Evaluating the Efficiency in MGNREGA During COVID-19 Pandemic: An Interstate Analysis Using Data Envelopment Analysis

The current paper focusses on evaluating the inter-state efficiency in implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) during the COVID-19 pandemic, using data envelopment analysis. This research focussed on two objectives: (1) to analyse the technical efficiency in MGNREGA across Indian states. and (2) to identify the reference states and targets for the inefficient states for improving their efficiency. Since MGNREGA focusses on employment generation and asset creation, efficiency is estimated across these two dimensions. The results showed that there are inefficiencies in implementing MGNREGA across major and minor states of India. The mean technical efficiency across major states was 0.76 and 0.58 for asset creation and employment generation, respectively. The mean technical efficiency across minor states was 0.83 and 0.54 for asset creation and employment generation, respectively. The inefficiencies are more in terms of employment generation compared to asset creation. The states need to put in extra efforts to improve the efficiency in implementing the MGNREGA scheme.