MARWARI COLLEGE, RANCHI

An Autonomous Constituent Unit of Ranchi University

A Project Report on
E-Tendering Portal

Submitted in partial fulfillment for the award of the degree in
Master of Computer Application

Under the guidance of
Mr. Prakash Kumar


By
NAME : - Rupa Singh
ROLL NO :- 10MCRMS97030
CLASS : - M.C.A.
SEMISTER : - VI
SESSION : - 2010-13

MARWARI COLLEGE, RANCHI
An Autonomous Constituent Unit Of Ranchi University


Department of Computer Science And Application


CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the project work entitled ONLINE POLLING
is carried out by Bhanu Priya Yadav Reg No. 1097010, Roll No.
10MCRMS97010, session:2010-13 is bonafied student of Marwari
College,Ranchi in partial fulfillment for the award of Master Of
Computer Of Application in Submission Of Report, Marwari
College,Ranchi.





Name & Signature of the Guide Name& Signature of the HOD
Mr.PrakasKumar Mr. Avinash Kumar




DECLARATI ON
I SWETA AMBASTA hereby declare that the project titled SOCIAL
NETWORKING SERVICE : MEDIUM OF COMMUNICATION
has been prepared by me and submitted under M.J.M.C Curriculum. All the
information, facts and figures are collected by me and are first had in nature.
Any resemblance from existing work is purely coincidental in nature.

Name of Candidate: SWETA AMBASTA
Class Roll No. : 46
Exam Roll No. - 12MJ011
Session : 2011-2013







SIGNATURE OF THE CANDIDATE
SWETA AMBASTA

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT


I am greatly indebted to my teacher of the Ranchi University Ranchi who
introduces me to the studies mass communication. I wish to take this opportunity
to express dip sense gratitude to them for in valuable guidance during the course
of present investigation.
I am thankful to non teaching staff of Ranchi University Ranchi Last but not list
wish to express my gratitude to my family and specially to my friend for their help
without which it would not have been to possible to complete this project work.












SIGNATURE OF THE CANDIDATE
SWETA AMBASTA

INDEX
No. Content Page No
1 INTRODUCTION

THE STUDY BRIEF RELEVANCE OF
THE TOPIC AND THE
ORGANIZATION
MATERIALS AND METHODS
OBJECTIVE




2-8


2 ORGANIZATION PROFILE
NATURE OF WORKING
JURISDICTION
ORGANISATION STURCTURE
CAPITAL AND FINANCIAL
H R STRENGTH



9-52
3 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
ABOUT THE TOPIC



53-57
4 ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION OF
THE TOPIC IN THE ORGANIZATION

58-63
5 FINDING AND SUGGESTION 64
6 Bibliography 65


INTRODUCTION

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee
Act (MGNREGA) is an Indian law that aims to guarantee the 'right to
work' and ensure livelihood security in khunti by providing at least 100
days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every
household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual
work. The statute is hailed by the government as "the largest and
most ambitious social security and public works programmed in the
world". The more comprehensive survey of Comptroller and Auditor
General (CAG) of India, a Supreme Audit Institution defined in Article
148 of the Constitution of India, reports serious lapses in
implementation of the act.

THE STUDY BRIEF RELEVANCE OF THE TOPIC AND THE
ORGANIZATION

Targeting poverty through employment generation using rural works
has had a long history in India that began in the 1960s. After the first
three decades of experimentation, the government launched major
schemes like Jawahar Rozgar Yojana, Employment Assurance
Scheme, Food for Work Programme, Jawahar Gram Samridhi Yojana
and Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana that were forerunners to
Mahatma Gandhi NREGA. The theme of government approach had
been to merge old schemes to introduce new ones while retaining the
basic objective of providing additional wage employment involving
unskilled manual work and also to create durable assets. The major
responsibility of implementation was also gradually transferred to
the Panchayati Raj Institutions. Unlike its precursors, the Mahatma
Gandhi NREGA guaranteed employment as a legal right. However, the
problem areas are still the same as they were in the 1960s. The most
significant ones are: lack of public awareness, mismanagement and
above all mass corruption.
The statement of the law provides adequate safeguards to promote its
effective management and implementation. The act explicitly mentions
the principles and agencies for implementation, list of allowed works,
financing pattern, monitoring and evaluation, and most importantly
the detailed measures to ensure transparency and accountability.
Further the provisions of the law adhere to the principles enunciated in
the Constitution of India.
The comprehensive assessment of the performance of the law by the
constitutional auditor revealed serious lapses arising mainly due to
lack of public awareness, mismanagement and institutional incapacity.
The CAG also suggests a list of recommendations to the government
for corrective measures. The government, however, had also released
a collection of reportedly independent researches evaluating the
functioning of the act whose results significantly differed from the CAG
report. Meanwhile, the social audits in two Indian states highlight the
potential of the law if implemented effectively.



