IIM CALCUTTA

MGNREGA
Course Project for Social Development and Social Policy
Instructor Prof. Kalyan Sankar Mandal
Paribhasa Sharma (FP/18/2010) Arindam Biswas ( 050/47) Arpan Nagdeve (051/47)
8/22/2011
This report gives a brief description of NREGA and its present scenario in West
Bengal. It also discusses NREGAs success and inefficiencies. It talks about the i
nsight the study team received while interacting with block and panchayat level
NREGA officers.
Contents
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Introduction ....................................................
.......................................................................... 3 Wor
kflow...........................................................................
........................................................ 7 Objective ...........
................................................................................
........................................ 9 Methodology .........................
................................................................................
.................... 9 MGNREGA and West Bengal .................................
................................................................... 10 5.1 5.2 6
. 7. District wise statistics for West Bengal ..................................
........................................... 10 Graphical Representation of emplo
yment in various states .............................................. 12
Field Visit Insights ...........................................................
......................................................... 14 Observations ......
................................................................................
..................................... 16 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.5 Type of work taken up b
y NREGA ........................................................................
............. 16 Awareness .....................................................
.................................................................. 16 Training .
................................................................................
......................................... 177 Enrolment, Employment scenario, wo
men participation .................................................. 17 Employme
nt figures of Kulerdari Gram Panchayat .........................................
........... 17 Employment figures of Aamgachia Gram Panchayat ..................
............................... 18
7.5.1 7.5.2 7.6 7.7
Other ..........................................................................
..................................................... 18 Issues Observed .......
................................................................................
........................ 18 Perception issue ...................................
.................................................................... 18 Inadequa
te wage ........................................................................
............................ 188 Wage distribution rule ........................
...................................................................... 19 Wage d
elivery delay ..................................................................
............................... 19 Measurement problem .........................
.................................................................... 19 Quality
of work.........................................................................
................................ 19
7.7.1 7.7.2 7.7.3 7.7.4 7.7.5 7.7.6 8.
Suggestions ....................................................................
......................................................... 20 8.1 Distribution of
wages .........................................................................
................................ 20 8.2 Cryptic and late measurement of work....
........................................................................... 20 8
.3 Community asset creation.....................................................
............................................. 20 8.4 Wage Mismatch .............
................................................................................
.................... 21 References .............................................
.............................................................................. 2
2 Appendices: Semi-Structured Interview Schedules ..............................
.................................. 23 Interview Schedule for program officer ...
......................................................................... 23 Int
erview Schedule for program beneficiaries ......................................
............................ 23 Observation sheet ..............................
.............................................................................. 2
4
2
1. Introduction
POLICIES FOR POVERTY REDUCTION IN INDIA SINCE INDEPENDENCE
India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world but is also home to 2
2% of the world poor. While economic reforms did India a prosperous country, it
failed to reach many sections of the society, especially the marginalized and th
e disadvantaged. The benefits of economic growth are unevenly distributed and so
me are even deprived of the benefits. It is also important to understand that so
me people are unable to be a part of the economic reform. The government has to
ensure that such people are not excluded from the development process. To ensure
this, government provides welfare measures in the form of poverty alleviation p
rograms to ensure that such people survive if not prosper in this era of economi
c reform. Poverty alleviation has been one of the guiding principles of planning
process in India. Measures to address poverty alleviation are of two types egal
itarian and ameliorative (self-employment and wage employment). Since independen
ce, such welfare measures have reflected the contemporary government ideology. A
fter independence, India adopted Soviet model of planned economic growth. The pr
evalent ideology of the time was socialist welfare focussing on equitable growth
to reduce inequality. In the 1950s, land reforms were adopted which aimed at pr
oviding permanent asset to the poor. This was an egalitarian measure for redistr
ibution of wealth. This was followed till 1960s. Recognizing the difficulty of l
and reforms, the focus of poverty alleviation shifted to growth with equity with
group focussed programmes like Small Farmers Development Agency (SFDA). Failure
of SFDA led GoI to launch anti-poverty program like Integrated Rural Development
Program (IRDP) which was individual focussed. This was an ameliorative measure
where a poor individual was given subsidized credit, training and infrastructure
for selfemployment. IRDP suffered from three major shortfall mismatch of projec
t and individual, indifferent attitude of banks towards providing bank loan to t
he poor and misappropriation of funds by the non-poor. In 1999, this programme w
as replaced by Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojna (SGSY). SGSY focussed on group
to lend money and develop micro-enterprises by organizing the poor into self-he
lp groups, providing them with credit, technology, infrastructure and training.
