The National Right to Employment Guarantee Scheme was planned to be a support for rural poor. It aims to provide a minimum of 100 days employment to an individual from each family in districts where the program has been implemented. The reality shows that it is far from true. This note is sent by Nandlal Master based on the work of Lok Samiti

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The program has been ongoing in Varanasi district since April 2007. There are numerous villages within this district where the program has not even been implemented. Examples include villages of Singhai, Basantpatti, Jagatpur, Benipur, Jalalpur in AraziLine Block where no program has even been initiated a year after the Scheme was to have begun.

In other villages such as Ramrapur, Parampur, Belauri, Dhamapur, Ganeshpur, where people have had an opportunity to work, they have not been paid any money over 2 months after they performed their labour. In other places, where people have received wages, it is less than the minimum pay of Rs100 that was prescribed as part of this plan. This despite the Employment Guarantee Act clearly stating that wages must be provided within a week of the work being performed and that a minimum wage of Rs100 must be provided. These provide increasingly clear evidence that money is being siphoned off these government programs by corrupt members of government agencies implementing these policies.

During a survey of the program in Ganeshpur, an interesting story was brought to light. 180 people days of work was done the first time that this program was implemented in this Panchayat. However, the accountant listed that 300 people days of work had been accomplished. Thus Rs18000 was actually paid to the workers while Rs30000 was listed in the government books as the amount paid to villagers of Ganeshpur as part of NREGA implemented there. The difference was pocketed by various officials.

The second round of implementation of programs in Ganeshpur was even more daring. While Rs55000 was to be paid to villagers in Ganeshpur for their work, the receipt was made for Rs. 81800. In addition, the accountant asked for 11% commission from the villagers before they could get their wages. However, since the officers could not agree on how to disburse this commission amongst themselves, the accountant only paid Rs27000 to the villagers. Protesting villagers accosted the Block Development Officer and after much ado, the officer agreed to pay Rs44000 to those who had worked on this project.

While the NREGA clearly states that one-third of those who receive these work support must be women and 3% must be handicapped, survey from the first year of implementation shows that the reality is not even close.

These instances of corruption are not the exception – they are the norm. In such conditions, the implementation of NREGA has been of limited use to those it was aimed to support – it perhaps has been of greatest use to implementing officers.