India’s rural job scheme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantees Scheme (MNREGs), has got a special mention in a new report released by the World Economic Forum (WEF). 

“…In emerging economies there is a growing demand to formalise social contracts. India’s National Rural Employment Guarantees Act and Brazil’s Plano Brasil Sem Miséria are examples of new government programmes that aim to redistribute wealth and guarantee incomes in an effort to fight poverty and inequality,” said the report titled ‘Global Risks 2012’.

However, the report has also warning for such programmes. “Like welfare systems in developed economies, these programmes depend on continued growth and expanding employment and are therefore vulnerable to economic contraction,” it mentioned.

The report also pointed out that there is growing inequality around the world. “Economic shocks and social upheaval could roll back the progress globalisation has brought, and feel that the world’s institutions are ill-equipped to cope with today’s interconnected, rapidly evolving risks,” it warned  on the basis of findings of a survey of 469 experts and industry leaders.

According to the report, there are 50 global risks divided in five categories. “The constellation of risks arising from emerging technologies, financial interdependence, resource depletion and climate change exposes the weak and brittle nature of existing safeguards – the policies, norms, regulations or institutions which serve as a protective system,” the report held.

“Two dominant issues of concern emerged from the Arab Spring, the “Occupy” movements worldwide and recent similar incidents of civil discontent: the growing frustration among citizens with the political and economic establishment, and the rapid public mobilization enabled by greater technological connectivity,” it pointed out.

The report idenitified five centres of gravity as risk prones: Chronic fiscal imbalances (economic), Greenhouse gas emissions (environmental), Global governance failure (geopolitical), Unsustainable population growth (societal), Critical systems failure (technological).

The 60-page analysis of 50 risks precedes the WEF meeting this month in Switzerland.

Read the report