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Salient Features of MGNREGA Gives legal guarantee of wage employment to the adult members of rural households who are willing to do unskilled manual labour subject to a maximum of 100 days per household Applicable for all villages in the District Every rural household has the right to register under MGNREGA Job cards issued to every household registered under MGNREGA Job cards issued within 15 days from the date of receipt of application for the job card registration The registered job card holders can seek employment by giving a group / individual application A minimum of 10 job seekers shall apply to sanction a new work under MGNREGA Employment provided by sanctioning one of the works under “Shelf of Works” as identified and prioritized by the village community within 15 days from the date of receipt of applications for providing employment under MGNREGA The village community has the right to choose works under 8 permissible categories of works “Shelf of works” will be identified by the village community for 5 yrs which can be taken up in their villages as per the job demand and entitled persondays The works proposed by the village community cannot be altered by anyone unless they are not in conformity with the guidelines of MGNREGA The work shall be provided within 5 kms jurisdiction from the village If the work provided is beyond 5 Kms, the job seekers shall be given 10% of the minimum wages as additional amount State Govt. to pay 25% of minimum wage for the 1st 30 days as compensatory daily unemployment allowance on failure to provide employment for the families demanding the works under MGNREG Act, and ½ of wage for remaining period of the year Wages are paid according to State Minimum Wage rate notified under Minimum Wages Act 1948. The current wage rate is Rs.117/- for all unskilled work and Rs. 120/- for skilled labour. Equal payment for men and women Wages to be paid within a fortnight 1/3 beneficiaries should be women Work site facilities such as creche, drinking water and shade have to be provided 60:40 wage and material ratio has to be maintained for all works undertaken under NREGA

No contractors and machinery allowed Grievance redressal mechanism to be set up for ensuring a responsive implementation process Social Audit is a must for all the works implemented under NREGA. The details of Social Audit conducted during 2010-11 and 2011-12 (up to the month of May) Provisions of RTI Act shall be applicable in Letter & Spirit to ensure transparency and accountability The office of the Ombudsman is vested with the following powers in order to redress grievances under MGNREGA: Receive complaints from NREGA workers and facilitate their disposal in accordance with law Require the NREGA Authority complained against to provide any information or Issue direction for conducting spot investigation Lodge FIRs against the erring parties Initiate proceedings suo motu in the event of any circumstance arising jurisdiction that may cause any grievance Engage experts for facilitating the disposal of the complaint Direct redressal, disciplinary and punitive actions Report his findings to the Chief Secretary of the State and the Secretary, State Nodal Department for appropriate legal action against erring persons

DIFFERENT ARTICLE

In the recently concluded Monsoon Session of Parliament , the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development released a report on the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Development Act, 2005 (MGNREGA). This blog provides a brief introduction to the key provisions of MGNREGA , followed by an overview of the major findings and recommendations of the Standing Committee. I. MGNREGA: A brief introduction A. Objectives: MGNREGA, which is the largest work guarantee programme in the world, was enacted in 2005 with the primary objective of guaranteeing 100 days of wage employment per year to rural households. Secondly, it aims at addressing causes of chronic poverty through the 'works' (projects) that are undertaken, and thus ensuring sustainable development. Finally, there is an emphasis on strengthening the process of decentralisation through giving a significant role to Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in planning and implementing these works. B. Key features:

Legal right to work: Unlike earlier employment guarantee schemes, the Act provides a legal right to employment for adult members of rural households. At least one third beneficiaries have to be women. Wages must be paid according to the wages specified for agricultural labourers in the state under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, unless the central government notifies a wage rate (this should not be less than Rs 60 per day). At present, wage rates are determined by the central government but vary across states, ranging from Rs 135 per day to Rs 214 per day. Time bound guarantee of work and unemployment allowance: Employment must be provided with 15 days of being demanded failing which an ‘unemployment allowance’ must be given. Decentralised planning: Gram sabhas must recommend the works that are to be undertaken and at least 50% of the works must be executed by them. PRIs are primarily responsible for planning, implementation and monitoring of the works that are undertaken. Work site facilities: All work sites should have facilities such as crèches, drinking water and first aid. Transparency and accountability: There are provisions for proactive disclosure through wall writings, citizen information boards, Management Information Systems and social audits. Social audits are conducted by gram sabhas to enable the community to monitor the implementation of the scheme. Funding: Funding is shared between the centre and the states. There are three major items of expenditure – wages (for unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled labour), material and administrative costs. The central government bears 100% of the cost of unskilled labour, 75% of the cost of semi-skilled and skilled labour, 75% of the cost of materials and 6% of the administrative costs. MGNREGA was implemented in phases, starting from February 2006, and at present it covers all districts of the country with the exception of those that have a 100% urban population. The Act provides a list of works that can be undertaken to generate employment related to water conservation, drought proofing, land development, and flood control and protection works. Table 1 provides information regarding employment generation and expenditure under MGNREGA. Table 1: MGNREGA: Key indicators Year

