Lack of awareness among people and poor implementation by officials mark the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act/Scheme (NREGA/S) in Bihar.

This was a key finding of an awareness-raising and fact-finding campaign organised under the PACS Programme in 21 districts of Bihar.

The campaign is part of NREGS Campaign 2008, initiated by the Management Consultants of the PACS Programme in consultation with DFID-India (to read about NREGS Campaign 2008, click here).

The campaign in Bihar is being run in three clusters. In Nawada cluster, it is handled by 19 CSOs in 106 villages that fall within 38 panchayats, in six districts. In Madhubani cluster, 22 CSOs are involved, in 138 villages of 46 panchayats in four districts. In the Gaya cluster, 30 gram panchayats in three districts are being covered by 22 CSOs. And in Tirhut cluster, 26 CSOs cover 46 gram panchayats in nine districts.

The campaign began with CSOs getting villagers to fill in a questionnaire to assess the status of the NREGS. The findings were discussed at a state-level orientation workshop in Patna, on July 29-30, 2008, attended by 93 CSOs working under the PACS Programme in Bihar.

Not a single family that answered the questionnaire had received 100 days of work between April 2007 and March 2008. Many people had job cards but much fewer numbers actually got work; hardly any of them were women or persons with disability. Moreover, the gram sabha had little say in the planning of works carried out, and no social audit was conducted.

Dr Prakash Louis, an adviser to DFID, who was present at the workshop, spoke about the processes and expected outcome of NREGS Campaign 2008, which was to track past interventions and build on social assets generated during the first phase of the PACS Programme.

Anup Mukherjee, Principal Secretary, Rural Department, Bihar, appealed to CSOs to support the administration in strengthening the grievance redressal system by communicating any complaints they received about the NREGS to the administration. (Read a related report here).

The plan chalked out at the meeting included a village campaign covering three to five villages in one or two gram panchayats; a panchayat/gram sabha meeting in one revenue village; and each CSO to conduct a survey in one dalit hamlet.

Campaign activities

The village campaign started on August 4, 2008. Activities included awareness building and community mobilisation through nukkad nataks, a padyatra, wall writing, disseminating printed learning material, flex cards capturing information related to the NREGA, and village meetings.

Panchayat representatives, programme officers, rozgar sevaks, and the media observed various processes of the campaign.

Some of the main points that emerged from the village meetings:

Job cards

Many villagers did not know how to get job cards. In Chandi and Chotki Sasaram villages in Bhojpur district, several dalit families were excluded from getting job cards.

In Ramnagar village, Muzaffarpur district, where awareness levels are high, particularly among self-help group members, around 750 job cards were distributed although work had been slow in coming.

Photographs are often missing from cards, and many details stated incorrectly.

The number of days of work mentioned on the job card often did not match the number of days a person actually worked. For example, in Ganipur Bheja and Sirajabad gram panchayats, one job card showed the holder had worked for 115 days, while in Sahpur Maricha village in Khundni block, Bhusan Paswan had worked for 15 days but this was not stated in his card.

Although job cards are supposed to be in the possession of beneficiaries, they are usually found to be with the mukhiya.

Works

In most cases, villagers are not aware that they have to demand work; they believe once they have got a job card, work will automatically be provided to them.

Community members are not involved in the planning of NREGS works. A rare case was Narbirpur and Chotki Sasaram gram panchayats where a peoples committee has been formed to identify the type of work to be undertaken.

Women and persons with disability are not being encouraged to seek work. In Sahpur Maricha village in Khundni block, only men were given work; in Ganipur Bheja and Mandai Khurda villages only six women were given work.

By government order, no NREGS work is undertaken between June 15 and October 15 even though work is definitely needed at this time. No unemployment allowance is given either.

The type of work is limited to filling earth, digging channels and constructing ponds. These activities are not planned or implemented in a structured manner. Generally, middlemen/munshis approach the villagers and engage them in NREGS work.

Villagers are unaware of other types of work under the scheme like plantation, upgradation of dalit lands, water and soil conservation, asset-creation, etc.

CSOsworking in 106 villages in Nawada cluster report that a shelf of works has not been created, as claimed by the government.

There is lack of technical support in the preparation of micro plans and in designing projects and works at the grassroots level.

Wages

Wages are not being properly calculated and are often delayed. Most people are unaware of the fact that they are entitled to unemployment allowance.

Though banks have been given instructions to open accounts with a zero balance, exclusively for NREGS payments through cheque, villagers still face difficulties in opening accounts.

Although the minimum wage has been raised to Rs 81, not a single instance of this wage being received by a beneficiary was found during the campaign in Nawada cluster.

Apathy of officials

Most of the people responsible for implementing the NREGA were found to be either disinterested or poorly trained.

Nawada CSOs observed that programme officers at the block and district levels were not trained or oriented towards meeting the local needs of job-creation and asset-creation.

Gram panchayat and local government functionaries were not fully aware of provisions under the NREGA, how to file applications, how to prepare a village action plan, how to set up various structures and committees, etc.

Gram sevaks view work related to the NREGS as an additional responsibility and so discharge their duties indifferently.

Other issues

The implementing agency does not provide facilities at the worksite (a crche, clean drinking water, a shed to rest, etc); neither do beneficiaries demand them.

Muster rolls are unavailable at the worksite, in clear violation of the Act. People dont know, and are not told about the grievance redressal mechanism. Complaints are usually verbal and are often not entertained by the gram sevak, rozgar sevak or programme officials at the block and district levels.