Disha

Dado Uge Ne Dadi Male

Work Guarantee Must Be As Certain As the Rising of the Sun

Will NREGA Ensure Security Against Hunger?

A Study- Summery Report

By

Mr. Anshuman Jaswal-(Doctoral Student-IIM)

Ms Paulomee Mistry (Disha)
Ahmedabad

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Objective of the Study:

The objective of this paper is to look at the financial and economic aspects of the
NREGA. It will be studying the implications for the rural economy as a result of
the minimum wage and employment instituted by the Act. Also, the greater
bargaining power of the rural workforce and its implications on the job-markets
will be looked at. Besides this, the effectiveness in implementation of the scheme
will be studied.

Duration: The Study carried out in November to January-2007

Coverage: Ten districts have been chosen for the first stage of NREGA
implementation. Of these, five lie in Gujarat, two in Madhya Pradesh and two in
Rajasthan and one in Maharasta

Study by: Mr. Anshuman Jeshwal( IIM) and Ms Paulomee Mistry (Disha),
Ahmedabad Tel No -9824122441, 9427303306

Findings of the Study:

Education level of the most of the job card hold was average 4.48yrs, but
174 respondents had studied till 10th standard.

Average land holding of the respondents was 2.7 per family but majority of
the land was non-irrigated, with 164 respondents describing themselves
as land less labours.

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Majority of the sample, as many as 85% of the respondents, lived in

kuchha (mud) housing. This is certainly a very high number and is an
indicator of the poor economic status of the respondents.

With regard to status of the employment only 96 described themselves as

fully employed. 497 were half-employed, whereas 475 unemployed.

Sarpanch was the main source of information After the Sarpanch, the
NGOs became an important source of information. While in both Udaipur
and Dungarpur in Rajasthan the administration has been very active in
pushing NREGS as a scheme in Rajasthan, In Dhar , M.P., the sarpanch
was the overwhelming source of information about the NREGS.

301 respondents said that they did not face any difficulties during the
process of application for the job-card. However, there were 178 people
who mentioned the fact that they faced some difficulties in the job-card
application process. The common problems mentioned were: Lack of
proper information, No job-card made and/or only temporary job-cards
were made, Problems with regard to the job-card itself, no photographs
taken, such as addition of name and photos.

Of the people who have been able to obtain the job-card, we find that the
average period of employment is around 39 days were provided out of 100
days. In Dangs, Panchmahal and Banaskantha, the implementation of the
scheme has been really weak and only 5, 11 and 20 days of employment
has been provided respectively. However, in Dungarpur (63 days) and
Udaipur (67 days), the implementation has been really strong.

42% of the cases creation of new ponds and deepening or cleaning of

existing ones was undertaken 26% of the cases, work related to road
construction and maintenance was provided, Check-dam related work

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formed 16% of the cases. Rest of the cases comprised of work like canal
maintenance and mud-work (digging and carrying). Hence, it is clear that
the emphasis is on creation of assets which form a part of the basic
infrastructure for the community.

The selection of workers is done by the Panchayat (22%), talati (20%),

contractor (17%), sarpanch (13%) etc. While the NREGA prohibits the use
of contractors specifically, we found that they were still used in Dungarpur
in Rajasthan. The basis of selection was mainly age (64%), ration card
(24%) and job card (12%).

The time taken for the payment except Dhar and Sabarkantha, the wage
payment takes more than two weeks in the various districts. In Udaipur, it
is even worse than most other districts and 62.5% of the respondents got
their wages after more than four weeks. But Panchmahal was the worst,
as 44.9% of the respondents did not get their wages paid at all.

An analysis of the averages wages paid in the different types of work

across districts shows that in many instances, the wages paid are even
below the minimum agriculture wage level decided by the government
(Rs. 50 per day for Gujarat, Rs. 73 for Rajasthan and Rs. 63 for Madhya
Pradesh). This is something that the government needs to look at.
Otherwise the purpose of the NREGS is defeated.

Effect on Labour market it is too early for there to be any tangible change
in the wage rates, however, as many as 174 respondents claimed that
there has been a change in the local wage rates since the EGS began.
However, 327 workers also stated that there had been no change in the
wages since the EGS started. Except for Dangs and Panchmahal, in most
of the districts few respondents believed that there had been an effect on
the wages. After some time, it would be interesting to study the dynamics

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of the labor market and understand the positive and negative effect the
EGS has had on it.

The wages are paid either to the entire gang and divided among the gang
by the leader, or they are paid directly to the individual worker. Wages
were paid to gang-leaders mainly in Banaskantha, Dahod and Udaipur. In
all the other districts, the majority of the respondents got their wages paid
on individual basis.

