gsmaterial.blogspot.com: February 2016

National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005

History

Using public employment as a social security measure and for poverty alleviation measure in rural areas has a long history in India. After three decades of experimentation, the government launched major schemes like Jawahar Rozgar Yojana, Employment Assurance Scheme, Food for Work Programme, Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana and Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana that were forerunners to Mahatma Gandhi NREGA. Unlike its precursors, the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA guaranteed employment as a legal right.

Maharashtra was the first state to enact an employment guarantee act in the 1970s.

n later years, major employment schemes like Jawahar Rozgar Yojana (JRY) in 1977, National Rural Employment Programme (NREP) in 1980, Employment Assurance Scheme (EAS), Food for Work Programme (NFFWP) in 2004, Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana (JGSY) andSampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY) were launched. Some of them (e.g. NFFWP) provided foodgrains to complement wages

n 1 April 1989, to converge employment generation, infrastructure development and food security in rural areas, the government integrated NREP and RLEGP[n 1] into a new scheme JRY. The most significant change was the decentralization of implementation by involving local people through PRIs and hence a decreasing role of bureaucracy.[11]

On 2 October 1993, the Employment Assurance Scheme (EAS) was initiated to provide employment during the lean agricultural season. The role of PRIs was reinforced with the local self-government at the district level called the ‘Zilla Parishad’ as the main implementing authority. Later, EAS was merged with SGRY in 2001.[12]

On 1 April 1999, the JRY was revamped and renamed to JGSY with a similar objective. The role of PRIs was further reinforced with the local self-government at the village level called the ‘Village Panchayats’ as the sole implementing authority. In 2001, it was merged with SGRY.

objectives:

MGNREGA, which is the largest work guarantee programme in the world, was enacted in 2005 with the primary objective of guaranteeing 100 days of wage employment per year to rural households. Secondly, it aims at addressing causes of chronic poverty through the ‘works’ (projects) that are undertaken, and thus ensuring sustainable development. Finally, there is an emphasis on strengthening the process of decentralisation through giving a significant role to Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in planning and implementing these works.

B. Key features:

· Legal right to work: Unlike earlier employment guarantee schemes, the Act provides a legal right to employment for adult members of rural households. At least one third beneficiaries have to be women. Wages must be paid according to the wages specified for agricultural labourers in the state under the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, unless the central government notifies a wage rate (this should not be less than Rs 60 per day). At present, wage rates are determined by the central government but vary across states, ranging from Rs 135 per day to Rs 214 per day.

· Time bound guarantee of work and unemployment allowance: Employment must be provided with 15 days of being demanded failing which an ‘unemployment allowance’ must be given.

· Decentralised planning: Gram sabhas must recommend the works that are to be undertaken and at least 50% of the works must be executed by them. PRIs are primarily responsible for planning, implementation and monitoring of the works that are undertaken.

· Work site facilities: All work sites should have facilities such as crèches, drinking water and first aid.

· Transparency and accountability: There are provisions for proactive disclosure through wall writings, citizen information boards, Management Information Systems and social audits. Social audits are conducted by gram sabhas to enable the community to monitor the implementation of the scheme.

· Funding: Funding is shared between the centre and the states. There are three major items of expenditure – wages (for unskilled, semi-skilled and skilled labour), material and administrative costs. The central government bears 100% of the cost of unskilled labour, 75% of the cost of semi-skilled and skilled labour, 75% of the cost of materials and 6% of the administrative costs.

MGNREGA was implemented in phases, starting from February 2006, and at present it covers all districts of the country with the exception of those that have a 100% urban population. The Act provides a list of works that can be undertaken to generate employment related to water conservation, drought proofing, land development, and flood control and protection works

MGNREGA: Key indicators

Year	Number of households provided employment (in crore)	Average number of person days of work per household	Total Expenditure (in lakh)
2006-07	2.10	43	8823.35
2007-08	3.39	42	15856.88
2008-09	4.51	48	27250.10
2009-10	5.25	54	37905.23
2010-11	5.49	47	39377.27
2011-12*	4.99	43	38034.69
2012-13**	4.25	36	28073.51

Source: Standing Committee on Rural Development; PRS. Note: *Provisional ** As on 31.01.2013

II. Findings and Recommendations of the Standing Committee on Rural Development

A. Achievements: The Standing Committee highlighted several achievements of MGNREGA in the seven years of its implementation, especially:

· Ensuring livelihood for people in rural areas.

