MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (SHRI JAIRAM RAMESH)
(a) to (e): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.
Statement as referred to in reply to parts (a) to (e) of Lok Sabha Starred Question No. 281 for answer on 13.12.2012.
(a): The provisions in Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) are effected through Schemes formulated by States under Section 4(1) of the Act. Schedule-I of MGNREGA, as amended from time to time, lists the category of works that any Scheme prepared by a State Government under Section 4(1) of MGNREG Act shall focus upon. The list of activities currently included in Schedule -I of the Act, is given in Annexure.
(b)to(d): The schemes formulated in accordance with the provisions of Section 4(1) of the Act are implemented by District Programme Coordinators and under Section 18 of the Act, it is the responsibility of the State Government to make available necessary staff and technical support for effective implementation including quality supervision of works included in the scheme. The mechanism for quality management of the works taken up under the scheme includes the following:
(i) The Ministry has prepared and circulated to all States MGNREGA Works Field Manual and Technical Manuals on Watershed Development, Natural Resource Management (NRM) and Forestry.
(ii) States have been advised to carry out inspection of works at the field level through State Quality Monitors (SQM) and by district and block level functionaries.
(iii)The MGNREGA provides for statutory monitoring through institutional mechanism like Central Employment Guarantee Council and State Government Employment Guarantee Councils.
(iv) The Ministry also deputes National Level Monitors (NLMs) for enquiring into complaints of serious nature.
(v) The State and district level Vigilance and Monitoring Committees are entrusted with the responsibility of monitoring the implementation of schemes.
(vi) Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Audit of Scheme Rules 2011 made under Section 24(1) of MGNREGA provides for Social audit by the Gram Sabhas following the process laid down in the rules.
(e): To reduce implementation deficiencies under MGNREGA, the Ministry has taken following initiatives:
(i).A Committee for revision of MGNREGA Guidelines was constituted under the Chairmanship of Dr. Mihir Shah, Member, Planning Commission. The recommendations of the committee with regard to works permitted to be taken up under MGNREGA have been examined in the Ministry and Schedule 1, expanding the list of permissible activities, has been amended on 4.5.2012. Some more recommendations on implementation issues are under consideration of the Ministry. These relate to:
(a) Improved process for capturing demand for work.
(b) Strengthening implementation machinery at Gram Panchayat, Block, District and State levels.
(c) An improved process for payment of unemployment allowance and compensation for delayed payments.
(d) Strengthening and streamlining the planning process so as to have an adequate shelf of projects.
(ii).To reduce delay in payment of wages, Ministry has initiated an `electronic Fund Management system (e-FMS)` and has also provided for wage disbursement to MGNREGA workers through accounts in Banks or Post Offices. To strengthen the institutional outreach for wage disbursement, it has been decided that State Governments should roll out the Business Correspondent (BC) Model to make wage payment through Banks with Bio-metric authentication at village level and has permitted a payment of remuneration to BCs up to Rs.80/- per active account per year.
(iii). For effective conduct of Social Audit, MGNREGA Audit of Scheme Rules 2011 have been notified and States have been advised to identify or establish an independent Social Audit Unit to facilitate conduct of social audit by Gram Sabhas.
(iv). For regular and effective monitoring and review by State Employment Guarantee Council (SEGC), States have been advised to strengthen the SEGC.
(v). To strengthen audit of accounts Ministry has issued a circular advising Certification of Accounts and Financial Audit of MGNREGA Accounts at Gram Panchyats Level by Chattered Accountants of 10 % GPs of highest spending districts in all states.
(vi). To facilitate disbursal of wages, provision has been made in NREGASoft for seeding of Aadhaar numbers in the database. This database may be later used for the purpose of workers` authentication for attendance and payments.
Annexure - Referred to in Reply to parts (a) of Lok Sabha starred Question No. 281 dated 13.12.2012.
List of activities included in Schedule-I (Para 1B) of MGNREG Act.
(i) water conservation and water harvesting including contour trenches, contour bunds, boulder checks, gabion structures, underground dykes, earthen dams, stop dams and springshed development;
(ii) drought proofing including afforestation and tree plantation;
(iii) irrigation canals including micro and minor irrigation works;
(iv) provision of irrigation facility, dug out farm pond, horticulture, plantation, farm bunding and land development;
(v) renovation of traditional water bodies including desilting of tanks;
(vi) land development;
(vii) flood control and protection works including drainage in water logged areas including deepening and repairing of flood channels, chaur renovation, construction of storm water drains for coastal protection;
(viii) rural connectivity to provide all weather access, including culverts and roads within a village, wherever necessary;
(ix) construction of Bharat Nirman Rajiv Gandhi Sewa Kendra as Knowledge Resource Centre at the Block level and as Gram Panchayat Bhawan at the Gram Panchayat level;
(x) agriculture related works, such as, NADEP composting, vermi-composting, liquid bio-manures;
(xi) livestock related works, such as, poultry shelter, goat shelter, construction of pucca floor, urine tank and fodder trough for cattle, azolla as cattle-feed supplement;
(xii) fisheries related works, such as, fisheries in seasonal water bodies on public land;
(xiii) works in coastal areas, such as, fish drying yards, belt vegetation;
(xiv) rural drinking water related works, such as, soak pits, recharge pits;
(xv) rural sanitation related works, such as, individual household latrines,
school toilet units, anganwadi toilets, solid and liquid waste management;
(xva) construction of anganwadi centres,
(xvi) any other work which may be notified by the Central Government in consultation with the State Government.
Activities mentioned in items (iv), (x), (xi) and items (xiii) to (xv) are allowed on land or homestead owned by households belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes or below poverty line families or the beneficiaries of land reforms or the beneficiaries under the Indira Awas Yojana of the Government of India or that of the small or marginal
farmers as defined in the Agriculture Debt Waiver and Debt Relief Scheme, 2008, or the beneficiaries under the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 (2 of 2007) Provisions for regular inspection and supervision of works to ensure quality of works are to be made in the Schemes under the Act to be formulated by the States/UTs under Section 4 of the Act.
