NREGA and Social Audit

In August 2005, the Indian Parliament passed the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), which provides for 100 days of guaranteed employment to every rural household. The Act came into force in 200 of the country’s poorest districts and has now been expanded to another 130 districts. It has recently been announced that NREGA will be extended to cover the whole country by April 2008. NREGA has placed a judicially enforceable obligation on the state. Under the provisions of the Act, State Governments are to provide unskilled, manual work within 15 days of a person making an application, within a radius of 5 kms from the applicant’s residence. Failing this, the state government is to provide an unemployment allowance. Workers are entitled to a statutory minimum wage for their labour, to be paid within 7 days after the work is done. Men and women are to be paid equal wages. This Act is based on the principle of self-selection by focusing on unskilled, manual work.

There are strong provisions for transparency and accountability at all levels: for instance, wages are to be paid in the presence of the community on pre-specified dates, all relevant documents are to be made available for public scrutiny and regular social audit of all works has to be conducted. The NREGA has to work in tandem with another very important legislation, the Right to Information Act, 2005. NREGA, unlike other employment programmes, confers a right and an entitlement. There is a ban on the use of contractors because their participation was often associated with corruption in food-forwork or other public works programmes. Since the work has to be provided directly to the people by district authorities or local panchayats, it is easier to hold them to account.

It is the responsibility of the district authorities to register any household that wants work and issue those Job Cards in which details of the number of days of employment provided and payment made have to be entered. The names and photographs of every household member are to be on the Job Card and this Card is to be kept by the household. Massive campaigns and social mobilization efforts were made to inform people of their rights and entitlements under the Act. Training programmes have been conducted across the country for government officials and panchayat members to spread awareness about their roles and responsibilities. Instructions have also been sent to the effect that payment of wages should be made through local banks or post offices, wherever possible.

But perhaps the most unique feature of the Act is the insistence upon regular social audits. This includes the social audit of muster rolls which are the daily attendance registers as well as social audits of works sanctioned to verify whether the measurements were correctly taken, materials properly accounted for and payments made on actuals and not on inflated estimates.

The NREGA not only details out the functions of officials at various levels but also sets out the monitoring and evaluation criteria and the methodology for ensuring transparency and accountability. For instance, it is mandatory for the government and the Panchayats to make available copies of muster rolls “for inspection by any person interested after paying such fee as may be specified in the Scheme”. All bills, vouchers, measurement books, copies of sanction

orders and other connected books of accounts relating to the Scheme have to be made available for public scrutiny and any person can get a copy or relevant extracts of documents.

While launching the NREGA, the Prime Minister said “We look upon this programme to create durable assets and strengthen PRIs since at least 50% of work will be routed through Gram Panchayats (Village Council). Three watchwords should be followed: outlays must be matched by outcomes, productive assets must be created and guarantee must be implemented in the true spirit”.

NREGA and Social Audit 1

NREGA and AssamUnfortunately, Assam has failed to ensure 100 days of rural employment under National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). Out of 31.85 lakh job card holders in the State, only 28 per cent found jobs in the 2009-10 fiscal that ended in March 31st. Seventy-eight per cent of those who got jobs could retain their work for only 30 days. For some 30 per cent, jobs lasted for 10 days or less. Only 7394 lucky households across Assam’s 2221 Gram Panchayats got jobs for 100 days. The Act guaranteeing 100 days work should have provided over 31 crores person-days of work for more than 31 lakh registered households in the State. But only 4,164,083 person-days employment were created, and women accounted for only 21 per cent of working days. More surprisingly, only 0.64 per cent of the 31 lakh job card holders belonged to families living below the poverty line (BPL). If NREGA is meant for the poorest of the poor and only 0.64 per cent BPL persons got jobs, who are the real beneficiaries?

NREGA has been a subject of lively debate since the time of its inception. Unfortunately, the factual basis of this debate has been, so far, rather thin. This has made it possible for extremist positions to flourish without being put to the test of careful evidence. Fortunately, the scope for informed analysis is rapidly growing as reports are beginning to pour in from various parts of the country. Some statistical evidence is also available, notably on the NREGA website launched by the Ministry of Rural Development (www.nrega.nic.in). This website is not exactly a model of clarity and elegance. Much of the site is a rather puzzling mix of valuable data and dubious statistics, but nonetheless there is much to learn from these data sets and gain understanding of the success or the failure of this mammoth social welfare programme.