GoI also initiated wage employment programmes besides many self-employment ameli
orative measures. Wage employment programmes were first started during the sixth
and seventh plan in the form of National Rural Employment Programme (NREP) and
Rural Landless Employment Guarantee Programme (RLEGP). In 1989, these two progra
mmes were merged into one as Jawahar Rozgar Yoyna (JRY). The objective of JRY wa
s to produce employment for the unemployed and to improve the village infrastruc
ture and assets. JRY was relaunced as Jawhar 3
Gram Samridhi Yojna (JGSY) in 1999. The latest wage employment scheme which came
into effect in 2005 is National Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA).
NATIONAL RURAL EMPOLYMENT GUARANTEE ACT - A RIGHTS BASED DEVELOPMENT APPROACH
According to Kaustav Banerjee (2010), Set in the context of a historical process,
a double movement led ultimately to the enactment of the NREGA. The specific de
mand for the right to work was raised by socialists in the 1960s and was later pi
cked up by the Jan Sangh in its program. The years of drought in Maharasthra in
the mid 70 led to the Employment Guarantee Scheme in 1979. However the Maharasht
ra model was a scheme not a legal right and did not have any limit to the number
of days that employment could be provided. It was much later in 2004-05 that th
e right to work, as it now is, came to be formulated and was the basis for a cam
paign which demanded its immediate enactment once the UPA came to power in 2004.
The NREGA in its present form came about mostly as a result of electoral populis
m outlined in the Common Minimum Program of the first UPA government, but its su
bsequent vitality would depend not on the pious pronouncements of those in Gover
nment but on the strength of peoples movements. Peoples movement identifies and c
orrects faultlines, in design and implementation.
At the level of theoretical design, the NREGA is a rights based approach where w
ork is provided on demand. This aspect relies on the principle of self-selection
people who want to do hard manual labour at minimum wages will demand and be gi
ven work by the state. This route of the NREGA is fundamentally different from t
he top-down approaches to rural development which has been there in the past. Th
is opens up a distinct possibility of democratization or decentralisation at the
grassroots especially among the rural poor who can now demand the right to do u
nskilled manual labour at legally stipulated minimum wages. Further they can now
have a say in the decision making process of selection of works a break from th
e past where the developmental administration or the vote seeking politicians de
cided what kind of asset was to be built. This is aimed at achieving a model of
sustainable community development keeping in mind local needs for planning and a
t the same time providing some succor to unemployed rural workers in lean season
s (Kaustav, 2010).
4
NREGA IN INDIA
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act(MGNREGA), is a rural deve
lopment initiative where government promises to provide 100 daysof wage employme
nt in every financial year to any adult rural household member willing to perfor
m unskilled manual work. It is a step towards achieving number one millennium de
velopment goal Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. Unlike other rural schemes it
enables poor villagers with the right to demand employment or unemployment allo
wance. It also expects to improve rural livelihood permanently by developing inf
rastructure, sustainable social and economical rural structure.
Goal: To foster conditions for inclusive growth ranging from basic wage security
and recharging rural economy to a transformative empowerment process of democra
cy
Objective: To enhance livelihood security in rural areas by providing at least 1
00 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every household who
se adult member volunteers to do unskilled manual work
It began in 2005 with 200 districts and was later extended to cover every rural
district. This is one of the schemes which effectively utilize the concept of de
centralized governance where grass root level institutions like Gram Sabha, Self
Help groups, Panchayat Samiti play an important role in implementing as well mo
nitoring its progress. It also brought in e-governance by implementing online mo
nitoring and reporting system NREGAsoft for better accountability and transparen
cy. The results of this act have been mixed so far and there is significant disp
arity among states. At one side we have higher participation of women in Dungapu
r district of Rajasthan where women participation is 90%; on the other hand in s
ome other states women participation is way below 33%. Corruption reduced signif
icantly in Gujarat and Rajasthan due to public vigilance but the situation is co
mpletely opposite in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. SALIENT FEATAURES OF THE ACT (So
urce: www.nrega.nic.in) i) Adult members of a rural household, willing to do uns
killed manual work, may apply for registration in writing or orally to the local
Gram Panchayat ii) The Gram Panchayat after due verification will issue a Job C
ard. The Job Card will bear the photograph of all adult members of the household
willing to work under NREGA and is free of cost iii) The Job Card should be iss
ued within 15 days of application.
