Functioning of the NREGS is a reflection of accountability and responsibility in society at large, observed Anup Mukherjee, principal secretary of the Bihar government's rural development department (RDD), at a state-level advocacy workshop organised by the PACS Programme in Patna on November 10, 2008.

Mukherjee also admitted that the scheme was far from being properly implemented in Bihar.

The workshop saw discussions on a wide range of issues relating to the NREGS. It provided an opportunity for dialogue at all levels, with representation from a number of stakeholders.

Among the hundred-odd participants were dalits, single women, and physically challenged persons from villages who voiced their grievances. Mukhiyas, rozgar sevaks, programme officers and other implementing officials spoke of the hurdles they faced at the panchayat and block levels.

A highlight of the workshop was a session devoted to sharing experiences on how to use the right to information (RTI) to secure benefits under the NREGS. S K Mishra, Secretary, State Information Commission, offered some useful tips on filing RTI applications.

Besides Anup Mukherjee, panellists at the workshop included Dr R R Kanaujia, MLA from Patna; Dr Prakash Louis, PACS Programme consultant and member of the state NREGA council; and Poonam Mehta, PACS Programme officer.

The PACS Programme's NREGS Campaign 2008 in Bihar formally started on June 30, 2008; it covered 490 villages in 19 districts.

In the first phase, CSOs were involved in awareness campaigns in clusters of five villages each, through nukkad nataks and rallies. In the second phase, village-level meetings were held and case studies gathered on positive outcomes and bottlenecks in implementation of the scheme.

In the third phase, the case studies were discussed at four cluster-level advocacy workshops in which all stakeholders, including district magistrates and commissioners, were invited.

The final phase of the campaign was a state-level workshop aimed at putting pressure on the government to rectify problems in NREGS implementation.

Dalits and the NREGS

During the campaign, intensive efforts were made to create awareness among dalits and gather data on their experiences with the scheme. A survey conducted in the Muzaffarpur cluster, encompassing 43 gram panchayats of seven districts (Muzaffarpur, East and West Champaran, Sitamarhi, Vaishali, Saran and Khagore), and involving 25 CSOs, found that:

• No effort had been made by the state government to create awareness about the NREGS in dalit tolas. This effort was made only by PACS Programme CSOs.
• Compared to workers from the general population, fewer dalit households received job cards.
• Caste bias was noted in the allotment of work like digging that requires certain skills.
• Groups of dalit workers were being given work randomly. They were summoned in the morning, without notice, and told to go to a particular site. After a day or two, work ceased. The workers were given no idea when work would next be available. No dalits are involved in the planning process.

Several cases of discrimination against dalits were presented. Karu Manjhi, a Musahar from Pirhinda Musahari, Nawada district, applied for a job card in 2006 but is still to get any work. His wife got work under the scheme for four days only. In Madhopur Dih village, Nalanda, 200 people applied for job cards but were consistently denied work. They then resorted to agitational tactics: 85 people from the Dalit Sangharsh Morcha, a community body formed under the PACS Programme, staged a dharna outside the block office. Eventually, 72 people were given work.

CSOs also observed that hardly any work is undertaken on lands belonging to dalits.

Other excluded groups

A representative of Shakti Varadhini, a CSO working in Raxaul block, East Champaran district, spoke about the difficulties women face, particularly single women. She narrated the case of a widow who had worked for two days at an excavation site and was then told to bring along a male member of the family or else she would have to stop work.

In another case, in Madhopur Dih, Nalanda, women were told they could not participate in ongoing works as it entailed digging and removing soil. Members of the self-help group Ganga lobbied intensively at the panchayat level and were able to secure work for eight women, on condition that the men would dig the soil and the women lift it.

Apart from such instances, women find it difficult to get work. CSO representatives stressed that more thought must be given to ensuring that a larger number of women get work they are able to do easily.

Problems of the physically challenged were also presented at the workshop and again it was clear that there is a lot of ignorance about providing them suitable work. A representative from Bhartiya Viklang Sangh revealed that in the organisatio n's work area, 10 physically disabled people had been given job cards but no work.

Bottlenecks

One of the main hurdles CSOs encountered at various stages of the NREGS campaign was ignorance and indifference among officials and panchayat representatives.

Kanchan Seva, a CSO in the Gaya cluster, reported that every mukhiya in its work area had confessed to being unaware of the scheme.

At the village level there is a lot of confusion about the NREGS and other schemes. CSO reported that before the PACS Programme awareness drive, people in 90% of villages covered under the campaign, in Bodh Gaya district, did not even know that the NREGS was a government scheme. Many villagers who had been given job cards were using it as raddi (waste).

