Et tu Orissa!!

Having provided a job security to the rural people, at least for a few stipulated days, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) has made a strong presence in rural India. According to the information available from the NREGA factsheet, this scheme has assured 43 days of employment to the households employed in the NREGA. The share of the marginalized groups in total NREGA employment gives a happy picture. It says that 40% of woman folk, 36% of Scheduled Tribes, 26% of the Scheduled Tribes have been facilitated by the NREGA. But don’t be allured by what has been said so far, in fact what we have seen is the bright side of the moon. Lets take our rocket on the other side and land on a dark ground. One such dark ground is Orissa. Here a survey was conducted Social Science Institute of Allahabad in October 2007. this study brought to light the spoil play going on in the name of NREGA. The results of the study shows that only 60% of the days of employment recorded in the Muster Role (MR) were confirmed, with the rest 40% unaccounted. The flawed Job Card (JC) adds to the woes of the poor people. No where in the cards are written what amount of wage is to be paid to the labour. In some cases it has also been seen that the worker himself does not fill the JC, in most of the cases it is filled by the Village Level Leader (VLL) in the presence of the worker. Also, the name of the worker is entered in the code format, and in English. So, mostly it is impossible for the workers to read the document. Further, the VLLs become the master of the manipulation game. There are two kinds of MRs maintained by the state- ‘kaccha’ (unofficial) and ‘pucca’ (official). The ‘kaccha’ MR is the official and valid and the ‘pucca’ is the unofficial and influenced. The VLLs consider the ‘kaccha’ as the official and conduct the official work in them. They later enter the names in the official documents. Not only that, most of the people involved in the whole process demands a share. The study reveals that the BDO claims two to three percent, the block chairman has three percent, junior engineer has five percent, auditor has one percent, cashier has one perecent, and above all the Panchayat Officer has and the executive officer has 20-22 percent. Imagine how much the poor man gets after a hard days work. More than that the Zilla Parishad wants their people to get into some job because they can get more shares from that. Lack of enforcement fans the flames of problem. The Social Audit and Muster Roll Verification by the Gram Sabha are not carried out in the proper way, they are only done to follow the direction of the Government and that only in the name. The Civil Society Organization has been kept out of the Social Audit, in spite of earlier decision to include them.
However, the National Institute of Rural Development has come forward to help them in conducting the social audit which in turn may keep the transparency of NREGA and pave the way for a fair play.