Tuesday, March 29, 2016

111. मजदूरों के हक में मनरेगा, Amar Ujala, 4 February, 2016.


मजदूरों के हक में मनरेगा
Amar Ujala, 
4 February, 2016.


मजदूरों के हक में मनरेगा

री‌त‌िका खेड़ा
Updated 20:11 बुधवार, 3 फरवरी 2016

+बाद में पढ़ें



महात्मा गांधी राष्ट्रीय ग्रामीण रोजगार गारंटी अधिनियम (मनरेगा) के दस साल पूरे हो गए हैं। यह वही मनरेगा है, जिसे पिछले वर्ष प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी ने यूपीए सरकार की विफलता का जीता-जागता स्मारक बताया था, तो राजस्थान की मुख्यमंत्री ने इसकी जरूरत पर ही सवाल उठा दिया था। यही नहीं, ग्रामीण विकास मंत्री ने तो कहा कि इसे 600 में से मात्र 200 जिलों में चलाया जाएगा। जबकि राजनीतिक पंडितों ने इसी मनरेगा को मनमोहन सिंह सरकार को दूसरी बार सत्ता में आने का एक प्रमुख कारण बताया था। मनरेगा को लेकर मौजूदा राजग सरकार का रवैया दोहरे चरित्र को उजागर करता है।

लेकिन सारी गलती मौजूदा सरकार की ही नहीं है, यूपीए-दो भी इसके लिए काफी हद तक जिम्मेदार है। मनरेगा के मूल उद्देश्यों (काम मांगने पर मजदूरी, समय पर भुगतान, आदि) को मजबूत करने के बजाय इस पर कन्वर्जेंस, स्वच्छता, स्वयं सहायता समूह जैसे कई तरह के लक्ष्यों को थोप दिया गया।

इलेक्ट्रॉनिक मस्टर रोल्स (ईएमआर-उपस्थिति पंजिका) को लाया गया, ताकि मजदूरों के पास काम मांगने की रसीद रहे और काम न मिलने की स्थिति में वे बेरोजगारी भत्ते की मांग कर सकें। ऐसा भी माना गया कि ईएमआर से भ्रष्टाचार रुकेगा, लेकिन इससे इन दोनों में से किसी भी समस्या का हल नहीं निकला। कुछ जगहों को छोड़कर, ईएमआर से नुकसान ही हुआ है। कार्यस्थल पर काम पाने का हक चला गया, कागजी काम बढ़ गया और कहीं-कहीं बिचौलियों की वापसी हुई।

साथ ही इसमें केंद्रीकरण की प्रवृत्ति भी विकसित हुई। हर राज्य के पास पैसा होने के बजाय पूरा बजट केंद्र के इलेक्ट्रॉनिक फंड मैनेजमेंट सिस्टम (ईएफएमएस) से भेजा जाता है। प. बंगाल में एक बीडीओ ने बताया कि एक भुगतान में उन्हें आठ घंटे लगे। कहीं भी सिस्टम क्रैश कर सकता है। ईएफएमएस संबंधी मुद्दे अभी निपटे नहीं हैं, लेकिन केंद्र ने पब्लिक फंड मैनेजमेंट सिस्टम (पीएफएमएस) शुरू कर दिया है।

सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने कई बार आदेश दिया है कि आधार अनिवार्य नहीं है, बावजूद इसके ग्रामीण विकास मंत्रालय बार-बार इसे दरकिनार करने की कोशिश में है। आधार और बायोमेट्रिक प्रमाणीकरण का मनरेगा में खास लाभ नहीं होने पर भी राज्यों पर दबाव है कि डाटाबेस में मजदूरों के आधार नंबर डाले जाएं। कर्नाटक के चित्रदुर्ग जिले में 2014-15 में 10-15 करोड़ रुपये का भुगतान इसलिए रुक गया, क्योंकि मजदूरों द्वारा काम करने के बाद डाटा इंट्री ऑपरेटर ने उनका नाम डाटाबेस से हटा दिया। पूछताछ से पता चला कि उन मजदूरों के आधार नंबर नहीं थे और प्रशासन की ओर से दबाव है कि सौ फीसदी मजदूरों के आधार नंबर डाले जाएं। इसलिए ऑपरेटर ने बिना आधार नंबर वाले मजदूरों के नाम हटा दिए।

