composition of NREGA workers included the poorest and socially and economically deprived. A majority of them live in kaccha houses, belong to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, are illiterate and do not have electricity at home. Self-targeting evidence suggests that there is a lot of unmet demand for work. Agricultural wages have increased, especially for women, since the inception of the scheme. This indicates that overall wage levels have increased due to the act, however, further research highlights that the key benefit of the scheme lies in the reduction of wage volatility. This highlights that NREGA may be an effective insurance scheme. A particular focus has been to understand whether the scheme has reduced migration into urban centres for casual work. Studies have suggested that women's participation has remained high, though there are inter-state variations. One study in border villages of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat studied the effect on short term migration and child welfare and found that among children who do not migrate, grade completed is higher. The study found that demand for NREGA work is higher, even though migrant wages are higher. A few studies focusing on the potential for asset creation under NREGA suggest that (a) the potential is substantial; (b) in some places, it is being realized, and (c) lack of staff, especially technical staff, rather than lack of material are to blame for poor realization of this potential. Others have pointed out that water harvesting and soil conservation works promoted through NREGA "could have high positive results on environment security and biodiversity and environment conservation" A study conducted by researchers at the Indian Institute of Science and other collaborators found that activities related to natural resource management under the MGNREGA can capture 249 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent by 2030. India has placed emphasis on MGNREGA as a contributor to carbon sequestration in its Third Biennial Update Report submitted to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 2021. Improvements in reducing corruption are attributable to the move to pay NREGA wages through bank and post office accounts. Some of the success in battling corruption can also be attributed to the strong provisions for community monitoring. Others find that "the overall social audit effects on reducing easy-to-detect malpractices was mostly absent". A few papers also study the link between electoral gains and implementation of NREGA. One studies the effect in Andhra Pradesh