Another observation was that gram sevaks and rozgar sevaks face a lot of pressure from mukhiyas, contractors and people with vested interests. In some instances, rozgar sevaks have been given charge of more than three panchayats and are finding it extremely difficult to manage the work responsibility.

Among issues that need to be addressed are:

• Time taken to distribute job cards must be reduced.
• Oral demands for jobs are high; there are not enough jobs to meet this demand. There is no shelf of works at the block and panchayat level. Programme officers must be suitably trained in both job- and asset-creation.
• There is widespread ignorance about how to avail of unemployment allowance. In many cases officials deliberately do not give out this information as they fear they will be punished for not providing jobs. In Madanpur panchayat, Madhubani, people went to court demanding unemployment allowance.
• In many instances, gram sabha proceedings are not recorded.

This workshop was also an opportunity for motivated programme officers, rozgar sevaks and mukhiyas to share their experiences.

Manjula Devi, the mukhiya of Vashi panchayat, Madhubani, spoke of the difficulties she faced in getting works started even though there were funds available to the tune of Rs 6 lakh. Despite several hurdles placed by the rozgar sevak, she managed to get a pond in her village renovated. But the workers were not paid. Manjula Devi produced written evidence of her request to the district magistrate for the payments to be expedited. These were handed over to principal secretary of the Bihar government's rural development department Anup Mukherjee.

The secretary said that all complaints and case studies relating to irregularities should be given to his office in writing, on a PACS Programme letterhead, so that a proper investigation could be carried out. He promised redressal of specific complaints voiced at the workshop.

Mukherjee also suggested that there could be a competition to encourage good work, and that incentives could be given for best practices.

Admitting that gram sabhas were not functioning properly, he said there would be fixed dates for meetings and that random checks would be carried out to ensure that the meetings were properly conducted.

Mukherjee added that one technical agency would be assigned for every 10 panchayats, to assist local officials.

An electronic muster roll was being tested in panchayats in Patna district, he announced. Each worker would be given a smart card that would record his/her fingerprints when swiped at the worksite. The card would record the date and GPS quadrants of the site, thereby ensuring that the muster rolls were not tampered with. If successful, the technology would be implemented all over the state, Mukherjee said.

He also promised a helpline at the panchayat level for speedy redressal of grievances.

Use of RTI

During the post-lunch session, a number of case studies were presented of workers who had used RTI to procure job cards or access muster rolls.

In Madnapur panchayat, Lakhnaur block, Madhubani district, around 78 workers received employment under the NREGS, in June 2007. They worked for 7-21 days. Their job cards were then taken away by a member of the zilla parishad who promised that the cards would be returned soon.

When this did not happen for several months, the workers filed an RTI application with the help of a PACS Programme CSO, Society for Awareness And Development (SAAD), in January 2008, demanding a copy of the muster rolls.

The muster rolls showedpayments of Rs 4 lakh to the workers. The job cards too showed the payments although the workers had received nothing. In September 2008, during the NREGS campaign, SAAD went to court on the matter.

After hearing the case at the workshop, Mukherjee ordered an inquiry.

Meanwhile, the people of Madnapur have been facing the wrath of the block and district administration.

The rozgar sevak asked people in the village to apply for work; accordingly, the mukhiya received 800 applications. But the rozgar sevak was promptly transferred, said a SAAD representative.

Road construction work worth Rs 1.5 lakh has since been sanctioned in the panchayat but it is not enough to accommodate all the applicants. Around 400 people have applied for unemployment allowance.

State Information Commission Secretary Mishra suggested that for optimum use of RTI, applications should be filed collectively on issues with wider ramifications.

He urged participants to remember that RTI was the beginning, not the end in the fight for justice. Vigorous follow-up is necessary to take matters to their logical conclusion. He urged CSOs to direct petitioners to restrict their applications to three clear and specific questions. "Reduce quantity to improve quality," he said.

Advocacy from the ground up

Wrapping up the proceedings, PACS Programme consultant Prakash Louis stated that the NREGS campaign had shown how CSOs adopting a rights-based approach could be successful in improving implementation of the scheme.

There was the need to maintain sustained pressure at the ground level, he said, suggesting that advocacy should be done from the ground up, not the other way round.

Whilst evaluating the efforts of CSOs, one should not look merely at issues like how many people were able to get job cards, he said. The focus should be on how people could then access their rights.