Review by Honble Prime Minister

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National Rural Employment Guarantee Act notified
in 330 districts

Review by Honble Prime Minister (20th JUNE
2007)

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Structure of Presentation

• Outcomes
• Critical Issues Initiatives
• Constraints
• Road Ahead

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OUTCOMES
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Demand for Employment met (until March 2007)
Employment Demanded 2.12 crore
HHs Employment Provided 2.10 crore HHs
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Significant Increase in Person-days Generated
Person-days in crores
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Major Share of SC/ST HHs in Employment
Share of ST SC gt61. 77 ST gt 36.38 / SC gt
25.39
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At least 1/3rd of the beneficiaries shall be
women who have registered and requested for work
under the Scheme (NREGA ACT, Schedule II, Section
6)
Actual achievement
WOMEN 40
OTHERS 60
Better than target
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Significant Share of Women in Workforce
National Average
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Highest Priority to Water Conservation in choice
of works under NREGA
(54)
(10)
(21)
(11)
(4)
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TAMIL NADU, Cuddalore
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Initial Positive Trends

• Field Reports yield nascent evidence of
• Reduction in distress migration Rajasthan, AP,
  Chattisgarh, Orissa
• Impact on land productivity Second crop on
  SC/ST farms in Chattisgarh, MP, Rajasthan
• Increase in workforces awareness of minimum
  wages and task rates
• Increase in Wage earnings of workforce in wage
  employment programme AP,TN, Maharashtra,
  Chattisgarh, Jharkhand.
• Wage negotiation capacity of wage earners
  developing vis a vis private employment
  Rajasthan, TN, Haryana.
• Increase in Women workforce participation as
  compared to 26.24 in SGRY

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West Bengal, Purulia(Worksite )
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Initial Positive Trends

• Financial Inclusion Savings accounts of wage
  earners in Banks/Post Offices in some States
  AP( more than 20.00 lakh Post Office Accounts),
  Karnataka ( entire Gulbarga NREG workforce with
  Bank Accounts) , Jharkhand, TN
• Insurance of wage earners in some districts
  Pakur, Gumla, Ranchi ( Jharkhand)
• Developing Literacy skills among wage earners
  (Raichur in Karnataka)
• Convergence with other development programmes
  Jetropha ( Chattisgarh, MP) Forest Nurseries (
  Udaipur in Rajasthan, Khandwa in MP)

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MADHYA PRADESH, Sidhi(Jatropha Plantation -
Nursery)
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(Self Help Group at Nursery under NREGS,
Chattisgarh)
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Assessment of States performance against
critical programme indicators

• Ability to respond to demand and provide
  employment All States. Rajasthan, MP, AP,
  Chattisgarh, could handle large scale demand.
• Outreach
• Able to involve women in the workforce (At least
  1/3rd) ) All States. Exceptions Bihar,
  H.P, JK, Jharkhand, Punjab
• Reach out to at least all BPL households.All
  States. Exceptions Bihar, Maharashtra
• Transparency
• Using MIS to place critical information in public
  domain
• Exemplar States Orissa, Andhra Pradesh
  lead. Followed by Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh,
  Jharkhand, Rajasthan, West Bengal.
• States requiring greater effort UP, Punjab,
  HP.
• Social audit and Muster Roll verification
• Exemplar States AP, Rajasthan lead. Greater
  effort required by other States

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Assessment of States Performance against
Critical Programme Indicators

• Focus on Works conservation
• Exemplar States Rajasthan, Chattisgarh,
  MP,AP, Karnataka,
• Major States that need greater focus on
  water conservation Bihar, UP
• Training
• Exemplar States AP, Rajasthan, MP, TN,
• W. Bengal, Chattisgarh, Karnataka, States
  that need greater effort Jharkhand, Bihar,
  Maharashtra, Assam
• Staffing
• Critical staff in place AP, MP, Rajasthan,
  Chattisgarh, W Bengal, Gujrat, Karnataka, TN
• Staffing in process UP
• Major States that need to expedite staffing
  Jharkhand, Bihar, Assam
• Reporting
• Most States report on time.
• Delay by Maharashtra, Bihar.

