Introduction: 

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), one of India’s largest welfare schemes, has received a renewed push in 2025. With the daily wage revised from ₹349 to ₹370 effective from April 1, and the launch of the Stree Chetna campaign in Mysuru rural, this move is expected to significantly impact rural employment patterns, especially for women.

MGNREGA Wage Hike 2025: Key Highlights

• Revised wage: ₹370 per day (up from ₹349)

• 100 days of guaranteed wage employment annually

• Total annual earning potential: ₹37,000 per household

• Equal pay for men and women under the scheme

• Target: 60% female participation under Stree Chetna

• Focus on community infrastructure projects like ponds, drains, and roads

Sociological Analysis of MGNREGA

1. Feminization of Rural Labor Force: Under the Stree Chetna campaign, authorities aim to increase women’s participation in MGNREGA from 50% to 60%, encouraging 100 continuous days of work through Self-Help Groups (SHGs). This aligns with the concept of “feminization of poverty”, where women are disproportionately affected by economic hardships, and thus, state intervention becomes essential. Sociologist Bina Agarwal emphasizes the significance of access to paid employment and community resources in improving women’s bargaining power within households and communities.
2. MGNREGA as a Tool of Social Integration: From a functionalist viewpoint (Émile Durkheim), institutions like MGNREGA serve to integrate the unemployed, marginalized, and landless laborers into the economic structure, thereby promoting social cohesion. The wage hike acts as an incentive that stabilizes rural society by ensuring livelihood security and reducing migration.
3. Addressing Class Inequalities: Karl Marx’s conflict theory sees economic structures as instruments that reinforce class domination. MGNREGA, by guaranteeing employment and income to landless laborers, seeks to redistribute economic power and challenge entrenched class hierarchies. The scheme provides an avenue for economic justice, especially during post-harvest periods when rural unemployment spikes. The empowerment of women through state-funded schemes challenges patriarchal control over resources, gradually restructuring gender and class dynamics.
4. Migration Theory: Reducing Distress Migration: Recent reports suggest that the wage hike is encouraging youth to remain in villages rather than migrate to urban centers for insecure and informal jobs. This can be linked to Everett Lee’s Push-Pull Theory, where improving rural wages acts as a pull factor, reducing rural-urban migration pressures. This shift can also be analyzed through the lens of rural-urban dependency theories, wherein strengthening rural economies leads to balanced regional development.
5. Panchayati Raj and Democratic Decentralization: The active role of Zilla Panchayats and Gram Panchayats in implementing MGNREGA underlines M.N. Srinivas’s ideas of local self-governance and Democratic Decentralization. Through participatory campaigns like “Sthree Chetana,” these institutions are promoting bottom-up development, ensuring that welfare schemes reach the most disadvantaged.

Loopholes in MGNREGA Implementation (2025)

• Irregular wage payments delay rural financial support.
• Lack of proper awareness restricts participation among marginalized groups.
• Underutilization of permissible 100 workdays due to administrative bottlenecks.
• Poor monitoring affects transparency and accountability.
• Gender-sensitive infrastructure is still lacking on many worksites.

Way Forward

• Ensure timely wage payments through tech-enabled transparency.
• Strengthen grassroots awareness via SHGs and Panchayats.
• Implement robust grievance redressal mechanisms.
• Promote gender-inclusive facilities and leadership roles.
• Integrate MGNREGA with rural development schemes for asset creation.

Conclusion

MGNREGA continues to be a powerful instrument of rural transformation. The recent wage hike and focus on women’s participation reflect a progressive shift towards inclusive development. However, sociological insight highlights the need for systemic reforms to tackle structural inequalities and maximize its potential as a tool of economic justice, social inclusion, and gender empowerment.

PYQs

Paper I 

• Examine the nature of social mobility among agrarian classes in India. (2022)
• Explain the concept of social exclusion and how it is different from social inequality. (2019)
• Discuss how social movements can bring about social change with examples from rural India. (2018)
• Analyze how the feminization of poverty is structurally linked to gender roles. (2017)
• Compare and contrast the concepts of class and status in the context of rural India. (2016)
• Discuss the role of bureaucracy in social change in rural India. (2015)
• Evaluate the applicability of Marxian theory in understanding contemporary rural labor issues. (2014)
• How do formal and informal structures coexist in rural India’s work culture? (2014)
• What are the various types of social mobility and how are they linked to development policies in India? (2014)

Paper II

• Examine the role of MGNREGA in changing the rural social structure. (2023)
• Evaluate the impact of rural employment schemes on women’s empowerment in India. (2022)
• Discuss the role of Panchayati Raj Institutions in implementing rural development programmes. (2021)
• Analyze the changes in rural society due to the introduction of state-sponsored employment schemes. (2020)
• Explain how state policies have influenced caste-class dynamics in rural India. (2019)
• Discuss the role of Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in promoting social capital and women empowerment in rural India. (2018)
• Examine how employment guarantee programmes have contributed to inclusive development in India. (2017)
• Critically analyze the role of the state in addressing rural poverty and unemployment through public schemes. (2016)
• Assess the impact of economic development on the status of women in rural India. (2015)
• Discuss the relationship between rural migration and lack of rural employment opportunities. (2014)