Determinants of Participation in MGNREGA: A Case Study of Kathua District, J&K, India

MGNREGA is a footstep by the Government of India which has changed the status of the rural households and their employment pattern by securing livelihood through guaranteed wage employment. This scheme was implemented in Kathua District in 2008-09 in its final phase when the entire state of Jammu & Kashmir was covered. The present paper tries to estimate econometrically the impact of various determinants of MGNREGA beneficiaries by using the Logit model in the Kathua district and has also examined the socio-demographic determinants of participation in MGNREGA. The estimated result of Logit model illustrate that wages influence the status of MGNREGA beneficiaries as people who earned wages from unorganized sector are more probable to engage under MGNREGA.