Under this law people of any village can ask for employment according to simple procedures described in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), and employment must be provided to them within a fixed period.

The guarantee aspect is supposed to be ensured by an additional provision in the law that if employment is not provided within the stipulated period, then a compensatory payment will be made to all those workers who had demanded employment. However this was watered down by the authorities by shrewdly adding that such payment will be provided subject of availability of funds.

On the whole the compensatory aspect has been implemented only very rarely, and this is how the guarantee aspect of the pioneering legislation has been weakened.

Hence it was particularly courageous on the part of the women workers from poor households in a very remote village Dhok (located in the desert district of Barmer in Rajasthan) to stand up with determination for their right to get the compensatory payment.

As they had demanded work using the proper legal procedure but did not get employment, they showed a lot of determination in raising the demand for compensation. When they did not get the payment, helped by a ‘mahila sangathan’ ( women’s rights organization) activist Anita Soni  they formed a group and came to the block office to meet the concerned officials.

The officials stated that they will consider their demand sympathetically. The women asserted with firmness that if their demand is accepted by officials here they will be thankful to them, but if the demand is not accepted then they are prepared to go right up to the state capital city of Jaipur to ensure that the demand for compensatory payment is accepted.

What has been seen recently in Barmer is a reflection of much wider problems in the implementation of NREGA. The budgetary allocation for NREGA is much less than the real need to fulfil the guarantee part of the law. Further its implementation is marred by widespread corruption. Systems of transparency and social audits which could have helped to reduce corruption have not been implemented properly.

On the other hand arbitrary actions brought the much needed law to a standstill in the state of W. Bengal for several months. In many states the NREGA wage rate is lower than the agricultural wage rate, and needs to be increased significantly. Procedures like ABPS and NNMS introduced as reforms have complicated the scheme and made it difficult for several workers to access this.

Several activists who have been trying to improve the working of this scheme at the grassroots assembled at a national convention and raised several of these demands. Such efforts are increasing in the context of several states like Jharkhand, W. Bengal and Rajasthan and the government should take overdue steps at the national level to ensure that the NREGA is able to live up to its rich potential and the expectations of people.

Apart from helping the weaker sections a lot, NREGA can also make an important contribution to climate change mitigation and adaptation.

*Honorary convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. Books: “Man over Machine”, “Protecting Earth for Children”, “India’s Quest for Sustainable Farming and Healthy Food”  

Courtesy: CounterView

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This collective action follows the Central Government’s suspension of NREGA funding for the state in December 2021, citing Section 27 of the Act. This decision has resulted in a complete halt to NREGA projects and has left workers without wages for nearly three years.

As part of a nationwide postcard campaign orchestrated by the NREGA Sangharsh Morcha, workers from various states have not only penned letters to the Prime Minister but also contributed one rupee each towards West Bengal’s NREGA budget.

The postcards directed to PM Modi carry a clear and assertive message: “If the Union Government cannot allocate the NREGA budget for West Bengal, we, the workers of India, will fund it ourselves. We demand an immediate resumption of NREGA work in West Bengal.”

On August 5, 2024, a 15-member delegation representing various worker unions met with Shailesh Kumar, Secretary for Rural Development, advocating for the urgent release of funds and the renewal of NREGA work in West Bengal.

The delegation voiced concern that, despite the more than two-and-a-half year freeze, there has been no substantial investigation into the alleged irregularities that prompted the suspension, nor has accountability been established for the ongoing disruption.

Worker representatives have also engaged with key political figures, including Members of Parliament like Dr. V. Sivadasan and Amra Ram, pressing them to address the issue in Parliament.

The situation for workers has been dire, marked by forced migration, rampant hunger and malnutrition, rising suicide rates, and increasing poverty among vulnerable rural households in West Bengal, says an NREGA Sangharsh Morcha statement. Despite ongoing outreach to the Union Minister for Rural Development, workers have not yet secured a meeting, deepening their frustration amidst a backdrop of alleged administrative irregularities and governmental inaction.

In response to the escalating crisis, the Calcutta High Court intervened in April 2024, establishing a four-member committee to examine the legitimacy of prior NREGA work in West Bengal, following a petition from Paschim Banga Khet Mazdoor Samity (W.P.A. (P) 237 of 2023).

According to NREGA Sangharsh Morcha, while the court’s establishment of an investigative committee is a positive step, it should not come at the expense of the rights of millions of workers unfairly denied their right to work. The suspension effectively penalizes innocent workers for past alleged irregularities.