5
iv)
A Job Card holder may submit a written application for employment to the Gram Pa
nchayat, stating the time and duration for which work is sought. The minimum day
s of employment have to be at least fourteen.
v)
The Gram Panchayat will issue a dated receipt of the written application for emp
loyment, against which the guarantee of providing employment within 15 days oper
ates
vi)
Employment will be given within 15 days of application for work, if it is not th
en daily unemployment allowance as per the Act, has to be paid liability of paym
ent of unemployment allowance is of the States.
vii)
Work should ordinarily be provided within 5 km radius of the village. In case wo
rk is provided beyond 5 km, extra wages of 10% are payable to meet additional tr
ansportation and living expenses
viii)
Wages are to be paid according to the Minimum Wages Act 1948 for agricultural la
bourers in the State, unless the Centre notifies a wage rate which will not be l
ess than Rs. 60/ per day. Equal wages will be provided to both men and women.
ix)
Wages are to be paid according to piece rate or daily rate. Disbursement of wage
s has to be done on weekly basis and not beyond a fortnight in any case
x)
At least one-third beneficiaries shall be women who have registered and requeste
d work under the scheme.
xi) xii)
Work site facilities such as crche, drinking water, shade have to be provided The
shelf of projects for a village will be recommended by the gram sabha and appro
ved by the zilla panchayat.
xiii) xiv)
At least 50% of works will be allotted to Gram Panchayats for execution Permissi
ble works predominantly include water and soil conservation, afforestation and l
and development works
xv)
A 60:40 wage and material ratio has to be maintained. No contractors and machine
ry is allowed
xvi)
The Central Government bears the 100 percent wage cost of unskilled manual labou
r and 75 percent of the material cost including the wages of skilled and semi sk
illed workers
xvii) xviii)
Social Audit has to be done by the Gram Sabha Grievance redressal mechanisms hav
e to be put in place for ensuring a responsive implementation process
xix)
All accounts and records relating to the Scheme should be available for public s
crutiny
6
KEY STAKEHOLDERS IN NERGA
VILLAGE LEVEL
Wage seekers PRIs, especially Gram Panchayats Programme Officer Panchayat Samity Dist
rict Programme Coordinator Zilla Parishad (District Panchayat)
BLOCK LEVEL DISTRICT LEVEL
STATE LEVEL CENTRAL LEVEL
State Employment Guarantee Council Central Employment Guarantee Council Ministry of
Rural Development
A number of stakeholders are involved in NREGA, from village level upto the cent
re. All these stakeholders have roles and responsibilities prescribed in the ope
rational guidelines of the Act. The wage seekers are the primary stakeholders of
the Act whose demand for work is the trigger for key processes. Rights of the w
age seekers: i. ii. iii. iv. v. vi. vii. Application for registration Obtaining
a job card Application for work Choice of time and duration of the work applied
for Provision of work within fifteen days of application Provision of crche, drin
king water, first aid facilities on work site The right to check their muster ro
els and to get information regarding their employment entered in their job cards
viii. ix. Payment of wages within fifteen days of work done The right to get un
employment allowance in case employment is not provided within fifteen days of s
ubmitting the application or from the date whe work is sought.
7
2. Workflow
Source: MGNREGA Version 7.0
8
3. Objective
This study was conducted with an objective to understand MGNREGA and its impleme
ntation in one of the blocks of South 24 Parganas district. The goal is to obser
ve how much effective NREGA is in West Bengal and also what are drawbacks of pre
sent implementation in this state. 1. To assess if directives are being followed
in implementation. 2. To know about the process of implementation information f
low, processes from registration to getting the job, wages, job card, , muster r
olls, corruption if any and social audits. 3. To observe the availability of var
ious facilities like crche including display board at the work site. 4. To evalua
te effectiveness on reducing migration of rural workers to urban areas. 5. To id
entify weakness and strength of current implementation in improving economic con
dition of rural household.