MATERIALS AND METHODS

Prior to the enactment of Mahatma Gandhi NREGA, India had no
programme in khunti that promised employment as a legal right,
although employment generation through rural works had a long
history in India dating back to the 1960s. Since 1960,
[n 1]
the
government had been merging old schemes to introduce new ones
while retaining the basic objective of providing additional wage
employment involving unskilled manual work, creating durable
assets, and improving food security in khunti through public works
with special safeguards for the weaker sections and women of the
community. The problem areas had also been almost similar like
mismanagement, lack of planning and implementation. The
remuneration had been a combination of wages and foodgrains across
all schemes. It took 30 years of government experimentation to launch
major schemes like Jawahar Rozgar Yojana (JRY), Employment
Assurance Scheme (EAS), Food for Work Programme (FWP), Jawahar
Gram Samridhi Yojana (JGSY) and Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar
Yojana (SGRY) that were forerunners to Mahatma Gandhi NREGA. In
the process, the government decentralized implementation by
providing financial and functional autonomy to the local self-
government institutions or Panchayati Raj Institutions(PRIs) in order to
fight corruption.




OBJECTIVES
The main objective of the Act is to enhance livelihood security in
khunti by providing at
least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to
every household whose
adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.




















ORGANIZATION PROFILE:-

Sonia Gandhi, the chairperson of the then ruling coalition United
Progressive Alliance (UPA) is believed to be instrumental in making the
Mahatma Gandhi NREGA into law.
The government experimented with various schemes from 1960-90.
The most significant ones were Food for Work Programme (FWP) of
1977 and National Rural Employment Programme (NREP) of 1980. The
popular FWP provided food grains to complement wages. It was then
revamped and renamed to NREP with almost similar objective.
On 1 April 1989, to converge employment generation, infrastructure
development and food security in khunti, the government integrated
NREP and RLEGP into a new scheme JRY. The most significant change
was the decentralization of implementation by involving local people
through PRIs and hence a decreasing role of bureaucracy. Due to
implementation issues, JRY was restructured and renamed to JGSY in
1999.
On 2 October 1993, the EAS was initiated to provide employment
during the lean agricultural season. The role of PRIs was reinforced
with the local self-government at the district level called the Zilla
Parishad as the main implementing authority. Again due to
implementation issues, EAS was merged with SGRY in 2001.
In January 2001, the government again introduced FWP similar to the
one initiated in 1977. Once again due to implementation issues, it was
merged with Mahatma Gandhi NREGA in 2006.
On 1 April 1999, the JRY was revamped and renamed to JGSY with a
similar objective. The role of PRIs was further reinforced with the local
self-government at the village level called the Village Panchayats as
the sole implementing authority. But again due to implementation
issues, it was merged with SGRY in 2001.
Once again on 25 September 2001 to converge employment
generation, infrastructure development and food security in khunti, the
government integrated EAS and JGSY into a new scheme SGRY. The
role of PRIs was retained with the Village Panchayats as the sole
implementing authority. Yet again due to implementation issues, it
was merged with Mahatma Gandhi NREGA in 2006.
In 2005, and again to converge employment generation, infrastructure
development and food security in khunti, the government integrated
SGRY and FWP into a new scheme called Mahatma Gandhi NREGA.
The total government allocation to these precursors of Mahatma
Gandhi NREGA had been about three-quarters of 1 trillion (equivalent
to over $18 billion).












NATURE OF WORKING

According to the Eleventh Five Year Plan (200712), the number of
Indians living on less than 1 a day, called Below Poverty Line (BPL),
was 300 million that barely declined over the last three decades
ranging from 1973 to 2004, although their proportion in the total
population decreased from 36 per cent (199394) to 28 percent
(200405), and the rural working class dependent on agriculture was
unemployed for nearly 3 months per year which was rising due to a
downward trend of the agricultural productivity and in turn also
aggravating poverty. In large states like Bihar, Madhya
Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh,JHARKHAND,
specially in khunti district the number of poor even increased. The plan
targeted poverty through MGNREGA which promised employment as
an entitlement.
The law is based on Gandhian principles.
Previous employment guarantee schemes (EGS) like Sampoorna
Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY) or Universal Rural Employment
Programme andNational Food For Work Programme (NFFWP) - both
SGRY and NFFWP were merged with MGNREGA - also provided short-
term unskilled employment to poor, assured food and job security and
created durable assets. In contrast to the earlier wage employment
programmes, MGNREGA, as per its definition, is a right-based,
demand-driven public employment programme that is principally
based on decentralized, participatory planning at the gram
panchayat level with adequate transparency and accountability
safeguards for effective implementation.











The MGNREGA is notified on 7 September 2005 with the objective of
"enhancing livelihood security in khunti by providing at least 100 days
of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year, to every
household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual
work". In addition to this the aim of








MGNREGA in khunti created durable assets that would augment the
basic resources available to the poor. At minimum wage rate and
within 5 km radius of the village, the employment under MGNREGA is
an entitlement that creates an obligation on the government failing
which an unemployment allowance is to be paid within 15 days. Along
with community participation, the MGNREGA is to be implemented
mainly by the gram panchayats (GPs) of khunti jharkhand. The
involvement of contractors is banned. Labour-intensive tasks like
creating infrastructure for water harvesting, drought relief and flood
control are preferred. Starting from 200 districts in 2 February 2006,
the MGNREGA covered all the districts of India from 1 April 2008.