This report analyses the effect of NREGA on two of the most backward villages of the State of Assam. This paper is based upon field visits to the villages of Jhornagra II (under BTAD, Assam) and Sreegram III (Dhubri, Assam) to observe and analyze the social and economic impact on the livelihood of the villagers. Whether the Act has been able to make a difference, or whether it actually reached the real stake holders for whom this program was meant in the first place. The investigator visited the villages during the period of December 17, 2011 – December 22, 2011. Field visits consisted of house- to-house verification visits, conducting interviews and discussing issues that had emerged with villagers. These were supplemented by extensive discussions and conversations with village elders and government officials at the Block level.

This paper consists of 4 sections. Section one and two presents the case studies of 2 households from each of the 2 villages and discusses the performance of the employment guarantee scheme designed under the NREGA, in particular. Section three presents the views of the government officials on the performance of NREGA. Section four argues why such a study is needed for the proper functioning of the program, to keep a tab on the delivery mechanism of the government.

SECTION IVillage: Jhornagra II Name: Arjun Rabha Age: 22 years No. of Household members: 4 Community: ST

NREGA and Social Audit 2

He is an original inhabitant of the village. He possesses no land, though he tills the land of other farmers sometimes. He makes his living by working as a daily laborer or by selling wood from the forests at the local market. He never migrated to some other place in search of work. Two years back, he did receive communication from the Member of the Village Council about Job Cards and the work that would come with it. He did apply for the Job Card and gave whatever documents they asked for, along with his photograph. He also paid a bribe of Rs. 60 to the local ASHA worker, who promised him to get the Job Card made. But he never received his Job Card, whereas others from his village, with whom he had an acquaintance with and who had applied for the Job Card, did receive one. He did bring to our notice the fact that the work that the people received because of the Job Card was only for a few days and that too two years back.

He did find employment in the construction work of the Pukka road in the village along with other villagers for 3 months. This work was conducted by the PWD Department under BTAD. They were being paid cash on a daily basis for their work. They had to bring their own equipments to work. They were informed about the amount of wage that they would receive, before they started work. The work was successfully completed, with regular inspections from PWD engineers. According to him, there were no bogus workers in the muster rolls and attendance was taken regularly. When we asked him whether he believed any kind of fraud was committed during the work. He said what mattered to him was that he received his wage at the end of the day’s work. It didn’t matter to him whether someone was fudging the record books. He gave his thumb impressions on whatever documents that the Member asked him to sign on with the belief that he would receive work and the wages associated with it. We asked him whether he confronted the ASHA worker regarding the Job Card. He said he did but the ASHA worker always put him down saying that his application got stuck in the offices. He said that he is looking forward to meet the Member and ask about his Job Card and the work related to it. The other government program that he has benefitted from is the Indira Awas Yojana. He built a Pukka house with the Rs. 38000/- that he received from the government. He also possesses a BPL card and avails the benefits of the PDS.

Village: Jhornagra II Name: Jalal Sheikh Age: 45 years No. of Household members: 5 Community: Muslim.

Not an original inhabitant of the village but has been residing here for the past 30 years. He holds 1 bigha of land, where he grows rice during the harvest season. He also works as a daily wage laborer during the off –season. He did receive information about NREGA and Job Cards from the Member of the Village Council, who also helped him to apply for the Job Card. Everyone in his acquaintance, also applied for the Job Card but not all of them received work. He was unable to quantify the number for us. He was allotted work 1month after he received his Job Card. No unemployment allowance was provided, neither was he informed about the same by the authorities. He and few other villagers received the work of digging a drainage system in the fields of Salbari, a hamlet nearby in the month of November, 2009. They were not provided any equipment and had to carry their own. Also, the transport between Jhornagra-Salbari was carried on by foot and no transportation facilities were provided for the workers. He informed us that at

the work site, the 33 per cent quota for women was indeed fulfilled and facilities like drinking water and toilets were provided. He was notified about his work place beforehand and the wages (Rs. 100) that he would receive. They were informed what work

NREGA and Social Audit 3

was expected from them during the day. Regular attendance was taken at the work site, though he never put his thumb impressions/signature on any muster roll at the worksite. They were able to complete the work in 15 days. There was a delay in the payment of their wages, but they did receive it after a month or so. He cashed the amount from the nearby Post Office. After those 15 days of work, he has not received any work under NREGA. He asked the Member about the availability of any work elsewhere, but he too could not help him as the Member himself was unaware of any work going on under NREGA. He was unaware of the fact that NREGA ensures at least 100 days of employment to every Job Card holder. The other government program that he has benefitted from is the Indira Awas Yojana. He built a Pukka house with the Rs. 38000/- that he received from the government. He also avails the benefits of the PDS and possesses a BPL card.

