In the Naxal-affected Chandrapur district of the state, a silent revolution is on for some years, in which local unemployed youths use the MGNREG Act as well as RTI Act to ensure employment.
In the Naxal-affected Chandrapur district of the state, a silent revolution is on for some years, in which local unemployed youths use the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREG) Act as well as Right To Information (RTI) Act to ensure employment.
More than 1,500 families in 15 villages have benefited by this movement without a single agitation. Vijay Dethe, a young activist from Chandrapur district, who launched this ‘revolution’ was felicitated in Pune recently. He was given the Kritadyata Puraskar by Kritadyata Trust recently at a function. The award includes Rs25,000 in cash.
He said that the state government passed the employment guarantee act in 1977 but even after 30 years, it was not implemented in his area. Meanwhile, the central government passed a law in 2005 with wide ranging provisions to ensure employment.
Dethe said, “It is necessary to file an application to demand work under the scheme. But the local government officer did not provide the application also. Activists had to pursue the matter to get application form. There were problems at every stage. Even when the work was given, it was allocated at distant places.”
In Dethe’s village with population of about 7,000, this movement ensured employment to more than 100 youths. Subsequently the movement spread to other villages.
Using the provisions of the law for employment guarantee to file application and then tracking the progress of application by using Right to Information Act, 2005 was the strategy followed by the unemployed youth in these villages. Presently, more than 1,500 families have benefited by the employment.
He said that members of the group gather at night and discuss issues. Decisions are taken only by consensus, and the communication with the government agencies is only through documents.
But this legal fight has ensured happiness in lives of hundreds of families. Each of them gets as much as Rs7,000 per month thanks to this employment. The beneficiaries give one percent of their income every month as donation to their union. Job seekers have become donors in remote villages of Chandrapur!
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