संसाधन का निर्माण मनरेगा का अहम उद्देश्य है। बेशक शुरुआती वर्षों में इस पर ज्यादा ध्यान नहीं दिया गया। फिर भी, मनरेगा के तहत कुछ संसाधन जरूर विकसित किए गए हैं। मसलन, सड़कों के किनारे पानी निकासी की नालियां, तालाब की खुदाई और उसे गहरा करना, आदि। पश्चिम बंगाल के नदिया जिले में लोगों के खेत के बीचोबीच मनरेगा द्वारा नाली खोदी गई, जिससे अब वही खेत पानी में डूबते नहीं। वहां सब्जियों की खेती होती है। बूंदी (राजस्थान) में नहरें तो थीं, लेकिन उनकी कभी सफाई नहीं हुई, जिससे पानी का बहाव रुक जाता। उस क्षेत्र के गांवों के बीच हर साल पानी को लेकर लड़ाई होती, जिला प्रशासन को पुलिस भेजना पड़ता। मनरेगा से इनकी सफाई की गई, कृषि उत्पादन बढ़ा, झगड़े कम हुए, प्रशासन को भी राहत मिली।

शहरी लोग चार लेन वाली सड़कों के आदी हैं, सो कच्ची सड़कों का महत्व नहीं समझ सकते। लेकिन गांव के लोग, जो फुटपाथ के लिए तरस गए, मनरेगा से बनी ऐसी सड़कों को तवज्जो देते हैं। जहां मृतकों का अंतिम संस्कार मुश्किल था, अब वहां बीमार व्यक्ति को साइकिल या मोटरसाइकिल पर बिठाकर अस्पताल ले जाया जा सकता है। सार्वजनिक रास्ता बन जाने से दलित समुदाय को भी राहत मिली है, क्योंकि सड़क का अधिकार भी झगड़े का मुद्दा बनता है। सुंदरबन में मिट्टी-कार्य से लोगों की जान बचाने का काम हुआ है-तटबंध के कार्यों से बाढ़ और ज्वार का पानी बस्तियों में नहीं आता। साथ ही, लंबे समय के लिए मनरेगा द्वारा मैनग्रोव रोपने का कार्य भी किया गया है। इससे जानें भी बचेंगी और पर्यावरण भी। मनरेगा में 40 फीसदी तक सामग्री पर खर्च का प्रावधान है। मछली पालने के लिए तालाब निर्माण ऐसे कार्य हैं, जिनमें सामग्री पर भी खर्च हुआ है। जो मछली-तालाब हमने देखे, उनमें अंडे, मछलियों का भोजन, पानी-बिजली पर खर्च घटाकर हमने पाया कि 1.08 से 3.2 लाख रुपये तक का मुनाफा होता है।

मनरेगा के जरिये वृक्षारोपण के कार्य भी खूब हुए हैं। सड़कों के किनारे, जंगल और पंचायत की जमीन पर, सरकारी परिसरों में और निजी जमीन पर फलदार पेड़ लगाए गए हैं। बेशक मनरेगा के बहुत से काम विफल भी हुए हैं, लेकिन इन उदाहरणों से पता चलता है कि तकनीकी समर्थन हो, तो सामग्री के बिना भी इससे अच्छे संसाधन विकसित किए जा सकते हैं। पर तकनीकी समर्थन के साथ राजनीतिक समर्थन भी जरूरी है। इस दृष्टि से तमिलनाडु उम्मीद की राह दिखाता है। वहां तकनीकी का सही उपयोग किया गया है। साथ ही मनरेगा क्रियान्वयन में मजदूरों को प्राथमिकता दी गई है। वर्ष 2014-15 में हर जॉबकार्ड धारक परिवार को 32 दिन काम मिला। महिलाओं को 85 फीसदी रोजगार मिला। राजस्थान और आंध्र प्रदेश में जॉबकार्ड धारक परिवार को औसतन 17 दिन काम मिला और वहां महिलाओं की भागीदारी क्रमशः 68 और 59 फीसदी रही। यही नहीं, तमिलनाडु में कुछ रचनात्मक काम भी हुए हैं, जैसे दो हजार ग्राम पंचायतों में मनरेगा के जरिये ठोस कचरे का निष्पादन किया जाता है। तमिलनाडु में ईएमआर का उपयोग बिल्कुल नहीं किया जाता और वहां आम तौर पर भुगतान सात दिनों में होता है।

