The UPA Government under its Common Minimum Programme (CMP) has declared that it “…….,will immediately enact a National Employment Guarantee Act. This will provide a legal guarantee for at least 100 days of employment to begin with, on asset-creating public works programmes every year at minimum wages for at least one able-bodied person in every rural, urban poor and lower middle class household…”. Now the Government has made a legislation titled `National Employment Rural Guarantee Act-2005 (NREG Act) which got the assent of the President recently to provide employment guarantee to the rural poor. The National Employment Rural Guarantee Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 21.12.2004. It was referred to Standing Committee on Rural Development on 23.12.2004. The Standing Committee presented its report to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha on 21.06.2005 and the report was presented to Lok Sabha and laid in Rajya Sabha on 27.07 2005. The Bill was passed in Lok Sabha on 23.08 2005 and in Rajya Sabha on 24.08.2005. The Act has been notified on 7.9.2005. The salient features of the scheme are as follows:
OBJECTIVE
To enhance the livelihood security of the households in rural areas of the country by providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.
FOCUS OF THE SCHEME
· Water conservation and water harvesting.
· Drought proofing (including aforestation and tree plantation).
· Irrigation canals including micro and minor irrigation works.
· Provision of irrigation facility to land owner by households belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
· Renovation of traditional water bodies, including desilting of tanks.
· Land Development.
· Flood control and protection of works, including drainage in water logged areas.
· Rural connectivity to provide all –weather access.
· Any other work which may be notified by the Central Government in consultation with State Governments.
· Contractors shall not be engaged for implementation of the projects as far as possible, a task funded under the scheme shall be performed by using manual labour and not machines.
TARGETED BENEFICIARY
· Universal Targeting: Open to all rural households that demand work and are willing to do unskilled manual work.
ENTITLEMENTS GUARANTEED TO BENEFICIARY
· Registration: Every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work would be entitled to get registered with the Gram Panchayat and get a job card. They may submit their names, age and the address of the household to the Gram Panchayat at the village level for issuance of a job card. It shall be the duty of the Gram Panchayat to register the household, after making such enquiry as it deems fit and issue a job card containing such details of adult members of the household affixing their photographs.
· Every registered household would be entitled to at least 100 days of guaranteed employment at the wage rate. The Act provides that the wage rate specified from time to time under any such notification shall not be at a rate less than sixty rupees per day.
· Every eligible applicant, subject to the household entitlement, is entitled to get work within 15 days for as many days as he/she applies. Applications for work must be for at least fourteen days of continuous work. A period of employment shall ordinarily be at least fourteen days continuously with not more than six days in a week.
· If the eligible applicant is not provided employment within 15 days of receipt of application or from the date from which the applicant seeks employment (in the advance applications), he or she shall be entitled to a daily unemployment allowance, in cash.
· Employment within a radius of 5 kilometers of the village of applicant’s residence at the time of applying. If not, extra-wages at the rate of 10% of the wage would be provided towards additional transport and living expenses.
· Labourers to receive wages weekly and in any case not later than a fortnight.
· In case of any personal injury caused during the course of employment under the scheme, the person will be entitled for medical treatment free of charge as admissible under the scheme.
· In case of hospitalization of the injured worker, the State Govt. shall arrange for hospitalization including accommodation, treatment, medicines and payment of daily allowance not less than half of the wage rate payable under the scheme.
· In case of death or permanent disability, an ex-gratia payment @Rs.25,000 or such amount as may be notified by the Central Government shall be paid to the legal heir of the deceased or to the disabled as the case may be.
· Facilities for safe drinking water, shade for children and periods of rest, first aid box etc. shall be provided at the work site.
MAIN INSTRUMENT THROUGH WHICH THE GUARANTEE WILL FULFILLED
Infrastructure development works requiring unskilled labour that build durable assets that improve productivity and offer sustainable solutions to some of the chronic poverty like drought, floods deforestation.
PLANNING PROCESS
· The Panchayats and district, intermediate and village levels shall be the principal authorities for planning of the schemes made ,under the NREG Act.
