This post is about Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee
Act 2005 (MGNREGA), which aims at providing 100 days of guaranteed employment to
anyone who applies for jobs. How successful has it been?
First let’s see what the government official website for NREGA
states. Dividing person-days generated per year with the total number of
individuals who worked, average days of employment provided per individual was 30.8
days in 2017, 30.72 days in 2016, 32.54 days in 2015, and only 26.72 days in
2014. The NDA led government came into power in 2014 and the Hon’able Prime Minister
himself stated that NREGA will only act as a souvenir to the failure of UPA Govt,
in 2016.
Average days of employment provided per household was 45.71
in 2017, 46 in 2016, 48.85 in 2015 and 40.17 in 2014, stated explicitly on the
website. One household in India has on an average 4.45 people.
Apparently, this is the new meaning of 100 days of guaranteed
employment.
NREGA workers across Jharkhand haven’t got their pay since March
7, their fund transfer orders not been cleared by the centre. One should take
note that this is the beginning of the fiscal year when there is no shortage of
funds. (TOI)
However in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, some NREGA projects
have been flourishing. 2,032 farm ponds have been constructed by NREGA workers
across 73 Panchayats which have a total capacity of holding 3.72 lakh
kilolitres of water. This is an effective mechanism against drought, which Kerala
is facing, the worst it has seen in 115 years. (TOI)
Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report stated
that NREGA had failed for Orissa till 2016, where the per annum income of the
households across all districts of the state were Rs 671- Rs 1630. In other
words, 4 people can survive through an entire year with Rs 1630 in hand, and
that through this income they are rising above poverty levels in India. (Slow claps?)
Even after Rs 47,500 Cr allocation to the rural scheme, 56%
wages had been delayed in 2016. This is because the fund transfer has been digitized
now. The National Electronic Fund Management System (NEFMS) transfers the wages
directly from centre to the labourers’ bank accounts. This step reduces the
risk of dilution of funds through middlemen; however it is very chaotic and has
often resulted in delayed wages, as we can see.
In 2016-17, liabilities pending from previous years were Rs 13,220
Cr, over the already made expenditure of Rs 45,303 Cr. This was the
after-effect of demonetization in the rural India. Increased budget, and increased
wage delays. (IndiaSpend)
There is a special council for both centre and state in the NREGA
act, which serves as a watchdog for MGNREGA and ensures accountability. They are
the Centre Employment Guarantee Council (CEGC) and the State Employment Guarantee
Council. The term for CEGC is one year, after which it is supposed to be
re-appointed. The CEGC was not in action since June 2012 till May 2016, almost four
years where MGNREGA was implemented without any accountability (IndianExpress).
These four years fall under both the UPA Govt as well as the NDA Govt.
An inspection of the NREGA Govt website also confirms the same.
However, the current Govt has made many attempts at making NREGA
more transparent. The above mentioned NEFMS is one initiative. Geo-tagging all
the assets built through MNREGA and there has been an increase in person-days
too. However, the person-days generated don’t meet the demand for employment, and
electronic fund transfer system leads to many delays.
One summarizes that the current government is on par with the
previous one. UPA Govt started MGNREGA, but didn’t implement it with full potential.
NDA Govt has brought many new initiatives under the same, but they too have
been haphazard. In actual, life for the rural population is just as it had been
earlier, one fraught with difficulties and hardships, while governments play
their political games compromising the rural interests.
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