• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • 10
    CommentGo Back
Download
 
insight
Economic & Political
Weekly
 
EPW
february 23, 2008
41
two Year o nREgA:te Road Aead
Pramathesh Ambasta, P S Vijay Shankar, Mihir Shah
It is not possible to realise themassive potential o the NationalRural Employment Guarantee Acti we deploy the same ossiedstructure o implementation thathas deeply institutionalisedcorruption, ineciency andnon-accountability into the very abric o Indian democracy. Onthe other hand, i the reormssuggested in this paper are putinto place,
NREGA
holds out theprospect o transorming thelivelihoods o the poorest andheralding a revolution in ruralgovernance in India.
O
n February 2, 2006, amid greathype and hope, the NationalRural Employment Guarantee Act(
NREGA
) came into orce in 200 o India’smost backward districts. Last year it wasextended to cover another 130 districtsand with eect rom April 1, 2008, the Actis to cover all o rural India.This is the largest ever public employ-ment programme visualised in humanhistory. But even beore it has had achance to take o, its detractors, led by the chie minister o one o India’s mostpopulous and backward states, want it tobe scrapped. While those who worked hardto get
NREGA
enacted into law are boundto call this a premature overreaction(which it undoubtedly is), there can be nodenying that the disappointments o 
NREGA
 come as no surprise to any student o thehistory o rural development, especially public works programmes, in India.It is clear that as ar as implementationo public works programmes is concerned,there has been no discernible improve-ment since independence. I anything,progressive deterioration has occurred,especially in the most backward regions, where such interventions are needed andmatter the most. How did we then expect
NREGA
to do any better when we entrustedits implementation to the same ossied,decaying structure that has deeply institu-tionalised corruption, ineciency andnon-accountability into the very abric o Indian democracy at the grass roots?In this article , we will try to show why 
NREGA
has raised expectations like no oth-er rural development programme and howit can and must be made to deliver on itsmassive, i yet unrealised, potential. Indoing so we draw upon the experience o aNational Consortium o Civil Society Organisations (
CSO
s) that is working closely  with panchayat raj institutions (
PRI
s)across 30 districts in seven states to helpthem plan, implement and social audit
NREGA
works [
SPS
2008]. We also incorpo-rate the insights provided by the recentreport o the Comptroller and AuditorGeneral [
CAG
2007] on
NREGA
.
1
1 A new Proramme
The most important change
NREGA
repre-sents is that it gives rise to programmesthat spring not rom its wilul benevo-lence, but as a legally binding response by the state to a right to work that is, ater
NREGA
, enshrined in law. This also meansthat a constraint o resources cannot becited by the government as an excuse ornot providing work and its attendant enti-tlements, all o which are now also sae-guarded in the Constitution. This is a com-mitment by the state that is unprecedentedin the history o independent India – bothas a legally enorceable right and in termso nancial resources.
NREGA
is also supported by an extraor-dinary set o guidelines issued by theministry o rural development, governmento India [
M
o
RD
2005a]. These guidelinesare unique in the emphasis they place onplanning o works and mechanisms o so-cial audit. In this way, the ocial guide-lines refect the understanding that quali-ty o works is o central importance. Thus,it is abundantly clear that this is not a wel-are programme dishing out doles. It is adevelopment initiative, chipping in withcrucial public investments or creation o durable assets, without which the growthprocess will not get the requisite momen-tum in the most backward regions o ruralIndia. The emphasis on water conserva-tion, drought- and food-proong is alsocritical as it underscores water security asthe pre-requisite and oundation or ruraltransormation.Perhaps the most novel and remarkableeature o 
NREGA
through which it makesa decisive break with the past is the com-plete ban on the use o contractors. It isnot very widely known but most govern-ment programmes in rural areas over thelast 60 years have been implementedthrough the agency o local contractors, who have emerged as major sources o exploitation o the rural poor, especially  women. They have run roughshod over
We would like to acknowledge eld inputsreceived rom the National Consortium o CivilSociety Organisations: partners o Foundationor Ecological Security, Gram Sudhar Samiti,Holistic Action Research Development,Niswarth Samiti, Parhit Sanstha, Sambhav and Spandan (Madhya Pradesh), Anandi(Gujarat), Lokshakti Samiti, Sarguja Grameen Vikas Sansthan and Vardan (Chhattisgarh), Aanchalik Jan Sewa Anushthan, Adhikar,Bolangir Bikash Parishad, Bolangir GramodyogSamiti, Jan Mukti Abhiyan, Lokadrusti,Shramik Shakti Sangathana and Vikalpa (Orissa).The writers are members o the Samaj PragatiSahayog based at Bagli, Dewas district,Madhya Pradesh (
 Email: samprag@gmail.com
)
 
