MGNREGA helping poor but Govt. needs to focus on regular payments to beneficiaries

Rs.4.34 crores outstanding wages in 6 Blocks of Ferozepur

MGNREGA helping poor but Govt. needs to focus on regular payments to beneficiaries

Under New Software, Centre to transfer wages to beneficiaries directly

Modi Govt. had mocked the Congress and retained it as monument to failures of Congress after 60 years of Indpendence

Ferozepur, February 9, 2016:  National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 which later renamed as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act or MGNREGA is an Indian Labour Law and Social Security measure that aims to guarantee the ‘right to work’.

The MGNREGA scheme is serving the poor but the poverty debate in India needs to focus more on helping the poor than projecting a bleeding heart at their plight. Under the scheme, labour-intensive tasks like creating infrastructure for water, harvesting, drought relief and flood control are preferred.

Starting from200 districts on February 2,2066, the NREGA covered all the districts of India from April 1, 2008. It is one of the largest and most ambitious social security and public works programme in the world.  In its World Development Report 2014, the World bank termed it a stellar example of rural development.

A NCAER study of 2015 showed that the Act helped in lowering poverty by almost 32 per cent between 2004-05 to 2011-12 and prevented almost 14 million people from falling into poverty.
 

Though the scheme to ensure 100 days employment in a year to rural households had come as a boon, but the issue of delayed wages is proving a major hurdle.

In all the six Blocks in Ferozepur district – Ferozepur, Ghall Khurd, Guruharsahai, Makhu, Mamdot and Zira – the total cumulative expenditure – actual and administrative expenses – is Rs.1000.83 lakhs, out of which Rs.434 lakh is still to be paid when only months left for current financial year to end.  The total beneficiaries in Ferozepur are 72,259 against the 11,44,773 in Punjab.

As per the details available, the total expenditure  during 2015-16 on unskilled wages is Rs..590.08 and Rs.377.05 lakh besides tax of Rs.27 lakh and recurring expenditure of Rs.33.44 lakh.

The maximum work during 2015-16 under MGNREGA has been allotted in two blocks – Guruharsahai (Rs.319.31 lakh) and Mamdot (Rs.207.04 lakh) followed by Ghall Khurd (Rs.159.38 lakh), Makhu (Rs.139.59), Ferozepur (Rs.90.01 lakh) and Zira (Rs.85.01 lakh).

Under the scheme, workers are entitled to get wages within 15 days and failing this, they are entitled to compensation as per the provisions of the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 (NREGA, Schedule II, rue 30).  Further, under Section 15 of the Act, the compensation amount has to be no less than Rs.1500, said the official.  But neither actual wages are paid regularly nor compensation is being paid to the workers, he rued.

According to the scheme, against the total funds allocation during the financial year are used as 60 per cent on Labour and 40 per cent on Material.

Another feature of the scheme to benefit the registered beneficiaries is that they can be engaged by clubbing of any other scheme.

Official speaking to this correspondent said, “To avoid any pilferage of funds, as per the provision, the wages are paid to all MGNREGA beneficiaries directly in their bank accounts.  Since it is a Centre sponsored scheme, new software is being developed to transfer the funds direct from the Delhi to the individual account of the registered under MGNREGA scheme.”

In fact, the delay in wage transfers has come down. Infact, Centre claims that it now transfers funds to state governments within 48 hours of generation of FTO (Fund Transfer Order). Earlier, this took more than a month and of the 9.73 crore active MGNREGA workers, 5.53 crore have Aadhar seeded bank accounts.
The job work is assigned by the concerned Gram Panchayat to be supervised by Projection officer and JE engaged for the purpose under the Administrative Head.   MGNREGA is implemented mainly by Gram Panchayats (GPs) and involvement of contractor is totally banned.

From political point of view, added here that Prime Minister, Narendera Modi on the floor of Parliament mocked the Congress for having to resort to programme like MGNREGA even 60 years after independence.  He reportedly said, ‘My political acumen has told me to keep it alive as a monument to your failures since Indpendence.  After 60 years, you are still making people dig holes”.