KEY TRENDS
• Total no. of households and persons who got themselves registered by 2010-2011 at the national level (as read on 1 February, 2011) are 11.62 crore and 25.38 crore respectively. Total no. of job cards issued by 2010-2011 at the national level (as read on 1 February, 2011) is 11.53 crore#
• Andhra Pradesh provided the maximum person days of employment by 2010-2011 (as read on 1 February, 2011) i.e. 27.48 crore to be followed by Tamil Nadu (22.44 crore person days) and Rajasthan (19.36 crore person days)#
• Employment generated during 2010-2011 at the national level as on 1 February, 2011 is 150.97 crore person days. Total no. of filled muster rolls is 1.55 crore during the same period as on 1 February, 2011#
• At the national level, NREGA generated 33.94 crore person days and 25.76 crore person days of work for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs), respectively during 2010-2011 as on 1 February, 2011. At the national level NREGA generated 75.14 crore person days of work for women during 2010-2011 as on 1 February, 2011. Women constitute 47% while Scheduled Castes account for 28 %, and Scheduled Tribes 24% of the workers under Mahatma Gandhi NREGA in 2010-11. #
• Only 16,98,788 families completed 100 days of work during 2010-2011 at the national level as on 1 February, 2011#
• There are 8,97,192 no. of registered family at the national level to whom job card has not been issued in 2010-2011 as on 1 February, 2011##
• Out of 625 districts in the country, social auditing of NREGA has been started in 517 (i.e. 82.7%) districts. Similarly, out of 248380 gram panchayats in the country, social auditing of NREGA has been covered in 182724 (i.e. 73.6%) GPs*
• Total number of social audits done in the country as on 1 February, 2011 is 2,92,113 out of which issues were raised and action was taken in 92,145 (i.e. 31.54% of the total no. of social audits at the national level)) no. of social audits**
• All-India wise during 2010-2011, the average ratio of labour to material at the gram panchayat, block panchayat level and zilla panchayat levels are 2.59: 1.00, 1.14: 1.00 and 1.51: 1.00, resepectively as on 1 February, 2011. Ideally, the ratio of labour to material should be 1.50: 1.00 (i.e. 60: 40). At the national level, ratio of labour to material is 2.40: 1.00 during 2010-2011 as on 1 February, 2011**
• With a view to universalise the system of wage payments through institutional accounts, it has been recommended to all States to disburse wages through Post Offices and Bank Accounts. 6.86 crore NREGA bank and post office accounts have been opened to disburse wages in FY 2008-09***
• The number of NREGA bank and post office accounts opened has risen to 8.8 crore 80 % of wages is being disbursed through these accounts. Initial experiments in the use of smart cards and biometric signatures for wage payment to NREGA workers in remote villages are being supported***
# Employment Generated during the Year 2010-2011,
http://164.100.12.7/netnrega/writereaddata/citizen_out/DemRegister_1011.html
## List Of Registered Family To Whom Job Card Is not Issued 2010-2011,
http://164.100.12.7/netnrega/writereaddata/state_out/stregnojoball_1011.html
* Social Audit report,
http://164.100.12.7/netnrega/state_html/social_auditNT.aspx?fin_year=2010-2011
** Labour to Material Ratio Analysis for The Financial Year 2010-2011,
http://164.100.12.7/netnrega/writereaddata/state_out/wrk_mat_analysistemp_1011.html
*** Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, Report to the People, 2nd February, 2006-2nd February, 2010, http://nrega.nic.in/circular/Report_to_the_people.pdf
OVERVIEW
The NREGA evokes extreme reactions from supporters and opponents. When the scheme was launched in 200 districts in 2005, and later expanded to cover the entire country in 2008, its advocates hailed it as the beginning of a new era for rural India. However, it enraged India’s influential neo-liberal economists so much that one of them claimed he had found a better way of ‘wasting’ public money: showering of currency notes from helicopters. For now, the skeptics are silent mainly because of three reasons, a) the scheme is widely regarded as successful, b) It is being hailed as an important reason for the UPA’s return to power, and c) the recession-hit Western world is swearing by public expenditure on welfare. Of late, their criticism is mainly confined to corruption and malpractices, which, in all fairness, are rampant though not insurmountable.
The NREGA differs from most poverty mitigation schemes so far in one fundamental way: It recognizes employment as a legal right. Its fringe benefits include inclusion of the rural poor in the banking system, regeneration of community assets and gender equality. The enactment of NREGA also signifies coming of age of Indian advocacy and civil society activism. The credit for converting a somewhat utopian idea into a policy push goes to numerous civil society activists, committed experts and grassroots organizations who worked for years to achieve this. Many of these activists are now working on effective social audits and a system of compensations for delay in wage payments.
Some leading NGOs in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh have enrolled graduate students from leading universities and hip urban youths to run NREGA helpdesks. At places they are also helping in conducting social audits. For instance a month-long struggle with the help of young Delhi University volunteers led to a compensation of Rs 2000 each to 174 villagers in Khunti and Murhu blocks in Jharkhand amounting to Rs 3.48 lakh in June 2009. These villagers’ wages had been delayed in gross violation of the statutes.
Despite the optimism generated by the implementation of the NREGA, it runs the risk of degenerating into yet another government dole in the absence of comprehensive reforms in India’s local governance and public service delivery mechanism. Many experts argue that an effective execution of the NREGA requires a cadre of functionaries accountable to the village Panchayats with adequate funding and a comprehensive roadmap.
