Getting on with the jobs

A detailed report on 33 panchayats in Bhawanipatna block in Kalahandi district, filed by a group of 25 volunteers in June, highlighted how this debilitating lack of general information is in direct proportion to the interest the local district administration and gram panchayats take in the project. While some pockets reported satisfactory progress, in other villages even the panchayat offices were found to be locked on most days. Many did not have the facilities to store NREGS documents, much less display them for public viewing.

The confusion of where to go for a job card was widespread, and while the minimum wage was Rs 55 in the area, most men reported that they were getting much less, with the women paid even lower. The leaks that the NAC had hoped to plug in the NREGS were very much in evidence. Reports from other parts of the country six months later, revealed almost the same problems. Not only were the wages paid far lower than the statutory minimum, they were delayed, and despite an entitlement of 100 days under the Scheme, some managed only 10-25 days of work in many districts.

We are talking of regions where illiteracy is rampant and media exposure minimal. Unless the NREGS goes to the people through an active outreach programme and adequate staff, rather than expect the people to come in search of it, this enormous gap caused by a lack of information and understanding of entitlements can never get bridged.

Already the level of employment generated by the NREGS has failed to meet expectations, going by the gross under-utilisation of funds released for the Scheme. According to the Centre’s own assessment, only 25 per cent of the budget for the NREGS has been utilised in a little over six months, and the number of mandays generated is far below the figure projected. Take Karnataka for example. By July 31, the state Government was able to spend only Rs 30.57 crore out of a fund of Rs 131.12 crore, and this has been the story in many other states as well. And we have not even begun to ask whether the works that are being done are getting translated into what can be considered to be important infrastructure that would make a difference to the quality of life in these regions.

So do these conspicuous failures mean that those who had argued vociferously against the NREGS last year were right? That would be an extremely short-sighted reading of the experiences of these last 10 months. For the first time in 50 years of social welfare planning in India, we have evolved a method that can potentially reach out to the lowest tier by using methods that can potentially deepen democracy in that it takes the idea of entitlements and choices to the last person. It has, besides, a self-limiting structure and will be found redundant in those regions where it is not needed, regions where rural labour has already found themselves more rewarding jobs and professions.

... contd.

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