In September 2024 alone, over 3,500 demand applications for work were recorded in West Bengal, highlighting the urgent need to resume NREGA activities it added. However, the Central Government’s failure to release funds has meant that these demands are being addressed through a state-sponsored employment programme, ‘Karmashree.’

On September 23, 2024, around 100 NREGA workers, led by the Paschim Banga Khet Mazdoor Samity, staged a ‘Gherao’ demonstration at the BJP state headquarters in Kolkata. Although no senior officials attended the protest, the office assured attendees that their concerns would be addressed at an upcoming BJP state committee meeting. This protest in Kolkata is part of a wider mobilization across the nation.

On Sunday, September 28, 2024, hundreds of NREGA workers from Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Bihar, and Odisha will converge in Ranchi for a mass protest, NREGA Sangharsh Morcha declared. Gathering at Raj Bhawan at 11 am, these workers aim to demand the Centre reverse its anti-labour, anti-poor policies and uphold the true intent of MGNREGA.

Courtesy: CounterView

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Phool Kumari from Katihar in Bihar gave the instance of her her village, where 76 people demanded work, but hardly 7 got work. Bholu Pando and Sevak Lakra from Chhattisgarh said that the introduction of NREGA brought revolutionary changes in their lives, but due to continuous budget cuts and the introduction of digital attendance, it is becoming very difficult to work under NREGA.

The Jan Sunwai (public hearing) on the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), where NREGA workers from various non-party trade unions and mass organisations from Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh participated, saw Congress leaders and Jairam Ramesh and Kanhaiya Kumar as chief guests accusing the Government of India of creating unnecessary technical complexity into NREGA in the name of transparency.

Others participating in the event were Rameshwar Oraon, Alamgir Alam , Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan leder Nikhil Dey, “Chaupal” editor Gangaram and James Herenj and Balram from the Jharkhand NREGA Watch.

Kanhaiya Kumar said that this country was built by the workers and without workers the country will not prosper. He added that, if the current Union government can waive off the loan of capitalists amounting to Rs 14 lakh crores, then it should also guarantee the rightful work and wages of crores of NREGA workers.

Senior leader and former Jharkhand Rural Development Minister Alamgir Alam said that the Jharkhand State Government wrote several letters to the Union Government questioning the logic in paying NREGA workers less than the statutory agricultural wage rate and promised that the State would put pressure on the Union Government to withdraw digital attendance.

Jairam Ramesh recalled the struggle behind the NREGA Act and outlined its objectives, adding that the current Union Government is bringing unnecessary technical complexity into NREGA in the name of transparency, which is in violation of the people’s right to work. He stressed that the main objective of the Union Government is to end NREGA.

He also suggested that after Rajasthan, Jharkhand could be the second state where urban employment guarantee should be implemented. He urged that it is the duty of public representatives to participate in such public hearings and take collective decisions, keeping in mind the ground reality.

Economist Jean Dreze, while showing a fish from the pond built by NREGA workers, said that NREGA is an investment that has brought prosperity among the rural poor. On behalf of NREGA Sangharsh Morcha and Jharkhand NREGA Watch, Gangaram Paikra, Balram and James Herenj presented a Charter of Demands:

Guarantee 100 days work per adult (vyask) person in a family.

NREGA wage rate should be Rs 800.

Pressure should be put on the central government to pay wages within 15 days as per NREGA law.

The Union Government should follow the order of the Supreme Court in the Swaraj Abhiyan case and pay the pending compensation.

Do not make Aadhar Based Payment System (ABPS) mandatory for payments.

Digital attendance in NREGA should be stopped immediately.

Adequate budget should be allocated for social audit and the autonomy of the social audit department should be maintained. In the social audit of every work, it should be done as per the rules of CAG, keeping all the information before the Gram Sabha.

In the name of Section 27 of the NREGA Act, the injustice being done to NREGA workers of West Bengal should be stopped. Section 27 should be amended so that such injustice does not happen to other states.

There is a provision of unemployment allowance in the NREGA Act if work is not found within 15 days, but it is not followed. The central government should take responsibility that the workers get unemployment allowance.

Every person in every family should get 100 days of work in a year.

For the empowerment of the Gram Sabha, it is necessary that the decisions of the Gram Sabha be given priority in the determination and implementation of schemes.

Urban Employment Guarantee Act should be brought in the entire country so that every hand actually gets work and gets full wages for the work.

Courtesy: CounterView

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The matter has been scheduled for further hearing in July.

Advocates Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, Saptarshi Banerjee, Purbayan Chakraborty, and Kuntal Banerjee represented the petitioners in the case.

