Every permissible work is chosen because it either creates a productive asset, protects a natural resource, or builds social infrastructure. A study by the Institute of Social and Economic Change of projects between FY07 and FY13 found that the top categories were rural connectivity at 40 per cent, water conservation at 17 per cent, land development at 12 per cent, renovation of water bodies at 11 per cent, and flood control at 8 per cent.

This diversified asset base is precisely why convergence with schemes like Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, and the Jal Jeevan Mission has been possible. The labour and site identification come through MNREGA, while material and technical inputs flow in from sector-specific programmes.

What do you think? Given the wide range of activities covered under MNREGA, do you believe the scheme should expand further into areas like renewable energy and climate adaptation, or does its strength lie in staying focused on the current list of rural works? And how much does geo-tagging really change the lived experience of workers and beneficiaries on the ground?

References

1. https://cmdashboard.mn.gov.in/departments/rural-development-department/mahatma-gandhi-national-rural-employment-guarantee-scheme-mnrega/
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahatma_Gandhi_National_Rural_Employment_Guarantee_Act,_2005
3. https://nregs.kerala.gov.in/en/category-of-works/
4. https://mgnrega.karnataka.gov.in/37/know-about-mgnregs/en
5. https://www.nregajalpaiguri.com/mgnrega/acts_guidelines/Guidelines%20for%20new%20works%20under%20MGNREGA%20including%20sanitation.pdf
6. https://haryanarural.gov.in/mahatma-gandhi-national-rural-employment-guarantee-scheme-mgnregs/
7. https://swarajyamag.com/infrastructure/how-geo-tagging-is-introducing-transparency-in-mgnrega-scheme
8. https://mahaegs.maharashtra.gov.in/en/mgnregs/monitoring-initiatives/
9. https://www.pirpanjalpost.com/2019/05/geo-tagging-and-manrega-ashiq-rafiq.html
10. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7478243/