The stated objective of the Act is to enhance livelihood security in
khunti by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment
in a financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer
to do unskilled manual work. This work guarantee can also serve other
objectives: generating productive assets, protecting the
environment, empowering rural women, reducing rural-urban
migration and fostering social equity, among others."
For effective management, the legislation also mentions
implementation principles and key agencies.The principles are:
collaborative partnership and public accountability; community
participation; panchayats as principal authorities; overall responsibility
of district programme coordinator (DPC) and programme officer (PO);
coordination among agencies; and resource support. The agencies are:
Gram Sabha and Gram Panchayat at the village level; intermediate
panchayat and PO at the block level; district panchayats and DPC at
the district level; state employment guarantee council (SEGC), state
government and employment guarantee commissioner at the state
level; and central employment guarantee council (CEGC) and Ministry
of Rural Development at the central level. The Act further mandates its
wide publicity.
The statute further mandates planning through preparation of
the District Perspective Plan and the Annual Plan.
Likewise the stated registration process involves an application to the
Gram Panchayat and issue of job cards. The wage employment must
be provided within 15 days of the date of application. The work
entitlement of 100 days per household per year may be shared
between different adult members of the same household.
The law too lists the permissible works: water conservation and water
harvesting; drought proofing including afforestation; irrigation
works; restoration of traditional water bodies; land development; flood
control; rural connectivity; and works notified by the government. The
Act sets a minimum limit to the works executed by the Gram
Panchayat as 50 per cent and to the
wage-material ratio as 60:40. The
provision of accredited engineers,
worksite facilities and a weekly report
on worksites is also mandated by the
Act.




The law is named after Mahatma Gandhi.
Furthermore the Act sets a minimum limit to the wages, to be paid
with gender equality, either on a time-rate basis or on a piece-
rate basis. The states are required to evolve a set of norms for the
measurement of works and schedule of rates. The
unemployment must be paid if the work is not provided within the
statutory limit of 15 days.
Moreover, the legislation details the financing pattern between the
central and the state government and the establishment of the
Employment Guarantee Funds at both levels. Unlike
the SGRY and NFFWP, the financing to the states is based on proposals
and is not predetermined. The law stipulates Gram Panchayats to have
a single bank account for NREGA works which shall be subjected to
public scrutiny. To promote transparency and accountability, the act
mandates monthly squaring of accounts.
The statute further imposes monitoring across all five levels: the
village level, the block level, the district level, the state level, and the
central level. Further the monitoring methods and the evaluation
criteria are also detailed in the act using which an annual ranking of
districts may be drawn.
For evaluation of outcomes, the law also requires management of data
and maintenance of records, like registers related to employment, job
cards, assets, muster rolls and complaints, by the implementing
agencies at the village, block and state level.
The most detailed part of the Act (chapter 10 and 11) deals
with transparency and accountability that lays out role of the state, the
public vigilance and, above all, the social audits.
The legislation specifies the role of the state in ensuring transparency
and accountability through upholding the right to information and
disclosing information proactively, preparation of annual reports by
CEGC for Parliament and SEGCs for state legislatures, undertaking
mandatory financial audit by each district along with physical audit,
taking action on audit reports, developing a Citizen's Charter,
establishing vigilance and monitoring committees, and developing
grievance redressal system.
To ensure public accountability through public vigilance, the NREGA
designates social audits as key to its implementation.
The continuous process of social audit on NREGA in khunti jharkhand
works involves public vigilance and verification at the stipulated 11
stages of implementation: registration of families; distribution of job
cards; receipt of work applications; selection of suitable public works;
preparation of technical estimates; work allocation; implementation
and supervision; payment of wages; payment of unemployment
allowance; evaluation of outcomes; and mandatory social audit in the
Gram Sabha or Social Audit Forum. The Gram Panchayat of khunti
jharkhand Secretary called Sarpanch is designated as the authority
responsible for carrying out the social audit at all stages. For some
stages, the programme officer and the junior engineer is also
responsible along with Sarpanch.
The statute designates the Gram Sabha of khunti Jharkhand meetings
held to conduct social audit as the Social Audit Forums and spells out
three steps to make them effective: publicity and preparation of
documents; organizational and procedural aspects; and the mandatory
agenda involving questions verifying compliance with norms specified
at each of the 11 stages of implementation.
The Act recommends establishment of Technical Resource Support
Groups at district, state and central level and active use ofI
nformation Technology, like creation of a Monitoring and Information
System (MIS) and a NREGA website, to assure quality in
implementation of NREGA through technical support.
The law allows convergence of NREGA with other programmes. As
NREGA intends to create additional employment, the convergence
should not affect employment provided by other programmes.


