IN NREGA REFORMS, PRIORITIZE THE WORKER AND HER DUES

General Studies Paper 2

Context: The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) has been reformed many times over years.

MGNREGA:

• The scheme was introduced as a social measure that guarantees “the right to work”.
• The local government will have to legally provide at least 100 days of wage employment in rural India to enhance their quality of life.
• The Ministry of Rural Development (MRD), Govt of India is monitoring the entire implementation of this scheme in association with state governments.
• Within 15 days of submitting the application or from the day work is demanded, wage employment will be provided to the applicant.
• Right to get unemployment allowance in case employment is not provided within fifteen days of submitting the application or from the date when work is sought.
• Social Audit of MGNREGA works is mandatory, which lends to accountability and transparency.
• The Gram Sabha is the principal forum for wage seekers to raise their voices and make demands.
• The Gram Sabha and the Gram Panchayat approve the shelf of works under MGNREGA and fix their priority.

Issues with MGNREGA:

• Poorer States struggle more to adapt when compared to those that are better off because of weaker administrative capacity.
• Programme’s “regressive” spending pattern, where poorer States spend less NREGA funds than better-off ones.
• Its most basic design principles have been forgotten or wilfully ignored.
• The process of wage payments created by the central government has become even more convoluted.
  • For example: seven or more functionaries have to sign off before payment due to a worker can be approved (stage one of the wage payment cycle).
• Intermittent and unpredictable fund releases by the central government are one of the fundamental reasons why State governments are unable to ensure the full potential of NREGA.
  • Inadequate funds, typically discourage and often deny demand for work.
• Worksites are not opened on time, and the work provided does not match demand.
• Majority of reforms have focused on centralisation such as the electronic fund management system, geo-tagging of assets and a national mobile monitoring system (NMMS)
  • They have disrupted implementation.

How to address violation of entitlements?

• Address delays in wage payments to restore the faith of workers in the programme.
• The Ministry of Rural Development must simplify the payment process
• Transparency about pending wage payments in stage one and two so that bottlenecks can be corrected.
• Strengthen implementation capacities where expenditure is low instead of curbing expenditure where employment generation is high.
• Instead of using expenditure and income poverty as the only markers: exclusion must be identified at the household level.
  • Evidence shows that NREGA is fairly well targeted, benefiting the poorest, especially SC and ST families.
• The online Management Information System of NREGA can be used in areas where entitlements are violated instead of being used as a tool by bureaucrats to centralize and control things.
• Run the programme like a demand-based law, and not a scheme.
• Make discussions on any proposed reforms participatory: Public participation, which gave NREGA an institutional architecture is needed.
• Government should make an earnest attempt to map the impact of each of its “reforms” on access to and the expenditure of NREGA, particularly in poorer States.

Alternative Steps taken to address problems with NREGA:

• The Kaam Mango Abhiyan was launched by the Ministry of Rural Development in 2013 — due to declining demand of work under NREGA)
• The Union Ministry of Rural Development launched this campaign, “ask for work” — with the help of civil society organizations in six districts in six States

Cases of not getting work or wages:

• 53,000 workers demanded work in Katihar district: dated receipts were provided.
  • workers demanding work were let down by the Ministry because funds were not released to States in time.
• Workers in Barari block of Katihar were on indefinite strike as they have not been provided work and wages for the work they have done.
• Almost 3,000 women NREGA workers in Muzaffarpur district are protesting against the NMMS application after the app failed to capture their attendance.
  • They have been denied their wages.

Way Forward

• States which are spending more are implementing the programme better because they have better capacities (as several studies including the government’s own Economic Survey concluded in 2016).
  • For a universal, demand-based social security programme such as NREGA, reforms cannot be based on targeting better.
  • There has to be a focus on exclusion and not inclusion “errors”.
• Panchayats, blocks and districts where employment of SCs and ST families is lower than their proportion in the population must be identified.
  • This would indicate pockets where the most marginalized are being nudged out of the programme.
• Panchayats where the average wage being paid is lower than the notified wage rate must be identified as well.
  • This would indicate places where the implementing authorities need to be hauled up for failing to ensure work is completed
• Given the financial needs of this programme: The General Financial Rules need to be reimagined so that budgetary allocations remain flexible to the need for funds by States in response to demands for work.
• State governments have played a pivotal role in the successes and failures of NREGA, and any proposed reforms must be tabled in State assemblies in addition to Parliament.
  • Bring civil society organizations, worker unions and representatives of self-help groups into the discussion.
• The central government must be held accountable for the denial of entitlements to NREGA workers as a result of top down “reforms” that workers had no say in designing.
• Reforms to NREGA must prioritize the access of workers to entitlements with ease and dignity, rather than focus on administrative and fiscal efficacy alone.