Even as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh admits there have been “lapses” in implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, its architects Jean Dreze and Aruna Roy stay away from a function to mark four years of the scheme’s existence
On February 2, to mark four years of India’s ambitious National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh noted that there had been several achievements in implementation of the scheme but that several problems remained.
Singh referred to the scheme as pathbreaking, with its pro-poor vision and promise of the right to work, inclusive growth and social security. He said the government was trying to improve the payments process through banks and post offices and achieve better integration with other grassroots-level programmes.
The prime minister sought to highlight that the NREGA had helped provide jobs and reduce the impact of the global meltdown and drought on the rural poor. “Several chief ministers have said that the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme helped our poor people in rural areas to a great extent in facing the problems,” he said at the anniversary meet in New Delhi marking four years of the scheme that the government says has provided employment to over 4 crore households in the current financial year.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi, who was present at the gathering of 1,200 participants from all over the country, also listed several problems relating to the scheme such as delayed payments and unemployment allowances not being given. She stressed that while the scheme was doing well, there were gaps in its implementation that needed to be sorted out. She cautioned implementing agencies against being complacent in the wake of the scheme’s overall good performance in the last four years.
An official government release said the poorest of the poor and the most vulnerable groups have sought employment under the scheme. The participation rate for scheduled castes (SCs) and scheduled tribes (STs) in 2009-10 has been 52%. In tribal-dominated districts, the average days of employment has been 65 days per household, as against the national average of 48 days. Women’s participation has risen to 50%.
The prime minister released ‘Report to People on Mahatma Gandhi NREGA’, showcasing the scheme’s performance over the past four years, at the function which was boycotted by social activists Jean Dreze and Aruna Roy. “We see little point in attending ceremonial functions as members of the Central Employment Guarantee Council even as the council’s substantive work is at a virtual standstill,” the duo said in a joint letter to Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj C P Joshi. Dreze and Roy were instrumental in giving form and shape to the employment guarantee scheme -- the Rs 40,000 crore flagship programme of the UPA government which, according to the 2009 Economic Survey, benefited over 4 crore (4 million) people in 2008.
Both are members of the Central Employment Guarantee Council, the body that monitors NREGA work, but say that the executive council has not been activated and this was hampering the efficient rollout of the scheme.
Both are members of the Central Employment Guarantee Council, the body that monitors NREGA work, but say that the executive council has not been activated and this was hampering the efficient rollout of the scheme.
Under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, it is the obligation of the government to facilitate the functioning of the council, they say. Failure to do so amounts to a violation of the law, besides depriving it of an “essential accountable safeguard”.
“Ill-considered” policy decisions had been taken, including the freezing of wages in December 2008, against the advice of the council, the activists charge, pointing out that the ministry is yet to index wages to the price level, despite promising to do so.
Dreze and Roy also protested against the ministry’s decision to construct a Bharat Nirman Rajiv Gandhi Sewa Kendra under the MNREGS, which, they fear, is a “dangerous step towards displacement of labour-intensive works by material-intensive works”. They see the programme as a likely new entry point for exploitative and corrupt contractors and say its inclusion was “made in a non-transparent manner, without adequate consultation”.
They stress that they are not against providing adequate infrastructure to gram panchayats, but that such activities are best undertaken under other schemes such as the Backward Regions Grant Fund, with the labour component alone under the NREGS.
Joshi sought to clarify things by stating that the focus would now be on tackling delayed payments under the Act and streamlining implementation with proactive disclosure, conduct of social audits, effective grievance redressal mechanisms like an ombudsmen in each district, and independent monitoring.
The scheme currently covers 619 districts across India. Its significant progress over the past years can also be attributed to the increase in coverage, from 330 districts in 2007-08 to 615 districts in 2008-09 to 619 districts in 2009-10.
According to data put out by the rural development ministry, the scheme used around 63%, or Rs 24,538 crore, of the total budget allocation till the end of December, and provided jobs to people in 41.5 million households. The average duration of employment per household was 46 days, against the stated goal of 100 days.
State-wise performance
State-wise statistics compiled by the central government show that the governments of West Bengal and Kerala have fared poorly in implementing the rural job guarantee scheme.
According to the data, while a job-seeking household under the scheme got over 40 days of employment, on average, nationally in 2008-09, about 72% of such households in West Bengal did not get even 15 days of employment.
In Kerala, about 50% of rural poor did not avail even of 15 days of employment during 2008-09. While a total of 6.3 lakh households availed of jobs under the NREGS in this state during the period, only 3.2 lakh sought more than 15 days of employment.
In the current fiscal year too, employment provided to job-seekers in Kerala and West Bengal is far below the national average. While the data compiled by the rural development ministry for the first five months of this fiscal year showed that on average 39 days of employment were provided to job-seeking households nationally, in West Bengal the average was 19 days while in Kerala it was 16.
