Ramzan cannot recall the last time his 45-year-old wife Hoora and he worked under the Centre’s Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).
“I believe it was in 2009. A channel was dug to bring water from the neighbouring village. Jobs cards of over 100 households were made then,” says 55-year-old Ramzan, thinking hard. His wife nods in affirmation.
To a question on their job cards, he says sheepishly, “We do not have the job cards. The then sarpanch kept the [job] cards of all workers with him.”
Ramzan owns less than an acre of infertile land in the foothills of the Aravallis in Nuh’s Kotla village. The couple rear cattle and goats, and occasionally toil as workers in and around village to pad their income.
When asked whether he will be happy if the government ensures him 100 days of work in his village, Ramzan’s face lights up with delight. “Nothing will be better than that,” pat comes his reply.
He can earn ₹350-₹400 per day as labourer if he works in the neighbouring Gurugram, which is almost ₹100 more than the wages under the scheme, but his village’s poor connectivity with the city is a huge obstacle.
Claiming he had never got work under the MGNREGA, another Kotla village resident Toufeeq says he frequents Bhiwadi and Gurugram in search of work and stays there for a fortnight at a stretch. He mostly works as a construction worker and makes ₹300-₹350 per day. He sleeps on pavements and in parks during that period.
“I find work only for four to five months and remain unemployed for the rest of the year,” says the 28-year-old.
Political rivalry
Sarpanch Shahina’s husband Waseem Akram says he prefers not to seek work under the scheme as he fears he will be implicated due to political rivalry in the village.
“The earth here is rocky and cannot be dug up without the help of machines, which are not allowed under the scheme. If we use machines, the former sarpanch might complain to the authorities,” he explains.
Akram adds that prolonged delays in payment to workers and for the material used are the other reasons why he does not seek work under the scheme.
“Payments are delayed by months,” he claims.
Hazi Muse Khan of Madhi village in Nuh’s Nagina tehsil claims that payment of around ₹1.10 lakh in wages for 10 workers and ₹30,000 for use of a tractor are pending for over three years now. He says problems with payment of wages started after the government kicked-off the online system around 2014 to pay the workers directly.
No new work
Also, no new work has been carried out in Madhi village under MGNREGA for more than a year now since sarpanch Yaddin was suspended for six months for committing fraud under the scheme.
Ghasera village’s sarpanch Ashraf says he has not asked for any work under MGNREGA for the past four years due to delay in payments. Bavla village’s Mohammad Farid, the 35-year-old husband of sarpanch Sabina, asserts that a road to the village was constructed under the scheme two years ago but it took three-four months before workers received payment for work.
“When payments are not made in time, the workers pester the sarpanch. We therefore decided not to invite trouble for ourselves by seeking more work under the scheme,” claims Farid.
The MGNREGA website states that of 22,000 active job cards or households registered with the scheme in Nuh, only 221 households completed the targeted 100-day employment in the current financial year till December 8. Of 6.66 lakh person-days approved for Nuh, one of the most backward districts in the country, 5.52 lakh person-days have been generated so far.
Though labour budget under the scheme has gone up marginally since 2014-15, the number of average days of employment provided per household is 46.98 for the current financial year till December 8, against 57.67 days during the previous year. It was 55.75 days for 2014-15; 56.88 in 2015-16 and 52.5 in 2016-17.
Participation of the differently abled has also been abysmally low, ranging from two to eight persons over the past four years.
Online payment system
MGNREGA Assistant Project Officer, Nuh, Varun Sharma says they have received complaints of delay in payments since the government switched to the online payment system four years ago.
“The payment was made through cheques earlier but wages are now transferred directly to the accounts of the workers to ensure transparency. But this has led to complaints regarding delays for reasons such as inactive Aadhaar, closed bank account, dormant bank account and not linking of Aadhaar with the bank account, number among others,” says Mr. Sharma.
He explains that since MGNREGA is demand-driven, lack of awareness among panchayat members and workers, and petty politics at village-level are some of the reasons for low work demand under the scheme, and hence the low budget.
“Use of machines is not completely prohibited under the Act but there is lack of awareness regarding this. Similarly, a worker with a job card can write to the panchayat and the Block Development Officer [BDO] seeking work under the scheme but no one does so due to lack of awareness,” he says.
Inadequate government staff has also led to low demand for work under the scheme, delays in payment and higher instances of corruption.
Mr. Sharma says the burden of paperwork related to execution of scheme rests entirely with the Account Assistant and the Additional Block Programme Officer (ABPO) at the block level. The gram sachiv is the execution officer for the scheme but there are only 60-odd gram sachivs for more than 300 panchayats in Nuh.
“It is not humanly possible for the gram sachivs to personally visit all work sites since he/ she is also responsible for other government schemes. Lack of monitoring leads to corruption,” Mr. Sharma says.
He thinks a dedicated staff for a cluster of maximum 10 villages exclusively for MGNREGA can produce better results.
The Principal Secretary to Haryana Chief Minister, R.K. Khullar, claims that pending liabilities for wages and materials in Nuh for the current financial year were ₹0.28 crore and ₹3.15 crore respectively against ₹16.06 crore and ₹18.07 crore funds utilised for the two components. He adds that the average number of days of employment per household for the current financial year for Nuh is in fact higher than both the State and national average of 27.55 and 39.14 days respectively.
Haryana MGNREGA Mazdoor Union General-Secretary Naresh Kumar told The Hindu that implementation of the scheme in the State was marred by delay in payments and large-scale corruption. Naresh said its implementation on the ground is a far cry from provisions in the Act.
Unaware of rights
The law has a provision for compensation to workers for delay in wage payment after 15 days and unemployment allowance for not getting work even after an application to the panchayat, Naresh says, but there is lack of awareness about this.
“In 2012, we won a case seeking ₹60,000 as unemployment allowance for 35 workers after the government failed to provide them work despite their applications. Another case for ₹2.5 lakh compensation is in court,” says Naresh.
Alleging that fake attendance of workers is quite common with the connivance of the BDO, ABPO and sarpanch, he claims that “even some IAS were found involved in MGNREGA scam in Haryana”.
He says the labour budget (in person-days) was not prepared keeping in mind 100 days of work for each household. “The government usually blames low budget on low demand for work but the fact remains that workers are not aware of their right to seek work. Also, the wages — around ₹280 per day — are extremely inadequate considering inflation. Basic facilities such as toilets and first aid are not provided at work sites though all these exist on paper,” he alleges.
Jan Sangharsh Manch secretary Somnath claims that delay in payments to workers range from three to four months to even a year across the State. He adds that claims of timely payment of wages by the government are misleading and based on preparation of muster rolls, while payments are actually released much later after preparation of the fund transfer order.
