The State’s implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) came in for both praise and criticism from Union Minister for Rural Development Chaudhary Birender Singh on Tuesday.
The praise was for its utilisation of self-help groups (SHGs) of women under Kudumbasree for implementing the MGNREGS programmes, among others, but it also drew flak for not starting a social audit as per the guidelines of the scheme even when other States had progressed far on that count.
Delivering the opening remarks at the Regional Conference of State Rural Development Ministers at Kovalam here on Tuesday, Mr. Singh said Kerala was unique in utilising SHGs under Kudumbasree to manage the implementation of the MGNREGS, with the result that the participation of women in the scheme here was touching 90 per cent. It also had the ‘most thorough’ involvement of grama panchayats. The financial inclusion model through the MGNREGS was also pioneered by Kerala, where bank accounts were not used merely as a pass-through mechanism for wages but for real savings, he said.
Kerala had also developed ‘excellent local building’ technologies, he said, lauding the late Laurie Baker for his contributions. However, while talking about the worries over the MGNREGS, Mr. Singh said barring Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, social audit was ‘very weak.’
“I must say that it surprises me that a State like Kerala, known for its public action, has not started a social audit at all as per rules,” he said.
Mr. Singh later said the State had assured him of speedy remedies to the shortcoming. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, addressing the gathering, reiterated the State’s demand for inclusion for more works such as dairy farming, paddy cultivation, lease land farming, coconut farming, coir yarn production, and khadi and handloom activities under the MGNREGS. Mr. Chandy, who called for increasing the minimum wage from Rs.212 to Rs.320, said there were ‘huge arrears’ when it came to payment of wages. Workers, as per the MGNREGS Act, were to be paid within 14 days, but wage arrears now came up to six months, he said. He called for amendments to the Act to include urban areas. An insurance-welfare project for workers was needed, Mr. Chandy said.