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What the Media has to say..
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• Hindu, July 13,2006
• Savita Lahur, an Adivasi of Badli village
  (Udaipur), asked if she would still migrate to
  Gujarat if work at even Rs.40 a day were
  available in Badli itself said "Yahan 40 mile
  to Gujarat jaane ka kya kaam hai? Bimaar ho jaate
  hain phir kya karen? (If I can get Rs.40 here,
  then why would I go to Gujarat? If one falls ill
  there, what would one do?)"
• The Hindu10.9.006
• Rural job scheme satisfactory NGOs
• ANANTAPUR( AP) The non-governmental organisations
  which have participated in the social audit of
  NREGS in the district have felt that the
  implementation of the scheme has been
  by-and-large satisfactory. Magsaysay award winner
  Aruna Roy of Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sanghatan,
  working in Rajasthan, termed the social audit of
  NREGS an extraordinary exercise.
• NREGA Work Report, AID-India, April 30, 2007,
  Gosani Block of Gajapati District, Orissa
• Prof. Dhanada Mishra of AID-Orissa reports the
  success of street plays -- jobs are being given
  to applicants. In Gandahati Panchayat the NREGA
  works have started  at Adagawan,Gandahati,
  S.Laupur villages, which has employed a large
  number of job seekers who applied. The Street
  Theater made an impact on the villagers and they
  started asking work at the panchayat office in
  Gandahati Panchayat.

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Financial Express May 24,2007 Chattisgarh. In
Bilaspur, theyve started dreaming again.
Signposts of the Gramin Vikas Yojana (National
Rural Employment Guarantee Act) abound in this
district, nearly 150 km from state capital
Raipur. And daily wager Sadho Ram appears to be
the protagonist of a piece that the Centres
ambitious rural jobs scheme is trying to
re-write. Ram is hopeful of getting some
canal-building work under the NREGA, as jobs are
happening. I know Ill get work, he
says Financial Express May 28 2007 Dungarpur
(Rajasthan) They dont trust private jobs
anymore. Until NREGA happened, we had to ensure
only the regularity of casual workers. But now,
since they are provided jobs under the scheme, we
find it difficult to bring them to our plant,
joint managing director of Sri Rajasthan Syntex
Vikash Ladiya told FE. This is despite the
company offering them almost double of what is
being offered under the government scheme
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CRITICAL ISSUES Initiatives to address them
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New strategies for Generating Awareness
(2007-2008)

• One day orientation of all Sarpanches at the
  Block level
• Gram Sabhas
• Use of local vernacular newspapers, radio, TV,
  films Local cultural forms
• Leaflets, brochures in simple local language
  with more of Graphics
• Fixing one day as Rozgar Diwas in a fortnight.
• Village Camps by District teams
• Information/Publicity Centres in Local Weekly
  Markets (Hats)
• Village Information Wall
• NGOs/SHGs participation in awareness generation

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200000
58016
28071
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Improving Planning Execution of Works

• Shelf of projects in each village with technical
  and administrative approvals.
• Instructions to indicate plot numbers of the
  sites
• Precise location identity for each worksite
• Outcomes expected from the works to be indicated
• -Estimated benefits in terms of person days
• - Physical improvement envisaged ( land/water
  conservation etc)
• Pre-Mid-Post Project condition to be recorded
• Asset register at GP

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Ensuring Quality of works

• Facilitating Technical expertise in designing and
  supervising works at District, Block levels
• Prototype Works Manual/training films developed
  on Watershed and Natural Resource Management.
• Comprehensive Rural Works Manual planned
• Impact Assessment of incremental benefits
  through remote sensing techniques being
  considered

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Transparency and Vigilance
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Maximum Transparency Ensured

• Comprehensive Web-based MIS www.nrega.nic.in
  places all data in public domain
• Workers entitlements Registration, job cards,
  muster rolls, Employment demanded and provided
• Work data sanctioned shelf of works, work
  estimates, work in progress, measurement.
• Financial indicators funds available/spent,
  amount paid as wages, materials and
  administrative expenses.
• Data software engineered, for cross
  verification of records and report generation.

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Further Improvements in use of MIS

• Computerisation of the Blocks
• Computers
• Personnel
• Training
• Connectivity.
• Data Analysis for consistency and Alerts for
  District/State functionaries
• A Geographic Information System being planned for
  NREGS
• Plotting precise location
• Planning

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Special Focus Key Concerns for Vigilance

• Muster Rolls
• - Campaign for 100 Verification of muster
  rolls from June1st, 2007 in all districts
• -All muster rolls to be on the NREGA website
• -Enlisting civil society organisations for
  muster roll verification
• Works
• Putting up a Citizen Information Board on each
  work site with the details of works taken up
• Wages paid
• Constant vigilance of the average amount of
  wages paid through field visits to work sites and
  reviews with State Secretaries.
• States directed that task rates applicable
  to NREGA are to be uniformly applicable to all
  similar labour intensive works implemented
  without contractor/ machinery .

