Flaws foil NREGA in Cuddalore

Women working at the NREGA site in Kokupalayam village in Panruti block. They were laying a Kucha road that leads to the burial ground of the Most Backward Caste. Photo: Ranjani Rajendra

Cuddalore: The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act – 2005 (NREGA) came into effect on Feb.2 2006. Cuddalore district in Tamil Nadu was one of the 200 districts where the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) was adopted for the first phase. Two years since and the scheme is still in its nascent stage.The Act states that applicants should be given their job cards within 15 days of registering at the village Panchayat. And if this is not adhered to, the applicants should be paid ‘unemployment wages’ till the date of employment. But in Chinnakomati village of the Parangipettai Town Panchayat, over one-fourth of the households that the Digantik team visited, were unaware of the unemployment wages. The survey was part of a social audit conducted on behalf of District Collector, Cuddalore, Rajendra Ratnoo.

Numerous discrepancies regarding records surfaced during the course of the audit. In Pallipadai village, according to the NREGA registers with the Panchayat, the job cards seem to have been handed out a month or two before the card holder had applied. The applicants were not even issued the counterfoil receipts that they should be given on application for a job card.

The other problem was that people did not get the minimum 100 days of work promised under the Act. Most families get only 40 days of work on an average. The reason given by government officials was the arrival of the monsoons or the lack of work. Most of the work done under the NREGA is desilting of irrigation channels, renovation of existing ponds and formation of earthen roads. Work under the NREGA could be of any kind that excludes the use of machinery. Hence the officials, including the Block Development Officer (BDO) J. Natarajan said that allotment of work is not possible during the rains. Although many people testified that the NREGS was highly beneficial for them and they would like to continue with it, it has gone unnoticed by the officials.

Yet another drawback was that not all the labourers seemed to be aware of their rights and the provisions under the Act. As a result they did not know that they could go to the Gram Sabha and put forth their demands regarding NREGA projects. Even though the Gram Sabha decides on the work to be taken up, the sarpanch and other panchayat officials have the last word.
Most people who have registered and are given job cards do not work from mid-September to end of December. During January the landless labourers prefer to work on the fields as they earn more doing agricultural work. The NREGA in Cuddalore gives a daily wage of Rs 80 per individual , whereas the farm workers get Rs 100 per day. The government also ensures that no work is given during the harvesting season. This is another reason why the subscribed 100 days of work is not adhered to.

Another discrepancy that came to light was the fact that the labourers did not always earn the promised Rs 80 a day because they had not completed their share of work. The women in the region claimed that the work involved backbreaking tasks and due to this they often lose out on full pay. At the NREGA site in Kokupalayam village, Panruti block, several workers said they received only Rs 60 on an average. Technical assistant, Alamelu,said that they calculated the work completed by the entire group. If one individual in the group hadn’t completed the work given to him/her, the entire group lose out on their wages. The time duration taken to pay the workers money was also a source of concern. According to the Act, they should be paid their wages within seven days of them working, but this rule too has been flouted. Most people were paid after a month of them working on the site.
There have also been numerous cases of ‘ghost’ workers. In a number of cases the applicants’ photographs were missing from the records, which was essential to prevent fake cards from being issued. In other cases, fewer job cards being issued to a family than had been applied for. In Chinnakomati , most of the application forms that were in possession of the Panchayat were not dated. So there was no way to check when an applicant had submitted the form and, when and if the applicant had been given the job card on time.

Despite claims that measures were being taken to ensure proper implementation of the NREGA, which has tremendous potential, the numerous discrepancies that surfaced during our social audit showed otherwise.