Since elections are underway, it is the best-ever time to deliver promises to the voters. Education, health, social security, women empowerment and eradicating poverty are some of the promises given by the leaders but it is yet to be seen how far these promise givers stay serious in standing up to their words.
The trend is nothing new. For, every year the leaders tend to show the moon to the electors but after the polls, they conveniently forget about their promises. Still people vote.
Like many other social safety network programmes, the NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) came as a great opportunity raising high hopes among the people. But it has hardly changed the status of the living conditions of the poor. It was a wonder for the villagers of Chhenua of Astarang block of Puri district that they can get 150 days of work under the scheme. Their only option to sustain livelihood was the 50 days of Cash for Work, initiated by a humanitarian agency where the communities were paid wages out of their labour. Soon after they heard the news, they got very excited. They wanted to work as they were heavily struck by the Phailin.
When they were made aware of the scheme, the village disaster response committee took all the responsibility to spearhead the mission. Now, they have already demanded jobs under the NREGA and are re getting job works. It is evident here that even though there are many such social safety programmes like the NREGA, they are not being properly implemented due to lack of awareness among the beneficiaries. The Chhenua case is not a solitary instance; there are many such unpublished stories in the villages of Odisha where people are being sidelined from developmental opportunities.
The NREGA was passed by the Parliament in 2005. It guarantees employment for the unemployed in rural areas for 100 days in a year, through work such as building roads, improving water supply and works that are necessary to improve infrastructure in rural areas. The uniqueness of the law is it lays emphasis on issues like equality of wages for men and women, elimination of work contracting/middlemen, payment of wages only through bank and post office accounts to prevent corruption, creating transparency in workers muster rolls etc. The recent enhancement of workdays by Union Minister Jayaram Ramesh from 100 days to 150 days for tribals will definitely contribute towards strengthening local economy. Recently, the wage in NREGA works has been increased to Rs 164 but the centrality of this move is quite debatable as the Government is analyzing the effectiveness of the NREGA only in terms of increasing the wage payments provided and not concentrating on the development assets created.
The ActionAid estimation reveals that the implementation of NREGA is very sluggish in a situation when people need it the most. Out of 13, 83,897 households who demanded jobs under NREGA in the State, the chunk of population, who completed 100 workdays, is only 3.72 per cent. It is low in comparison to Andhra Pradesh (8.5per cent), Bihar (4.4per cent) and Chhattisgarh (9.58per cent). The district level performance is also not encouraging in terms of 100 days completion of work. The districts affected by the Phailin and its subsequent floods such as Ganjam (2.91per cent), Mayurbhanj (7.92per cent), Puri (8.5per cent) and tribal populated districts like Koraput (2.6per cent), Kandhamal (7.46per cent), Malkangiri (1.96per cent), Sundergarh (7.31per cent) and Nabarangpur (1.7 per cent) have also been lagging behind its target.
The expenditure in Odisha under the NREGA in 2012-13 was Rs1,181 crore and expenditure estimated for 2013-14 was Rs1,515.79 crore. However, concerns were raised by Union Minister Ramesh over the lower participation of women in NREGA work in the State, which was at a low around 36 per cent against 70 per cent in Rajasthan. He also raised issues as per the Management Information Systems (MIS) of his Ministry, wages amounting to Rs216 crore, which is 41 per cent of the total wage payment, had been delayed by over 15 days by the State Government while Rs29 crore out of the total wage payments was delayed by over 60 days.
Despite NREGA being an ambitious Act in terms of its objective, several governance issues need to be addressed in order to make it meaningful for implementation. Even though the Act reveals that distressed migration can be checked through its implementation, but the goal has not been realized in full. The accumulation of distress by end of the rainy days forces them to go to the labor contractors to borrow some advance to repay the rainy days debt and look for a new migration avenue. Especially, in many villages which are worst affected by the Phailin and its subsequent floods, the people are facing unprecedented lean period as their source of income has been stopped in many ways.
As the Act is a demand driven one, work under NREGA is available only after a demand for job is created by the people. But practically, lack of awareness about the Act continues to be a major concern as it has become detrimental to the successful participation in the scheme. Findings from the field assessment as well as media reports reveal that most of Dalits and ST women were unaware of the entitlements under the NREGA. Delay in wage payment has been a major challenge of NREGA.
Recently, e-banking facility has been initiated in Odisha for payment of wages through banks and post offices but it is being reportedly delayed in transfer of money to the accounts of beneficiaries. The case is seen in many villages of our intervention areas in Ganjam, Puri, Baleswar and Mayurbhanj districts. Poor worksite facility has also been a compelling factor for distraction of people from the NREGA. In most of the villages, where NREGA work is being initiated, worksite facilities like crèche, drinking water, first aid and shade are not provided.
There is nothing wrong in the Act itself but the Government should come out with a revised guideline which will superintend its work and implementation. The NREGA itself needs no change in its policy but it must catch up with people's development imagination and focus on its development effectiveness rather than counting the wage payment. In order to see that NREGA reduces migration, helps increase the living condition of poor families, it needs to relook at its own face and drive seriousness in the approach to alleviate poverty and thus bring cheers in the faces of millions of families.