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Monitoring and Evaluation

• Field verification by external and internal
  agencies
• Field visits of Central Employment Guarantee
  Council members to different States coupled with
  social audit.
• National Level Monitors visit to all Phase One
  NREG districts. Scheduled to visit new ones
  from end June
• Five Independent Concurrent Studies completed
  shared with States.
• District Visits by Area Officers of Ministry
• States to undertake 100, 10, 2 verification
  at Block, District, State levels
• District and Village level Vigilance
  Monitoring Committees for better transparency.
• Comprehensive Evaluation ( WB ) under
  consideration to assess Socio Economic Impact at
  household level and the quality of assets
  created in select States.
• CAG Performance Audit in all States for Phase-I
  districts, 69 districts (at least one in each
  state)

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Peoples Participation

• Ministers appeal to all CMs, MPs, District
  Panchayat Presidents to monitor the
  implementation of the Act
• Special appeal of Minister to all MPs to randomly
  check Muster Rolls in any GP
• Ministers letter to District Programme
  Coordinators to place all information on NREGA
  before District Vigilance and Monitoring
  Committee

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Public Accountability

• Proactive Disclosure Annual Reports on outcomes
  to the Parliament Annual Report for the year 2005
  -2006 tabled in Parliament. Minister Rural
  Development has tabled a suo-moto statement on
  NREGA in every Parliament session, since the
  enactment of the Act.
• Social Audit First time ever large scale Social
  Audit processes initiated by States, with
  support from the Ministry for capacity building.
  
• Two major workshops held Hyderabad and Udaipur.
• Social Audit Manual shared with States
• Exposure visits to district functionaries from
  different States to Rajasthan and AP that have
  taken the lead in social audit
• Resource support from organisations like MKSS on
  building capacity on social audit among district
  functionaries and civil society organisations
  held.
• Involvement of Civil Society Organisations in
  Dungarpur, Udaipur, Banswara, All AP districts,
  Kalahandi, Gulbarga, Hardoi, Ranchi, Pakur

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Constraints

• Processes Unintended Hierarchical roles assumed
  by PRIS in approving plan of works in NREGA in
  some states
• Causes delay in work plan approvals by
  District and Intermediate Panchayats as reported
  by State RD Secretaries of Bihar, UP
• Superceding priorities of Gram Sabha and Gram
  Panchayats reported in several states
• Legacy mindset of SGRY and tendency to follow
  Allocation based instead of Demand driven
  approach
• Delivery Systems No PRIS in Jharkhand creates
  problems of institutional delivery at the most
  critical level.
• Recruitment of Personnel by States has taken time
  in some States due to election processes

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Strategy for Strengthening Management Support to
NREGA
Action Initiated Central Employment Guarantee
Council (CEGC) set up. CEGC members actively
involved in field visits, social audit along with
the State Government, District officials
Jharkhand Ranchi, Lohardaga, Pulamao) Chattisgarh
(Sarguja, Bilaspur). Proposed to cover other
States TN, MP, Orissa. Executive Committee set
up to expedite implementation of Council
decisions Technical Secretariat to bring in
multi -disciplinary professional expertise
outside Government systems to provide resource
support to the Ministry in critical areas, inter
alia Works design, National Data System, Social
audit, Monitoring evaluation
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Strategy for strengthening Management support to
NREGA

• Need to adopt a Mission Mode to support
  implementation
• Strengthening of Programme Division in the
  Ministry
• National Programme Coordinator
• Adequate Officers for close monitoring and
  supervision
• National Data Centre
• Key Functions
• Conformity to statutory processes
• Grievance Redressal
• Follow up with States

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Road Ahead

• Action to be taken

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Linkages with other Development Initiatives

• Linkages with Development Programmes
• National Rural Health Mission ASHA for awareness
  generation about NREGA and health among NREGA
  workforce
• National Literacy Mission Prerak of Literacy
  Programmes for mobilising workforce and
  developing literacy skills in NREGA workforce
• Linkages with other Livelihood and
  Infrastructure initiatives
• Horticultural Projects
• Watershed Management
• Income Generation Projects to enable workers to
  move from wage employment to self-sustaining
  employment eg. Tank excavation with
  pisciculture development by SHGs

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Insurance for NREGA workers

• Increasing NREGA workers security thresholds by
  extending cover of various life and health
  insurance schemes
• Act provides Rs 25000 compensation for death
  on work site
• Aim is to extend insurance cover beyond worksite
  to the whole family.
• Discussion on with LIC.

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Opening Savings Accounts of Wage-earners.

• Savings Accounts of workers in Banks and Post
  offices to ensure greater transparency in wage
  payment and encourage thrift and small savings
• Dept of Posts has indicated need to strengthen
  its Sub Post office/ Branch Post Office through
  computerisation of Sub Post office
• Service charge proposed by Dept of Posts for
  opening wage earners accounts - matter still
  under discussion

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Thanks