Sridevi Devnand’s perspective on MGNREGA – the voice of a MGNREGA worker:

This week we thought you all may like to hear what those impacted by MGNREGA feel about this Act and the rights it entitles them to. 

Over the next few months we hope to share more of their stories with you. Do let us know what you think.

Sridevi Devnand lives in CK Palli and in her household, including herself, there are two members with job cards and who demand work under the MGNREGA Act.

Last year this household demanded 100 days of work. While they didn’t receive all the days they demanded between the two they got a total of 88 days. This total of 88 days is higher than the average number of MGNREGA work given in Andhra Pradesh and much higher than other states. As a result of these 88 days they recevied a total of Rs. 9,680 in wages from MGRENA.

MGNREGA has had an important impact on the quality of life for this household and what the members of this household are able to afford. As a result of income generated from MGNREGA work, 

Sridevi says that, “In the last few years we have bought a cycle, both of us have bought cell phones, we eat meat more often.”

An additional and very important impact of MGNREGA has been its effect on women, something 

Sridevi can talk to as woman, “In MGNREGA we are not treated as coolies, we work when we want to and not when the land owners want us to, and we get the same wages as men.”             

At the same time Sridevi was clear to voice her dissatisfaction with the work. The soil for which the work had to be carried out on was very hard, therefore Sridevi was unable to earn the defined MGNREGA minimum wage of Rs 145 and only earned Rs 110 per day. In addition, the one main problem she has with MGNREGA is the delay in payments, a problem echoed by others as well.

It is clear that Sridevi understands what rights this Act gives to her. When asked if she received any other rights under this Act, aside from work, she stated that, “We don’t allow contractors or machineries to work in MGNREGA, we receive travel when work is over 5 Kms away, we have medical kit, water, and shade at the work site.”

When asked about the role of YIP facilitators in accessing work under MGNREGA, Sridevi said, 

"They first organised our SSS groups into Gram Panchayat Samakhayas (GPS) and started holding monthly meetings with us to solve our problems. They also visit us when we need them."

In addition, she saw a need for the continued role of these facilitators in enabling her to to demand her rights, saying that, 

"it is not just a question of rights, it is also a question of leadership. Because they are from outside of our  groups they can instil discipline in us, otherwise we will just end up fighting"

Sridevi had a resounding yes for the continuation for MGNREGA as it gives a right to a 100 days of work for households like hers. Her support for this is Act also stems from the control households like hers have over being able to demand and access this work and the conditions under which they receive it. 

Is there a Road Map Once a Rights Struggle is Legislated?

This week, we look at what roadmap has worked for Young India Project over the years in helping households access their rights

Once a rights struggle starts there are certain logical steps it has to go through. Though the first step is getting the Act legislated, which in itself is a long struggle and can involve a number of different steps and pressure points. This is something we can come back to through showcasing what role civil society has had in helping get rights legislated in India. 

Once a right is legislated, the steps involved are: 

• Make a training manual of the act and start training the poor families on the rights given them by the act  
• Organise them into village based unions; 
• Identify the authority to whom the struggle has to be directed: 
• Land and house sites struggles against the revenue department, 
• Bonded labour against the District Collector, 
• Right to work against the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), 
• Right to food security against MRD; 
• Select the most appropriate strategy/strategies to conduct each struggle; 
• Continue each specific struggle until the concerned families have received their demand e.g. once the 6oo families had received their land deeds for 1500 acres their struggle was over, it is their struggle not yours; once the women received the house site pattas on their names their struggle was over, the same with bonded labour; 

Once the Government has conceded the demands made by the families who are undertaking the struggle the NGO must withdraw. But the NGO may continue to support other families who are struggling for the same demand.