
NREGS JOB CARD is largely misconstrued as a hidden card meant to be used only through the implementing authority/agency, and that the person, against whose name the card is issued is not reliable enough to keep or see his own card. This abuse become unavoidable in view of the hard fact that job card is over wholesomely applied by uneducated-ignorant members of the rural community, while the all-knowing officers/staffs widely propagate the concept that to demand one’s job card is a risk. Ignorance and indifference on the part of the non-recipient members of job card has become the biggest contributory factor for excessive official manipulation and political exploitation of the NREGS fund in the state. Little is known that NREGS is not an ordinary scheme but it is an extra ordinary act, fully backed by the legal force of NREGA Act, 2005 which provides at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment every financial year to the job card holders of every rural household.
The legal status of NREGS ‘job card’ of an unskilled wage labor is equivalent to the ‘appointment order’ of an employee in a government establishment, with similar security of earning, working facility, allowance and variable benefit. Professionals and qualified candidates procedurally apply for government job and once accepted appointment order is issued against the name of the appointee. Once appointed no authority can withhold the appointment order of the appointed person, unless it is done so for exceptional reason, otherwise, to do so tantamount to violation of the established law. Appointment order is kept in the custody of the appointee, without which he can not join his specified post or perform his assigned job. It determines his life and his future under the protection of established statute. As a matter of fact his appointment order is a license to secured earning and livelihood.
In similar manner an unskilled rural member applies for specified type of guaranteed job under NREGS, following which a ‘job card’ is issued against his application, which is as legitimate as an ‘appointment order’. Job card provides almost the same employment provision to a wage employee as appointment order is to a government employee. The earning that he receives is not just his wage but it is his time-bound pay for what he has done. The penalty of unemployment is unemployment allowance to be paid by the State Government on daily basis. NREGA Act clearly embodies that job card should be kept in the custody of the concerned person. The Act clearly says: “Job Card should be with you. No one has the right to take it away.” One reason for filing PIL in the Honorable High Court, Gauhati, inter alias alarming misappropriation of NREGS fund by the State Government, is withholding of job cards by the implementing authorities. The objective being that the job card holder should have all the access to his actual entitlement of at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year. Meaningfully and effectively implemented, NREGS will definitely revolutionalized the entire geography of rural unemployment and poverty. Misuse and abuse of the unused or un-issued job card by unscrupulous officers, politicians or persons, as now alarmingly prevailing in the state, will eventually degrade the deserving but vulnerable sections of the rural poor to the kind of Bob Marley’s buffalo soldiers, winning the war for the master but fighting for survival.
Of course the yardstick of ‘no work, no pay’ applies both to the wage employee and the government employee, and should either of the two employees refuse to work under the given condition, his wage or pay ought to be deducted accordingly by the authority. Notwithstanding this the authority has no right whatsoever, to deprive the legitimate right of a willing employee to work and get paid. NREGS fund has come but definitely not because the State Government has demanded it for its use, rather it is primarily because of the demand of the rural adult citizens for the guaranteed wage employment. In which case the Government can not bypass the Act and arbitrarily dictate- ‘how NREGS fund is to used’, or ‘what is to be paid”, ‘who is to be paid’ and ‘when is to be paid’ from the fund, sanctioned against the submitted labor budget. And on what basis (which is the job card) huge fund is sanctioned by the Centre (not the State) should also be likewise released to the rightful owner. In the eventuality of continued refusal or noncompliance with the clear guidelines of the Act, the implementing authority may confront even more sever consequences than actually anticipated, as the presently uncritical-job card- holders may not remain uncritical all throughout. Giving out the job cards may be a risk but suppressing the right is a criminal act against the established law of the land. The ultimate choice is only between the two- the risk of exposure or the crime against law.
In the light of what is actually happening in the state it is no less outrageous when the Government has rubbish the frightening embezzlement of the huge rural employment fund for consecutive fiscal years and totally un-embarrassed in claiming excellence in the implementation of the flagship program of UPA Government. On what pretext is the ruling government claiming credibility of a welfare government and loyalty of the mass, when it has deliberately chocked the main earning-lifeline of the rural poor by misusing this mega fund for physical and personal development, at the expense of the pathetic job card holders. Can the Government afford to deduct or divert the salary of the employee for some developmental project, or for that matter, will the employee concede to the government’s policy to use or misuse his monthly or yearly pay to bear the expense of such project? Nor can we demand from the government to slice a portion of the developmental fund to generate more employment in or outside the state. No doubt development is an all pervasive phenomena which subsequently affect the life of every citizen and every single member is responsible and accountable for its success or otherwise. But it has its own priority and funding pattern, for which a responsible government should be able to take care of the needs. Certainly the government has no right and cannot have the right, under NREGA Act, 2005 to use or misuse the NREGS labors’ wage for development just as under established law, it has no right to use or misuse employees salary for development, no matter what justification is given. Ironical but true that there are much more vulnerable people out there whose basic needs for day to day survival far surpasses much above the liability and cosmetics type of development propagated by DAN Government.
Vaprumu Demo