The wages did differ in some places depending on the type of work.
However, in most places there was little change in wages depending on
the type of work undertaken. Also, the wages are paid mainly on the basis
of the amount of work done by the workers and not on the basis of the
time taken to do the work. Similarly, the payment is made on the basis of
measurement. It was found that there was no standard method of
measurement used. Different ways of measuring the same work led to
differing wage-payment across the villages and districts.

Observation:

Gujarat:

There was a lack of information provided about the scheme and even
government officials felt that they had not been adequately briefed

No work demanded by the people (which was the original aim of the
scheme) and the decision to provide work was taken by the senior
government officials or local officials like sarpanch or talati

In many instances, job card issued per ration-card.

In the case of large family the single job card were given to the families
with only mentioning the two members of family.

Job cards often kept by the sarpanch or talati and hence respondents do
not have direct information about their wage payments

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In some case after the work got over the job card were collected back by
Surpanch and Talati.

Wage payment often delayed or wages not paid at all

Madhya Pradesh:

In many villages job-cards are being kept with sarpanch or the talati

Measurements of work done are being taken by contractor kept by
panchayat (contractors not allowed under NREGA)

In order to obtain any information, written requests have to be submitted,
can be difficult and time-consuming

Many people have not received their wages

People are not aware about the legislation

Often the worked is stopped in between and the workers are rendered
jobless

Rajasthan:

In some instances the job-cards was kept by the sarpanch or talati

Corruption found in wage payment

Very high dependence on government officials (e.g., collector in
Dungarpur) for the scheme to function properly, little push from grassroots

Maharashtra:

Job-cards are being distributed

Government is not putting applicants’ photos onto the cards (unlike, say,
Gujarat), hence there is a delay

Of the 10 panchayats surveyed, only in only 2 have the people got job-
cards

In eight, either the job-cards is with the Panchayat office, or has not
reached at all

Many sarpanch do no have information about the NREGA

In the general public, very few people have information about the NREGA

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Confusion between state-wise EGS and NREGS

Lack of clarity about the aegis of which schemes the existing work is going
on

Conclusion
As we have seen, the EGS is already making a difference to the lives of the
people. Yet there is a long way to go. There are some issues in terms of the
benefits to be drawn from the assets created by the scheme. Also, the menial
nature and the lack of encouragement for both skilled labor and further training is
something that is of concern in the long run. Implementation issues like issuance
of job-cards on time is also a concern. Facilities for workers would also have to
be improved over time. From the labor market point of view, it would be important
to create a safety net through EGS for poor people without damaging the labor
market and employment prospects. Another vital lesson to be learnt from the
EGS in Maharashtra is to ensure that the scheme does not encourage wide-
spread corruption. This would really hamper its effectiveness. Safeguards need
to be put in place to ensure that this does not happen, something that is easier
said than done. In our comparison across states, we find that there are some
differences in the implementation of the scheme. The districts in Rajasthan have
done well in the initial implementation. However, in terms of the various types of
activities and programs covered under NREGS, Gujarat has done better overall.

The next stage of this study will be to prepare a citizen report on NREGA, which
will include the budget Analysis, interviews with government officials who are
involved with the implementation of the scheme, in order to get a more complete
picture of the scheme. As part of the plan DISHA hoped that the study will be
turned into a longitudinal one and will assess the implementation of EGS on an
annual basis for the next few years.

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National Rural Employment Grantee workers Union- Gujarat

To deal with the widespread complains regarding inefficient implementation of

the NREG scheme by the state government it was felt necessary to form a union
and to raise the issues of NREG Act workers of Gujarat. With consensus of the
5000 people gathered on 17th June at Godhara in a Sammellan a National Rural
Employment Grantee workers Union formed. The NREGA workers union-
Gujarat is the first registered trade union to voice the issues of NREGA workers
employed in Gujarat.

NREGA Workers Union ensures the proper implementation of the ACT. It will
seek and secure the entitlements to the 100 days employment guarantee for the
rural people and facilitates its effective implementation and monitoring. It will train
community to demand for work, which will start with How to write an application
to demand work. It ensures the enforcement of the minimum wage. In case of
violation it will file a complain and fight for the rights of the NREGA workers

Apart from this union will facilitate the community in preparing the micro level
plan for NREGA. At the end of the December 5643 job card holders are
members of the Union.

The president of the National Rural Employment Grantee workers Union is

MS Vimalaben Kharadi and the General Secretary of the union is Ms Paulomee
Mistry. The union has the eleven member’s executive committee from the
representation of the all Six NREGA implemented districts of the Gujarat.

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