Introduction
In August 2005, Parliament passed landmark legislation, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (hereafter NREGA). The NREGA is a landmark in the terms of social and economical security legislation in India - or indeed, anywhere in the world - and promises to be a major tool in the struggle to secure the right to food and right to work. Initially it was launched in 200 backward district of India and later on it has been extended to all 604 districts of the country from 2nd April 2008. Under the NREGA, rural households have a legal right to get “not less than” 100 days of unskilled manual labour on public works in each financial year with minimum wage of the concerned state or at the rate as prescribed by the central Government. It has been renamed as Mahatma Gandhi Rural EmploymentGuarantee Act on 2nd October, 2009.
II. Main features of NREGA
v Every household has the right to demand 100 days employment (unskilled manual work) from the Govt.
v Employment (with Job Card) will be given within 15 days of application for work. Job Card (with photograph) should be with you. No one has the right to take it away. In case of lose you can apply for a new one.
v If employment is not given within 15 days, daily unemployment allowance in cash will be paid by the State Govt.
v Employment within 5 km radius of the village or beyond 5 km, extra wages of 10 per cent.
v At least 1/3 of the employment will be given to the women.
v Villagers themselves, not officials, will decide the works to be done.
v There will be complete transparency and wages will be paid in full public view on weekly basis and not beyond a fortnight in any case.
v No contractors and machineries are allowed under the scheme.
v Working facilities like free medical treatment in case of injury and compensation in case of death or permanent disability of the laborers will be provided by the State Govt.
v Social audit shall be conducted in full public view.
v All accounts and records relating to the scheme will be available for public scrutiny.
III. Comparison with other schemes
The NREGA has been one of the biggest programmes to combat rural poverty. Its legal guarantees have radically altered the relationship of the poor with the state. It guarantees for at least 100 days of employment to each house hold in a year. It is different from many other anti-poverty schemes of the government like National RuralEmployment Programme (NREP), Rural Landless Employment Guarantee (RLEG), Employment Assurance Scheme (EAS), Food for Work Programme (NFFWP), Sampoorna Gramin Rozgar Yojana (SGRY), Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana (JGSY), etc that were in operation prior to the implementation of the NREGA. There were no transparency and safeguards in the earlier rural employment schemes. Documents were not available for public scrutiny. While in NREGA the transparency safeguards have been put in the form of social audit. At the same time the Act places an enforcement obligation on the state, and gives bargaining power to the labourers. There is another major difference between a scheme and an Act. Schemes may commence and can be easily shut down whereas Acts are more durable and to make changes in an Act, there is requirement of an amendment of the Honourable Parliament.
IV. Challenges faced in NREGA
The NREGA is being closely monitored by various stakeholders, from policymakers to grassroots organisations time to time. Through media scan, sample survey, social audit research is carried out to assess itsimplementation on the ground. Various reports point out the areas in which the Act is lagging behind, and also about the areas where the efforts are visible and appreciated. Tanushree Sood Researcher with the Office of the Commissioners to the Supreme Court have point out following area where implementing body need to pay more attention.
1. Registration of families
i. Definition of a household
The operational guidelines of the NREGA detail a household as a nuclear family comprising mother, father and their children. In addition, a household refers to a single-member family. Despite this explanation, there is still a lot of confusion about the definition of this critical term.
ii. Denial of registration
Media Reports from the field point to incidents of denial of registration to single-woman-headed households and physically challenged individuals. Discrimination based on caste has also been noted in some states like Gujarat. (http://www.righttofoodindia.org/rtowork/ega_articles.html) 2. Distribution of job cards
According to data provided on the NREGA website (www.nrega.nic.in), maintained by the Ministry of Rural Development, the percentage of job cards issued to registered households varies across states. i. Delay in distribution of job cards
The point of concern, however, is not just the percentage of issue of job cards but the percentage of distribution of job cards. Though job cards have been prepared across most states, in many states they have not reached the people, thereby restricting their right to demand work. A probable cause for this is the workload of the panchayat sevak who undertakes the task of distribution. On average, each sevak has two or three panchayats under him/her, thus making the task extremely difficult.
3. Applications for work and their receipt
i. Unsolicited fees being charged for work application forms
Fees for application forms are being charged in many states like Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand. The fee ranges from Rs 5 to Rs 50 in some states. Forms are also sold openly in local markets or haats. This flouts the NREGA guidelines that state that applications may even be submitted to the gram panchayat on a plain piece of paper.
ii. Non-issuance of receipts
Another general problem noted in the villages is the absence of a system to issue receipts (pauthis) to applicants. This could be because of lack of awareness on the part of the panchayat sevak and the villagers. Receipts, however, are crucial as a proof of work demanded.
4. Implementation and supervision of NREGS works
i. Absence of worksite facilities
The NREGA provides for facilities for safe drinking water, shade for children, periods of rest and a first-aid box at the work site (Section 27, Schedule II of the NREGA). But a lot has to be done to ensure these facilities, the notable absence of which is a problem that cuts across states.
ii. Presence of contractors
Like in many other rural development programmes, contractors are increasingly becoming a threat to the NREGA. Though this may not be very apparent on the surface, private contractors are slowly finding their way into the system. The Act clearly states (Schedule I, Section 11), that no contractor is permitted in the implementation of these projects.
iii. Non-availability of muster rolls at the worksite
It is rare indeed to find muster rolls at the worksites. Reports from across NREGA districts show that kutcha muster rolls/attendance sheets are being maintained by people at the worksites. Rough notebooks and diaries are being used to mark attendance and make wage payments.
iv. Shortage of staff and delay in appointments
The Act’s launch was not accompanied by the appointment of additional staff for its implementation. This has resulted in the existing staff being burdened with additional work. At the panchayat level, the guidelines specifically advised the appointment of a ‘rozgar sevak’. Disappointingly, this has not yet been done.
