Five years is a short period but the achievements are awesome. About ten crore poorest of India’s poor have opened personal accounts in banks or post offices; people demand work because it is their right; it has already regenerated ponds and water bodies and other community assets in thousands of villages; men and women get equal wages for equal work and ordinary people have a right to audit development works and expenditure; people are participating more in their affairs and making a difference. Clearly, employment is just one of its many tangible benefits.
The Ministry of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, now under a new Cabinet minister, has three big challenges before it, a) pay legal minimum wages to NREGS workers; b) draft precise social audit rules and set up an independent organization/ institution for holding social audits everywhere on the lines of Andhra Pradesh, and c) restore the institutional involvement of the civil society in social audits and put a stop to the practice of village Panchayats auditing their own work.
The scheme has fared well despite corruption and systemic inefficiency. The government has revised the wages and also promised to link them with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) though for some inexplicable reason it has shied away from implementing minimum wages in NREGS works despite a high court order to this effect. At many places, the elected panchayat heads whose job is to implement grassroots schemes have emerged as its biggest enemies. There is no dearth of positive or negative stories about NREGS implementation and you can take your pick! Different sections of the Inclusive Media site, such as news alerts, backgrounders, success stories and videos, have compiled a wealth of information about NREGS in India.
(Inclusive Media team has regularly updated information about MGMREGA over the past two years and the links at the bottom take you to these updates and related information)
Following are some salient features of the MG-NREGA as of now, until early 2011:
• 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#
• Nearly, 4.24 crore households demanded employment and 4.25 crore households were provided employment at the national level during 2010-11 (as read on 1 February, 2011)#
• Nearly, 6.77 crore persons demanded employment during 2010-11 as on 1 February and 6.82 crore persons were provided employment#
• 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
Further readings:
Maximum Dithering for Minimum Wages!, http://www.im4change.org/news-alert/maximum-dithering-for-minimum-wages-5575.html
NREGA 2010: Politics in Slow Motion?, http://www.im4change.org/news-alert/nrega-2010-politics-in-slow-motion-4763.html
What is wrong with MG-NREGA? http://www.im4change.org/news-alert/what-is-wrong-with-mg-nrega-4237.html
MGNREGA: Mixed success so far, http://www.im4change.org/news-alert/mgnrega-mixed-success-so-far-3513.html
The Biggest MNREGA Scam in Rajasthan, http://www.im4change.org/news-alert/the-biggest-mnrega-scam-in-rajasthan-1911.html
Social Audit of NREGS in Araria reveals corruption, http://www.im4change.org/news-alert/social-audit-of-nregs-in-araria-reveals-corruption-870.html