Number of households provided employment (in crore)

Average number of person days of work per household

Total Expenditure (in lakh)

200607

2.10

43

8823.35

200708

3.39

42

15856.88

200809

4.51

48

27250.10

200910

5.25

54

37905.23

201011

5.49

47

39377.27

201112*

4.99

43

38034.69

201213**

4.25

36

28073.51

Source: Standing Committee on Rural Development; PRS. Note: *Provisional ** As on 31.01.2013 II. Findings and Recommendations of the Standing Committee on Rural Development A. Achievements: The Standing Committee highlighted several achievements of MGNREGA in the seven years of its implementation, especially: Ensuring livelihood for people in rural areas. Large scale participation of women, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SCs/STs) and other traditionally marginalised sections of society. SCs/STs account for 51% of the total person-days generated and women account for 47% of the total person-days generated. Increasing the wage rate in rural areas and strengthening the rural economy through the creation of infrastructure assets. Facilitating sustainable development, and Strengthening PRIs by involving them in the planning and monitoring of the scheme. B. Challenges: However, the Committee found several issues with the implementation of the scheme. As Table 1 (above) shows, the average number of days of employment provided to households has been lower than the mandated 100 days, and has been decreasing since 2010-11. Key issues that the Committee raised include Fabrication of job cards: While as many as 12.5 crore households have been issued job cards out of an estimated 13.8 crore rural households ( as per the 2001 census), there are several issues

related to existence of fake job cards, inclusion of fictitious names, missing entries and delays in making entries in job cards. Delay in payment of wages: Most states have failed to disburse wages within 15 days as mandated by MGNREGA. In addition, workers are not compensated for a delay in payment of wages. Non payment of unemployment allowances: Most states do not pay an unemployment allowance when work is not given on demand. The non-issuance of dated receipts of demanded work prevents workers from claiming an unemployment allowance. Large number of incomplete works: There has been a delay in the completion of works under MGNREGA and inspection of projects has been irregular. Implementing agencies were able to complete only 98 lakh works out of 296 lakh works. As Table 2 shows, a large percentage of works remain incomplete under MGNREGA and the work completion rate appears to be decreasing in recent years. Table 2: Work completion rate Year

Work completion rate (%)

2006-07

46.34

2007-08

45.99

2008-09

43.76

2009-10

48.94

2010-11

50.86

2011-12*

20.25

2012-13*

15.02

Total

33.22

Source: Standing Committee on Rural Development. Note: * As on 30.01.2013 Other key challenges include poor quality of assets created, several instances of corruption in the implementation of MGNREGA, and insufficient involvement of PRIs.

C. Recommendations: The Committee made the following recommendations, based on its findings: Regulation of job cards: Offences such as not recording employment related information in job cards and unlawful possession of job cards with elected PRI representatives and MGNREGA functionaries should be made punishable under the Act. Participation of women: Since the income of female workers typically raises the standard of living of their households to a greater extent than their male counterparts, the participation of women must be increased through raising awareness about MGNREGA. Participation of people with disabilities: Special works (projects) must be identified for people with disabilities; and special job cards must be issued and personnel must be employed to ensure their participation. Utilisation of funds: The Committee found that a large amount of funds allocated for MGNREGA have remained unutilised. For example, in 2010-11, 27.31% of the funds remained unutilised. The Committee recommends that the Department of Rural Development should analyse reasons for poor utilisation of funds and take steps to improve the same. In addition, it should initiate action against officers found guilty of misappropriating funds under MGNREGA. Context specific projects and convergence: Since states are at various stages of socio-economic development, they have varied requirements for development. Therefore, state governments should be allowed to undertake works that are pertinent to their context. There should be more emphasis on skilled and semi-skilled work under MGNREGA. In addition, the Committee recommends a greater emphasis on convergence with other schemes such as the National Rural Livelihoods Mission, National Rural Health Mission, etc. Payment of unemployment allowance: Dated receipts for demanded work should be issued so that workers can claim unemployment allowance. Funds for unemployment allowance should be met by the central government. Regular monitoring: National Level Monitors (NLMs) are deployed by the Ministry of Rural Development for regular and special monitoring of MGNREGA and to enquire into complaints regarding mis-utilisation of funds, etc. The Committee recommends that the frequency of monitoring by NLMs should increase and appropriate measures should be taken by states based on their recommendations. Additionally, social audits must mandatorily be held every six months. The Committee observes that the performance of MGNREGA is better in states with effective social audit mechanisms. Training of functionaries: Training and capacity building of elected representatives and other functionaries of PRIs must be done regularly as it will facilitate their involvement in the implementation of MGNREGA....