insight
february 23, 2008
EPW
 
Economic & Political
Weekly
42
basic human rights, paying labour apittance and doing most work throughlabour-displacing machinery.
NREGA
bansthe use o such machines, places centralemphasis on payment o statutory mini-mum wages and provides legal entitle-ments to labour on working hours, rest,drinking water, medical aid and crècheacilities. There is also provision or un-employment allowance being paid to workers in case the state is unable to pro- vide the guaranteed days o work. All o this is obviously incompatible with pro-grammes where the main goal becomesmaximisation o prots o the contractor.
NREGA
visualises a programme where thelocal people are centrally involved at allstages – planning, implementation andsocial audit.The ocial guidelines outline in meti-culous detail completely new mechanismsor social audit, which refect the infuenceo civil society in the ormulation o 
NREGA
. It is recognised that corruption isa major contributor to lack o quality inrural works (roads that get washed away every monsoon and earthen dams that areunable to stand peak run-o, being themost requently encountered examples),apart rom its negative impact on therights o labour. Great emphasis has beenplaced on transparency and accountability at every stage o the programme. Thereis also an unprecedented emphasis onthe use o inormation technology (
IT
).This is meant to acilitate the right toinormation, more intensive monitoringo the programme, as also greater speedo execution. All these eatures put together signalthe possible inauguration o a wholly newchapter in rural governance in India. Oneo the key actors endangering the very roots o democracy is the alling apart atthe seams o systems o service delivery and programme implementation. The ail-ure o the public sector in rural develop-ment is one o the least understood butmost threatening eatures o lie or thepoor in post-independence India [Shah2007]. And this is not a mere consequenceo the advent o the so-called “reorms”era in the 1990s. It has been an enduringeature o rural lie over the last 60 years, which has only got worse over time.
NREGA
 can change this or all time to come, i that is, its provisions are implemented inright earnest.
2 Lack o Proeoal
The central proposition o this commen-tary is that there is no way 
NREGA
can re-alise its ull potential i implemented within the same moribund structure o governance that has characterised ruralIndia since independence. A bureaucracy that is both unmotivated and corrupt and which, in any case, has its hands ull witha whole host o pre-existing responsi-bilities, can hardly be expected to musterthe imagination and energy required by 
NREGA
. A radically new programme alsomakes dramatically new demands romthe system, requirements that the publicsector in rural development, as it exists to-day, is completely unprepared or.Every state government was requiredto appoint, in each block, a ull-timeprogramme ocer (
PO
), exclusively dedi-cated to the implementation o 
NREGA
, with necessary support sta. However,the
CAG
report nds that 19 states hadnot appointed these ocers in 70 percent o the blocks it surveyed. The exist-ing block development ocers (
BDO
s)had been appointed
PO
s and given “addi-tional charge” o 
NREGA
. Unortunately,
NREGA
is not a programme that can work on an “additional charge” basis. Anemployment guarantee assistant (
EGA
) was to be appointed in each gram pan-chayat, in view o the pivotal role o 
PRI
sin
NREGA
implementation. According tothe
CAG
report, 52 per cent o the 513gram panchayats it surveyed had notappointed
EGA
s.The state governments were also re-quired to constitute panels o accreditedengineers at the district and block levels.Without timely and transparent costingo works and their measurement and valuation by such a panel, neither sanc-tion o works nor payment to labour canhappen on schedule.
CAG
ound the panelmissing in as many as 20 o the states itstudied. The state governments were alsoto appoint Technical Resource SupportGroups at the state and district levels toassist in planning, design, monitoring,evaluation, quality audit, training andhandholding. The
CAG
report nds that23 states had not set up such groups atthe state or district levels. According tothe report,
non-appointment o a ull-time dedicated
PO
, who is pivotal to the successul implementa-tion o 
NREGA
, and giving the additionalcharge o 
PO
to
BDO
s, who were responsibleor other developmental schemes at the block level, strikes at the root o eective imple-mentation o 
NREGA
. In the absence o dedi-cated technical resources, the administrativeand technical scrutiny and approval o works was, thus, routed through the normal de-partmental channels burdened with existingresponsibilities. This was urther compound-ed by the ailure to speciy time rames orprocessing and approval o proposals at di-erent levels. This was refected in the poorprogress in taking up works (pp 16-17).
The
CAG
report summarises “signicantdeciencies” and their impact on
NREGA
 implementation:
The main deciency was the lack o adequateadministrative and technical manpower atthe block and
GP
levels. The lack o man-power adversely aected the preparationo plans, scrutiny, approval, monitoring andmeasurement o works, and maintenance o the stipulated records at the block and
GP
 level. Besides aecting the implementationo the scheme and the provision o employ-ment, this also impacted adversely on trans-parency, and made it dicult to veriy theprovision o the legal guarantee o 100 dayso employment on demand. Planning wasinadequate and delayed, which resulted inpoor progress o works. Systems or nan-cial management and tracking were de-cient, with numerous instances o diversion/misutilisation, and delay in transer o stateshare. Monthly squaring o accounts at di-erent levels to maintain nancial account-ability and transparency was also not beingdone. Maintenance o records at the block and
GP
levels was extremely poor, and thestatus o monitoring, evaluation and socialaudit was also not up to the mark (p 95).
 All o this meant that o the 2.10 crorehouseholds who were employed under
NREGA
during its rst year, only 0.22 crorereceived the ull 100 days promised underthe Act. The average employment perhousehold was 43 days in 2006-07 and 35days in 2007-08 [
M
o
RD
2008]. Field re-ports o the partners o the national con-sortium provide more details, conrmingthe picture presented in the
CAG
report.
Uder-saf 
In Bolangir and Nuapada districts o Orissa,
BDO
s are doubling up as
NREGA
programmeocers. In Dahod and Panchmahals
 