4. Methodology
Both primary and secondary sources of data will be used for the study. Primary d
ata will be obtained through observation and interactions. There will be direct
interactions with officials at the block and panchayat level (depending upon the
ir availability) and beneficiaries. Besides, secondary data will also be used fo
r the study. Secondary data sources include state governments MGNREGA website and
many other studies and documents related to MGNREGA and its implementation. Sam
ple: 3 Gram Panchayats in Bishnupur I block in South 24 Parganas district of Wes
t Bengal (Aamgachia, Kulerdari, Purbi Bishnupur).
9
5. MGNREGA and West Bengal
In 2009 Central government termed West Bengals progress to be dissatisfactory and
even there were reports that a significant portion of fund allocations was not
used and returned after financial year. Also participation of women was quite di
smissal. From 2009 situation has improved till date. West Bengal has provided em
ployment to 34.79915 Lac households. Among that representation of underprivilege
d categories and women is found as below.
Category
SCs: sSTs: Women : Others:
Percentage
36.86% 14.38% 33.42% 48.76%
5.1 District wise statistics for West Bengal
No. of HH working under NREGA ( % provided employment) 50.58 19.22 14.74 10.92 3
1.74 26.83 44.66 27.62 17.65 21.66 60.58 20.48 38.04 17.66 67.67 33.10 48.86 0.0
0 57.81
26.37
District
Cumulative No. of HH issued jobcards 771628 551166 645967 289832 435546 635354 5
84552 1003670 834768 437150 706945 957755 591236 591494 701328 639808 82446 1053
81 220377
10786403
Cumulative No. of HH demanded employment 9352 55511 64977 514 837 6616 4458 4761
40416 21918 56909 149482 20072 41537 3146 11156 1806 0 4210
497678
employment demand vs job card issue (in % term) 1.21 10.07 10.06 0.18 0.19 1.04
0.76 0.47 4.84 5.01 8.05 15.61 3.39 7.02 0.45 1.74 2.19 0.00 1.91
4.61
Cumulative No. of HH provided employment 9312 54465 64118 513 797 6586 4451 4345
40342 21728 56890 149130 19402 41492 2626 10694 1443 0 4210
492544
provided vs demanded ( in % term) 99.57 98.12 98.68 99.81 95.22 99.55 99.84 91.2
6 99.82 99.13 99.97 99.76 96.66 99.89 83.47 95.86 79.90 0.00 100.00
98.97
No. of HH working under NREGA 4710 10470 9452 56 253 1767 1988 1200 7119 4706 34
465 30546 7380 7327 1777 3540 705 0 2434
1E+05
No. of HH comple ted 100 days 1 12 6 0 0 0 2 0 4 20 5 65 0 2 0 0 0 0 0
117
24 PARGANAS(S) BANKURA BIRBHUM DINAJPUR(S) DINAJPUR(N) JALPAIGURI MALDAH MURSHID
ABAD MEDINIPUR(W) PURULIA 24 PARGANAS(N) BURDWAN COOCHBEHAR HOOGHLY NADIA MEDINI
PUR(E) SILIGURI DGHC HOWRAH
Phase III
Phase II
Phase I
Source: Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India
10
NREGA in West Bengal was implemented in three phases. In the above figure we can
see only average 4.61% of job card holders actually demand for employment. This
figure is quite dismissal and can be attributed to some core issues with NREGA
implementation in this state.On an average in 98.97% cases under this scheme, em
ployment has been provided to people who demanded it. This is good news but in m
ost cases this percentage is not a true indicator of success. According to a 200
8 survey by community based activists with datafrom 1514 villages in 55 blocks f
rom 9 districts,on an average govt could generate job only for 12 working days w
hich is far cry from the 100 days of employment promise. In year 2011 so far onl
y 117 people out of 10786403 card holders have completed their 100 days of emplo
yment. Representation of physically challenged people and women is still low wit
h some panchayat bodies unwilling to provide work for women. The percentage of d
isabled persons availing NREGA benefit is mere 1.55%. According to non governmen
t report there are thousands of cases where wages were not paid for two and half
years. Deprived villagers have started to fall back to urban migration for manu
al work. Even though NREGA has implemented e-governance system for monitoring pu
rpose, social audit is still not corruption free.
