Rajya Sabha
Operational Guidelines for NREGA provide that one Gram Rozgar Sahayak (GRS) should be appointed in each Gram Panchayat. Duties of a GRS include registration of households, issue of job cards, issue of dated receipt against job application, allocation of work, payment of wages and un-employment allowance, maintenance of records and any other duty prescribed by the State Employment Guarantee Council. His duties do not include sanctioning/construction of wells.
Ministry of Rural Development requested CAG to undertake performance audit of the implementation of NREGA in 68 phase I districts for the year 2006-07. Some irregularities have been reported in the implementation of NREGS. These irregularities mainly relate to procedures such as application for employment, issue of dated receipts, job card formats, muster rolls, maintenance of record registers. In addition, complaints have also been received regarding irregularities in the implementation of NREGA. State-wise details of the complaints along with the action taken by the Ministry there on have been put on the web site www.nrega.nic.in under the heading ‘Complaints’.
To rectify corruption and harassment of beneficiaries under NREGA, Government has taken the following measures:
(1) Transparency
(i) Payment of wages through workers accounts in Banks/post offices. So far 1,39,63,377 accounts of NREGA workers in Banks/Post Offices have been opened.
(ii) States have been advised to conduct social audit of each and every work of NREGA within three months. Social Audit has been done in 76000 Gram Panchayats.
(iii)A Citizen Information Board has been introduced. This board is to be displayed at all prominent places. This will enable the local community to know the works being undertaken under NREGA and would also facilitate the process of spreading awareness about the programme.
(2) Generating Awareness
Various steps have been taken to generate awareness about NREGA.
(i) Initiatives taken by State Government:
a) Gram Sabhas and one day orientation of all Sarpanches at the Block level have been held.
b) Leaflets and brochures in local language are being provided
c) Village camps have been organized by the District teams and Self help Groups are being associated in the awareness generation
(ii) Action taken by the Central Government:
a) CAPART has been asked to provide training to the NGOs and Civil Society organisations associated in the awareness generation campaign.
b) The Government of India has decided to introduce awards to be known as Rozgar Jagrookta Puraskar (Employment awareness awards) to recognize the outstanding contribution by the civil society organisations for promoting effective implementation of NREGA in different states of the country.
c) Use of media, TV spots, radio jingles, advertisements, films.
d) Development and dissemination of brochures and peoples primers.
(3) Vigilance and Monitoring
(a) Implementation of NREG Act is monitored on regular basis. Vigilance and Monitoring Committees have been set up at State as well as district levels. Local MPs are the members of the district Vigilance and Monitoring Committees. Village level Vigilance and Monitoring Committees have also been set up for local monitoring. Members of the Central Employment Guarantee Council also undertake field visits to various districts. National level Monitors and Area Officers visit various districts to over see the progress of the Act. So far, NLMs have made 331 visits to Phase I and Phase II districts.
(b) Muster Roll verification has to be done in a campaign mode and consolidated reports sent to the Ministry. So far, 4621120 Muster rolls have been verified. 35,36,054 Muster rolls have been placed on the website.
(4) Regular Review of NREGA
(i) Review with State Governments
a) During the year 2007-2008, four Regional Review Committee meetings have been held to cover review of all States. These were held at Bhubaneswar(16-17 September, 07), Jaipur(24-25 September, 07), Guwahati (9-10 October, 07) and New Delhi (16-17 January, 08).
b) Review meeting with State Secretaries (Rural Development) of all States was held on 18.12.07 in Delhi.
c) A meeting with State Secretaries (RD) of all States was held in Delhi in January, 2008.
(ii) State specific reviews
Five state specific review meetings have been held. These were with the Government of Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.
(iii) Interaction with representatives of people
Progress of NREGA was reviewed in the interactive session with Members of Parliament held during 20th-23rd August, 2007 and 5th-6th September, 2007
5) MIS
A comprehensive Web-based MIS www.nrega.nic.in has been implemented which places all data in public domain. Details of 2, 56, 74,292 Job Cards and 35, 36,054 Muster rolls have been placed on the website.
This was stated by the Minister of state for the Rural Development Shri Chandra Sekhar Sahu in reply to a written question in the Rajya Sabha today.
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SMK/ST