NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) is said to be one of the best policies designed for the poor in recent decades. It was implemented in 2005. The effort of implementing this scheme goes to Left and Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sanghtan(MKSS), and National Campaign’s Right to Information(NCPRI). Not to forget Mr. Jacques Dreze for his significant contribution.
The Act is implemented to guarantee employment for at least 100 days per household per year. During the first year of the implementation there were some implementation flaws and that led to siphoning off money. There were many cases of false muster rolls. Only with execution of RTI Act the magnitude has been brought down. Right to Information (RTI) Act in 2005 with which anyone can request for the information of the muster rolls and can do the social auditing.
The idea of a social audit was conceived of by Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sanghtan (MKSS) in the state of Rajasthan when it was found that there was large-scale fraud in drought-relief work. MKSS then demanded information from local authorities about work done and payments made and verified this by comparing official data with the field reality. Soon villagers realized that they had been defrauded and millions of rupees worth of work shown as having been completed was, in fact, never even taken up in the first place. Old public works were passed off as new. Local contractors and elites had received payments for non-existent structures. Wages were supposed to have been paid to people who did not exist in the village. This movement, which started in a few districts in the state of Rajasthan, led to a countrywide demand for a Right to Information (RTI) legislation and an employment guarantee Act.
NREGA, supposed to create purchasing power among workers. People working on NREGA sites spend this additional money, they create demand for commodities. The production of these commodities, in turn, creates demand for capital, raw materials and workers. The extra incomes so generated cause further demand, which again provides a stimulus to production, employment and demand ... and so on in a spiral.
Millions of small and marginal farmers forced to work under NREGA because the productivity of their own farms is no longer enough to make ends meet. NREGA will become really powerful when it helps rebuild this decimated productivity of small farms. Public investment in the programme incentivises private investment by small farmers and gives them a chance to return to full-time farming. Especially in the central Indian tribal belt, arguably the poorest parts of the country. Here earthen dams on common land have recharged wells of those poor farmers who earlier worked as labourers to build these dams. These farmers are now busy making a series of investments to improve their own farms.
Recently, with the impending financial crisis many NGO’s requested for the Act to be designed for the urban areas also. Who knows there might be NUEGA (National Urban Employment Guarantee Act) in near future?
-Optimistic Indian
The Act is implemented to guarantee employment for at least 100 days per household per year. During the first year of the implementation there were some implementation flaws and that led to siphoning off money. There were many cases of false muster rolls. Only with execution of RTI Act the magnitude has been brought down. Right to Information (RTI) Act in 2005 with which anyone can request for the information of the muster rolls and can do the social auditing.
The idea of a social audit was conceived of by Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sanghtan (MKSS) in the state of Rajasthan when it was found that there was large-scale fraud in drought-relief work. MKSS then demanded information from local authorities about work done and payments made and verified this by comparing official data with the field reality. Soon villagers realized that they had been defrauded and millions of rupees worth of work shown as having been completed was, in fact, never even taken up in the first place. Old public works were passed off as new. Local contractors and elites had received payments for non-existent structures. Wages were supposed to have been paid to people who did not exist in the village. This movement, which started in a few districts in the state of Rajasthan, led to a countrywide demand for a Right to Information (RTI) legislation and an employment guarantee Act.
NREGA, supposed to create purchasing power among workers. People working on NREGA sites spend this additional money, they create demand for commodities. The production of these commodities, in turn, creates demand for capital, raw materials and workers. The extra incomes so generated cause further demand, which again provides a stimulus to production, employment and demand ... and so on in a spiral.
Millions of small and marginal farmers forced to work under NREGA because the productivity of their own farms is no longer enough to make ends meet. NREGA will become really powerful when it helps rebuild this decimated productivity of small farms. Public investment in the programme incentivises private investment by small farmers and gives them a chance to return to full-time farming. Especially in the central Indian tribal belt, arguably the poorest parts of the country. Here earthen dams on common land have recharged wells of those poor farmers who earlier worked as labourers to build these dams. These farmers are now busy making a series of investments to improve their own farms.
Recently, with the impending financial crisis many NGO’s requested for the Act to be designed for the urban areas also. Who knows there might be NUEGA (National Urban Employment Guarantee Act) in near future?
-Optimistic Indian
NREGA...RTI and Nuclear Deal are the best that happened in the last five years...
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