11
5.1
HOWRAH DGHC SILIGURI MEDINIPUR(E) NADIA HOOGHLY COOCHBEHAR BURDWAN 24 PARGANAS(N
) PURULIA MEDINIPUR(W) MURSHIDABAD MALDAH JALPAIGURI DINAJPUR(N) DINAJPUR(S) BIR
BHUM BANKURA 24 PARGANAS(S) 0
Graphical Representation of employment in various districts
20000
40000
60000
80000
100000
120000
140000
160000
Cumulative No. of HH completed 100 days Cumulative No. of HH provided employment
No. of HH working under NREGA Cumulative No. of HH demanded employment
From the above figure we can see there is significant disparity within districts
as well. While Burdwan is showing huge improvement, Dinajpur, Nadia, Murshidaba
d, Maldah,jalpaiguri, Siliguriare not doing so good. Since we would be focusing
on one block, surveying for the reasons of disparity among districts is beyond t
he scope of this study. For that we would rely on existing reports and studies.
12
MNERGA IN BISHNUPUR I BLOCK No. of Registered Panchayat AMGACHHIA ANDHAR MANIK B
HANDARIA KASTEKUMARI DAKSHIN GAURIPUR CHAKDHIR JULPIA KEORADANGA KULERDARI PANAK
UA PASCHIM BISHNUPUR PURBA BISHNUPUR RAKHALI Grand Total HHs 1995 1378 1772 Pers
ons 4143 3248 2325 No. of Families Completed 100 days 0 0 0
Job Card Issued 1995 1378 1772
On Going works 5 1 2
1774 1725 1556 1329 1883 2066 1782 1378 18638
3141 2960 3180 2501 3687 3434 3736 2359 34714
1774 1725 1556 1329 1883 2066 1782 1378 18638
0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
12 5 5 23 19 4 9 2 87
In Bishnupur I block, out of the 18638 nos of registered households, job cards h
ave been issued to all. There are only 87 works going on in the current financia
l year. Out of this, maximum numbers of works are being carried out in Kulerdari
panchayat.
13
6. Field Visit Insights
One visit has been made to the block office and one Gram Panchayat (GP) office,
PurbiBishnupur which was close to the block. No information could be gathered at
the block office as the person in charge of MGNREGA was unavailable. Some infor
mation could be gathered from the GP office about the implementation of MGNREGA
in the Panchayat. The findings based on the interaction with the Secretary of th
e GP are 1. MGNREGA was implemented in the Panchayat in 2008. 2. Since its imple
mentation in the Panchayat, only one work on rural connectivity in Saapkhali vil
lage has been done till the last financial year. In this financial year, one job
on plantation in the same village has been approved which is yet to begin. 3. R
ural connectivity program did not have the proposed 60-40% split between spendin
g on wages and spending on raw materials. Project cost was in tune of Rs 75,000
where as the amount spent on labour was around Rs 7800 and on raw materials arou
nd Rs 48,000. 4. Initial number of the cards issues was 4300 in 2008 and 70% of
the job cards that were issued got cancelled by 2011. The major reasons for the
sudden drop in the job cards issued were wage difference and the change in perce
ption of the people. Initially people thought that without even working governme
nt will distribute the wages and in this way they could get an extra source of i
ncome without working. 5. Wages for the work get transferred into the bank accou
nts of the beneficiaries. Also the payment gets delayed by at least a week becau
se of the approval levels involved. This delay had also acted against the job en
rolment. 6. Its difficult to maintain high quality of the work, thus development
work which require high quality standard is not chosen in MGNREGA. 7. If there i
s any construction work is done under MGNREGA raw materials are released in phas
es to avoid the theft close monitoring is done in order to check that the work i
s going according to schedule. 8. Every month in the block office MGNREGA meetin
g is held where the progress of the ongoing projects are checked also whether an
y GP is not following norms it also acts as an open forum where MGNREGA officers
can put forward the issues faced by them. 9. There is no demand for work in the
Panchayat. The reasons cited by the Secretary include proximity to the city whi
ch provides more wages than the scheme and delay of payment. These findings need
further verification interacting with the beneficiaries. Currently the
14
MGNREGA wage is 130 rupees where as for the unskilled labour a worker can get ar
ound 200 rupees and account is settled every day. 10. There is a village develop
ment committee in each village which looks after the implementation of the schem
e in the village. 11. Since there is no demand in many villages in the Panchayat
, it is difficult for the Panchayat to run this scheme. Panchayat officers also
told that still they have to conduct some work under MGNREGA just to follow the
norms also this assessment is done on annual basis by the block office. 12. Befo
re scheme was rolled by the Panchayat a 1 day workshop was held by the Block off
ice to train the officers responsible for monitoring and implementation. 13. Soc
ial audit is done in order to check the accounts and find any irregularities in
the implementation. There was not instance of corruption reported at the GP that
we visited. 14. Few job cards were seen at the Panchayat office which did not h
ave the date of registrationon them. 15. There had been no instances when the jo
b seeker had applied and he did not have the job within 2 weeks. So no unemploym
ent allowance by disbursed by the GP. 16. Job card is issued by the Pradhan and
Panchayat office helps put the rural unemployed labour in filling up the forms a
s literacy rate was very low among the applicants.