JURISDICTION

The Act aims to follow the Directive Principles of State
Policy enunciated in Part IV of the Constitution of India. The law
guarantees the 'right to work' which is consistent with Article 41 that
directs the State to secure to all citizens the right to work. Further
conforming to the Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights that defines the right to work as a basic human right, this law
guarantees the right to work to the people of India and hence is
termed as a "Peoples Act". The statute also seeks to protect the
environment through rural works which is consistent with Article 48A
that directs the State to protect the environment.
In accordance with the Article 21 of the Constitution of India that
guarantees the right to life with dignity to every citizen of India, this
act imparts dignity to the rural people through an assurance of
livelihood security. The Fundamental Right enshrined in Article 16 of
the Constitution of India guarantees equality of opportunity in matters
of public employment and prevents the State from discriminating
against anyone in matters of employment on the grounds only of
religion, race, caste, sex, descent, place of birth, place of residence or
any of them. The statute mandates that at least one-third of the
beneficiaries shall be women (Section 4.6.9 of the NREGA Operational
Guidelines).
[48]
Moreover women

representation in the employment under the Act has been reported as
48 per cent from 200912, showing that the law has been used as an
instrument to reduce gender inequality and foster women
empowerment. Moreover the share of Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes has been around 30 per cent, showing that the
statute has empowered weaker sections ensuring social justice. In
doing so, the legislation also follows Article 46 that requires the State
to promote the interests of and work for the economic uplift of the
scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and protect them from
discrimination and exploitation.
Khunti Jharkhand mandates to organise village panchayats and endow
them with such powers and authority as may be necessary to enable
them to function as units of self-government. Conferring the primary
responsibility of implementation on Gram Panchayats, the Act adheres
to this constitutional principle. Also the process of decentralization
initiated by 73rd Amendment to the Constitution of India that granted
a constitutional status to the Panchayats is further reinforced by the
Mahatma Gandhi NREGA that endowed these rural self-government
institutions with authority to implement the law.
representation in the employment under the Act has been reported as
48 per cent from 200912, showing that the law has been used as an
instrument to reduce gender inequality and foster women
empowerment. Moreover the share of Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes has been around 30 per cent, showing that the
statute has empowered weaker sections ensuring social justice. In
doing so, the legislation also follows Article 46 that requires the State
to promote the interests of and work for the economic uplift of the
scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and protect them from
discrimination and exploitation.
Article 40 mandates the State to organise village panchayats and
endow them with such powers and authority as may be necessary to
enable them to function as units of self-government.
[51]
Conferring the
primary responsibility of implementation on Gram Panchayats, the Act
adheres to this constitutional principle. Also the process of
decentralization initiated by 73rd Amendment to the Constitution of
India that granted a constitutional status to the Panchayats khunti is
further reinforced by the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA that endowed these
rural self-government institutions with authority to implement the law






3.CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK ABOUT THE TOPIC

To improve livelihood security in khunti, NREGA aims to provide an
assured job involving unskilled manual work for minimum 100 days
per year. Starting from 200 districts in 2 February 2006, the NREGA
covered all the districts of India from 1 April 2008. The report of
the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India on the second
performance audit of NREGA, that covered 3,848 gram panchayats
(GPs) in 28 states and 4 union territories (UTs) of India from April
2007 to March 2012, was "laid on the table of the Parliament house on
April 23, 2013". The CAG is the Supreme Audit Institution (SAI)
defined in Article 148 of the Constitution of India. The CAG reports,
mainly under Vinod Rai, are believed to have exposed few major
scams like the coal scam and the 2G Spectrum scam allegedly costing
the Indian exchequer close to a quarter of US$1 trillion in lost
revenues that is roughly equivalent to China's total defence
expenditure for three years (201113). Lack of public awareness,
mismanagement, and institutional incapacity are the three most
significant factors that are highlighted by the CAG report on the
second performance audit of the NREGA.
Although half of Indias poverty resides in Uttar
Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra, the CAG reports that out of every
100 poor in India only 9 beneficiaries of the law belonged to these
states. Hence due to lack of awareness, the CAG reports, the statute is
not effective in reducing poverty, the aim with which it was
conceived. Moreover a significant fall of 20 per cent in demand is also
reported by the CAG audit. Notwithstanding the statutory requirement
of notification, yet five states have not even notified the eight-years-
old scheme. Though the public awareness in a demand driven scheme
is crucial, still the Information, Education and Communication (IEC)
plan is not drawn by half of the states and UTs.






