Roadblocks and Challenges associated with MGNREGA

written by iasexam.com | 03/09/2022
Roadblocks and Challenges associated with MGNREGA UPSC

Context – The delay in payment of wages has pushed MGNREGA workers in West Bengal to the brink. There are allegations of corruption against the State government, the Centre’s reluctance in releasing payments, and the plight of the workers caught in this tussle.

About MGNREGA

The MGNREGA stands for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005. This is labor law and social security measure that aims to guarantee the ‘Right to Work’. The act was first proposed in 1991 by P.V. Narasimha Rao.

Key Features of the Scheme

  • Working Days are Fixed: MGNREGA is unique in not only ensuring at least 100 days of employment to the willing unskilled workers, but also in ensuring an enforceable commitment on the implementing machinery i.e., the State Governments, and providing bargaining power to the laborers.
  • Wages Assured by Government: The failure of provision for employment within 15 days of the receipt of a job application from a prospective household will result in the payment of unemployment allowance to the job seekers.
  • Employment within the Locality: Employment is to be provided within 5 km of an applicant’s residence, and minimum wages are to be paid.

Issues and Challenges

  • Corruption and Inefficient Spendings: Many works sanctioned under MGNREGA often seem to be non-purposive. More often than not, the projects are politically motivated hotspots to get through rampant corruption by the dominants in the local population. The social audits conducted for such projects are also highly manipulated.
  • Weight of Administrative Lapses is on the Workers: The ministry withholds wage payments for workers of states that do not meet administrative requirements within the stipulated time period (for instance, submission of the previous financial year’s audited fund statements, utilization certificates, bank reconciliation certificates etc).
  • Deletion of Genuine and Original Job Cards: Genuine job cards are being randomly deleted as there is a huge administrative pressure to meet 100 per cent DBT implementation targets in MGNREGA. Such instances are evident in the past with states Jharkhand, where the job cards were only issued after the intervention of the civil societies into the matter.
  • Weakening of Local Governance owing to too much Centralization: A real-time MIS-based implementation and a centralized payment system has further left the representatives of the Panchayati Raj Institutions with literally no role in implementation. They are equally under the pump as they neither have the power or the authority to make regular payments on their own.
  • Non-Responsive to Local Priorities: MGNREGA could be a tool to establish decentralized governance. But as the scheme is completely administered by the Central Government, it is exerting more and more pressure on the local elected representatives and also the local people. The Gram Sabhas and gram panchayats’ plans are never honored, culminating into blatant violation of the act.

Effects of Lack of Funds

  • Delay in Payment of Wages: Due to this, payments for MGNREGA workers as well as material costs will be delayed, unless States dip into their own funds.
  • Loss of Livelihood and Viable Jobs: MGNREGA data shows that 13% of households who demanded work under the scheme were not provided work.
  • Decrease in Work Progress: Many workers are simply turned away by officials when they demand work, without their demand being registered at all.
  • Gradual Decrease in Demands: This has led to stop the generation of work. The fall and squeezing of demand is being artificially created.

Suggestions for Improvement

  • Proper Usage of Funds: A large amount of funds allocated for MGNREGA have remained un-utilised. For instance, in 2010-11, 27.31% of the funds remained unutilised. It is recommended that the Department of Rural Development should analyze reasons for poor utilization of funds and take steps to improve the same. It should also look to take action against those found guilty of misappropriating funds under MGNREGA.

  • Specific Projects: Since states are at various stages of socio-economic development, they have varied requirements for development. Therefore, state governments should look to sanction those projects which are crucial to their progress and development. More emphasis on skilled and semi-skilled work under MGNREGA is the need of the hour. It is also recommended that a greater emphasis on convergence with other schemes such as the National Rural Livelihoods Mission, National Rural Health Mission, etc will be quite beneficial..
  • More Efficient Regulation of Job Cards: Offences such as not recording employment related information in job cards and unlawful possession of job cards with elected PRI representatives and MGNREGA functionaries should be made punishable under the Act.
  • Inclusion of Differently-abled people as well: Special works (projects) must be identified for people with disabilities and special job cards must be issued and personnel must be employed to ensure their participation.
  • On-time Payment of Unemployment Allowances: Dated receipts for demanded work should be issued so that workers can claim unemployment allowance. Funds for unemployment allowance should be a topmost priority for the central government.

Way forward

Rural households urgently need cash in hand and so the merging demand is for the immediate payment to workers. NREGA payments are frequently delayed by weeks and months. Given the circumstances, such delays can be counterproductive. It is recommended that in the more remote areas, wage payments should be made in cash and paid on the same day.

The Government and NGOs must study the impact of MGNREGA rural areas so as to ensure that this massive anti-poverty scheme is not getting diluted from its actual path.