Despite the adverse circumstances, however, PACS Programme partners have been making various efforts to popularise the scheme and effect implementation of its different stages, from registration to payment of wages.

In the 13 NREGS districts of Uttar Pradesh covered by the PACS Programme, a week-long (January 25-31, 2007) ‘Hisaab do, jawaab do’ (accountability) drive was undertaken to assess the field-level status of the NREGS and discuss the facts with the concerned officials.

During the drive it was found that of the 610 villages covered by the PACS Programme in these 13 districts, the NREGS was active in 520 villages.

The number of applications for registrations submitted in the 520 villages was 83,118; over 73,000 applicants had received job cards. Work had been provided to 38,403 families for 436,077 man-days. Interestingly, 1,661 families had received an unemployment allowance.

(To read a detailed report, in PDF format, on the status of the NREGS in Uttar Pradesh’s PACS Programme districts, with district-wise and CSO-wise data, click here.)

Much of this can be attributed to the efforts of PACS Programme CSOs to promote the NREGS at the village level, and lobby for work sanctions.

One major initiative was NREGS Week, organised in June 2006. It included a state-wide Rozgar Adhikar Yatra organised with the National Conference of Dalit Organisations (NACDOR), a confederation of over 300 grassroots dalit organisations.

The yatra was marked by public hearings in all 22 districts in the state covered by the NREGS. People narrated the problems they faced, such as reluctance of officials to register names, particularly of women, non-issuance of job cards, discrimination in allotting work and job cards, etc. It was also obvious that information about the scheme had not been disseminated among the people. Read a report on the findings of the NREGS week here.

During ‘Hisaab do, jawaab do’ week, too, the following major bottlenecks were identified:

• Lack of knowledge about the scheme among people.
• Ignorance about the provisions of the scheme among gram pradhans and gram vikas adhikaris.
• Demands for money to prepare job cards.
• Improper payments; minimum wages not paid.
• Use of machines in some areas to get work done.
• Lack of facilities for women who take their children to work.
• Lack of provisions for differently-abled children.

All these problems become advocacy and awareness-building challenges for PACS Programme partners in Uttar Pradesh’s NREGS districts.

Some PACS Programme CSOs and community bodies founded or supported by them have already registered significant successes. For instance, in Mahorchha village, Naraini block (Banda), a network partner of the Akhil Bhartiya Samaj Sewa Sansthan (ABSSS) raised the issue of tractors being used to dig a Rs 6 lakh pond under the NREGS. After this was exposed in the media, a panchayat committee was formed to oversee the work and 120 job card holders were provided work at the site.