Background

The petition has been filed by Paschim Banga Khet Mazdoor Samity, representing the MGNREGA workers seeking compensation. They have sought release of payments of Rs. 2,76,484.47 lakh along with statutory interest @ 0.05% of the unpaid wages per day of delay beyond the sixteenth day of closure of muster roll. They have not received their wages since December 2021. They also sought direction from the court to the state government to implement MGNREGA upon due sanction of funds.

MGNREGA is a social security and employment generation program initiated in 2006, and was enacted to provide for enhancement of livelihood security of the households in rural areas of the country by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to every household whose adult members volunteered to do unskilled manual work.

The dispute arose when the central government of India stopped releasing funds for the MGNREGA scheme by order dated March 9, 2022, instructing the state government of West Bengal to pay the wages from its own resources until a satisfactory Action Taken Report (ATR) was submitted. As a result, daily-wage workers claimed that they had not received their wages since December 2021, amounting to a total of Rs. 2,76,484.47 lakh in unpaid wages over an 18-month period.

The state government submitted a new ATR on February 2, 2023, and requested the revocation of the March 2022 order. The court directed the central government to respond to the new ATR to ensure that workers who had satisfactorily completed their work under the MGNREGA scheme are entitled to receive their wages according to the principles of the Act. The court emphasized that the scheme should not be used to the detriment of workers and called for the establishment of a grievance redressal mechanism at the block and district levels.

The court also considered the contention of the state government that the directions given by the central government were beyond the provisions of the MGNREGA.

In December last year the civil rights network NREGA Sangarsh Morcha, in alliance with the Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity (PBKMS), held Black Day on December 27, with workers holding black flag demonstrations, thaala bajao, road blockade and public meetings marking one year of the Government of India withholding the release of over Rs 7,500 crore MGNREGA funds to West Bengal.  Out of this amount, the pending wages are touching a staggering figure of Rs. 2,744 crore. According to the report called Status of MGNREGA Employment & Wages in West Bengal FY (April to December 2022-23), there is around Rs  3,891 crores of perceived loss in NREGA wages from pre-Covid years (average of 2018-19 and 2019-20) and Rs 6046 crores in comparison to post-Covid years (average of 2020-21 and 2021-22)

The court’s directions

The court has directed the Central government to respond by specifically stating as to what is the decision taken on the State’s ATR.

The court held that, “it should be the endeavour of all the concerned authorities to ensure that the benefits under the Act of 2005 as well as the schemes, which have been formulated under the Act of 2005 are implemented.” The court added that if the Central government believed there has been misappropriation of funds, “the endeavour of the authority should be to separate the chaff from the grains.”

“If genuine persons have offered themselves for employment under the provisions of the Act of 2005 and they have satisfactorily completed the work, then it goes without saying that those employees and workmen are entitled for disbursement of wages in accordance with the provisions of the Act and the Schemes framed thereunder,” the court said (para 11)

“Therefore, the inquiry to be conducted has to proceed in an appropriate manner so that the persons, who have actually worked are not denied the wages for the labour, which they have contributed,” the court added. (Para 12)

The court has sought precise affidavits from central and state governments by June 20 and replies by June 27.

Further, the court has also directed the state government to state in its affidavit whether it has complied with the mandate under section 19 of the Act whereby it is required to set up grievance redressal mechanisms at block level and the district level for dealing with any complaint by any person in respect of implementation of the scheme and whether any procedure has been laid down for disposal of such complaint.

The order may be read here:

Related:

West Bengal farm workers protest Centre withholding Rs 7,500 crore MGNREGA budget

With Demand for MGNREGA Work Increasing in Sept 2022, Activists Warn About Rural Distress

‘Grossly inadequate’: NREGA allocation 0.29% of GDP, World Bank recommended 1.6%

MGNREGA ‘Under Attack’? Rural Workers Demand Increased Budgetary Allocations

The post Calcutta HC: Even if MGNREGA funds misappropriated, genuine workers need to be compensated appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Releasing a note on the occasion along with Status of MGNREGA Employment & Wages in West Bengal by Libtech, India and Fact Finding Investigating the Stoppage of MGNREGA Work and Wages, senior activists Anuradha Talwar, Jean Dreze, Nikhil Dey, Parul Saboo and Sanjay Sahni called it “one year of Injustice: one year of NREGA workers wage theft in West Bengal”.

