By Fullmoon Lyngdoh
Social audits refer to a legally mandated process where potential and existing beneficiaries evaluate the implementation of a programme by comparing official records with ground realities. In simple mathematics, RTI plus Public Hearing is equal to Social Audit. Social audit is based on the principle that democratic local governance should be carried out, as far as possible with the consent and understanding of all concerned. It creates an impact upon governance. It values the voice of stakeholders, including marginalized/poor groups whose voices are rarely heard. Social auditing is taken up for the purpose of enhancing local governance, particularly for strengthening accountability and transparency in local bodies. These audits were first made statutory in a 2005 Rural Employment Act.
One of the key ideas of Social Audit is that people should be equipped to carry out audits themselves. The Rajasthan based Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) played an important role in the formulation and passage of the RTI and MNREGA acts and was the first in the country to pioneer social audits. It was one of the basic mechanisms used to establish why the Right to Information was needed. Without information, there`s seems to be no way to start questioning. They serve as an important tool to detect corruption and influence redress.
Social audit is no longer a choice. Along with other transparency and accountability platforms, it is a legal, moral, and democratic necessity. The government can decide to use these interventions and harness peoples’ energies in facing the vast challenge of implementation and monitoring.
The objectives of Social Audit includes: Prioritization of developmental activities as per requirements, Proper utilization of funds, Conformity of the developmental activity with the stated goals, Quality of service etc. The benefits includes: Involvement of people in developmental activities to ensure that money is spent where is it actually needed, Reduction of wastages, Reduction in corruption, Awareness among people, Promotes integrity and a sense of community among people, Improves the standard of governance and many others.
Since in every budget, be it the Union Budget or State Budget, more than 50% of the budget goes towards welfare schemes, therefore it’s important to track how, and how much money is diverted away from intended recipients. Social audits serve as a better monitoring tool for these schemes.
In some states like Telangana the digitally monitored scheme MGNREGA is physically audited through a system of Social Audit and the images of worksites are captured and uploaded online. MNREGA is world class as every rupee is tracked, but still manipulation is possible. So to say that physical verification is unnecessary because everything is digitally captured is to allow ourselves to fall into a trap. In Meghalaya too, the social audit carried out so far under MNREGA has unearthed several anomalies and irregularities and several FIRs have also been filed against the Rangbah Shnong for failing to provide an account of the implementation of the right to work scheme.
There have been instances where the field personnel have been implicated or removed based on the findings of the social audits. This is indicative of the fact that Social Audit is working and is a tool to further reinforce transparency and accountability in governance.
Social Audit is a must to bring to light lapses, misdeeds and misappropriations in various fields like Education, Healthcare, Employment, treatment of women etc. In Education sector, there have been many allegations on the misuse of the mid-day meal scheme. In Healthcare, the poor patients are subjected to maltreatment and exploitation with funds disbursed for supply to them through medicines, diet etc. Under MNREG Scheme, the number of people actually working is much less than that shown for claiming the wages payable and the work done is poor in quality and quantity. In several departments/agencies/Authority etc., be it the Meghalaya Basin Development Authority, PWD, Water Resource Dept etc. public money intended for a particular purpose (say blacktopping of a stretch of rural road) is diverted towards purchasing luxury vehicles for officers even though the department`s demand for grants submitted to the Assembly Secretariat to finalize the appropriation bills never mentioned such requirements.
Meghalaya being a state not much penetrated by Information Technology, the talks of Digital or e-governance is still a possible distant reality. Many schemes, programs or projects implemented so far have reached the beneficiaries either partially or disproportionately as no audit mechanism is available as of now except for the centrally sponsored scheme- MNREGA due to a statutory provision under section 23 and section 17 of the Act. With the enactment of the Meghalaya Community Participation and Public Service Audit Act, 2017 let`s hope that there will be better implementation of government schemes and empowerment for the citizens of the state to participate in the developmental exercise by bringing in an element of transparency and accountability in governance.
The act mandates the inclusion of at least two women in the Social Audit committees (section 11 (3)(iv)) which is very much required in a land, where traditionally only men have been running the show. The objective of this act is to review delivery of public services and implementation of government schemes, programmes and projects through a participatory social audit by the government as well as the stakeholders. One of the objectives of the act is to educate the citizens and to make them aware of their rights and entitlement thought the process of social audit. It will enhance citizen`s ownership in the development initiatives taken up by the Government in the true spirit of participatory democracy. Social audit process will be a platform for airing of public grievances and ensure a time-bound redress of the same. Under the Act, the government is mandated to constitute a State Social Audit Council. The programmes, schemes and projects implemented by different government departments, agencies or organizations that will be subject to social audit include Education (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Midday Meal), various healthcare services, services provided by MeECL, Climate Change activities and services provided by the PHE department among others.
However, not all is rosy and hurdle free. Experiences indicate that institutionalization on the ground has been inadequate, and has faced great resistance from the establishment. The lack of adequate administrative and political will in institutionalizing social audit to deter corruption has meant that social audits in many parts of the country are not independent from the influence of implementing agencies. Take the case of the Meghalaya Community Participation and Public Service Audit Act, 2017, the act provides for the appointment of members to the State Social Audit Council to be made by the government. As long as the appointment procedure is not neutral and independent, the function of the Council is bound or prone to be influenced by the implementing agency. Effective audit process will highly depend on the integrity, probity and honesty of the District Social Audit Coordinator and the cooperation of the Social Audit Facilitator.
Awareness on the importance of social audit by the village/locality social audit committees will be crucial and the active participation of the masses will be significant which we have to wait and watch. So far there is no news of the above committees having been formed. No NGO has pushed the Government to craft out the rules following the passage of the Act so that it becomes effective at the earliest. Without public pressure the Act will remain another paper tiger.