15
7. Observations
Visuals of works done under NREGA in Aamgachia Gram Panchayat
7.1 Type of work taken up by NREGA
1. Road Repairing 2. Soling 3. Cannel 4. Land Development 5. Road Side Plantatio
n 6. Land development Work is not available round the year. During rainy season
villagers look for alternative source of income as it is not possible to do farm
ing then. But unfortunately projects undertaken by NREGA also happen mostly duri
ng summer not rainy season.
7.2 Awareness
NREGA is quite well known among villagers. Both men and women were able to recog
nize this act. The advertisement is generally done through sign board. Also sinc
e the number of people demanding for job under NREGA is not huge its easier for P
anchayat officials to pass the job information to them. Also there is sign board
regarding NREGA details outside Panchayat office.
16
7.3 Training
NREGA training is being done at both block level and Panchayat level. Training h
as not been found to be a bottleneck in our studies.
7.4 Wage
Wage is the major issue in NREGA. The labour rate is well below market rate. Til
l last year it was Rs. 100/day. This was increased to Rs 130/day from 1st Januar
y. Still this rate is well below the daily labour rate in nearby cities which is
about Rs 200/day. This makes NREGA works less attractive for the villagers. Eve
ry Panchayat is supposed to create a yearly action plan regarding NREGA mentioni
ng the different projects they would undertake. This action plan is approved at
District level through Block development office. Once the action plan is approve
d funds are sanctioned for the Panchayat. But in lot of cases works/projects are
taken up ad-hoc basis. As a result the work starts before all the approval form
alities are completed. This creates a huge delay in clearing payments for the fa
rmers. According to the act all workers are supposed to get payment within 14 da
ys of completion of their work but that is not usual scenario. This is one of th
e reasons for villagers to feel disinterested to this scheme.
7.5 Enrolment, Employment scenario, women participation
7.5.1 Employment figures of Kulerdari Gram Panchayat
District Cumulativ e No. of HH issued jobcards Cumulative No. of HH demanded emp
loyment employment demand vs job card issue (in % term) Cumulative No. of HH pro
vided employment provided vs demanded ( in % term) Average person days Commulati
ve person days Women workdays % of women workdays
Kul/I Kul/II Kul/III Kul/IV Kul/V Kul/VI Kul/VII Kul/VIII Kul/IX Kul/X
153 114 137 131 172 203 100 70 99 130
16 28 58 13 35 51 6 12 1 35
10.46 24.56 42.34 9.92 20.35 25.12 6 17.14 1.01 26.92
16 28 58 20 35 51 6 12 1 35
100 100 100 153.85 100 100 100 100 100 100
31 20 23 18 35 19 5 18 33 16
503 573 1339 356 1224 967 27 212 33 561
39 195 316 0 4 0 0 0 0 0
7.75 34.03 23.6 0 0.33 0 0 0 0 0
1309
18.38
262
22
5795
554
9.56
From the above figure we can see employment demand from Households registered fo
r job card is quite low with maximum being 42% with average of 18%. On the other
hand whoever demanded has been provided with job. This 100% job availability do
es not give the complete 17
picture about job availability. On an average each interested household only had
work for 22 working days. In Kulerdari GramPanchayat total 1309 job cards were
issued in its first phase. These job cards are supposed to be renewed after 5 ye
ars. 2011 being the 5th year, renewal process has been started this year. But so
far only 100 job cards have been renewed. This is just 8% of initial registrati
on. This shows interest in NREGA has dropped significantly. Also women participa
tion is not very significant. But this would be mainly because the nature of the
work. The Panchayat officials didnt display any prejudice against women workers.
