The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, better known as NREGA, is perhaps the first of its kind in the world when the Congress-led UPA Govt. has adopted a revolutionary step by providing an economic safety net to 2/3 of the country’s population or 71.9 per cent India’s rural poor. The NREGA can be well taken as an innovative policy to boost (1) the rural economy, (2) stabilize agricultural production and (3) reduce the population pressure on urban areas for employment and thereby transform the geography of poverty. The NREGA, by providing legal guarantee to work, marks a paradigm shift from all earlier and existing wage employment programs because it is an Act and not just a scheme. In the words of Sonia Gandhi, President AICC; “The basic principle of all these (other employment schemes) programs was restricted only to the executive guarantee of employment. But our National Rural Employment Guarantee Program … is based on the principle of legal guarantee meaning that it will be enforced as law.” Thus the NREGA is a demand driven scheme and not a supply driven as the earlier wage employment schemes. The Preamble to the Act provides: “The Act aims to provide the enhancement of livelihood security of the households in rural areas of the country by providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.”
That the NREGA program guarantees at least 100 days of wage employment in every financial year to every household is known by almost every member but beyond that what and how it is actually implemented or ought to be implemented in strict compliance with the guidelines of the Act is almost not known to a larger section of the people. This is entirely the fault of the State Govt. which has failed to undertake the intensive Information Education Communication (IEC) to educate the people of their rights under the Act. In the light of this background, relevant salient features of the Act is reproduced here for ready reference by the general public, for them to know how to ensure and enforce effective implementation of the scheme henceforth:
1. Every household has the right to demand 100 days employment (unskilled manual work) from the Govt.
2. Employment (with Job Card) will be given within 15 days of application for work. Job Card (with photograph) should be with you. No one has the right to take it away. In case of lose you can apply for a new one.
3. If employment is not given within 15 days, daily unemployment allowance in cash will be paid by the State Govt.
4. Employment within 5 km radius of the village or beyond 5 km, extra wages of 10 per cent.
5. At least 1/3 of the employment will be given to the women.
6. Villagers themselves, not officials, will decide the works to be done.
7. There will be complete transparency and wages will be paid in full public view on weekly basis and not beyond a fortnight in any case.
8. No contractors and machineries are allowed under the scheme.
9. Working facilities like free medical treatment in case of injury and compensation in case of death or permanent disability of the laborers will be provided by the State Govt.
10. Social audit shall be conducted in full public view.
11. All accounts and records relating to the scheme will be available for public scrutiny.
Notwithstanding these laid down provisions it is observed that the implementing agencies and authorities are largely involved in misusing the scheme in a manner contradictory to the Act both in letter and in spirit. Non-adherence of the guidelines tantamount to direct violation of the NREGA, 2005 and violators are liable to be punished by appropriate law. But where government machineries are directly or indirectly involved there is obviously no reliable authority to check or correct another defaulting authority. However, a critical or conscious public themselves can ensure the effective implementation of the scheme by correcting the defaulting system at the right time.
Since the Govt. is more or less responsible for violation of the operational guidelines of the Act, the public can take remedial measure by resorting to the Right To Information (RTI) Act, 2005 and seek redress from appropriate authority for equitable share of employment and wages and also check abnormal manipulation of the scheme by politicians in power. Through RTI the public can get any information relating to the past or current implementation of the scheme. Relevant provisions of the NREGA, 2005, Operational Guidelines 2008, 3rd edition published by the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, New Delhi is again reproduced here below:
11.1.2 Request for copies of NREGS related documents submitted under NREGA should be complied with within seven days. No request should be refused under any circumstances…All NREGA related information is in the public domain.
11.1.3 Key documents related to NREGA should be proactively disclosed to the public, without waiting for any one to ‘apply’ for them…
The only thing is that one should know how to apply for right information and once authentic information or evidence is collected the matter can be made public for corrective purpose or complaint to the appropriate authority for justice or challenge in the court of law in extreme case. VDB Secretary is the Public Information Officer (PIO) in the Village level, BDO is the PIO in the Block level and the Project Director is the PIO in the District level and through them one can get any information on NREGA matters within a short specified time (7 days) for timely redress. Similarly one should also know how to lodge complaint about one’s problem. If one’s first complaint is not addressed properly at the village level (by VDB Secretary or VCC) the complaint should be submitted to and registered by the Program Officer (BDO) at the Block level and the matter should be redressed within a stipulated period of 7 days. Failing to do so may still lead to further complaint in the state level or above. A state level NREGA Grievances Redressal Committee has been constituted in the month of November 2008 last, “to deal with any complaint by any individual in respect of implementation of NREGA schemes at the State level”. Unfortunately the Committee has so far not initiated any visible measure to redress the grievances of the poor people. But it is also a fact that until and unless we become fully aware of and assert our legal rights before appropriate authority the casual attitude of ‘Sab Chalta Hai’ will generate more problem than relief the burden of rural unemployment.
For those who can, the AICC has published sufficient made-easy information on NREGA and RTI, for them to read and learn about the scheme and their rights. The state RD Department has published considerable information on the scheme. The SIRD Department has also translated this Act into major Naga tribal dialects for the common people. The scheme is for a duration of five years and it is not too late for the late comers to catch up the golden opportunity brought home by the Congress-led UPA Govt.
Vaprumu Demo, Convener,
NREGA Cell, NPCC
Congress Bhavan, Kohima