-लेखिका किंग्स कॉलेज लंदन में आईसीसीआर विजिटिंग प्रोफेसर हैं और आईआईटी, दिल्ली में पढ़ाती हैं

110. Digging holes, filling them up, Indian Express, 3 February, 2016.


Indian Express, 3 February, 2016.



Digging holes, filling them up
Digging holes, filling them up
As it completes 10 years, there is enough evidence to show that India needs the MGNREGA
Written by Reetika Khera | Published:February 3, 2016 12:08 am
A large number of MGNREGA projects failed because a culvert was not built to prevent the road from being washed away or a pond was dug at the top of a slope. (Illustration by C R Sasikumar)

Nearly a year ago, the prime minister made a statement in Parliament about the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). He said: “My political understanding tells me, don’t ever stop MNREGA… because MNREGA is a living monument to your [the Congress’s] failures. After 60 years of independence, you had to send people to dig holes.” This widely criticised speech received a perceptive response from Akhil Katyal, a poet:
Wells are made by digging a hole,/ Digging a hole is what yields a canal, Digging a small hole,/ Allows us to plant a sapling, and if/ You do not dig a big hole to lay the foundation, No matter how big the building/ It will fall.

This resonated with me because the first time I saw the deepening of a pond in Rajasthan in 2002, I was dismayed. What I saw was a field where workers were moving earth from one point to another. When I revisited the same field after the monsoon, however, I realised it was a pond with water for cattle and other domestic needs. It was an important lesson for my urban eyes and mind.


Though asset creation was an important objective of the MGNREGA, in the early years, attention was focused on first generation issues — establishment of the required administrative machinery and corruption-free implementation of the scheme.

Recently, as a member of a committee to select award-winning districts and states, I had the opportunity to learn about MGNREGA projects from over 30 districts and visit five districts.

The first category of mud works includes clearing water supply channels (for example, ditches along public roads) and de-silting and deepening ponds and tanks. In Nadia (West Bengal), digging an irrigation channel through fields has helped to bring the fields under cultivation. Earlier, they could not be used because they got submerged with rainwater. In Tamil Nadu’s Tiruvallur district, clearing bushes and grass in existing channels ensured better drainage. Fewer bunds were breached during the recent flood. De-silting and deepening of ponds and tanks is likely to improve groundwater recharge in the long run while providing water harvesting and storage structures in the short run.

Bundi (Rajasthan) in the Chambal river area, is a well-watered district in an otherwise water-scarce state. A pre-existing canal irrigation system had been lying in disrepair as bushes and silt had not been cleared for years. Each year, water disputes between upper and lower villages led to the deployment of police pickets. The MGNREGA has been used for the maintenance of the canals, ensuring better water supplies to farmers and fewer disputes.

Similarly, rural connectivity works, undertaken on a massive scale within the MGNREGA, improve economic opportunities for all, especially by increasing the access to markets for farmers, lead to the initiation of some form of public transport (such as shared tempos), and make government services (such as hospitals) more accessible. The creation of public roads also reduces disputes on the right of way, especially for Dalits.

In the Sundarbans, there were three interesting categories of mud works. One, building embankments to prevent high tide and flood waters from inundating habitations. Two, flood protection works, and three, for the longer term, the MGNREGA is being used for mangrove forest rejuvenation to reduce erosion. Protecting mangrove forests has positive spin-offs for environmental issues as well. These are examples of mud works with no material expenditure. The MGNREGA allows up to 40 per cent of total expenditure on material. Fish farm ponds (a hole filled with water) are examples of works with material costs. In several states (including Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu and Tripura), working with the fisheries department, fingerlings have been introduced into MGNREGA ponds. Net profits (deducting the cost of feed, fingerlings, water and electricity from revenues) ranged from Rs 1.08-3.2 lakh, in the cases we saw. The cost of the project was between Rs 70,000 to Rs. 2.76 lakh, implying a healthy rate of return.

