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It almost seems like a mini-revolution. In one of the
most backward districts of the Hindi heartland, in an
area which is traditionally neglected by public policy
and where most citizens’ experience of the state is
oppressive rather than sympathetic, there is suddenly
a very different feeling of optimism and sense of rights,
creating new expectations among ordinary people that
are almost palpable, and new pressures upon the local
government machinery to deliver to meet these expectations.
Suddenly,
rural workers expect to be offered work and be paid
the minimum wage for it; local officials and panchayat
representatives feel the need to display all the relevant
information about the work they are providing; they
even seek advice from the local community about the
works to be taken up. And this whole process sends out
a very powerful message of hope that can have positive
repercussions across the country.
A common criticism of large public expenditures directed
towards improving the conditions of the poor or less
well off sections, is that the problems of public service
delivery and corruption ensure that the poor rarely
benefit or benefit only partially from these programmes.
For more than two decades, ever since Rajiv Gandhi came
out which his much misquoted speech in which he suggested
that for every rupee spent, only 15 paise reached the
poor beneficiary, this argument has been trotted out
to oppose any increase in public spending for the poor.
This argument has also been used against the National
Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). While this Act
has great potential to transform economic conditions
in rural areas, it has met with much resistance at every
stage. One commonly expressed view is that this is no
more than money down the drain, since the money spent
will be siphoned off by intermediaries or be spent inefficiently
in ways that are not productive or beneficial.
Yet this is not necessary, certainly in principle, or
even in practice, because the Act itself has included
many provisions to ensure greater community participation
and monitoring, through the panchayats, and more public
disclosure of important information such as the muster
rolls of workers. Also, the Right to Information Act
has enabled citizens to ask for information that will
allow them to check on whether expenditures are being
correctly made and thereby prevent leakages as far as
possible.
Of course, whether these more optimistic possibilities
work themselves out depends on a number of conditions.
Most importantly, none of this is possible without social
mobilisation. But once such mobilisation occurs and
is widespread, then it creates a momentum that is hard
to stop, and which will definitely have ripple effects
in surrounding areas as well.
An ongoing process of mobilisation and social audit
that is taking place in Dungarpur district of Rajasthan
shows how public awareness and social pressure, combined
in this case with a committed and responsive district
administration, can create dramatic changes not only
in the implementation of this programme, but even in
the way the local government works.
The Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, which has been working
in Rajasthan for more than two decades, took up the
challenge of a comprehensive social mobilisation for
the employment guarantee in this district, which is
extremely backward with a large tribal population. The
mobilisation involved as many as 658 volunteer participants
from all over India, 250 from the district itself, as
well as 10 from Bangladesh. They were organised into
different groups that fanned out, covering the district
in padayatras, going to as many villages and worksites
as possible, and staying with the villagers, two to
a household for a night at a time.
Jan sunwais - public hearings - were held in as many
places as possible, and the process culminated in a
huge sammelan held at the district headquarters, where
bureaucrats and officials involved in the process were
also invited, to hear first hand of the actual conditions
at the work sites.
The purpose of this exercise was simple: to make the
NREGA successful. And the underlying principle was that
this could be done simply by ensuring that the provisions
of the law were actually upheld in the implementation,
though constant and vigilant social monitoring.
The results have been both impressive and inspiring.
The mobilisation initiative has shown that when people
are made aware of their rights and when the local authorities
are forced to adhere to basic principles of transparency,
there is huge response in terms of worker participation,
reasonably efficient working of even a very new scheme
and very little leakage.
In Dungarpur, the programme has been operating only
for slightly more than a month, but already around 150,000
workers have been employed, covering more than half
the families living in rural Dungarpur. More than 14,000
works have been opened. The participation of women workers
was as high as 73 per cent in the work sites visited
by the padayatris, which is remarkable in a state where
the latest NSS Survey suggests that the work participation
rate of rural women is only 25 per cent.
Almost all the works were organised by the panchayats,
and no case was found of works being handed over to
contractors. All the work sites visited (except one)
had the muster rolls displayed or available for inspection.
Despite the huge number of sites visited, only 15 complaints
from workers were received during the padayatra, and
17 complaints were received from individuals separately.
Of course, all sorts of other problems emerged or were
identified during this process. The selection of works,
especially watershed works, has often been ad hoc and
unrelated to any overall district plan. The issue of
the unemployment benefit has not been adequately clarified,
and both the authorities and workers were confused about
the terms and conditions. Since task or piece rate work
appears to dominate, the problems of work norms and
measurement of work for payment have become serious,
leading to wage payments much lower than the stipulated
minimum wage of Rs. 73 for a day’s work - in most of
the sites visited, the wages paid were between Rs. 40
and Rs. 60 per day. There were many cases of delayed
wage payments or only part payments. There were issues
related to absence of shade for rest period (especially
given the scorching heat) and inadequate medical facilities
on site.
But the most significant problem that emerged clearly
was the shortage of administrative staff to run this
important programme. Both the district administration
and the panchayats are faced with a huge challenge in
which their current staffing is completely inadequate.
In particular, engineers are required at all levels
to plan and supervise the projects, in addition to more
administrative staff to manage activities, do the accounts,
etc. Without much more allocation for such staff, it
will be extremely difficult to sustain this programme
even in places where it has taken off well.
This means that the proportion of expenditure allocated
for running this programme must definitely be increased,
from the current 2 per cent to at least 6 per cent and
possibly more depending upon the particular conditions
of some districts. Most of all, there should be no delays
in receiving funds from the Centre, which unfortunately
has already started going slow in terms of making available
the necessary funds transfers. The NREGA is in its incipient
phase and since it is conceived as a guarantee which
is therefore demand-led, the programme must have access
to continuous flow of funds if it is to succeed.
In fact, the apparent lack of enthusiasm of the Central
Government in making this programme work has other serious
consequences. There are rumours that the Centre is planning
to impose a ''National Advisory Wage'' of Rs. 60 across
the country for the programme, regardless of the prevailing
minimum wages in states. This would inevitably expose
state governments to litigation, and certainly cause
delays and confusion in the programme, so it would effectively
be one way of destroying it.
Since it is now apparent that the programme can indeed
work, and that criticisms of wastage also can be dealt
with through public vigilance, there is now no excuse
for trying to destroy it through other means. But this
means that vigilance is required even in terms of monitoring
the Central Government, to ensure that the NREGA actually
does fulfil its transformatory potential.
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