Tripura fares better than most states with over 90% of job-seeking households availing of more than 15 days of employment. Even in the first five months (till August 2009) of the current fiscal year, job-seeking households in Tripura have availed of 47 days of employment as against the national average of 39 days during the same period.
In Rajasthan, 86% of households that sought jobs got more than 15 days of employment, the statistics show. States like Karnataka (74%), Madhya Pradesh (67%), Chhattisgarh (69%) fared better, as over two-thirds of households that sought jobs availed of more than 15 days of employment during 2008-09.
Among the bigger states, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh continue to fare badly. Almost 53% of job-seeking households in Bihar could not avail of even 15 days of employment under the scheme which guarantees 100 days of employment to every job-seeking household. In Uttar Pradesh, 45% did not avail of more than 15 days of employment.
The performance of states like Assam (about 46% did not get even 15 days of employment), Tamil Nadu (45%), Gujarat (58%), and Punjab (about 50%) was also dismal, the figures show.
A state-wise break-up of utilisation reveals that while most states managed to utilise over 55-60% of allocated funds in 2009, some such as Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, and Arunachal Pradesh among others, used less than 50%.
National performance
| Performance of Mahatma Gandhi NREGS (national overview) | ||||
| (FY 2006-07) 200 districts | (FY 2007-08) 330 districts | (FY 2008-09) 615 districts | (FY 2009-10) 619 districts (upto December 09) | |
| Total job cards issued | 3.78 crores | 6.48 crores | 10.01 crores | 10.89 crores |
| Employment provided to households | 2.10 crores | 3.39 crores | 4.51 crores | 4.34 crores |
| Person-days (in crores) | ||||
| Total | 90.5 | 143.59 | 216.32 | 203.35 |
| SCs | 22.95 (25%) | 39.36 (27%) | 63.36 (29%) | 59.88 (29%) |
| STs | 32.98 (36%) | 42.07 (29%) | 55.02 (25%) | 44.51 (22%) |
| Women | 36.40 (40%) | 61.15 (43%) | 103.57 (48%) | 101.14 (50%) |
| Others | 34.56 (38%) | 62.16 (43%) | 97.95 (45%) | 98.95 (49%) |
| Person-days per household | 43 days | 42 days | 48 days | 47 days |
| Budget outlay (in Rs crore) | 11,300 | 12,000 | 30,000 | 39,100 |
| Central release (in Rs crore) | 8,640.85 | 12,610.39 | 29,939.60 | 24,758.50 |
| Total available funds (including OB) (in Rs crore) | 12,073.55 | 19,305.81 | 37,397.06 | 38,619.14 |
| Expenditure (in Rs crore) (percentage against available funds) | 8,823.35 (73%) | 15,856.89 (82%) | 27,250.10 (73%) | 26,078.43 (68%) |
| Expenditure on wages (in Rs crore) | 5,842.37 (66%) | 10,738.47 (68%) | 18,200.03 (67%) | 18,061.24 (69%) |
| Average wage paid per person-days | 65 | 75 | 84 | 89 |
| Total works taken up (in lakhs) | 8.35 | 17.88 | 27.75 | 35.59 |
| Works completed | 3.87 | 8.22 | 12.14 | 13.09 |
| Works break-up | ||||
| Water conservation | 4.51 (54%) | 8.73 (49%) | 12.79 (46%) | 18.23 (51%) |
| Provision of irrigation facilities to land owned by SC/ST/BPL and IAY beneficiaries | 0.81 (10%) | 2.63 (15%) | 5.67 (20%) | 5.78 (17%) |
| Rural connectivity | 1.80 (21%) | 3.08 (17%) | 5.03 (18%) | 5.77 (16%) |
| Land development | 0.89 (11%) | 2.88 (16%) | 3.98 (15%) | 4.99 (14%) |
| Other activities | 0.34 (4%) | 0.56 (3%) | 0.28 (1%) | 0.81 (2%) |
| Source: Press Information Bureau | ||||
Highlights
- Allocation of funds for the current year raised to Rs 39,100 crore.
- Employment provided to 4.27 crore households.
- Real wages raised to Rs 100 per day.
- 200 crore person-days generated so far, of which women comprise 50%, SCs 30% and STs 22%.
- 8.8 crore bank accounts opened to give wages transparently.
- 34 lakh works taken up in 619 districts.
New initiatives
- District-level ombudsman for effective grievance redressal for beneficiaries.
- Eminent ‘citizen monitors’ for transparency and accountability.
- Social audit for transparency and accountability.
- Convergence guidelines with other programmes for sustainable development.
- Construction of Bharat Nirman Rajiv Gandhi Sewa Kendra as village knowledge centre.
- Business correspondent model for payment of wages at the doorstep.
Source: The Hindu, February 3, 2010
Hindustan Times, February 3, 2010
Press Trust of India, February 2, 2010
Press Information Bureau, February 2, 2010
Hindustan Times, February 3, 2010
Press Trust of India, February 2, 2010
Press Information Bureau, February 2, 2010
No comments:
Post a Comment