Unless beneficiaries of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act/Scheme (NREGA/S) in Madhya Pradesh are helped to understand the scheme and their entitlements under it, they will not derive any benefit from it.

This was the key finding of a campaign organised under the PACS Programme in three regions of Madhya Pradesh to assess how the NREGA is being implemented in the state.

The village-level campaign, carried out from August 9 to 22, 2008, in Maikal, in the central Madhya Pradesh and Bundelkhand regions of Madhya Pradesh, 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 Madhya Pradesh, the campaign is being run by 39 civil society organisations (CSOs) in 167 villages of three districts in Maikal cluster -- Balaghat, Raisen and Seoni -- and six districts in the central Madhya Pradesh cluster -- Hoshangabad, Sagar, Chhindwara, Betul, Vidisha and Mandla. In the Bundelkhand cluster, 77 villages are covered in seven districts: Chhatarpur, Tikamgarh, Damoh, Vidisha, Raisen, Panna and Gwalior.

Campaign activities

A series of cluster-level workshops was first held between July 16 and 19, 2008, to discuss issues related to implementation of the NREGS.

The village-level campaign was undertaken through rallies, corner meetings, public meetings, padyatras and street plays. Press releases were sent out, and posters and pamphlets distributed widely in villages with information on the NREGS.

The following were some important issues that emerged during the campaign.

Job cards

There was rampant misuse of job cards. In Dhanwahi village, Beejadandi block, Mandla district, one person's name was on several job cards although the actual work was done by other people.

Workers were unaware that they had to keep their job cards with them. The cards were with the sarpanch, which led to their misuse.

In many districts there were disputes over entries made in job cards. Villagers either claimed that the number of days shown was less, or that the job cards of people who hadn't worked at all had been filled in.

Moreover, while the sarpanch has to give a receipt after accepting the application form, in many cases this was not done; neither were entries made in the job cards.

In two districts, Damoh and Chhatarpur, a number of people still had to be issued job cards.

Payment

Wages were not paid according to the prevailing wage rate. For example, in Padariya Himmatsingh village in Raisen district, labourers employed to build a road were paid at the old wage rate of Rs 69.17 per day although the rate had been revised to Rs 85 per day. It was only when they protested and showed that they knew what was due to them that the sarpanch agreed to pay them the revised rate. However, until September 25, 2008, the workers had not yet received payment which has been pending since May 2008.

In Bharga village in Seoni district, 150 labourers who had worked on building an approach road, dug wells and carried out field-bunding work received no payment whatsoever even after raising the issue at the gram panchayat meeting. One of them, Santulal, then filed an application under the Right to Information Act, on May 17, 2007, to find out why the wages had not been paid. The panchayat refused to take the application, but Santulal persisted. On May 25, 2007, Santulal and the other labourers not only received an explanation for the delay in payment but were paid a total sum of Rs 25,000.

Unemployment allowance had not been paid to some people in three villages -- Nayatola in Baihar block, Balaghat district; Khamkhera in Begumganj block, Raisen district; and Khursipar in Nainpur block, Mandla district.

Some women in the Bundelkhand region reported that they had not been paid the same as men although they had done the same amount of work.

Indifferent local bodies

Callousness and indifference on the part of local leaders such as the sarpanch has delayed the process of NREGS implementation in many districts.

In Jaitgarh village, Raisen district, several villagers belonging mostly to the scheduled tribes demanded work on April 4, 2008. The sarpanch ignored their demand. It was only when they threatened to claim unemployment allowance that they were provided work, on April 20.

Moreover, sarpanchs often give work to people close to them; in some cases more than 100 days of work were provided to some people.

Little effort had been made to ensure that a gram sabha is held before the list of beneficiaries is prepared and work commences. Hence, labourers engaged in work elsewhere could not report for work in their villages.

General low awareness about the scheme among people is due to the reluctance of officials to popularise it. This was particularly true in Alna village in Baihar block, Balaghat district, and Kothikhoh and Tekapar villages in Begumganj block in Raisen district.

For people who cannot read or write there is no one to assist them in filling out work applications.

Demand for work

Large-scale migration takes place in these areas because too little work is provided and people cannot earn enough. Villagers want NREGS work to be provided on a regular basis so that migration is entirely eliminated.

In Lato village, Mandla district, families were forced to migrate as their farm earnings were meagre. Around 70% of the population here belong to scheduled tribes (STs); most fall in the BPL (below the poverty line) category. During the PACS Programme campaign it was found that migration declined by 50% after implementation of the NREGS. As a consequence there was greater demand for work, which was not forthcoming.

Persons with disability have often been turned away or provided work that did not match their capabilities. At best, they were given digging work. In some places it was observed that they had been falsely informed that the government had not defined any work for people with disabilities.

Vigilance and monitoring

Many villagers felt the need for an independent monitoring and vigilance committee to ensure transparency in the scheme. In Mendki village, Balaghat district, members of self-help groups (SHGs) noticed that the NREGS monitoring committee consisted only of panchayat members.

Sukwaro Vishwakarma, president of the Durga SHG, took the initiative of setting up a monitoring committee of village women, on June 9, 2008, to monitor all work done under the NREGS and apprise villagers of the details. This encouraged villagers to file applications demanding work.

Facilities

According to the scheme, a first-aid box, shelter and crche must be made available to workers and their families at the worksite. No such arrangements were found; at some sites only water was being provided.

Campaign outcomes

The campaign saw some immediate results. In Chhatarpur district, job cards were issued to people who had not received them. Rozgar calendars were prepared in six villages in the district. These were submitted to the gram panchayat to ensure that work was provided during the time periods shown in the calendar.

In Tikamgarh district, 45 applications demanding work were filed in one gram panchayat.

The campaign reiterated that people need a thorough understanding of the scheme if they are to become proactive and fight for their rights. At the same time, repeated follow-up campaigns are required to ensure that the scheme is being implemented properly.

Finally, the campaign revealed that knowledge about the NREGS had provided communities the opportunity to use other legal provisions, such as the RTI Act, to their advantage.