Four different types of plantation and afforestation works have been undertaken. These include plantations on the roadside, on forest or panchayat land, within the premises of public buildings and orchards on private lands. A guava orchard in the North 24 Parganas district yielded sales of Rs 3,600-7,200 over three months. The project cost was less than Rs 15,000.

In Chitradurga (Karnataka), the MGNREGA has been used to recharge public borewells, an important source of water supply. In Jharkhand, one lakh wells were sanctioned through the MGNREGA. A recent study of 100 randomly sampled wells shows that the completion rate is very high, the economic rate of return is a healthy 6 per cent. They contribute to better nutrition as farmers start growing vegetables (instead of, say, rice or maize) near the wells.

The MGNREGA has also provided fertile ground for creativity. In Tamil Nadu, a remarkable experiment with solid waste management is underway. In 2,000 peri-urban gram panchayats, MGNREGA labour is used to collect segregated garbage from homes in a tricycle cart, brought to a yard where bio-degradable waste is composted. Non-degradable waste is either sold or, in the case of plastic, the gram panchayat sells it to a self-help group at Re 1 per kg, which shreds it for resale at Rs 30 per kg to road contractors who use it in road-laying.

In Pali (Rajasthan) and Bankura (West Bengal), MGNREGA labour is being used for brick-making. This experiment has huge implications because, if such bricks can be booked as a labour cost, more material intensive works can be undertaken through the MGNREGA.

The examples given here are mostly the best practices. They are not representative
of the whole picture. A large number of MGNREGA projects failed because a culvert was not built to prevent the road from being washed away or a pond was dug at the top of a slope.

Sadly, there is no largescale study focusing on the cost-benefit analysis of MGNREGA works. The positive experiences listed here demonstrate the potential of doing useful work through the MGNREGA — with and without material — especially if the labour has better technical support.
The writer is ICCR visiting professor at King’s College, London and associate professor of economics at IIT Delhi

- See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/mgnrega-digging-holes-filling-them-up/#sthash.fwPghXW1.dpuf

109. For NREGA, Tamil Nadu is the only hope", NDTV.com, 2 February, 2016.


For NREGA, Tamil Nadu is the only hope", NDTV.com
2 February, 2016.



For NREGA, Tamil Nadu Is The Only Hope

EMAIL
PRINT
33COMMENTS




NREGA, today celebrating its 10th anniversary, has received a hostile reception from the current political dispensation. The Rajasthan Chief Minister questioning the need for a law, the then Rural Development minister's suggestion to limit NREGA to a few districts, and the Prime Minister's speech in Parliament in 2015 reveal the BJP's hostility and double standards (NREGA was passed unanimously in 2005).

Yet, it would be wrong to lay the entire blame on this government. The perceived "success" of NREGA in UPA-1 became a burden under UPA-2. Instead of consolidating on the basics (work on demand, timely payments, better assets, participatory planning), other objectives were foisted on NREGA - convergence, sanitation, self-help groups, unionizing labour, political packaging through construction of "Rajiv Gandhi" bhawans.

From the start in 2005, NREGA embraced technology. NREGASoft, a management information system (MIS), was specially designed. It has its flaws but greatly facilitated implementation and brought unprecedented transparency to the programme. Similarly, around 2008-9, it was ordered that NREGA wages be paid only through bank and post office accounts (instead of cash in hand) to curb corruption.

Come UPA-2, NREGA went from being technology-friendly to being technocracy-servient. The corruption discourse was so dominant that before the impact of wage payment through bank accounts could be evaluated, electronic muster rolls (EMRs) - attendance sheets - were introduced. The names of those who applied for work were to be entered in NREGASoft, to generate these EMRs or attendance sheets with pre-printed names. The rationale for EMRs was that when labourers demanded work, they could have a dated receipt as proof to claim their unemployment allowance (as per the Act if work is not provided within 15 days). Further, EMRs were meant to check corruption. It was felt that with paper MRs, names of workers who never came to the worksite ("fake names") were being entered, and EMRs or electronic attendance sheets could put an end to this malpractice.

