An independent survey has revealed that implementation of the much talked about Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in 50 villages across the drought-hit Bundelkhand region has been rather tardy and mired in corruption with most Dalit households not getting even a single day of guaranteed employment.
The Delhi-based Centre for Environment and Food Security (CEFS) carried out the survey on the performance of MGNREGS in 50 poorest villages of five districts in Bundelkhand during November-December 2009 and discovered widespread corruption and irregularities in its implementation.
Another finding was desperate migration of these poor villagers to towns and cities in search of bread and butter.
Ignorance and laid-back attitude of district authorities have turned the noble scheme into a “jungle raj”, according to the survey report. The level of poverty and hunger is only worsening by the day. The scheme is a failure in the remote areas of Bundelkhand and has made beggars out of the rural poor, the report maintains.
A shocking example of corruption and mismanagement is the case of Phulchand (27) who actually got only 40 days of work but his job card had a fake job entry for 180 days. The “sarkari babus” allegedly pocketed about Rs. 14,000 out of the NREGS fund meant for this poor Dalit.
The survey report came amid claims by Union Rural Development Secretary B. K. Sinha that MGNREGS had restored vibrancy in agricultural wages and proved to be beneficial for small agricultural land holdings.
Speaking at the 2nd National Rural Development Summit sponsored by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here on Monday, Mr. Sinha credited the government with initiating infrastructure and other rural development projects in the rural areas and said industry could support technical pursuits and enhanced skill development to ensure a greater growth rate.
CII Director-General Chandrajit Banerjee spoke of the need to “facilitate partnership between government, industry, NGOs and people to increase connectivity to rural India”.
