Question : Grievance Redressal under MGNREGS

(a) whether there has been fall in demand for work under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) because of lower wage rate and if so, the details thereof;

(b) whether delayed and rejected payments lead to less compensation to workers if so, the details thereof and the steps taken by the Government for ensuring timely payments and bringing down the percentage of rejected transactions;

(c) whether the technological interventions including National Electronic Fund Management System (Ne-FMS) and Aadhaar Payment Bridge System (APBS) are leading to further delay of payments and if so, the details thereof;

(d) whether the Union Government is considering a proposal of indexation of MGNREGS wages to consumer price in rural and if so, the details thereof;

(e) whether there is inadequate Grievance Redressal System to address the MGNREGS worker problems and if so, the details thereof; and

(f) whether Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for handling Grievances which is under implementation by the States since April, 2012 has failed to address the Grievances of the MGNREGS workers and if so, the details thereof along with the steps taken by the Government to address the MGNREGS workers problems?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT
(SHRI RAM KRIPAL YADAV)

(a): No Madam. The persondays generated has increased from 166.21crore in 2014-15 to 234.28 crore in 2017-18. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is a demand driven programme. The demand for work itself is influenced by various factors such as rain-fall pattern, availability of alternative and remunerative employment opportunities outside MGNREGA and prevailing unskilled wage rates.

(b): No, Madam. The Ministry along with the States/UTs has been making concerted efforts for improving the timely payment of wages. States/ UTs have been advised to generate pay orders in time. This has resulted in considerable improvement in the status of timely generation of pay order and leading to improvement in actual time taken to credit wages in the workers account.

(c): No, Madam.

(d): Yes, Madam. A Committee under the chairpersonship of former Additional Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development was constituted to study among other things the appropriate index for revising MGNREGA wages. The Committee recommended using Consumer Price Index-Rural instead of the existing CPI-AL for revising MGNREGA Wages every year. The Committee also recommended use of annual average instead of the existing practice of using December month index only.

(e)&(f): The Ministry, under MGNREGA receives complaints of irregularities, non-availability of work etc., Since the responsibility of implementation of MGNREGA is vested with the State Governments/UTs, all complaints received in the Ministry are forwarded to the concerned State Governments/UTs for taking appropriate action including investigation, as per law. Detailed instructions by way of Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for complaint redressal have also been issued to all States/UTs. 20 States and 1 UT have formulated Grievance Redressal Rules for dealing with complaints. Steps have been taken to strengthen social audit units and appointment of Ombudsmen in the States. State specific reviews of States are also undertaken from time to time. Officers of the Ministry and National Level Monitors also visit various districts to oversee the performance of MGNREGA.

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