In practice, EMRs have solved neither of the two problems. In many areas, work is provided to those who show up at the worksite, and their attendance is maintained in a kachharegister. This register is used to generate post-dated work demand and EMRs. The tear-off receipt in the work demand form remains with NREGA functionaries. This means workers do not have proof to demand unemployment allowance if work is not provided. As far as "fake names" are concerned, EMRs allow that sort of corruption to continue. Fake labourers can bully or collude with NREGA functionaries to register them.

In a nutshell, except in small pockets, EMRs have been damaging: they have undermined the right to demand work at the worksite, added extra layers of paperwork (the kachharecords and the work demand forms), and in some places brought back middlemen (because workers don't know where and how to apply).

The technocratic approach has been accompanied by over-centralization. Around 2014-15, the ministry issued over 1,000 circulars related to the MIS. Instead of each state having an NREGA fund to allocate, the Electronic Fund Management System (EFMS) has centralized the flow of funds. In West Bengal, an exasperated Block Development Officer told us that it took him eight hours to process one payment through the EFMS. State funds are up (in the "cloud") for grabs on a first-come-first-serve basis. As soon as NREGA staff hear that funds are available, they all start processing pending payments. Those with better internet connectivity (and luck!) manage successfully, those in remoter areas are left hanging. The trauma was similar to that which one experiences booking a tatkal train ticket, where after one has made the payment, the transaction can still fail at the last step.

Worse, before one set of changes could take root, another change would be brought in. One official said "Before we had read the previous one, a new circular would arrive". For instance, before EFMS related issues were resolved, the Public Fund Management System (PFMS) has been introduced (in Karnataka, 38,000 payments are crippled due to PMFS). NREGA functionaries have yet to learn what "PMFS" stands for and "Ne-FMS" is in the wings.

The alleged benefits of aadhaar and biometric authentication at the time of withdrawing NREGA wages have long been debunked. With wages being paid into bank accounts, wage corruption is only possible by coercing or colluding with labourers. Coercion means that once the labourer has withdrawn her wages, money is forcefully taken away. Collusion means that the labourer himself becomes party to corrupt practices (i.e. fake labourers who are on MRs, but never work). Coercion and collusion can both continue even with biometric authentication.

Since 2013, the Supreme Court has ordered several times that aadhaar is not compulsory. The ministry has repeatedly attempted to evade these orders. One-line clarifications (that aadhaar is not compulsory) are accompanied with half-page instructions on how to seed aadhaar into NREGASoft.

NREGASoft was reworked so that work demand could only be registered if it was accompanied by the aadhaar number. An exemption feature exists, but is not understood by field staff. More recently, written circulars have been replaced by verbal pressure (e.g. through video conferences) to achieve aadhaar-integration. The message is clear - no aadhaar, no work.

The pressure to ensure aadhaar-integration has been so immense that in some states, field staff deleted job cards when the aadhaar number was unavailable. In Chitradurga (Karnataka), 10-15 crores of wages from 2014-2015 are were held up for a year. When payments were being processed, their job cards could not be traced in NREGASoft. Upon enquiry, the district administration learnt field staff had deleted them to achieve "100 percent aadhaar-seeding". Similar instances have been reported in Jharkhand too.

The only hope for NREGA comes from Tamil Nadu (TN). Technology has been put to good use, NREGA administrators have remained firm masters. In TN, NREGA labourers have remained at the centre of administrator's efforts. In 2014-2015, each job cardholder got 32 days of work on average (in Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh, the average was 17 days). Women's share in total employment was 85 percent (68 and 59 percent in Rajasthan and AP respectively).

Tamil Nadu has successfully resisted Delhi's attempts at overcentralized technocratic control. In 2008-2009, when the central ministry wanted the transition to bank payments within a year, TN ignored Delhi's deadlines. Ensuring low corruption in others ways, the transition was completed in about five years. Similarly, the state does not use EMRs at all, is able to ensure timely employment and wages are mostly paid within seven days. The worker-centric efforts in Tamil Nadu provide the greatest hope for NREGA's future.

(Reetika Khera is ICCR Visiting Professor at King's College, London and teaches at IIT Delhi.)

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of NDTV and NDTV does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same
First Published:February 01, 2016 14:48 IST