Awareness about the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and Scheme (NREGA/S) is still very low in Chhattisgarh. Even after raising awareness, strong follow-up support will be needed if the NREGS is to have an impact in the state.

This was a key finding of an awareness-raising and fact-finding campaign organised under the PACS Programme in three districts of Chhattisgarh.

The campaign, carried out from August 8 to September 23, 2008, was the first phase of NREGS Campaign 2008, initiated by the Management Consultants of the PACS Programme in consultation with DFID-India (to read about NREGS Campaign 2008 click here).

In Chhattisgarh, the campaign is run by nine PACS Programme CSOs in 25 villages, in nine blocks of three districts -- Rajnandgaon, Surguja and Kanker.

The NREGS was launched in 11 districts of Chhattisgarh in April 2006, including three PACS Programme districts -- Surguja, Rajnandgaon and Kawardha. Another five districts were included in the second phase, in 2007; Durg was added during the third phase.

Campaign activities

The village campaign employed different methods to inform people about the NREGS such as wall writing, using slogans related to various provisions of the scheme, and holding rallies.

In addition, village youth were trained in provisions of the Act and scheme. Newspaper cuttings were used to inform smaller groups about the Acts provisions.

Public meetings were followed by public interactions. In Kanker district, a meeting was held with the minister concerned.

Throughout the campaign people were informed about their rights and entitlements under the NREGA, how to demand work, the importance of job cards and how they should be used, provisions related to payment of wages, grievance mechanism for delayed payments, types of work and selection of a shelf of projects, institutional mechanism and social audit, and the right to information.

The campaign involved interactions with government functionaries like forest guards, patwaris, janpad CEOs and gram panchayat representatives.

The picture that emerges from all these interactions makes it clear that a lot of work needs to be done, both in raising awareness about the NREGA among potential beneficiaries and in improving the schemes administration.

The following are key issues of concern that emerged:

Job cards

Job cards that should be in the possession of beneficiaries are most often with the sarpanch or secretary. Workers cannot therefore verify entries made in their job cards.

Demand for work

Issuing job cards is only the first step in getting work started under the NREGS. People with job cards have to file a demand for work. Beneficiaries are unaware of this; many have not demanded work. Even when they have, they have neither been given work nor any unemployment allowance. Moreover, work has only been provided for a few days although there is a huge demand for work.

Payment

There are considerable delays in wage payment, the usual excuse being that the gram panchayat has not received the money. Labourers cannot verify the accuracy of this statement as payments are handled solely by the sarpanch and the secretary.

Workers have no way of checking details, such as whether muster rolls are being correctly kept, and are totally dependent on what the sarpanch and secretary tell them.

There were instances where women were paid lower wages than men for the same work. Payments are considerably delayed, in some cases by over a year.

Involvement of gram sabhas

Across the campaign villages, the involvement of gram sabhas in preparing micro plans and identifying priority works was barely visible. The shelf of projects is made out without any consultations with the community.

In fact, in most villages people were not aware that they had a role to play in preparing micro projects. As a consequence there is no link between the shelf of projects and what people and the village actually want and need.

Additionally, the community is ignorant about the cost estimates of projects that have secured technical and administrative sanction at the block level.

Other issues

Worksite facilities are generally poor. Though water is usually available at the worksite, there is no provision for medical aid or a crche.

Panchayats are poor in keeping and maintaining records; they must be made to understand the importance of this function.

Work that can be undertaken by people with disabilities must be identified. According to official figures, only 3,052 people with disabilities have been provided employment in the state.

No works are started during the kharif season despite there being demand for work at this time.

Campaign outcomes

The campaign demonstrated what could be achieved if people knew their rights and entitlements. In Surguja, delayed wages amounting to Rs 30,000 were paid under pressure from the campaign.

Also in Surguja district, the campaign helped draw up a micro plan in Kuniya Kala village for a pond costing Rs 3.5 lakh. The Ambikapur block CEO witnessed the campaign and recommended that it be showcased as a model village in NREGA implementation.