· Large scale participation of women, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SCs/STs) and other traditionally marginalised sections of society. SCs/STs account for 51% of the total person-days generated and women account for 47% of the total person-days generated.

· Increasing the wage rate in rural areas and strengthening the rural economy through the creation of infrastructure assets.

· Facilitating sustainable development, and

· Strengthening PRIs by involving them in the planning and monitoring of the scheme.

B. Challenges: However, the Committee found several issues with the implementation of the scheme. As Table 1 (above) shows, the average number of days of employment provided to households has been lower than the mandated 100 days, and has been decreasing since 2010-11.

Key issues that the Committee raised include

· Fabrication of job cards: While as many as 12.5 crore households have been issued job cards out of an estimated 13.8 crore rural households ( as per the 2001 census), there are several issues related to existence of fake job cards, inclusion of fictitious names, missing entries and delays in making entries in job cards.

· Delay in payment of wages: Most states have failed to disburse wages within 15 days as mandated by MGNREGA. In addition, workers are not compensated for a delay in payment of wages.

· Non payment of unemployment allowances: Most states do not pay an unemployment allowance when work is not given on demand. The non-issuance of dated receipts of demanded work prevents workers from claiming an unemployment allowance.

· Large number of incomplete works: There has been a delay in the completion of works under MGNREGA and inspection of projects has been irregular. Implementing agencies were able to complete only 98 lakh works out of 296 lakh works. As Table 2 shows, a large percentage of works remain incomplete under MGNREGA and the work completion rate appears to be decreasing in recent years.

Table 2: Work completion rate

Year	Work completion rate (%)
2006-07	46.34
2007-08	45.99
2008-09	43.76
2009-10	48.94
2010-11	50.86
2011-12*	20.25
2012-13*	15.02
Total	33.22

Source: Standing Committee on Rural Development. Note: * As on 30.01.2013

· Other key challenges include poor quality of assets created, several instances of corruption in the implementation of MGNREGA, and insufficient involvement of PRIs.

C. Recommendations: The Committee made the following recommendations, based on its findings:

· Regulation of job cards: Offences such as not recording employment related information in job cards and unlawful possession of job cards with elected PRI representatives and MGNREGA functionaries should be made punishable under the Act.

· Participation of women: Since the income of female workers typically raises the standard of living of their households to a greater extent than their male counterparts, the participation of women must be increased through raising awareness about MGNREGA.

· Participation of people with disabilities: Special works (projects) must be identified for people with disabilities; and special job cards must be issued and personnel must be employed to ensure their participation.

· Utilisation of funds: The Committee found that a large amount of funds allocated for MGNREGA have remained unutilised. For example, in 2010-11, 27.31% of the funds remained unutilised. The Committee recommends that the Department of Rural Development should analyse reasons for poor utilisation of funds and take steps to improve the same. In addition, it should initiate action against officers found guilty of misappropriating funds under MGNREGA.

· Context specific projects and convergence: Since states are at various stages of socio-economic development, they have varied requirements for development. Therefore, state governments should be allowed to undertake works that are pertinent to their context. There should be more emphasis on skilled and semi-skilled work under MGNREGA. In addition, the Committee recommends a greater emphasis on convergence with other schemes such as theNational Rural Livelihoods Mission, National Rural Health Mission, etc.

· Payment of unemployment allowance: Dated receipts for demanded work should be issued so that workers can claim unemployment allowance. Funds for unemployment allowance should be met by the central government.

· Regular monitoring: National Level Monitors (NLMs) are deployed by the Ministry of Rural Development for regular and special monitoring of MGNREGA and to enquire into complaints regarding mis-utilisation of funds, etc. The Committee recommends that the frequency of monitoring by NLMs should increase and appropriate measures should be taken by states based on their recommendations. Additionally, social audits must mandatorily be held every six months. The Committee observes that the performance of MGNREGA is better in states with effective social audit mechanisms.