MGNREGA workers in West Bengal have not been paid wages since 26th December 2021. Today, we mark one year of centre withholding the release of over Rs 7,500 crore MGNREGA funds to the state for ‘non-compliance of central government directives’ invoking the Section 27 of the Act. Out of this amount, the pending wages are touching a staggering gure of Rs.2,744 crore. According to the report, there is around Rs  3,891 crores of perceived loss in NREGA wages from pre-Covid years (average of 2018-19 and 2019-20) and Rs 6046 crores in comparison to post-Covid years (average of 2020-21 and 2021-22) The present stoppage of wages is irrational and leads to victimization of workers who have done their work honestly. It has also pushed poor workers on the brink of starvation.

Violation of Fundamental Rights and Legal Provisions:

Section 27 of the Act may appear to allow the central government to “order stoppage of release of funds to the Scheme” in some circumstances, but this provision cannot be read as a license to stop wage payments to workers who have already worked. These workers have an unconditional right to be paid within 15 days. That line in Section 27 was formulated at a time when the release of funds preceded NREGA work. Today, work comes rst, and then funds are effectively released when the central government pays the wages directly in workers’ accounts. Stopping the release of funds cannot be allowed, even under Section 27, when it has the e ect of depriving workers of their rightful wages.

Both the Central and State Governments are guilty of violating the fundamental Right to life of 3.4 crore registered workers across the state. Denial of work and wages is also in contravention to the Supreme Court’s judgement in the Swaraj Abhiyan case (writ petition 857/2015; full judgement). We understand from news reports that the Government of India (GoI) has stopped transfer of funds after discovering anomalies in the implementation of works under MGNREGA. By turning a blind eye to corruption, the State Government has ensured that funds meant for workers are siphoned o by political goons from the ruling party in the state. With Panchayat elections due in mid 2023, the Centre-State stand-off over NREGA funds is taking on political overtones. While the state asserts that all corrective measures have been taken, BJP at the Centre is however reluctant to release the money before the Panchayat elections. In this political slugfest the sufferers are workers who have been deprived of their wages for the past year.

We encourage that measures should be taken to tackle corruption and increase transparency. E orts should be made to ensure that social audits and grievance redressal mechanisms are e ective. But, the standards of audits and action taken on audit findings are largely unsatisfactory in the state and across the country. The State Employment Guarantee Council (SEGC) and Central Employment Guarantee Council (CEGC) do not exist for the past couple of years (click here for RTI reply). This not only makes a mockery out of transparency and anti corruption measures, but also shows how the GoI is using anti corruption as an excuse while itself violating the Act. Eliminating leakages and irregularities cannot be used as an excuse to undermine the demand driven nature of the Act. This is a continuation of the government’s assault on NREGA and has once again exposed the central government’s lack of commitment for NREGA workers’ rights.

In particular, we demand the following:

1. Immediate release of MGNREGA funds by Central Government, with immediate starting of new works and issue of new job cards.

2. The pending wages to the tune of Rs 2,744 crores for all MGNREGA workers need to be released immediately along with the delay compensation at the rate of 0.05% per day for the entire duration of the delay (as per Para 29 of Schedule II of the Act).

3. Sanction and transfer of the 2022-23 Labour Budget.

4. Action against anomalies and corruption in the scheme, and strengthening of social audits & grievance redressal mechanisms.

5. The State Government must start a revolving fund of Rs.1000 crores from which immediate payment of NREGA wages can be done and to ensure timely payment of wages, in the event of future delays or complications in receiving money from the Central Government.

6. All the documents pertaining to correspondence between the Central Government and the State Government on MGNREGA since 2019, including the reports of central team visits and action taken, should be made public.

Courtesy: https://www.counterview.net

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New Delhi: The marginal increase in demand for work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in September points towards a “much greater level of rural distress”, activists said on Tuesday. According to them, this is so since the rise in demand was recorded despite the Centre attempting to “artificially” suppress it.

Government data showed that household demand and individual categories under the said scheme were up more than 5% in September compared to August this year, The Economic Times reported on Monday.

As per the data, the September demand – which was 16.7 million under the household segment and 20.2 million for individuals – remained higher than the pre-COVID levels, even as the figures for the same month are lower than last year.

Activists said that the demand increment, observed after it fell for the past three consecutive months this year, is worrying, adding that the “real demand” could be much higher.

“Much of the demand under MGNREGA has been artificially suppressed as adequate funding is not allocated to the scheme at the start of the financial year, which eventually leads to a situation wherein the demand-driven nature of the scheme is not honoured,” Nikhil Dey, founder-member of the NGO Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan told NewsClick over the phone.

