Column

Cynics might be miser in underscoring the need and success of the national rural employment guarantee scheme (NREGS), but the fact is, the most vulnerable section of society that has benefited from this multi-billion project craves for more hours to work.

About 2,000 of them were up in arms in Bihar. A special lok adalat was held last February which urged the political governance to supplement working hours for the rural unemployed.

Around that time CJI KG Balkrishnan addressed legal pundits, social sector players and bureaucrats in Bangalore expressing concern at certain hidden aspects of the scheme.

Sharing his concern with the comptroller and auditor general (CAG), CJI listed some problems haunting the 2005 scheme part of the government’s rural package of Rs30,100 crore.

“The unholy nexus between local contractors and government officials is complicated by social realities such as exploitation of illiterate workers, particularly SCs, STs, and women,” Balakrishnan lamented.

CAG’s findings last year also indicated misappropriation in the scheme. It spotted excess reporting of 6.06 lakh man days of cumulative employment in Purulia, West Bengal. It also highlighted inflated reporting of fund utilisation of Rs0.99 crore in West Midnapore and Purulia.

It pointed out fake increase in expenditure of Rs174.29 lakh in Maharashtra, where photographs of 1,093 beneficiaries weren’t affixed on job cards. Each job card holder is entitled to 100 hours of work at a minimum Rs92 a day.

Similarly, photographs were not affixed on 3,189 job cards in Jharkhand. Development economist Jean Drèze, who conducted a survey of 200 districts in 2006-07, hints at the casual attitude of the Centre towards its own money. Given that around 90% of NREGS fund comes from the Centre, the government has both a right and a duty to enforce high standards of transparency and accountability, he feels.