Major recommendations of the CAG audit on MGNREGA
The CAG reports that the mismanagement of NREGA works resulted in
a declining trend in the number of works completed since the law was
enacted, with only 1 out 4 works completed in 2012. This reportedly
affects the realization of the primary objective of the Act which is to
provide livelihood securityand to create durable assets.
[49]
Despite the
approved 13 million tasks worth $25 billion, only 4 million tasks are
completed and $18 billion is unutilised an efficiency of only 30 per
cent in implementation. According to Section 5.4 of the NREGA
Operational Guidelines, minimum wage component in the total outlay
must be 60 per cent. The CAG reports that out of total sanctioned
amount of $25 billion, only $7 billion was utilized. The CAG also
reports that the material component exceeded the prescribed level by
about $350 million. Hence the maximum expenditure on the payment
of wages is only $3.85 billion out of total allocation of $25 billion. Thus
only 15 per cent is spent to pay wages. Even though Section 16(3) of
the NREGA mandates the drafting of Annual Development Plans
(ADPs), yet only 70 per cent of gram panchayats (GPs) have complied.
Mismanagement of tasks costing $1 billion is also reported in the
audit. Other mismanagement issues like the scarcity of 'Gram Rozgar
Sahayaks' (rural employment helpers), no jobcards, no photographs
on job cards and payment irregularities are also found in the CAG
audit. Moreover, in breach of financial accountability rules, the central
government unconditionally released around $1.5 billion to the
states.
[64]

Even though the mass social audits have a statutory mandate of
Section 17 (as outlined in Chapter 11 of the NREGA Operational
Guidelines), yet only seven states have the institutional capacity to
facilitate the social audits as per prescribed norms. Although the
Central Council is mandated to establish a central evaluation and
monitoring system as per the NREGA Operational Guidelines, even
after six years it is yet to fulfill the NREGA directive. Further, the CAG
audit reports discrepancies in the maintenance of prescribed basic
records in up to half of the gram panchayats (GPs) which inhibits the
critical evaluation of the NREGA outcomes. The unreliability
of Management Information System (MIS), due to significant disparity
between the data in the MIS and the actual official documents, is also
reported.
To address this lack of public awareness, mismanagement, and
institutional incapacity, the CAG suggests a list of recommendations to
the Ministry of Rural Development of the Government of India. To
increase public awareness, the intensification of the Information,
Education and Communication (IEC) activities is recommended. To
improve management of outcomes, the CAG recommends proper
maintenance of records at the gram panchayat (GP) level. A need to
revamp the NREGASoft (MIS) through incorporation of strict data
integrity checks in software design is also suggested. Further the
Central Council is recommended to establish a central evaluation and
monitoring system for "a national level, comprehensive and
independent evaluation of the scheme". The CAG also recommends a
timely payment of unemployment allowance to the rural poor and a
wage material ratio of 60:40 in the NREGA works. Moreover for
effective financial management, the CAG recommends proper
maintenance of

accounts, in a uniform format, on a monthly basis and also enforcing
the statutory guidelines to ensure transparency in the disposal of
funds. For capacity building, the CAG recommends an increase in staff
hiring to fill the large number of vacancies.












4.ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION OF THE TOPIC IN THE
ORGANITION

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh released an anthology of
research studies on the MGNREGA called "MGNREGA Sameeksha" in
New Delhi on July 14, 2012, about an year before the CAG
report. Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey said that "the MGNREGA Sameeksha
is a significant innovation to evaluate policy and delivery". The
anthology reportedly draws on independent assessments of MGNREGA
conducted by Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), Indian
Institutes of Technology (IITs) and others in collaboration with United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP) published from 2008 to
2012. The Prime Minister said:
The Mahatma Gandhi NREGA story in numbers is a story worth
telling... the scheme scores high on inclusivness...no welfare scheme
in recent memory has caught the imagination of the people as much
as NREGA has ... under which 1,10,000 crore (about USD$25 billion)
have been spent to pay wages to 1,200 crore (12 billion) people.
Minister of Rural Development Jairam Ramesh says in the 'MGNREGA
Sameeksha':
It is perhaps the largest and most ambitious social security and public
works programme in the world. ... soundness and high potential of the
MGNREGA are well established ... . That, at any rate, is one of the
main messages emerging from this extensive review of research on
MGNREGA. It is also a message that comes loud and clear from the
resounding popularity of MGNREGAtoday, about one-fourth of all
rural households participate in the programme every year.
Further the Minister says:
MGNREGAs other quantitative achievements have been striking as
well:
1. Since its inception in 2006, around 1,10,000 crore (about
USD$25 billion) has gone directly as wage payment to rural
households and 1200 crore (12 billion) person-days of
employment has been generated. On an average, 5 crore
(50 million) households have been provided employment
every year since 2008.
2. Eighty per cent of households are being paid directly
through bank/post office accounts, and 10 crore (100
million) new bank/post office accounts have been opened.
The average wage per person-day has gone up by 81 per cent since
the Schemes inception, with state-level variations. The notified wage
today varies from a minimum