“This year is no different,” he claimed, adding, “the real demand could be much higher since funds to multiple States are also delayed.”

To be sure, in response to a question in August this year, the Union Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), which monitors the implementation of the jobs scheme in association with the state governments, informed the Rajya Sabha that West Bengal had received no funds from the Centre under MGNREGA for 2022-23. The reasons cited include the absence of social audits to ensure transparency in the implementation of the scheme.

However, West Bengal is not the only state where at the end of the second quarter of the financial year, funds under MGNREGA are delayed. Released by the Centre in four tranches, these funds were delayed in at least four other states, including Kerala, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh, among others, as The Hindu reported last month.

Rural workers and social activists campaigning to press for increased budget allocation to MGNREGA have underlined in the past how lack of funds leads to wage delays which, subsequently, results in an “erosion of confidence” among the job-seekers under the scheme.

“Despite all of this, the month of September recorded an increase in demand, which only shows that there is a much greater level of rural distress within the country than what the Centre is ready to accept,” Dey said on Tuesday while further raising questions over the labour market stability.

Incidentally, the Union Finance Ministry cited the drop in month-on-month work demand under MGNREGA – the lowest in August in this fiscal – to claim that the unemployment rate in the rural areas was possibly reduced.

NewsClick had reported earlier on how this claim didn’t go well with the activists, who pointed to the figures published by the Mumbai-based Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), which showed that rural unemployment in August had surged – registering 7.7% in the country.

Though the unemployment rate in rural areas has fallen to 5.84% in September due to increased labour participation, the latest data show.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Anuj Goyal, a researcher with Peoples’ Action for Employment Guarantee (PAEG), demanded that the Centre announce additional budget allocation for MGNREGA to meet the work demand in the coming months. As per the scheme, at least 100 days of wage employment in a financial year is provided to at least one member of every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.

In their pre-budget note this year, the PAEG had calculated that the minimum required budget for MGNREGA for 2022-23 fiscal should be close to Rs 2.64 lakh crore, as against Rs 73,000 crore, which was announced by the Narendra Modi – led Central government.

“Despite soaring demand for employment, provisioning for MGNREGA remained significantly less over the past years,” Goyal said, adding, “rural workers continue to bear the brunt due to inadequacy of funds.”

Courtesy: Newsclick

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Suddenly the country is abuzz with freebies.The media resounding with high-minded denunciation of them.Experts,opinion makers,op-ed writers are homing in on them.The Supreme Court is shaking its head.Now a committee of taxpayers are to decide if parties can promise freebies before elections.That too at a time when prices of gas cylinders etc are hurtling through the roof.One question continues to nag the mind:What about the freebies the ruling party has already handed out?The opposition circles are however subdued.Perhaps they feel their hope of going one better than the government in offering freebies is getting dashed.Yet they too may end up demanding a level playing field on freebies.

But why all this pother now,when only a little while ago the government itself was handing out dollops of them to cheering crowds?To find an answer one has only to look at the collapsing economies on the country’s borders.The Covid,the oil crisis and the Ukraine war have put them under severe strain and ham-handed handling of the strain have built up pressures until they have nearly broken down.Their governments failed to respond appropriately to the crisis and their ineptitude aggravated it.Though our government is reluctant to admit it, its cavalier attitude to the economy seems to bring on dangerously similar consequences.Neo-liberal economies are difficult to turn around,as they depend on mysterious market forces while the state just monitors the ups and downs.The great virtue of business that can supposedly self-correct with rational analysis fails to work at this point.

But those whose eyes are not blinkered can perceive how the state in such an economy sleepwalks into a mire with unacknowledged interventions.The magic formula of ease of doing business leads to unacknowledged freebies to big business.Tax rebates to the tune of ten lakh crores of rupees in five years(as acknowledged in parliament on August 7)had not led to any noticeable spurt in investments.What is it if not freebies,though by another name?

But no.Freebies are what you hand out to the people,not what you gift the captains of big business.The same goes for the debt defaults on banks  turned into NPAs,thrice as much in amount.What you mark down for curtailment and elimination are the doles to the cussed lazy and unproductive plebs.The SC had on earlier occasions refused to interfere with policies,but are freebies not also policies?Even in countries with blazing capitalist banners there are subsidies and ‘incentives’ and food stamps during grave economic crisis.Since wise heads have decided that our blessed country is  immune to such crisis,it is therefore fair enough to let prices of essential goods soar and come down with a heavy hand on freebies.And hands off policies!

But when the freebies ARE ingredients of policies designed to protect people from starvation and want and alleviate poverty,is there any point in condemning them because they are not market-driven or not solely designed to benefit the wealthy?

