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Accountability Initiative, Center for Policy Research is delighted to invite you to a talk on    “Right to Work?  Assessing India’s Employment Guarantee Scheme in Bihar” By:  Martin Ravallion The presentation is based on a book authored by Puja Dutta, Rinku Murgai, Martin Ravallion, Dominique van de Walle Discussant: S. M. Vijayanand, Special Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development Venue: Centre for Policy Research, Conference Hall II Date: February, 23, 2015 Time: 10 am -12 pm Abstract:  The authors study the impact of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREG) scheme in Bihar, drawing on a wide variety of methods, including subjective assessments by respondents, observational (econometric) and experimental methods, and qualitative field work.  The main source of data is a panel survey of 3000 households, representative of rural Bihar, fielded in 2009 and 2010. The presentation will focus on a range of issues:  are the conditions stipulated by the MGNREG Act met in practice?  What impact on poverty do the earnings from the program have?  Does the program meet its potential?  How can it do better? Full text of Right to Work?  Assessing India’s Employment Guarantee Scheme in Bihar is available at:  https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/17195   Bio:  Martin Ravallion holds the inaugural Edmond D. Villani Chair of Economics at Georgetown University. Prior to taking up this position in December 2012 he had been Director of the World Bank’s research department. He currently serves on the Editorial Boards of ten economics journals, is a Senior Fellow of the Bureau for Research in Economic Analysis of Development, a Founding Council Member and President (elect) of the Society for the Study of Economic Inequality and a Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, USA. Amongst various prizes and awards, in 2012 he was awarded the John Kenneth Galbraith Prize from the American Agricultural and Applied Economics Association. For more details, please get in touch with Papia Samajdar at psamajdar@accountabilityindia.org