· Training of functionaries: Training and capacity building of elected representatives and other functionaries of PRIs must be done regularly as it will facilitate their involvement in the implementation of MGNREGA.

· Who can work?

· The 100 days of work guaranteed to each household under MNREGA may be shared among several adult

· members of the household, and more than one member may be employed at a time. In order to be eligible to work,

· members of a household must be “local”, that is, residing within the Gram Panchayat. This includes migrant

· workers who have returned. Those willing to do work must apply as a household to the Gram Panchayat.

· “Household” means a nuclear family comprising mother, father, and their children, and includes any person

· wholly or substantially dependent on the head of the family. It also includes single-member families.

· What wages are guaranteed to workers?

· Daily wages must be at least the minimum wage for agricultural work in each state. Men and women must be paid

· equal wages. If work is provided beyond 5 km from the village, extra wages of 10% are to be paid to meet

· transportation and living expenses. Wages should be dispersed weekly and must be paid within a fortnight.

· What rights are guaranteed to workers?

· Rights include: (a) application for registration: (b) job card; (c) application for work; (d) choice of time and

· duration of work; (e) work within 15 days of application; (f) creche, drinking water, and first aid facilities on job

· site; (g) check muster rolls and obtain information regarding employment; (h) wages within 15 days of work; and

· (i) unemployment allowance in case work is not provided within 15 days of application or of when work sought.

· What kinds of projects can be undertaken?

· Any work is to be ordinarily provided within a 5 km radius of the village. The Gram Panchayat will be responsible

· for executing at least 50 percent of projects. Contractors and machinery are not permitted. Permissible works

· include: (a) water conservation and water harvesting; (b) drought proofing, including afforestation and tree

· plantation; (c) irrigation canals, including micro and minor irrigation works; (d) provision of irrigation facility,

· plantation, horticulture, land development to land owned by SC/ST households, beneficiaries of land reforms,

· beneficiaries of Indira Awaas Yojana or BPL families; (e) renovation of traditional water bodies, including desilting

· of tanks; (f) land development; (g) flood control and protection works, including drainage in waterlogged

· areas; (h) rural connectivity to provide all-weather access (excluding concrete roads) with priority to SC/ST

· habitations; and (i) any other work notified by the central government in consultation with the respective state

· government. In addition, maintenance of NREGA works constitutes permissible work.

· What provisions exist for transparency and grievance redressal?

· The Gram Sabha must conduct a social audit of works executed by the Gram Panchayat. All accounts and records

· related to MNREGA are and must be available for public scrutiny. An annual report detailing outcomes is

· presented by the central government to Parliament and by state governments to the State Assembly. Redress

· mechanisms in place include an online form accessible on the website. Registers containing details of all matters

· related to the scheme are required to be kept by the appropriate government. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act PRS Legislative Research

· Who pays for MNREGA?

· The central government bears the following costs: (a) wages for unskilled manual workers; (b) 75 percent of costs

· for materials and wages for semiskilled and skilled workers; (c) administrative expenses determined by the central

· government, including Programme Officer salaries, support staff salaries and site facilities; and (d) administrative

· expenses of the Central Employment Guarantee Council. The state government bears the following costs: (a) 25

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Rural_Employment_Guarantee_Act_2005

http://www.prsindia.org/parliamenttrack/report-summaries/implementation-of-the-mgnrega-2005-2912/

http://www.prsindia.org/theprsblog/?p=3013

http://mla.prsindia.org/sites/default/files/policy_guide/Policy%20Guide%20-%20NREGA%20_1_eng.pdf

http://m.dailyhunt.in/news/india/english/business-standard-epaper-bizzstand/10-years-on-centre-hails-mgnrega-as-national-pride-newsid-49167133

gsmaterial.blogspot.com

Sunday, 28 February 2016

Ram jatmalini interview

Ffgf

Saturday, 13 February 2016

nairobhi meeting

Saturday, 6 February 2016

hybrid annuity model

Monday, 1 February 2016

Employment

MGNREGA

Blog Archive