According to a recent Indian Government committee constituted to
estimate poverty, nearly 38%
of Indias population is poor. More than 75% of poor people reside in
villages. Rural poverty is
largely a result of low productivity and unemployment. In order to
alleviate rural poverty by
generating employment and creation of sustainable assets in Rural
India, Government of India
brought in the flagship programme called Mahatma Gandhi National
Rural Employment
Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), 2005. However, Social security
programmes are not free from
flaws. So is the case with MGNREGA. This article highlights the issues
and challenges being faced by Government while implementing the
worlds largest employment generating
programme and the issues among the people covered under the
scheme.
JHARHAND KHUNTI has got a great achievement in implementing
the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in
2012-13 by providing 86.27 days of work on an average to a rural
household, a state minister claimed here today. "When the national
average is 39, the state could provide 86.27 days of work to the job
card holders. Khunti secured first position in implementation of the
Act," State Rural Development Minister Jitendra Chowdhury told
reporters. MGNREGA authorises 100...
: Most farmers in India are aware of MGNREGAscheme but not about
the minimum support price (MSP) for crops fixed by the Centre to
avoid distress sale, according to a study by research body CSDS.
Also, 76 per cent of farmers surveyed prefer to do some other work
rather than farming, while 60 per cent of them want their children to
migrate to cities, the Centre for the Study of Developing
Societies (CSDS) said in a survey that covered over 5,000 farmer
households in 18 states.

The CSDS study, conducted on behalf of farmers body Bharat Krishak
Samaj (BKS), said: "Approximately, 85 per cent of farmers have heard
about MGNREGA. ...Approximately 62 per cent were not aware about
the MSP." However, 51 per cent of those who knew about MGNREGA
said that they did not get work under this scheme, while 64 per cent of
farmers who were aware of MSP were not satisfied

with the price fixed by the government, it said.
It was in 1966, the government first announced the MSP for wheat to
safeguard the interest of farmers. Since then, the MSP regime has
been expanded to 25 crops.
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
(MGNREGA) was enacted recently in 2005 with the objective of
guaranteeing 100 days of work in khunti. The study also said that
most farmers are unaware of agri-schemes such as Rashtriya Krishi
Vikas Yojana (RKVY), National Food Security Mission, National
Agricutlure Insurance Scheme, Gramin Beej Yojana, Kisan Credit Card
and loan waiver scheme among others.
"Being unware of these schemes, most farmers did not benefit from
them.... Farmers did not benefit for lack of knowledge about the
scheme," the study said and added that most farmers felt only rich
farmers got benefit of government schemes and policies related to
farming.
The study also said that only 27 per cent of them have heard about
the land acquisition law and most of them felt that they would stand to
lose from this law. Also, 83 per cent of farmers have not heard about
foreign direct investment (FDI). Among those who have heard of it, 51
per cent were against allowing FDI in agriculture.
On farmer suicides, the study said about 15 per cent had heard about
farmers killing themselves in their area. "41 per cent respondents
report domestic problems as most important reason for suicide cases,
35 per cent because of credit/loan followed by 14 per cent because of
crop failure."
Contrary to general perception, the study said not many farmers are
worried about repayment of loans. On status of farmers, the study said
around 47 per cent of them felt that the overall condition in the
country is bad. Most of them blamed both Centre and state
governments for their problems.
MGNREGA helped increase food-grain production in khunti.

Various schemes initiated under the MGNREGA programme here has
led to a significant rise in food-grain production and improvement in
ecology in coal mine areas in the district, a top official has said.
There has been significant rise in food-grain production in the district
which is regarded as the rice bowl of Bengal due to the initiatives
taken under the schemes of the MGNREGA, Khunti
The initiatives included conversion of mono-crop land into multi-crop
one through increased irrigation potential, flood protection schemes,
land development and soil treatment.
This financial year, there has been a jump of 2 lakh tonne of rice in the
district from 12 lakh to 14 lakh tonnes.
"Of this, 80,000 tonnes is because of our MGNREGA efforts," Mohan
said.
The schemes have also improved the ecology in coal mine areas and
made them safer for people by
covering abandoned pits in the district which has a huge coal deposit,
he said.
Through 11 such schemes around 21.51 acres have been developed in
coal mines of the district, he said adding that around 22 schemes have
been used for re-excavation of water bodies and water harvesting.
For improvement of social forestry, four schemes have been
undertaken covering 6.25 acres.
Social forestry means the management and protection of forests and
afforestation on barren lands with the purpose of helping in the
environmental, social and rural development.
Five schemes have been taken under the MGNREGA here to improve
rural connectivity covering 6.25 acres, he said.
Also, the district administration has spent Rs 1.49 crore under 42
schemes in this financial year till February, generating 79,675 man-
days.
Under the MGNREGA programme, one member of each rural family is
entitled to 100 days work per year.
Centre's proposal of raise MGNREGA work days a poll gimmick'










"They have no constitutional right to do this. The move is nothing but
an election gimmick. They won't be able to implement it. They
accused the Centre of not releasing funds deemed just under a federal
structure.
Mukherjee, who also holds the Public Health Engineering portfolio,
criticised the Centre for depriving the state of funds.
"We have sent a report to the Centre that the state is not getting
funds. The Centre is constitutionally bound to provide money for
development of the state," he said.
Mukherjee said his department had sought Rs 1200 crore from the
Centre under the MGNREGA scheme.
"The Centre had stopped giving funds for the past one-and-half
months amounting to Rs 1200 crore. We have heard they have
released Rs 400 crore, but the money has not reached us yet," he
said.
The state was also lacking funds for construction of rural roads under
the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) due to which
contractors could not be paid, he said.
"What we demand is our right and are not seeking any dole," he said.
JharkhandChief Minister HEMANT SOREN has already accused the UPA
government of denying funds under the MGNREGA and Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan schemes.
"They (the Centre) are spending so much money for the advertisement
campaign, but are not giving us money for 100 days' work and Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan," she said at a rally of tribals at Mal in Jalpaiguri
district recently.


