The flagship pro gramme of the UPA government has come under heavy flak of late. The underpinning to this is based on the castigating of the efforts of the government by the CAG , which believes huge amounts of funds have been siphoned off without accountability. In fact it categorically states that only 3.2% of the targeted households have benefited and even there the work done has not been in commensurate with the goals of nation building or more dramatically Bharat Nirman . Imagine you are getting paid for digging a hole and filling it , although the civic amenities at large across remain dismal. The other concern expressed is the practice of fake rolls , which I believe is politically motivated as after all , the village is still viewed from the insular point as the monomer of votes where the sarpanch wields enormous clout. The third though not not observed to my knowledge by the CAG but conjectured by me is the improper planning .We have to realize that a work is only not done or completely done . There is nothing such as partially completed project . Imagine erecting poles for transmitting power . If four piers are to be erected will it suffice to erect three and consider the task completed 3/4th even though no one still derives any utility from the project.
NREGS , though very sane in motive , from the very beginning suffered from bad planning further aggravated by dysfunctional mechanism in place to overview its execution. But as half of India reels from being ostracized from the mainstream , abandoning it midway is no good either. The right course of action ought to be to check the pilferages ,target it more aggressively at the intended beneficiaries and effective monitoring with a self check mechanism in place an independent authority.
Now comes the more pertinent question of How to achieve that? Considering the awareness level of the masses is next to ignorance , an effort must be made before introducing the NREGS in a district , of educating the masses. Government schools can play a pivotal role and so can the post master whose accessibility is unmatched . A drive preceded by the pro gramme itself can help in minimizing the confiding of the scheme by the people with vested motives.
A monitoring committee needs to be formed which should report to the central authority implementing the scheme. Now there is every fear that the monitoring committee can play subservient to the chieftains of the area. To overcome that lacuna , it must be mandatory that the committee comprise the local leaders especially the ones from the opposition party as they can act as a counter to the forces of subservient.
Over the years too much has been made of e-governance. We need to realize where people do not access to basic amenities of life , internet and e-governance sound nothing less than Greek . These technologies might serve the purpose in urban areas , however they can never be efficacious in dealing with rural problems. These pioneering ideas do not connect with the masses. Mediums of communication though very effective , have been put in the dumps. A new initiative in the form of community radio , needs to be resurrected. It can be a very effective medium of imparting of latest government initiatives. Here we need to make the local school the primary body responsible for overseeing the functioning. Believe me of all the government agencies , the school still has the capacity to deliver , for it has diversity which can sustain any project.
Some other Utopian ideas that have found favor such as Smart Cards (as is currently being implemented on a Pilot basis in Andhra Pradesh ) , transferring money to the account of the beneficiaries directly . Although the latter scheme has many takers the problem is opening a bank account is still not a task that many insolvent people cam accomplish, nevertheless a suitable structure can be put in place to overcome the encumbrances.
At the legislation level , the government needs to regulate the working conditions . Regulated working hours , equal pay for equal work , gender sensitivity and promoting activities which can be done from the realms of the homes especially targeted for women. As society we can engage women to work only in economic activity , after all they are the conscience of social fabric too.