Suppose the same imp  returns to power by casting black magic on the adversaries,as is the roaring practice now?Safe for another five years will it be legally entitled to roll back the flagship MGNREGA scheme?Bharat Dogra in his invaluable article some two or three issues back,shows the government under its spell  is starting to skimp funds for it,in latest move by some 30 p.c.Only fear of massive upsurge all over the country might deter it.But who knows?If they are mesmerized into  feeling securely entrenched,they could be ready for a bloody showdown.All one can say is,‘God forbid.’

But should MGNREGA have been the albatross around the government’s neck?Back in late nineteen sixties,American economist Robert Heilbroner,no fan of socialism or Mao,had admiringly noted that poor Chinese peasants had built massive infrastructure for an agricultural revolution with very basic tools and human labour and it would bear fruit in the next decade.His words proved prophetic and right through the upheavals of the Cultural Revolution it raised the Chinese economy to a higher level for take-off to a higher stage of growth.Why cannot the MGNREGA be  put to the same use and purpose?

Especially for planned water management and storage purposes with embankments,tanks,canals with a judicious mixture of local knowledge,civil engineering and environmental science?

It will then no longer be a tainted freebee,but a boon.

People should pay more attention to such possibilities in stead of blindly follow the inhuman maxims of neo-liberal economics.The money spent on them,not as naked bribes for votes,could also be spent in such a way as to enable the common man to produce more for himself and the country.The rebates on electricity in these days of high prices and meagre wages could not only brighten their lives,but also could be in exchange for rotator community service,again properly planned by grassroots activists.Neo liberal economics always ellides the human factor and turns the economy into a Fate. It is still possible to put people back into the scene as active voluntary agents,at least to some extent.As long as the logic of the masters is not allowed to control everything.

A friend from the countryside has complained that every family of small farmers in the state is getting free rice up to  60 or  70 kgs.This is the free gift of the BJP government,and farming being more than the price of rice in the market here,these lakhs of small farmers no longer work on their farms nor engage in any other productive work.As a family does not need so much rice they sell the excess amount for other necessaries,and as a result they are losing their working skills as well as willingness to work.When the Congress government was giving rice to such people at two-three rupees a kg,the BJP used to rend the skies with outraged protests for turning people into dependants,and now they ply the same trade with much greater fervor.Are they giving freebies or not?

The government in our country has for the better part of a decade been treating the economy like an automaton,hoping the market will correct the errors automatically.But the consequences have been unobtrusively piling up until they have  become a huge drag on the economy.And they are frantically searching for quick fix solutions,hoping there would be surgical strikes within reach.They may be disappointed,a small price for them,but the costs will  be huge and frightening for the country and the people.

If better sense prevails they would still admit their mistakes and reach out to the opposition if only to rise from the morass.

Hiren Gohain is a political commentator

Courtesy: https://countercurrents.org

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A civil society tracker, seeking to periodically analyse the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), has said that NREGA budgetary allocation is only 0.29% of GDP and 1.85% of the total government expenditure of the financial year 2022-23, which is grossly inadequate. Thus, “As per estimates of researchers of the World Bank, for NREGA to run robustly, its allocation must at least be 1.6% of the GDP.”

Prepared by the People’s Action for Employment Guarantee (PAEG), a group of activists, academics and members of people’s organizations, who came together to advocate for NREGA in 2004 in order to catalyse discussion and strengthen the top Government of India rural jobs guarantee scheme, the tracker states, the NREGA budget as percentage of the total government expenditure has also decreased — it stands at 1.85% for FY 2022-23, just about half the level in FY 2020-21 (3.65%).

The tracker, titled “Meagre Funds and Unlawfully Low Wages: How the MGNREGA is Being Squeezed”, says, “The programme guarantees 100 days of employment to each household at minimum wages. Yet, the provisioning has been significantly less than required, despite soaring demand for employment in recent years.”

The tracker raises the alarm, “By July 21, 2022, the Union government has already exhausted two-thirds of its budget, with eight months remaining”, predicting, “The pending dues are expected to increase.” It adds, “Pending payments at the end of FY 2021-22 amount to 16% of the budgetary allocation for FY 2022-23. Except for the pandemic year, FY 2020-21, the pending payment has been higher than 15%.”

Pointing out that “each year, a significant proportion of the budget allocated to NREGA is used to pay for previous years’ pending liabilities, leaving the budget remaining grossly inadequate for the current financial year”, the tracker notes, “In FY 2022-23, Rs 11,464 crore has been spent as on July 31, 2022 to clear previous years’ liabilities.”

