Social audits being conducted around the country are playing an important role in creating awareness about government programs and rights that people have, highlighting corruption and inefficiencies in the bureaucracy and holding the bureaucracy accountable.

For instance, the data uploaded to the NREGS website reveals a woefully small number of applications being made for work and an even smaller number of works actually being started in Madhya Pradesh as compared to the large number of people registered and issued job cards.  Four districts in fact do not have any work at all.  The Madhyanchal Forum, a federation of NGOs and mass organisations in Madhya Pradesh recently conducted a padayatra and social audit of the NREGS implementation in the 18 districts of the state in the first fortnight of December 2006 to unearth the reasons behind this anomaly.  The results summarised in a brief preliminary report of this social audit provide a shocking picture of the reality that actually prevails on the ground.

The social audit conducted during the Rozgar Samvad Yatra brought out some alarming findings like:

1.     Lack of information and awareness on NREGA among the community. The labourers at some worksites did not even know that they were working under NREGA.
2.     Lack of information on provisions of NREGA among the sarpanch and panchayat representatives.  A need was felt in many places for training and capacity enhancement programs for the sarpanch and the secretary.
3.     In most of the districts people have not received the receipt of their application for work.
4.     Out of the 100 days as stated in the Act people have been able to receive only 10 -25 days work in many districts.
5.     In a district the Yatra found that people were asked to pay Rs 100 for the job card which as per the Act is to be provided free. 
6.     Again in some places people complained that they even paid Rs.25/- for the photograph to be pasted in the job card which as per the Act was to be taken free.
7.     In most of the places the Sarpanch kept the job card of the beneficiaries instead of iss uing the job card to them.
8.     As per the provisions of the Act information pertaining to the Act has to be displayed at the panchayats and worksites.  However during the yatra no such information display boards were seen both at the panchayats and the worksites
9.     In most places the works undertaken under the act were not as per the priority and were not decided by the people as per the provisions stated in the Act.
10.   As per the Act provisions the payment is to be made within a  week and should  not exceed fortnight, however, in most of the places the payment was due for more than 15 days.
11.    In most of the places there was no timely estimation and measurement of the work by the accredited engineers’ panel constituted by the state government.
12.    In many places attendance was marked on loose sheets and muster rolls were absent from the worksite.
13.    In many places evaluating engineers demanded commiss ions/bribes from the Sarpanch particularly in Raipura village in Dindori
14.    In violation of the provisions of the Act there was absence of mandatory facilities like drinking water, crèche, and first aid box at the worksite.
15.    As per the provisions of the Act when wages are directly linked with the quantity of work the wage shall be paid as per the task rate fixed for the different types of work in accordance with he statutory minimum daily wage for an unskilled worker of Rs 61.37. In most of the places it was seen that the workers were working under a task rate that gave them daily wages that were between Rs 13 to 22 which is far lower than the statutory minimum wage.
16.    In Barwani and Khandwa districts contractors were hired for execution of projects taken up by the gram panchayats, rather then executing the project under NREGA.
17.    In Umariya district the allocation under the NREGA has been completely utilized and no fresh allocation has been made since June '06.
18.    The unemployment allowance was not paid.
19.    In a district incidence of fake job cards was witnessed. The number of job cards was more than the total number of families and there were cases of sale of job cards as well.
20.    In Umariya district, the work started during the harvesting season due to which fewer workers were involved.
21.    In some worksites machines were being used for 80% work which is much higher than the stipulated maximum of 60% labour to 40% machine ratio.
22.    At some places the process of application filing for the work was done after the completion of work.
23.    In Nalcha Block in Dhar district instead of individual measurement of work labourers were given wages on collective basis.
24.    The work in most of the districts was not as per the priority in the Act. In many districts road construction was given more priority than NRM works.
25.    The evaluation of the work in most of the places was done after the completion of the work on collective basis and equal wages were paid because of which labourers who actually worked harder suffered.

LEARNINGS FROM SOCIAL AUDIT

1.      The entire process was the first of its kind in the state and attracted huge attention.
2.      The Samvad Yatra was an eye opener for the community as well as the authorities. It raised the awareness among them to stand up for their rights.
3.      The process brought out the collective spirit and voluntary efforts of all the stakeholders
4.      The entire process witnessed effective participation and cooperation of the Panchayat and Rural Development department especially the circle officers.
5.      The entire process witnessed effective participation and cooperation of voluntary organizations working in the state.
6.      Both the print and electronic media effectively covered the entire event and promptly diss eminated the findings for strengthening the implementation.
7.      The communication team  was very effective in communicating the provisions to the community through puppet shows and nukkar nataks.
8.      The community showed keen interest in knowing the provisions and participated enthusiastically in the rallies to celebrate the  coming of the NREGA.
9.      All the stakeholders  participated in the whole process and ownership  was developed  among them to strengthen the implementation process.

This note by Rahul Banerjee from Khedut Mazdoor Chetna Sangath, Indore was posted on NREGS listservs