insight
Economic & Political
Weekly
 
EPW
february 23, 2008
43
districts in Gujarat, ocers are being senton deputation rom other governmentdepartments, particularly the irrigationdepartment, as
PO
s. In Pohri block o Shivpuri district in Madhya Pradesh, thepanchayat inspector is also the
PO
o 
NREGA
. In Tikamgarh and Khandwa dis-tricts o 
MP
, the
CEO
s o block panchayatshave been given additional charge o 
NREGA
. In Raigarh, Sarguja and Rajnand-gaon districts o Chhattisgarh, uncertainty o tenure and resulting discontinuity havehad an adverse impact on
NREGA
work.
PO
s are demoralised and unmotivated andeel that the work done by them has cometo nothing. In Orissa’s Bolangir district,engineers o line departments have beengiven additional responsibility o 
NREGA
.For a block o 140 villages, there are only our to ve junior engineers (
JE
s), two o  whom are given additional responsibility or
NREGA
, while the others continue withtheir normal departmental work. Thesetwo
JE
s in-charge o 
NREGA
also look aterother schemes such as the Backward RegionGrant Fund, Indira Awas Yojana, RevisedLong Term Action Plan or
KBK
, Biju-
KBK
 Scheme,
MPLAD
and
DPAP
.The documentation and procedural re-quirements o 
NREGA
oten make it an un-attractive proposition as compared tothese other schemes where nancial leak-ages are seen to be easier. Thus, the wholeprocess o planning and design o works,implementation, measurement and pay-ment is marked with poor attention toquality and long delays. In Chhattisgarh, thesituation is no dierent. In Wardranagarblock o Sarguja district, or instance, ourtechnical assistants are shared across 72gram panchayats. There is no pool o engi-neers available at the district either. InRaigarh and Jashpur districts, where resh
JE
s have been appointed, their tenure isagain or a period o one year, ater which ithas to be renewed. The number o such
JE
salls ar short o what is required. Similarshortages o technical sta are reportedrom the Dahod and Panchmahals districtsin Gujarat. In Tikamgarh and Shivpuridistricts o 
MP
, the Regional EngineeringServices (
RES
) and other line departmentengineers have been given additional chargeo 
NREGA
. In Tikamgarh, some appoint-ment o engineers at the block or districtlevel have been made, but under contractor a limited tenure. In Khandwa, there havebeen some contractual appointments buttoo ew to make any dierence. In Anuppur,also there is a shortage o technical per-sonnel at the disposal o the
GP
s, as a resulto which they are dependent on engineers o line departments posted at the block level.
3 Delay  Admrao
This shortage o sta leads delays in exe-cution o works and payment o wages.This is the experience in all our consortiumdistricts but the most vivid illustration o the process comes rom Bolangir andNuapada districts o Orissa. The
JE
preparesthe work plans and estimates. This itsel takes time, since the
JE
is also overloaded with other responsibilities. Once the planis made, it is submitted to the assistant en-gineer (
 AE
) or approval. Since each
 AE
isat times given the responsibility o morethan one block, approval at the
 AE
level alsotakes extra time. When the
 AE
approves it,the proposal is sent to the
PO
(
BDO
) who haspowers to approve a plan up to Rs 2 lakh.I the proposal is or more than Rs 2 lakh,it is sent to the district headquarters. Oncethe work is approved and unds releasedor it, the cheque is signed by the sarpanch,the panchayat
EO
and
 