“Another worrying concern”, says the tracker, is that “the NREGA wages have not increased in tandem with inflation. When we look at the national average, we find that the percentage increase in NREGA wages was about 4.7 percentage points less than the average rural inflation rate. Only in Kerala, Karnataka and Bihar was the percentage increase in NREGA wages higher than the rural inflation rate.”

Further, the tracker notes, “NREGA wage rates remain much below the need-based national minimum wage of Rs 375 recommended by the expert committee under the chairmanship of Anoop Satpathy in early 2019. Average daily NREGA wage per personday is 13.8% less than the national average notified NREGA wage rate. While this difference is close to 0 in some states, it is about 40% in Telangana.”

The tracker asserts, “In its pre-budget statement, the PAEG warned that with the pending dues of over Rs 21,000 crore by the end of FY 2021-22, and a meagre budget of Rs 73,000 crore for FY 2022-23, the programme would be able to provide employment of only 21 days on minimum wage to each household that demanded work in FY 2021-22.”

It adds, “The immediate result of the budget shortfall is reflected in the fact that the recorded unmet demand for employment is currently as high as 20.6%. That is, one out of every five households that have demanded employment in these four months has not been provided employment.”

Asserting that it had recommended budgetary allocation of Rs 2.69 lakh crore for the programme”, the tracker insists, “The government can and must allocate this much in order to ensure those who demand work under NREGA are employed for 100 days and are paid the minimum wages for their work, as guaranteed in the Act.”

It continues, “Recently, the government reduced the corporate tax rates by 8-10% that resulted in a revenue loss of Rs 2.09 lakh crore. Despite such high levels of corporate tax cuts, corporations have not created significant employment, while they have been registering record profits year after year. The tax cuts have also not increased investment, or thereby demand.”
Meanwhile, it says, “Unemployment rates have reached record highs and demand for NREGA work is still higher than pre-pandemic levels. At present, the economy is in a downturn and employment has still not recovered to pre-pandemic levels. Steep levels of unemployment and inflation add further distress to an already Covid-affected rural poor.”

“In such a situation”, the tracker believes, “NREGA becomes a crucial safeguard that ensures that poor workers can have at least some minimal incomes and security, by guaranteeing them the right to work. The Act specifies that up to the limit of 100 days of work per household, the actual employment provided must be driven by the demand for work, and not constrained by prior budgetary allocations.”

The tracker accuses the Government of India for “constantly allocating inadequate funding for NREGA” and “not providing funds as required by states”, which is in contravention of “both the letter and the spirit of the Act…” The result is, “In addition, by illegally fixing low wage rates, and not paying even these low wages fully, it has also slowly eroded workers’ interest in the Act. If the current trend continues, it will not be long before the Act becomes a hollow shell.”

Courtesy: Counterview

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New Delhi: Hundreds of rural workers from across the country gathered here at Jantar Mantar on Tuesday, as part of a three-day protest to press for adequate funding for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme.

The protest has been called by one NREGA Sangharsh Morcha, a national-level network of organisations and individuals deals with the employment guarantee act. Rural workers from over 15 states including Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Telangana, among others, participated in the demonstration on Tuesday.

The morcha argued that the crucial role played by MGNREGA scheme in supporting the rural population was highlighted during the Covid-19 pandemic, with demand for work under it remaining “high” even after two years.

“And yet, NREGA is under attack by the government. Consistently decreasing budgetary allocations, wage payments delayed for months, negligible compensation paid for delays, and woefully low wages plague NREGA. These issues are widespread across the country,” the group said in a press statement, issued on Tuesday.

The first day of protest was marked by the singing of protest songs, among other activities. Image clicked by Ronak Chhabra

Aimed to guarantee the ‘right to work’ in rural areas, MGNREGA is a scheme under which at least 100 days of wage employment in a financial year is provided to at least one member of every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.

Women are guaranteed one third of the jobs made available under the MGNREGA.

Despite proving to be a “lifeline” for many rural poor, especially during times of economic distress, the scheme’s budget provisioning has been significantly less than required, despite soaring demand for employment in recent years, numerous experts have observed.

According to them, this leads to untimely payment of wages to workers, compounding the woes of the latter due to “rampant fudging” in determining wages itself, owing to “corruption prevailing in multiple states.” As per the Act, workers must be paid within 15 days upon completion of a muster roll of work.