Capital and Finance Structure

















FINDING AND SUGGESTION

Large scale social security programmes like MGNREA are subjected to
undergo several
stumbling blocks. Government and NGOs must study the impact of
MGNREGA in khunti
so as to ensure that this massive anti-poverty scheme is not getting
diluted from its actual path
and to see that the disparity in terms of socio-economic condition
among people in rural and
urban areas is reduced to considerable extend.
ISSUES AND CHALLENGES:
MGNREGA is perhaps the most ambitious anti-poverty scheme
launched anywhere in the world.
However, the scheme has shown several anomalies when it comes to
implementation in the right
manner. An analysis of the issues and challenges of MGNREGA is
presented in this article. It may be understood that the problems and
challenges are from both, Government and public.
ISSUES AND CHALLENGES FACED BY THE GOVERNMTNT.
The issues and challenges faced by Government are discussed below:

a) POOR PLANNING & ADMINISTRATIVE SKILL IN KHUNTI
The representatives of the Central and State governments, as well as
NGOs, reviewed
the MGNREGA in the month of April, 2011. What emerged was the
comment that the annual
budget of Rs.40, 000 crore could be better utilized with more effective
planning.

(3)Thus far, the
panchayats, barring those in Karnataka and, to some extent, in those
in West Bengal, have no
experience at all in planning large-scale programmes. Even the report
by the Comptroller and
Auditor General (CAG) has highlighted the lack of administrative
capacity of the village
panchayat members to run this scheme in a designed and
decentralised manner.

b) LACK OF FOCUS ON OBJECTIVES IN KHUNTI
Though Schedule One of the MGNREG Act referred to conservation of
natural resources such as
rainwater, land, forests, this was not reflected in the works floated for
the scheme.
3
under this
scheme, contractors and machineries should not be used. But in some
work places, contractors
were allowed and machineries were involved. And the erring officials
claim that the works were
done as if they were completed by workers and not by machines

c) LACK OF ADEQUATE MANPOWER IN KHUNTI
Another issue is the deficiency of adequate administrative and
technical manpower at the Block
and Grama Panchayat (GP) Levels, especially at the level of
programme officer, technical
assistants, and Employment Guarantee Assistant Level etc. The lack of
manpower

has adversely affected the preparation of plans, scrutiny, approval,
monitoring and measurement
of works, and maintenance of the stipulated records at the block and
GP level. The CAG report
points out that besides affecting the implementation of the scheme
and the provision of
employment, this also impacted adversely on transparency. (3)


d) DIFFICULTY IN FUNDING THE SCHEME TO KHUNTI
Being one of the largest initiatives of its kind in the world, MGNREGA
was started with an
initial outlay of Rs.11, 300 crore in the year 2006-07 (almost 0.3% of
GDP) and now fully
operational, the annual budget for 2010-2011 is about Rs.40, 000
crore. The total outlay for the
programme is increasing by leaps and bounds every financial year as
exhibited in Table 1. It is
possible through improved tax administration and reforms. But the
TAX-GDP ratio has actually
been falling. There are fears that the programme will end up costing
5% of GDP.
4Increase in the amount for funding the scheme
Year Total Outlay Wage expenditure
( % of Total Outlay)
2006 07 $ 2.5 bn 66
2007 08 $ 2.6 bn 68
2008 09 $ 6.6 bn 67

2009 10 $ 8.68 bn 70
2010 - 11 $ 8.91 bn 71
e) DISCRIMINATION
MGNREGA IN KHUNTI has provided a unique opportunity to people
from rural India to earn their own
income without any discrimination of caste or gender. The most
remarkable feature of
MGNREGA IN KHUNTI is that it pays women the same as men,
something that was virtually unimaginable. However, cases of
discrimination against women and people from backward
groups are reported from several regions of the country.


