Well, finally, there seems to be less pessimistic news emerging out of Surguja, going by a survey conducted earlier this month by students from Delhi and Allahabad universities as well as JNU, under an initiative by the Delhi School of Economics, and spearheaded by eminent economist Jean Dreze. The idea was to gauge whether the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) was effective in randomly-selected worksites in Batauli block. Since it was a repeat of an exercise conducted a year earlier, it provided an opportunity to study whether the NREGA was being made more effective.

Among the more encouraging findings was the fact that most families in the area have a job card and that there is a general improvement in the awareness about the act and its entitlements. It has also raised employment levels here quite considerably, with labourers receiving the minimum wage. The works built are also generally productive. But what is arguably the most important finding is that corruption seems to have declined considerably, and contractors have been kept out.

Sure, the familiar problems have not disappeared. But as Dreze notes, “There have been major improvements compared to last year — whether it is with regard to job cards distribution, levels of employment, payment of wages, or quality of the various works.” This time the surveyors found 95 per cent accuracy in muster rolls which indicates that the wages paid out actually reached workers and leakages have been reduced to 5 per cent — last time, it was 50 per cent. This means that with greater attention to safeguards, leakages can be eliminated almost totally. In a country where social welfare projects have leaked like sieves, this a very important finding.

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