Shankar Singh of Rajasthan-based Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) told Newsclick on Monday that the delay in payment of wages was the biggest issue being faced by rural workers associated with MGNREGA across the country. “It only gets worse in the second half of each year as “inadequate” funds for the scheme runs dry,” he added.

In 2022-23, the Narendra Modi –led Central government has kept the budgetary allocation for MGNREGA at Rs. 73,000 crore, which is 25% lower than the previous year’s revised estimates at Rs. 98,000 crore.

Multiple media reports flagged that the scheme’s financial statement for 2021-22 already shows a negative net balance – meaning that a portion of the new allocation will only be used to clear the pending liabilities from previous years.

Nor surprisingly, the Peoples’ Action for Employment Guarantee (PAEG), a coming together of researchers and activists, in its MGNREGA scheme tracker for July this year highlighted that the Central government had already exhausted two-thirds of its scheme’s budget. “With eight months remaining, the pending dues are expected to increase,” the group said in its report.

The fund crunch for the MGNREGA scheme has come at a time when demand for work under the scheme has “shot up to unprecedented levels,”  Apoorva, one among the coordinators of the morcha, told Newsclick on Tuesday. According to one report, nearly 31 million people sought work in June this year under the scheme, on the back of demand from 30 million people in May.

The same report added this year’s level was 43% more than the pre-pandemic (2015-2019) levels month of May.

Stagnating wages in real terms under the scheme – with them being lower than even the statutory minimum agricultural wages in 27 states and Union Territories – are another issue that was flagged by the rural workers through their demonstration on Tuesday.

Anuradha Talwar of Paschim Banga Khet Mazdoor Samiti told Newsclick that the morcha is demanding that the wages under the rural employment guarantee scheme must be immediately be made at par with respective states’ statutory minimum agricultural wages and rapidly move towards raising it at Rs. 800 per day.

“Given the rural distress in the country, we are also demanding that work days under the scheme must be raised to 200 across the country,” Talwar said.

On Tuesday, rural workers from various states also highlighted the distress that is being caused to them, owing to the recently introduced National Mobile Monitoring Software (NMMS) app – it was launched in May 2021 to ensure monitoring of the scheme and taking real-time attendance of workers at worksite.

“But it has only caused us trouble and nothing else,” rued Pramila Devi, a 40-year-old rural worker, hailing from Bihar’s Vaishali district. “Many a times, it doesn’t record our attendance because of poor network due to which the workers lose their wages. There is no attendance app for the officers and ministers, then why it is for the workers?” she asked.

Meanwhile, solidarity from political leaders and farmer leaders was extended to the rural workers, with Rajya Sabha Member and Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Binoy Vishwan and All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) leader Hannan Mollah addressing the gathering   here on Tuesday.

Emphasising the need to come together, the leaders demanded greater accountability from the government, while pressing for having discussions on the scheme during the ongoing Monsoon Session of Parliament.

Courtesy: Newsclick

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“Community” has always been at the core of Adivasi identity, said Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) Jharkhand coordinator Gurjeet Singh on November 15, 2020 the 145th birth anniversary of Adivasi freedom fighter Birsa Munda and the twentieth anniversary of the creation of the state of Jharkhand, at the Memorial Trust office in Putki area of Dhanbad district.

On Sunday, that was also celebrated as the Jharkhand foundation day, Singh said talked about tribal beliefs and sentiments that helped people retain their land and ownership rights.

Following proper rituals and a warm welcome from Memorial Trust President Bagi, his wife Meena Bagi and Secretary Baleshwar Bauri, Singh remembered the Adivasi movement led by Birsa Munda that led to the creation of the Chhota Nagpur Tenancy Act that prohibited the transfer of tribal land to non-tribal people.

“Adivasis bestow the title of ‘mother’ to their land and believe that no one can hold ownership over their Mother. As a result, they did not believe in documenting a proof of their land. This led to the movement inspired by their eviction from ancestral land that ultimately gave them land, water and forest rights,” he said.

Speaking about Adivasis’ community sentiment, Singh said that Adivasis assumed equal land ownership rights to humans, birds, animals alike. Further Adivasis have always considered the water, jungle and land of Birsa Munda, a part of their heritage just as they consider cleanliness a traditional heritage.

“This priority to sanitation is the reason that not a single Adivasi has suffered from the coronavirus pandemic,” he said.

Birsa Munda was affectionately remembered as “Dharti Aaba” (Father of Earth) for his dedication to a healthy Adivasi community. Singh stated that Jharkhand could not become a truly independent state until Birsa Munda’s hope to reform the Adivasi community free of the belief of witchcraft came to fruition.

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