Display boards were not seen at all the work sites. 7.5.2 Employment figures of
Aamgachia Gram Panchayat The figures are little better for Aamgachia village Pa
nchayat. 22,000 job cards have been issued there, out of which 300 villagers has
demanded work and all have been provided with work. Six households of them have
already completed 100 days of work in last financial year. Average workdays per
household are around 30 days per year. NREGA implementation in Aamgachia is yet
to complete five year so job card renewal data is not relevant for this village
.
7.6 Other
The literacy rate in Aamgachia Gram Panchayat was found to be quite high. Accord
ing the NREGA officials in Aamgachia the literacy rate is around 80%. Considerin
g only BPL households are eligible for working under NREGA, 80% seems to be quit
e high percentage. This raises some question regarding the validity of this data
and possibility of data forging. Work site facilities like crche, shade, first a
id were not seen in the project villages. Muster rolls could not be seen at the
work site.
7.7 Issues Observed
7.7.1 Perception issue Villagers consider NREGA as a government grant rather tha
n employment opportunity. As a result there is no proper interest in producing q
uality work. There are complaints about workers leaving the project site just af
ter two or three hours of work. 7.7.2 Inadequate wage The wage rate is well belo
w the market rate which discourages villagers to take up work under NREGA. This
has been described as the main reason behind low turn up of villagers for NREGA
work.
18
7.7.3 Wage distribution rule Lot of villagers dont have any bank account which ma
kes it difficult to receive wages or being eligible for work. 7.7.4 Wage deliver
y delay Villagers usually get payment at the end of their working day while work
ing as daily labourer in cities whereas in case of NREGA the payments is suppose
d to be made within 14 working days after finishing the project. In most cases d
ue to payment sanction formalities villagers dont get their payment even after tw
o months. 7.7.5 Measurement problem Due to inadequate number of job supervisor i
t becomes difficult to update muster roll regularly. There is a requirement for
recruiting job supervisor only from Self Help Group (SHG) only. Also stringent g
overnment rules for measuring work also reduces the billable work done by the vi
llagers, thereby reducing their effective pay. 7.7.6 Quality of work Projects ta
ken under NREGA is not quality sensitive which reduces the seriousness involved
in carrying out these projects. This also limits the type of projects that can b
e taken up under NREGA umbrella.
19
8. Suggestions
8.1 Distribution of wages Under NREGA distribution of wages is via bank accounts
, every job card that has been issued to a family mentions the account number an
d wages are credited directly to the bank account. The big problem remains the t
urnaround time for the distribution of wages which varies between 1-2 weeks. Loo
king at the financial conditions of the people employed daily disbursement of wa
ges is of utmost important factor for this Act to be successful. This delay acts
as a major deterrent for people to use benefits for this Act. 8.2 Cryptic and l
ate measurement of work Wages are distributed under this Act based on the amount
of labour that is been done by an individual. Most of the projects that run und
er this act involve works like digging one of the good measurement of the same i
s the amount of soil moved by an individual this exposes a loophole which could
be used by the engineer on the site or the labourers employed in the work. For e
xample while digging up the pond labourers fill up the pond with water, or pour
water on the soil that had been dug up to get faulty measurements. This cryptic
measurement leads to delay in the measurement or late measurement which in turn
impacts the disbursement of wages forming a vicious cycle. A lot of project does
nt directly have the soil movement which further worsens the measurement of work
for example plantation work. Measurement of work should be done on the daily bas
is and should be updated on the daily basis on the MIS. 8.3 Community asset crea
tion NREGA scheme budget is around Rs 40,000 crore ($ 8.92 billion) nearly 5% of
the GDP of Indias GDP and people were employed under this scheme with their majo
r focus on the rural development and rural employment. The assets like ponds, ra
in water harvesting and plantations created under the Act can have vested intere
st of the wealthier sections of the panchayat and thus the benefits that are bee
n reaped out of the scheme can no longer be equitable among the weaker sections
of society. So the rural development could be notional for many projects that ar
e been completed under the NREGA. But still projects like rural connectivity dam
s creation does benefits all the sections of society. More emphasis should be gi
ven on the projects whose benefits could be more equitable among all the section
s of the panchayat.
