Young India Project (YIP) has become convinced that by not
enforcing their rights, the MGNREGA Job Card holders are allowing frauds to be
committed by officials in the mandal implementing machinery.
In the MGNREGA Sameeksha presented on the 14th of
July by the Prime Minister, he pointed out that he was “surprised to hear from
Jairam that concurrent evaluation processes are not in good shape”…and that he
will “request Montek to apply his mind to making good the deficiencies…” The
Government seems to have total faith in the top down evaluation/monitoring
processes even when they are not producing results. Why can’t the Government
also, alongside the top down approach, establish a grass roots bottom up
evaluation/monitoring approach?
Mr. K. Raju, Joint Secretary, NAC, New Delhi, had a
telephone talk with me on the 12th of July after returning from his
meeting with the PDs of Andhra Pradesh in Hyderabad. He told me that in his
opinion “APNA NGOs should focus on MGNREGA given rights for the next six
months,” to ensure that the SSS groups access their rights.
Because of the formation of APNA, a GO-NGO partnership, A.P.
is the only state in this country today which can implement a bottom up
evaluation/monitoring process with the help of the APNA NGOs.
On the basis of this YIP has submitted a proposal to the
Ministry of Rural Development A.P., to appoint monitors nominated by APNA NGOs,
in mandals where they are working to conduct rights monitoring and redressal
meetings, every two months in each of their GPs/Habitations and submit reports to
APNA. Enforcement of rights through these meetings will check fraud.
The time has come to try a bottom-up approach to monitor
rights being accessed or not being accessed, in order to reduce frauds being
committed by members of the Government implementation machinery.
After 6 years of Government top down monitoring approach,
grass roots bottom-up approach to be operated by APNA NGOs at a far less cost
deserves a chance. What is there to lose except frauds?