5. Payment of wages
i. Delay in wage payments
Delays in wage payments have always been a matter of concern in previous employment programmes, and this issue continues to plague the NREGA. Wage payments are delayed for weeks, sometimes months. The time lag varies from state to state.
ii. Payment of less than the minimum wage
In many states, workers do not earn minimum wages. The reasons behind payment of less than the minimum wage vary.
iii. Non payment of unemployment allows
It is seen that unemployment allows has not paid by state in case of failure of providing job with in 15 days of demanded work by applicant.
V. Innovative and New Practices to overcome the Challenges faced by NREGA
As earlier mentioned NREGA is unique act which recognize the right to work as well as right to food of people. To bring transparency and accountability in this ambitious poverty alleviation act many innovative tools are being used and developed which are discussed as follows:-
i. Social Audits
According to Vision Foundation "Social Audit or Public Audit is a process in which, details of the resource, both Financial and non-financial, used by public agencies for development initiatives are shared with the people, often through a public platform. Social Audits allow people to enforce accountability and transparency, providing the ultimate users an opportunity to scrutinize development initiatives.” Section 17of NREGA act empower the Gram Shabha to monitor the execution with in the Gram Panchayat with regular basis. The Gram Panchayat should make available the entire document like muster roll, bills etc. To bring it more effective and transparent government has amended the Act to give clear procedure for social audits which as follows:-
• Social audits to be conducted once in six months
• Prior planning and announcement of audit
• DPC & PO responsible for audit (planning & availability of documents)
• Formation of Social Audit Committee (workers & 1/3 women)
• Documents made available 15 days prior to SAC for verification
• Public representatives and concerned officials to attend
• SAC to read out findings, ATR
• Minutes recorded
The provision of social Audit in NREGA makes it pro- people act. People can know whether their money is utilised properly or not. At the same time through social audit people feels as an integral part of act. It a community based participatory approach and it helps in developing a community based ownership towards NREGA.
ii. Establishment of Ombudsman for redressal of grievance
On 7 September 2009 department of rural development passed an order to establishment of ombudsman for redressal of grievance in the time bound manner. Under this system Central government has given the order to each state to establish ombudsman in each district within three month from date of notification. The ombudsman will dispose all the cases within 15 days which have not carried technical question. Cases which have technical question will redress within 45days. State Nodal Department may include any other ground on which a complaint may be filed with the Ombudsman. This new innovative method of redressal of grievance may generate confidence on people. People may get optimum benefit out of this ambitious act.
iii. Mandatory Discloser
At the work site proactive discloser shall be through display of information through citizen information Board, work done and wage paid in the presence of worker at the end of the day by the person authorized. All information on NREGA will be placed in public domain through the website of NREGA as prescribed by government of India and be freely accessible to the people through the website .At the same time through Management Information System (MIS) all information like wage paid, amount disbursement, number of job cards issued etc would be updated and displayed at all India level covering approximately 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats, 6465 Blocks, 619 Districts and 34 States & UTs.
iv. Financial Inclusion
Through amendment of sub section I of 29 (Feb. 2009), the payment of wage shall be made through the individual or joint saving accounts of the worker in the bank or post offices opened in accordance with the direction of Central Government.
v. Performance Feedback
Under this act there is provision of Statutory Mechanisms to give regular feedback to implementing body to improve the quality of implementation through:
• Controller and Auditor General of India (Audit of 68 districts in 128 blocks and 513 GPs) 2006-07
• Central Employment Guarantee Council
Apart from statutory mechanism there is Internal Mechanisms of feedback which comprises of the following:-
• Management Information System
• Performance Review Meetings
• Area Officers for field verifications
• State, district, block level inspections
• Help-lines, Complaints
There is also an External & Independent Mechanisms of giving feed back to the implementing agency which is as follows:-
• National Level Monitors like Centre for Governance and Accountability etc
• Studies commissioned in 2006-07 and in 2007-08
• Professional Institutional Network
vi. NREGA with UIDA
NREGA in partnership with Unique Identification Development Authority of India (UIDA) has been initiated. The database of NREGA will be utilized by the UID Authority to expedite the development of the identification system for the residents.
VI. Conclusion
NREGA is the most ambitious and pro people oriented scheme in the history of our country as well as in the world. The successful implementation of this Act would also be milestone message for both the developing as well as the under developed countries across the globe. With the passage of time there have been a lot of lessons being learnt through the implementation process of NREGA. Some of the challenges as mentioned above like the registration of families, distribution of the job cards, implementation and supervision of the activities under NREGA in itself in one of the biggest challenging task. To overcome these challenges some of the measures like Social Audit, Ombudsman, Mandatory Discloser of facts, Financial Inclusion, Performance feedback through external and internal mechanisms, NREGA and UIDA etc are some of the new and latest measures which would further strengthen the process of implementation of NREGA.