· The Gram Panchayat shall be responsible for identification of the projects in the Gram Panchayat area to be taken up under a scheme as per the recommendations of the Gram Sabha and the Ward Sabhas:
- Every Gram Panchayat shall after considering the recommendations of the Gram Sabha and the Ward Sabha, prepare a development plan and maintain a shed of possible works to be taken up under the scheme.
- The Gram Panchayat shall forward its proposals for the development projects including the order of priority between different works to the programme officer for scrutiny and preliminary approval.
· The functions of the Panchayat at intermediate level shall be to approve the block level plan for forwarding it to the district panchayat at the district level for final approval.
· The functions of the Panchayats at the district level shall be to finalize and approve block-wise shelf of projects to be taken up under a programme under the scheme.
IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS
· The plan as approved by district panchayat will assign implementation responsibilities to the different agencies like line departments, panchayat and NGOs.
· 50% works in terms of cost to be executed by Gram Panchayats.
· The Programme Officer shall supply each Gram Panchayat with
i) the muster rolls for the works sanctioned to be executive by it and
ii) a list of employment opportunities available elsewhere to the residence of the Gram Panchayat
· The Gram Panchayat shall allocate employment opportunities among the applicants and ask them to report for work.
MONITORING PROCESS
· By Central Employment Guarantee Council and State Employment Guarantee Councils:
- The Central Council shall establish a central evaluation and monitoring system and will review it from time to time.
- The State Council will monitor the implementation of the Act and the schemes in the State and coordinate with Central Council.
· Social audit of work by Gram Sabha:
- The Gram Sabha shall monitor the execution of works within the Gram Panchayat
- Gram Panchayat shall conduct regular social audits of all the projects under the scheme within the Gram Panchayat
- The Gram Panchayat shall make available all relevant documents including the muster rolls, bills, vouchers, measurement books, copies of sanction orders and other connected papers to the Gram Sabha for the purpose of conducting the social audit.
· The Panchayat at district, intermediate and village level shall also monitor the works taken up under the Act.
COVERAGE UNDER THE ACT
· Legal commitment to Time Bound implementation across the whole country within five years.
· Implementation of the schemes in the 200 districts in the first phase benefiting about 1.71 crore rural households in these districts.
· About five crore households are likely to receive annual benefits under this Act in the whole country within a period of five years.
FINANCING PATTERN
· The central Government by notification shall establish a fund called National Employment Guarantee Fund for the purpose of this Act and after due appropriation made by Parliament, credit by way of grants or loans such sums of money as the Central Government may consider necessary to the Fund.
· The State Government shall also establish a fund called the State Employment Guarantee Fund.
· The Central Government will provide 90% of funds and State Governments will provide for 10% of the total funds.
· The Central Government shall meet the cost of the following:-
- Amount required for payment of wages for unskilled manual work
- Up to 3/4th of the material cost of the scheme including payment of wages to skilled and semi-skilled workers subject to the provisions of Schedule II of the NREG Act.
· The State Govt. shall meet the cost of the following:-
- The cost of unemployment allowance payable under the scheme
- 1/4th of the material cost of the scheme including payment of wages to skilled and semi-skilled workers subject to the provisions of Schedule II of the NREG Act.
PROVISION AVAILABLE TO THE WOMEN
· Priority shall be given to women in such a way that at least one third of the beneficiaries shall be women who have registered and requested for work under the NREG Act.
· There will not be any discrimination in the wage rate payable to the women workers.
· In case the number of children below the age of six years accompanying the women working at any site are five or more, one of such women worker will be deputed to look after such children.
TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY
Elaborate mechanisms to ensure transparency and accountability at all levels. The mechanisms would include –
· Social audit
· Periodical audit of expenditure under the Scheme
· Making accounts and records relating to the Scheme available for public scrutiny and
· Payment of wages before the community
Central Government shall prescribe appropriate arrangements for audit of the accounts at all levels in consultation Comptroller & Auditor General of India.
AKS/AM