Impact of COVID-19 Induced Economic Hardships on Women Participation in MGNREGA Works During the Financial Year 2020–2021

Impact of COVID-19 induced lockdown has been massive for the Indian economy; it witnessed a contraction in gross domestic product and massive employment loss. India being a poor country and a huge population having insignificant to no social security, a large number of those workers who lost employment were not having option to remain unemployed. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) which is a job-guarantee programme launched a decade earlier and that has been instrumental in providing employment opportunities to rural women casual workers witnessed a huge increase in demand as both men and women flocked to it. For the financial year 2020–2021 the share of women in the person-days worked under MGNREGA fell. The article using data from MGNREGA public data portal and the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy seeks to explain the reasons behind this fall and suggest that MGNREGA needs to be expanded and modified in favour of women casual workers till the recovery on the employment front does not happen. JEL Codes: H53, I38, J08, J16, J23, J30, J48, J71, J78