We did receive complaints of discrimination from some Muslim households that they were denied work many a times. Members from the Rabha community were favored with work allotments whenever anything came up.

SECTION IIVillage: Sreegram III Name: Md. Ainul Bhuyan Age: 52 years No. of Household members: 9 Community: Muslim.

He is an original inhabitant of the Village. He possesses 1 bigha of farmland where he sows rice during the harvest season. He also works as a daily wage laborer. He did sometimes migrate to Guwahati to work in the construction sites. He received information about NREGA and Job Card from the Member of the Village Panchayat and applied for the same, along with many of his acquaintances. The Member charged a certain fee from the wage seekers for the issuance of Job Cards, citing official fees. After receiving the job cards, they also applied for work on the insistence of the Member. After a gap of 4 months, all of those who had applied received work in the month of September, 2009. They were notified about their work place and the kind of work they had to do. Regular attendance was taken at the work site and they had to put their signature/thumb impressions on the Muster Roll. Though no drinking water facilities, toilet, etc was provided at the work site, neither any transportation facilities were provided. They had to take their own equipments to the work-site. Regarding wages, he was told that he would be given Rs. 80/- for each day’s of work but when he received his wages it was at the rate of Rs. 100/- per day. The work was completed within 7 days, with no inspections from any authorities apart from the Panchayat members.

Likewise, he found work at Subariguri, Ghurantari, Shrutipara and his own village. All of these works were road leveling work and lasted for at most a week. Last of these works that he received was commissioned in the month of March, 2010. After that he has not received any work. There was also delay of about 1 month in the payment of his dues, which he collected from the SBI, Sualkocha Branch. He was aware of the fact that NREGA ensures at least 100 days of employment to every Job

NREGA and Social Audit 4

Card holder and also about the unemployment allowance from TV advertisements. So he met the Member and asked her whether any work was there, but she said that she had no idea when the new work would come. He possesses a BPL Card and gets his monthly fooding requirements from the PDS but apart from that he has not received any assistance of any sorts from the government. He does not avail of any government schemes, either of the Center or the State. He did inform us one interesting thing that the Job Cards of every wage seeker in the Village were in the custody of the Member of the Village for the past 1 year. Every time he asks for it, some new excuse is given.

Village: Sreegram III Name: Mohar Ali and Brothers. Age: 42 years No. of Household members: 12 Community: Muslim.

Original inhabitants of Goalpara district, they moved to Sreegram III around 25 years ago. They consist of 4 brothers, of which we were able to meet three of them as one of them had gone to work as a daily laborer at one of the many brck kilns that they have sprung up in the vicinity of the village. The three brothers that we interviewed were: Mohar Ali, Sadidullah, Rozab Ali. They had a division of family assets recently and were living as independent individual households for the past 6 months. Mohar Ali had no land of his own and worked as daily wage laborer in the town. He also tilled the fields of other farmers. Sadidullah didn’t possess any land of his own and worked as a daily wage laborer in the town or at the brick kilns nearby. Rozab Ali had 1 bigha land of his own, but he hardly did any farming there as it was not a profitable option. He was also a skilled laborer and worked as Raj Mistry in the construction sites. He migrated to Guwahati to find work as Raj Mistry and spent 3-4 months there, planning and building homes. He and his brothers also migrated to Meghalaya to work in the coal mines there and had only returned the night before we met them.

Out of the 4 brothers, only two of them – Mohar Ali and Sadidullah – possessed Job Card. When asked why the other two brothers didn’t receive the job card they said it was a decision taken by the Village Committee formed to allot Job Card to the Villagers. Since the number of Job Cards that the Village Committee had was limited and every household had to be represented, they could not possibly give away Job Cards to each of the brothers. So they decided to give it to only two and Mohar Ali and Sadidullah, being the eldest two, received the Job Card. Only Mohar Ali and Sadidullah were allowed to apply for the Job Card and for the corresponding work. Another interesting fact that they brought to our notice was that they received their Job Cards after they had started working under NREGA. They received the work 2 years back in a nearby hamlet (called Kutlipara). The work continued for 1 week and stopped before it was successfully completed. There were no inspection visits from any authorities at least in their presence. They were duly notified about their work and their work place before they started working. Attendance was taken regularly at the work site and their thumb impressions/ signature was taken too on the muster rolls. No facilities were provided at the work-site. They had to take their own equipments. They were informed about their wages beforehand and received their wages after a delay of 1 month from the SBI, Sualkocha Branch. They too were not informed about the unemployment

allowance and the 100 days of employment clause of NREGA. They too had deposited their Job Cards to the Member and it was in her custody for the past 1 year or so. They had asked for it

NREGA and Social Audit 5

time and again but were always sent back with an excuse. They had BPL cards and received their regular rations through the PDS mechanism. The other benefit that they received from the government was the Indira Awas Yojana. They built a Pukka house with the money that they received under the program.

