Central scheme has helped build community assets
SHILLONG: While there is a tendency to malign the Government on tardy implementation of schemes and lack of transparency, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) which guarantees 100 days work for the jobless, has after early hiccups, now got on track.
Studies conducted across the country on the MNREGA have shown positive results wherever implementation has been effective and transparent, and subject to strict social audits.
In Meghalaya many community assets such as roads, footpaths, water conservation projects etc., have been taken up and have become community assets. But according to government sources the performance up to December 2015 had slumped due to pending liabilities and because the Central Government did not release adequate funds.
In 2015-16, the accumulated liabilities had gone up to Rs. 220.40 crore. As on December 2015, the State had achieved only 37.04 person-days per household which was far below the projected achievement of FY 2015-16.
Taking serious initiatives through the District & Block level officials, the State Government requested the Village Employment Councils (VECs) to boost the employment as funds are assured and which they will receive once the Central Government releases.
Studies conducted by this paper found that the State Government machinery had assured the people through series of meetings with VECs that the MGNREGA is an Act and under the Act people are assured of their wages and it will not be lost or taken away by anyone.
However, if people do not demand employment and do not take up any work, their entitlements for the particular year would be lost. It was important to make people understand that this is a demand-driven Act.
After a series of confidence building measures by district officials the performance dramatically shot up and by the end of March 2016, the State could achieve up to 199.36 lakh person-days which was 117% of the projected achievement. This shows that VECs played an exemplary role of taking the programme in the right direction to realize the intended benefits to the people under the MNREGS. In 2015-16, Meghalaya could achieve 54.17 person-days per household against the national average of 48.85 person-days per household. During the past three years, the State consistently surpassed the national average in terms of person-days provided per household.
In 2014-15 & 2015-16, apart from releasing the State Share which is compulsory the Government also pumped in an additional amount of Rs. 36.60 Crore and Rs. 15.00 Crore respectively from the State’s own resources.
Hence district officials stated that sincere efforts have been made to ensure financial support from the State sources while funds are awaited from the Central Government.
The Central Government could not release funds to the State Government in March 2016 due to several procedural requirements. However, an amount of Rs. 423.50 Crore was released on 7th April 2016 and 21st April 2016 to the State Government for clearing the pending wage payments under MGNREGA. Sources in the Community and Rural Development Department have said that more funds are expected in June 2016 for clearing the material liabilities.
From the amount received in April 2016, Rs. 147.51 Crore has been released for the Khasi & Jaintia Hills Districts. Accordingly an amount of Rs. 191.49Crore has already been sanctioned for the Garo Hills Districts (through the BDOs and VECs) as the Election Commission has given clearance saying this does not fall under the Model Code of Conduct Rules since the money was meant for works already completed in the last three years.
Seeing the performance of the State in 2015-16, the Central Government has increased the targeted achievement to 2 Crore person-days from the previous target of 1.7 Crore. This would bring additional income to rural households and provide them the resources for livelihood upgradation, durable assets through common infrastructure at the village level, official sources said adding that efforts would be made to promote agriculture related activities and assets for individual households for sustainable incomes. The State Government also plans to pump in more resources for households to effectively utilise the wages earned through the MGNREGA for creating sustainable livelihoods.
“MNREGA has also built up the capacities of administrators to work in greater sync with communities even while capacity building for village functionaries is also taking place to improve the effectiveness of the MGNREGA and upscale the employment avenues for the rural households in the State,” a VEC leader observed.