the
PO
-
BDO
. The
BDO
’ssignature is an additional requirement un-der
NREGA
; normal non-
NREGA
panchayat works do not need this signature. This ur-ther delays withdrawal o unds and exe-cution o works.Once work reaches a certain stage, the work done has to be valuated and pay-ments made to workers based on this valu-ation. This requires technical people whoare in short supply. This means that meas-urement itsel can sometimes take severalmonths, although it is supposed to be done within a week. A utilisation certicate(
UC
) has to be submitted by the panchayatto the
PO
-
BDO
, or release o the next in-stalment. Ater measurement is done, the
UC
is prepared and sent to the
PO
-
BDO
.The
PO
-
BDO
then waits or all
GP
s to sub-mit their
UC
s so that they can be pooledtogether and sent to the district panchayat(
DP
) or the next tranche. I one or two
GP
sdelay submission o their
UC
s, onwardsubmission to the
DP
is delayed.In parts o Shivpuri district, MadhyaPradesh, delays o as much as two to threemonths in payment o wages have beenreported. Wage payments are delayedbecause o long gaps between executionand valuation o work due to paucity o engineers. In Rajnandgaon, delays in wagepayments are reported by 
PRI
leaders asone o the major problems acing
NREGA
  works. In Sarguja, a shortage o technicalpersonnel to do the valuation work is re-ported to cause delays in wage paymentso up to three months.
4 Lack o People’ Pla 
 Another serious consequence o shortageo proessional sta is that there is littleeort at social mobilisation without whichthere is no chance o 
NREGA
emerging as apeople-centred programme.In Rajnandgaon, Raigarh, Sarguja andJashpur districts o Chhattisgarh, worksare ocused mainly on activities or whichstandardised estimates are available.Plans are made and approved at the “top”and sent downwards or implementationby the
GP
s. For instance, in the entireWardranagar block o Sarguja, 75 percent o unds have been utilised on roadso dierent types. Since this area is one o the poorest tribal pockets o the country, with a long history o droughts, the ocusshould naturally have been on droughtproong. The topography is naturally suitedto watershed works too. But these are notthe priority o 
NREGA
plans.In Mandla district,
MP
there is an ab-sence o annual plans. The shel o projectsexists but it is very broad in nature and theactivities are not well dened. The generalpractice is that unds are rst released by the
DP
and then activities are identied. InShivpuri, the ocus continues to be roads.The gram sabha is not aware o the plansnor do people know that without their ap-proval, works cannot start or be complet-ed. The perspective plans are photocopieso those prepared or the National Foodor Work Programme (
NFFWP
). A list o such works compiled together has ormedthe perspective plan. The annual plansalso are prepared in the orm o lists culledout rom previously prepared “plans”. Activities may be subtracted rom theselists or added to them by the
PO
and the
RES
engineers on their own.In Tikamgarh district there are no an-nual working plans ratied by the gramsabha. The plans are prepared by the
CEO
 