Some villagers allege that that their Job Card was being used to withdraw money on their behalf by showing a great number of employment days. But this could not be accounted for as all of them had their Bank Passbook with themselves and had never handed it over to the Member or any individual for that matter. Also, there had been cases where wage discrimination was claimed by the Villagers as in the Women were paid Rs. 80/- per day for their work and the Men were paid Rs. 100/-. They also said that once a few people did come to the village to build community latrines, but after digging a trench and doing land survey, they never returned back to the Village.

Both the villages did not have electricity connection at all. Neither was there any mechanism to ensure safe drinking water for the villagers. Connectivity was a problem too. Though the road through Jhornagra was a Pukka one, but the roads connecting it to the nearby town were pathetic. During our journey to the Jhornagra we had to cross a wooden bridge which actually swayed from one side to the other whenever one walked over it. The road connectivity to the Sreegram was also very bad and most of it was Kuchha roads, with no leveling at all. The people of both the villages had to travel on these back breaking roads daily to find work in the nearby towns. Also, nobody in the Villages had access to sanitary toilets or latrines. They used to excrete in the open, which is health hazard in itself. Some of them did possess mobile connections but had to travel again to the nearby villages/towns to charge their handsets. They had to cough up quite a high amount even to get their cells battery charged. Most of the basic amenities that most of us take for granted are far-off dreams to them. The health service facilities in and around these villages are non-existent. People have to travel to the nearby towns even for regular check-ups, as the Primary Health Center is not functional.

SECTION IIIName: Rameshwar Rabha Designation: Village Headman Village: Jhornagra II

When we enquired him about any NREGA work in the village, he said that there has been no NREGA- related work in the past two years at the Village. When we asked whether he had ever given any suggestions to the higher authorities of the various works that can be carried out for developing the rural infrastructure, he explained to us since the village came under BTAD and since BTAD did not recognize any Panchayati System, so his advise/suggestions had no real power as such. He was holding more of a ceremonial post. He has hardly any say in the administrative work of the Village. Under the new set up, the village representative to the VCDC (Village Council-District Council) is responsible to make suggestions to the higher authorities. The village representative consults him time and again and even recently had taken him along to

a survey of the drainage system in the Village, though the headman has no idea whether any work has been allotted for the same. He did agree to the fact that he

NREGA and Social Audit 6

has never himself approached the VCDC asking for work at his Village. He did say that some of the people from the Village are reported to be working in a Lake-Cleaning exercise under NREGA at a nearby Village. That particular lake is being promoted as a tourist destination/ picnic spot. There was no documentation in his person as to how many of the village people had been allotted Job Card and how many of them have found work and for how many days.

He himself did possess a Job Card but has never applied for work. He also argued that the large scale use of machinery has reduced the need of human labor and has also reduced the number of employment days. He also divulged the information that the Muslim populace of the Village had their own headman, even that post, like his, was a ceremonial one.

For farming purposes, a Power Tiller had been donated to the Village by the local legislator. The village people had formed a committee to look into matter of allotment of that tiller. Regarding safe drinking water, the foundation for a water treatment had been laid in the year of 2010 by BTAD, just beside the Headman’s home. But because of political bickering and lack of funds, the plant has not been able to see the light of the day and the Villagers have to be without safe drinking water. He informed us that many of the wells in the Village were drying up and if the plant is not set up soon, there may come a situation with groundwater to quench the thirst of the villagers.

Name: Arunath Goswami. Designation: Block Development Officer. Block: Chapor District: Dhubri

We met the BDO of the Chapor Block and discussed with him the different development programmes going on in the two villages of Jhornagra II and Sreegram III. He informed us that Jhornagra II was not under his jurisdiction, though he was able to inform us that no NREGA work had taken place in that Village in the last financial year. He informed us about the last work that was taken under NREGA at Sreegram III- It was the work of leveling of kuccha road from Pukhuripara-Sreegram III in the year 2008-2009. We asked him on what basis was the number of Job Cards allotted to each of the villages of the district. He informed us that based on the 2001 Census data on per capita income of the Villages, the quantity was decided, with the lower income group of villages getting the bigger share.