Some states such as Kerala and Andhra
Pradesh have registered high percentage of women workers getting
enrolled in the scheme
whereas others have registered a very low percentage of women
availing benefit under
MGNREGA. It has been reported that in some regions only a few job
cards are issued when the
applicants are women, or there are delays in the issue of cards.
Women are sometimes told that
manual labour under the MGNREGS is not meant for women and they
could not participate in
ongoing works as it entailed digging and removing soil. In some
states, the powerful groups
among the work force get large number of job cards.
Statistics clearly indicate that the poverty alleviation programmes have
had a minimal effect on
poverty levels in India due to corruption. The actual funds that reach
the beneficiaries are very
little compared to the funds allocated for welfare schemes. Former
Prime Minister, Rajive Gandhi had once said that out of every 100
paisa allocated for public welfare only 14 paisa

reaches the targeted people.
6
Further concerns, include the fact that corruption of the local
governments leads to the exclusion
of specific sections of the society. Local governments have also been
found to claim that more
people have received job cards than people who actually work in order
to generate more fund
than needed, to be then embezzled by local officials. Bribes as high
Rs.50 are paid in order to
receive the job card.
7 A multi-crore fraud has also been suspected where people have been
issued
under the MGNREGS card who is either employed with another
Government job and who are
not even aware that they have a job card. There are several cases of
fake muster roll entries, over
writing, false names and irregularities in job cards. Even the names of
dead people who have not
registered often feature in the muster rolls.
g) MAOIST INSURGENCY IN KHUNTI
Less than 9% of households in the 60 districts most affected by Maoist
militancy found the
required 100 days of employment under the countrys rural jobs
programme in the year ended 31
March. The National average of households that have completed 100
days under the job
guarantee plan last fiscal was also poor at 10.1% compared with 8.8%
in the districts hit by the
Maoist insurgency. The percentage of women employed under the
programme in the insurgency
hit districts in the same period was 44% compared with the national
average of 48%.8
The poor
performance of the scheme in these areas has prompted the Rural
Development Ministry to boost
the implementation of social and economic development programmes
in the 60 Integrated Action
Plan (IAP) districts in nine states, including Orissa, Khunti,
Chhattisgarh, Bihar and West
Bengal
h) LACK OF SAFETY MEASURES IN KHUNTI
Around one-third of the stipulated work force under MGNREGS is
women. Therefore, Crches
have to be set up so as to enable women carrying their children to the
work site to do their work
without much apprehension about their children.9
It is seen at the work place that women
workers lay their children in cradles tied around tree branches. In the
absence of this facility
women may hesitate to come forward to demand for work. One of the
objectives of the Scheme
to strengthen women empowerment may go unrealized.
Secondly, there must be a first-aid box available at the work site to
provide medical assistance to
the needy workers at the work sit if they get injured while at work.
Importantly, life saving
medicines must be kept at the work site because workers may get
bitten by poisonous reptilians
while clearing bushes.
ISSUES AND CHALLENGES AMONG THE POPLE OF KHUNTI
Following are the issues and challenges among the people covered
under the Act.

a) INADEQUATE AWARENESS
MGNREGA provides the rural poor a right to demand for work for 100
days in a financial year.

But peoples efforts to get jobs under this scheme have been stymied
by the fact that
Governments have done nothing to encourage people to register
demands.
The fact is that the national average for workdays generated under the
scheme is less than half of
the entitlement of 100 days per household, per year. Even in 2009-
2010, a severe drought year,
only 54 days of work per household were generated. In 2010-2011,
this number decreased to
46.79 days.10 Due to lack of awareness about the provisions of the
Act, People are unaware of
their basic entitlements under MGNREGA such as Job Cards, Minimum
Wage Amount,
Unemployment Allowance. The receipt for the application which is the
basic record for claiming
unemployment allowance. There is a widespread ignorance about how
to avail the
unemployment allowance; some times even the officials deliberately
do not give out this
information as they fear punishment for not providing jobs and poor
awareness not only leads to
corruption but also to poor management of the scheme and thus true
potential of the MGNREGA
is not being realized.(10)The Government must carry out an intensive
training and awareness
building programme to make the officials and citizens fully aware of all
the details of the
programme. People at the grass roots level must be made aware of
RTI Act and encouraged to
Use it.
b) NON-PURPOSIVE SPENDING IN KHUNTI
MGNREGA has obviously, increased the earning capacity of the rural
people. But the spending
pattern of the workers assumes significance because there is hardly
any saving out of the wage
earned from MGNREGS. For example, payment to the workers under
MGNREGA is made in

cash in JHARKHAND state instead of through banks or post office
accounts.
11
Raw cash in the
hands leads to non-purposive spending. Lack of awareness on the
impact of inflation and
illiteracy level among the rural poor are the reasons for not saving part
of their income from this
scheme. In some cases, Men workers have the tendency of spending
considerable portion of their
earning from this scheme on drugs and liquor related products.
Therefore, the chance of creating
financial inclusion is missing and the idea of saving is wiped out of the
minds of the rural poor

c) BEING UNORGANIZED IN KHUNTI
In spite of large number of provisions under MGNREGA being in favor
of workers, they could
not enjoy their entitlements, such as getting work for the stipulated
100 days, unemployment
allowances and basic amenities at the work site, on account of being
unorganized. It seems to be
a setback for the workers under the Act. Facing dipping demand for
works under the scheme, the
Jharkand State Government has decided to form unions of workers
that will persuade people in
villages to ask for more work.
(12)
This will help in streamlining the village planning process as
well. But, it is still unclear under which laws, the proposed unions will
function.