India, March 31 -- The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) is among the most important anti-poverty programmes in India. Designed to offer 100 days of blue-collar work in villages, the scheme works on what is perhaps the most effective self-selection criterion among India's welfare programmes.

While the current government was critical of the scheme when it first assumed power in 2014, the pandemic's economic disruption has made it more receptive to the demand side virtues of this programme. This larger recognition notwithstanding, the Union government has had ongoing disputes with some states, especially West Bengal - it has not received any money under the programme in the last three years - over complian...