20
8.4 Wage Mismatch Daily wages disbursed under NREGA in different panchayats that
we visited varies between 130Rs 150, whereas because of close proximity with th
e city the daily wages for non skilled labour is around Rs 200 this wage mismatc
h is the major reason why the number of people who availed employment under Act
is very less. In Aamgachia in the financial year 2010-2011 out of 1997 job cards
allotted only 228 availed employments under the Act a turnaround of 11%. Also w
hile talking to the officials of the gram panchayat official number of applicati
on for job card renewals were less than 15% of the initial number of job cards a
llotted. In order to tackle this issues wages under NREGA must be at par with th
e market rate a difference of 10-15% make sense because of less travelling but d
ifference of ~50% really drifting the weaker sections of society away from the a
ct. To make this Act effective wages should be revised keeping in mind the daily
wages of the private market.
21
References
1. All India Report on Evaluation of NREGA A Survey of 20 Districts, Institute o
f Applied
Manpower Research, New Delhi. 2008
2. Banerjee, Kaustav (2010) The Right to Work in theory and in practice: A Case
study of the
NREGA. India Indian Social Development Report. Oxford University Press.
3. http://chittabehera.com/NREG/ 4. Mukherjee, Subrata & Saswata Ghosh (2009) Wh
at Determines the Success and Failure of 100
Days Work at the Panchayat Level? A Study of Birbhum District in West Bengal. Ins
titute of Development Studies Kolkata. Occasional Paper 16
5. http://www.nrega.nic.in 6. http://planningcommission.nic.in/plans/planrel/fiv
eyr/10th/volume2/v2_ch3_2.pdf 7. Yesudian, C.A.K. (2007). Poverty Alleviation Pr
ogrammes in India A Social Audit. Indian Journal
of Med Res 126. Pp-364-373
22
Appendices Semi-Structured Interview Schedules (SSIS)
In order to collect the primary data we had designed two sets of semi-structured
interview schedules, first for the MGNREGA program officer and second one is me
ant for the beneficiaries. These interview schedules provided guidelines for int
eractions and were not meant to be filled up in front of the interviewee.
SSIS for program officer
This is again divided into two halves first one indicates overall perception and
second one indicates the implementation details.
Perception about MGNREGA
1. Do you think MGNREGA is helpful in poverty alleviation? How? 2. Have you rece
ived any training on NREGA? Can you please give us some more details like the co
ntent?
Role in MGNREGA implementation
1. What is your role in MGNREGA implementation in this block? 2. How do you impl
ement this responsibility? 3. What measures have been taken in your block till n
ow regarding the implementation of MGNREGA Act? Is there a Gram Rozgar Sahayak a
t the panchayat level? 4. Are people in this block aware about MGNREGA and their
entitlements? How do they know? What effort has been made by the block for such
information dissipation? (Can look for any IEC material) 5. What difficulties/c
onstraints do you face while implementing MGNREGA in your area?(Are there existi
ng organizational practices/attitude/procedures that make implementation difficu
lt?) 6. Can you tell us about the monitoring aspect of NREGA? How is the quality
of work ensured? Request to show Project Completion Reports. 7. Is there any so
cial audit in these areas? Who does it? Do you have any role in social audit?
SSIS for program beneficiaries
# 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 QUESTIONS How many dependents do you have? Does any other me
mber of your family work? What is your source of income? How regular is your inc
ome? Have you heard about MNREGA? How did you come to know about it? What do you
know about it? Do you know that it is your right to ask for employment if you a
re unemployed? Do you have a job card? How did you get it? How long did it 23
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
take to get one? Did you get any receipt when you had applied for the job card?
Ask to show the job card. (Probe: mercy of the Panchayat leader, bribe, etc) Hav
e you ever seen the muster roll? Did you get the same amount as was mentioned in
the muster roll? What is the wage rate? How much do you usually get? How long d
id it take for your payment after you finished the job? When you requested for e
mployment and did not get, did you get any unemployment allowance? How are you p
aid? Cash/cheque/pay order When you were working, did you have facilities like c
rche, water, shade at the work place?
Observation sheet
Observation sheet is mainly used to cross check whether MGNREGA is following the
norms that are mentioned by the government. Observations mainly include working
conditions, its also to indicate that how much guidelines are followed while imp
lementing the policy. 1 2 3 4 5 Did you see a display board at the work site? Co
uld you see the muster roll? Where did you see the muster roll? Did you see the
job card? If yes, where? Did you see any work site facility like crche, water, sh
ade? Yes/No Yes/No Yes/No Yes/No Yes/No
24