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
Santosh Poonia

My Name is Santosh Poonia, I have completed by M.A . (Sociology and Political Science with 1st class marks. i have also work in development sector ago 8 years. I wish to join the new P.O. program of Nrega in Rajasthan State. so please tell me how can i apply for this post. With Best Regards: Santosh Poonia Mobile No. 09414378471

reply12 / 08 / 2009
roufzargar228

Understanding NREGA. (By Rouf Ahmad Zargar) The Parliament enacted an Act No. 42 of 2005 called the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act NREGA. The Act provides a guarantee for rural employment to house holds whose adult members volunteer to do un-skilled manual work not less than 100 days of such work in a financial year in accordance with the scheme made under the Act. The scheme has been launched on February 2nd 2006 in 200 districts of the Country excluding the state of Jammu & Kashmir. NREG Extension Bill was passed in 2007 and necessary amendment was made to Section 1 of the act thus making it applicable to the state of J&K also. In J&K State it was introduced in the Districts of Kupwara, Poonch and Doda in the first instance and now it has been extended to all other districts in a phased manner. The scheme is expected to enhance people’s livelihood on sustained basis by developing economic and social infrastructure in rural areas. This scheme is a direct attack on the causes of chronic poverty such as un-employment, drought, deforestation and soil erosion, which are all a great matter of concern for our state. It’s a strong social safety net for the vulnerable groups by providing a fall-back employment source, when other employment alternatives are scarce or inadequate. The scheme is different from the earlier wage employment programmes in different ways: -It provides legal guarantee of 100 days work to every rural household whose adult member volunteer to do un-skilled manual work. & if an applicant is not provided employment within 15 days he / she shall be entitled to un-employment allowance. Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme is demand-driven instead of being supply-driven. The focus of the scheme is on: Water conservation and water harvesting, Drought proofing including afforestation and tree plantation, Irrigation canals including micro and minor irrigation works, Provision of irrigation facilities to land owned by house holds belonging to SC/ST or to land of beneficiaries of land reforms or that of the beneficiaries under Indira Aawaas Yojna.(IAY). There has been a failure in understanding the real nature of employment in the country. Ecological assets like land and forests are the key employment sources for rural people in India . Any attempt to create employment must focus on these sectors. The conditions for guaranteed rural employment under a scheme is that the adult members of every household who are willing to do unskilled manual work, may submit their names, age and the address of the household to the Gram Panchayat at the village level in the jurisdiction or to the Block Programme Officer/BDO at the Block level. Rouf Ahmad Zargar is Programme Officer-NREGA. For Any Information regarding NREGA, Contact:+91-9419418866 Or mail: rouf.zargar@yahoo.com

reply06 / 26 / 2009
roufzargar228

Hello i am the Programme Officer in J&K, i may assist any of u if u want. u may verify my name at nrega site here 164.100.12.7/ListPO.asp?D istr164.100.12.7/ListPO.asp?District_code=1409ict_ code=1409 mail me or call me on the number 09419418866 mail:rouf.zargar@yahoo.com

reply06 / 15 / 2009
shashipandey_049149

I am Shashikant R. Pandey with MBA(Rural Development) with Three years and Three months Experience in Marketing and Presently working as Field Executive(since 18th September-2009) with BASIX - A new generation livelihood Promotion Institution. I am willing to join NREGA as APO. Kindly guide me.

reply06 / 09 / 2009
harrish kumar ghalot

i am harish kumar ghalot i am working in nrega as atechnical assistant in one year also im complete mba result is shortaly comming why we r applay tell me

reply05 / 17 / 2009
hs_sorout

i m tej dubey student of MBA 4th sem Delhi university now i want to join job in narega please send me a feed back about it ,how i am apply it .

reply03 / 30 / 2009
RAM KUMAR RAJPUT

I M Ram kumar rajput ,i m persuing mba from college of engineering sciences & technology (UPTU)LUCKNOW. HOW CAN APPLY FOR NAREGA PROGRAM.

reply02 / 26 / 2009
krishnagopalpandit

i m persueing mba from uptu. How can i apply for A.P.O. Narega program

reply02 / 25 / 2009
Show More
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...