MINISTER OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT(DR. C. P. JOSHI)
(a)to(d): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.
Statement as referred to in reply to parts (a) to (d) of Lok Sabha Starred Question No. 114 for
answer on 2.8.2010
(a)&(b): Mahatma Gandhi NREGA has been implemented in the country in a phased manner. 200
districts were covered in the first phase, additional 130 districts were brought under the Act
during 2007-08 and the Act was extended to all remaining rural areas from 1.4.2008. As the
volume, scale and intensity of the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA has increased many fold since its
inception, number of cases of corruption reported to the Ministry has increased. A total of
1396 complaints have so far been reported to the Ministry under the Act.
(c): Details of action taken report in complaints of serious nature is given in annexure-I.
(d): With a view to check corruption in the implementation of Mahatma Gandhi NREGA, the
following corrective measures have been taken:
(i) Permissible administrative expenditure limit has been enhanced from 4% to 6% for
deployment of dedicated staff for NREGA, strengthening of management and administrative support
structures for social audit, grievance redressal and ICT infrastructure.
(ii) Payment through accounts of NREGA workers to infuse transparency in wage disbursement.
To cover gaps in financial services and outreach and also to ensure greater transparency in
wage disbursement, Rural ATM, hand held devices, smart cards, biometrics have been initiated.
(iii) ICT based MIS to make data available to public scrutiny, inclusive of Job cards,
Employment demanded and allocated, Days worked, Muster rolls, shelf of works, Funds
available/spent and fund to various implementing agencies, Social Audit findings, registering
grievances and generating alerts for corrective action.
(iv) Instructions have been issued on 7.9.2009 directing all States to appoint ombudsman
at district level for grievance redressal.
(v) Independent appraisal by professional institutions including IITs and IIMs and
Agricultural Universities
(vi) Independent Monitoring by NLM and Eminent Citizens.
(vii) Visit by Central Council members
(viii) Periodic reviews with State Governments
(ix) Instructions have been issued to all States that release of second tranche of funds
under the Act would be liked with disposal of complaints within the given timeframe.
(ix) The Ministry has set up six Working Groups on different aspects impacting the
implementation of the Act. These Working Groups cover (a) Planning and Execution,(b)Wages,
(c)Transparency and Accountability,(d)Capacity Building,(e) Specific needs of specific category
of workers and (f) Works to be taken up on individual land. All the Working Groups have
submitted their draft reports.