Source: http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/bhubaneswar/needed-revised-guidelines-to-implement-nrega.html
The trend is nothing new. For, every year the leaders tend to show the moon to the electors but after the polls, they conveniently forget about their promises. Still people vote.
Like many other social safety network programmes, the NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) came as a great opportunity raising high hopes among the people. But it has hardly changed the status of the living conditions of the poor. It was a wonder for the villagers of Chhenua of Astarang block of Puri district that they can get 150 days of work under the scheme. Their only option to sustain livelihood was the 50 days of Cash for Work, initiated by a humanitarian agency where the communities were paid wages out of their labour. Soon after they heard the news, they got very excited. They wanted to work as they were heavily struck by the Phailin.
When they were made aware of the scheme, the village disaster response committee took all the responsibility to spearhead the mission. Now, they have already demanded jobs under the NREGA and are re getting job works. It is evident here that even though there are many such social safety programmes like the NREGA, they are not being properly implemented due to lack of awareness among the beneficiaries. The Chhenua case is not a solitary instance; there are many such unpublished stories in the villages of Odisha where people are being sidelined from developmental opportunities.
The NREGA was passed by the Parliament in 2005. It guarantees employment for the unemployed in rural areas for 100 days in a year, through work such as building roads, improving water supply and works that are necessary to improve infrastructure in rural areas. The uniqueness of the law is it lays emphasis on issues like equality of wages for men and women, elimination of work contracting/middlemen, payment of wages only through bank and post office accounts to prevent corruption, creating transparency in workers muster rolls etc. The recent enhancement of workdays by Union Minister Jayaram Ramesh from 100 days to 150 days for tribals will definitely contribute towards strengthening local economy. Recently, the wage in NREGA works has been increased to Rs 164 but the centrality of this move is quite debatable as the Government is analyzing the effectiveness of the NREGA only in terms of increasing the wage payments provided and not concentrating on the development assets created.
The ActionAid estimation reveals that the implementation of NREGA is very sluggish in a situation when people need it the most. Out of 13, 83,897 households who demanded jobs under NREGA in the State, the chunk of population, who completed 100 workdays, is only 3.72 per cent. It is low in comparison to Andhra Pradesh (8.5per cent), Bihar (4.4per cent) and Chhattisgarh (9.58per cent). The district level performance is also not encouraging in terms of 100 days completion of work. The districts affected by the Phailin and its subsequent floods such as Ganjam (2.91per cent), Mayurbhanj (7.92per cent), Puri (8.5per cent) and tribal populated districts like Koraput (2.6per cent), Kandhamal (7.46per cent), Malkangiri (1.96per cent), Sundergarh (7.31per cent) and Nabarangpur (1.7 per cent) have also been lagging behind its target.
The expenditure in Odisha under the NREGA in 2012-13 was Rs1,181 crore and expenditure estimated for 2013-14 was Rs1,515.79 crore. However, concerns were raised by Union Minister Ramesh over the lower participation of women in NREGA work in the State, which was at a low around 36 per cent against 70 per cent in Rajasthan. He also raised issues as per the Management Information Systems (MIS) of his Ministry, wages amounting to Rs216 crore, which is 41 per cent of the total wage payment, had been delayed by over 15 days by the State Government while Rs29 crore out of the total wage payments was delayed by over 60 days.
Despite NREGA being an ambitious Act in terms of its objective, several governance issues need to be addressed in order to make it meaningful for implementation. Even though the Act reveals that distressed migration can be checked through its implementation, but the goal has not been realized in full. The accumulation of distress by end of the rainy days forces them to go to the labor contractors to borrow some advance to repay the rainy days debt and look for a new migration avenue. Especially, in many villages which are worst affected by the Phailin and its subsequent floods, the people are facing unprecedented lean period as their source of income has been stopped in many ways.
As the Act is a demand driven one, work under NREGA is available only after a demand for job is created by the people. But practically, lack of awareness about the Act continues to be a major concern as it has become detrimental to the successful participation in the scheme. Findings from the field assessment as well as media reports reveal that most of Dalits and ST women were unaware of the entitlements under the NREGA. Delay in wage payment has been a major challenge of NREGA.
Recently, e-banking facility has been initiated in Odisha for payment of wages through banks and post offices but it is being reportedly delayed in transfer of money to the accounts of beneficiaries. The case is seen in many villages of our intervention areas in Ganjam, Puri, Baleswar and Mayurbhanj districts. Poor worksite facility has also been a compelling factor for distraction of people from the NREGA. In most of the villages, where NREGA work is being initiated, worksite facilities like crèche, drinking water, first aid and shade are not provided.
There is nothing wrong in the Act itself but the Government should come out with a revised guideline which will superintend its work and implementation. The NREGA itself needs no change in its policy but it must catch up with people's development imagination and focus on its development effectiveness rather than counting the wage payment. In order to see that NREGA reduces migration, helps increase the living condition of poor families, it needs to relook at its own face and drive seriousness in the approach to alleviate poverty and thus bring cheers in the faces of millions of families.
Source: http://www.dailypioneer.com/state-editions/bhubaneswar/needed-revised-guidelines-to-implement-nrega.html
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