When we asked him why the unemployment allowances were not been given to the wage seekers, he informed that the cost of the unemployment allowance was to be borne by the State government, and not the Central government (Center pays for the wages). This was a huge financial burden on the State government and the State government did not have such monetary reserves to pay the allowance to each and every unemployed Job Card holder. This would have raised a very drastic fiscal deficit for the state government if they started paying the unemployment allowances. He informed us that the Dhubri district was not able to utilize the 60% of the NREGA fund, in the financial year of 2009-2010, allotted to it for the labor intensive work, which is a pre-requisite for fund to be released in the next financial year. As a result, no NREGA budget was allotted to the district for the financial year of 2010-2011. The 40% of the fund is earmarked for procuring materials for the work. He informed that implements

NREGA and Social Audit 7

did not come under the category of material expenses. That’s why the wage-seekers had to bring their own equipments to the work-site. He said that the technical analysis of the work, which is done beforehand, ensured that this 60-40 ratio was maintained.

He informed us that about 80% of the work carried under NREGA was related to roads as connectivity was an issue in this part of the State. When we suggested why no sanitation program is carried out under NREGA, he informed that sanitation did not come under the public works list of NREGA. He informed us that the present rate of daily minimum wage was fixed at Rs. 130/- per day for unskilled labor. This has been set by the State government keeping in mind the average consumer price index for Agricultural Laborers for the year gone by. We asked him the reason for such a low number of employment days. The reason that was provided by him was that a particular work had a mandate that a certain number of people could be engaged for it, but at the same time, they could not deny work to the others who came to them asking for work after the required quota had been filled. This meant that he had many extra pair of hands than required. As a result, the work was completed early, thus reducing the number of man days. For the current year, in the Chapor block, 323 man days of work was done and around 66 cards were used, according to the figures provided by him. The delay in the payment of wages to the workers, according to him, was because many of the workers did not possess an account at the bank or the post office and also because of late release of funds.

We asked him whether there was any difficulty from the side of villagers in the implementation of the NREGA program. He said that he had reports of proxy workers being sent by people who rented their own job cards to those who did not have job cards. He also informed us that as of now no work had been sanctioned at Sreegram III, but he had submitted some proposals which are under consideration. We asked him about other welfare programs under him in these villages. He informed that National Old-Age Pension Scheme had been initiated in these villages, but there is only beneficiary from both the Villages combined. He also shared with us the Registration Application Register of all the Job Card holders of the Pukhuripara Panchayat, of which Sreegram III was a part. Around 67 households were represented and 155 people possessed a Job Card. He believes that in the coming years, the success of the program will depend on the people themselves. They should exert their Right to Employment and create such conditions for the authorities that they could not be ignored. He reiterated the fact that he was doing everything in his power to bring work in this area so that people are able to enjoy the benefits of this program.

SECTION IVSocial audit process in its true sense has been very limited in this part of the country. However, the limited experience indicates that it deepens faith of the workers to participate and express their aspiration. The processes have enabled the workers to discuss about creation of appropriate self of work which can create durable and sustainable assets, bottle neck in payment process etc. There is a need to make a shift from ‘dumping of NREGA’ to making NREGA an investment for transformation. Such a process that we conducted can make a reality check on many issues and

ideas. It can examine appropriateness of the work, adverse effect on the environment, use and innovations in tools and implements which can make the manual work comfortable as well as income generating. It can also

NREGA and Social Audit 8

spread awareness about payment through bank and post offices to stop corruption.

In other words, such a process can trigger many new ideas to implement the three watch words made by the Prime Minister on the launching of NREGA. A list of tasks mentioned below can be examined and worked upon – (1) Registration (2) issue of job card (3) time lag and difficulties in issue of job card (4) level of understanding on various provisions of NREGA (5) extent of awareness on application for job (6) Schedule of Rates (7) Gram Sabha for creation and approval of self of work (8) facilities available at the work place (9) appropriate and timely payment of wages (10) improvement and innovations in the choice of work and implements and tools.

To make NREGA successful one needs to put the process under the hands of workers to build the future of rural India. Social Audits implemented in true spirit can initiate public participation, dialogue and scrutiny. It can help examine the relevance of purpose and processes. It can ascertain the relevance and benefits of expenditure to the target group. The insights from social audit movement need to be built in to revisioning of the guidelines policy and practice. Social Audit can simultaneously serve the purpose of an Audit and a measure of accountability with people centered governance reform.

NREGA and Social Audit 9