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IMPLEMENTING NREGA

Ministry of Rural DevelopmentKrishi Bhavan

New Delhi

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NREGA is designed as a safety net to reduce migration by rural poor households in the lean period

through A hundred days of guaranteed

unskilled manual labour provided when demanded at minimum wage

on works focused on water conservation,

land development & drought proofing

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Key Processes

Application for job card

Issue of job card

Demand for employment

Work allocation

Payment of wages

Selection of works

Approval of shelf of projects

Informing village PRI

Preparation of estimatesAnd approvals

Acknowledgement ofdemand

Maintenance of muster roll

Verification

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Issues critical to fulfillment of NREGA objective

Generating and processing applications for job cards

-to ensure that rural families likely to seek unskilled manual labour are identified

-to verify against reasonably reliable local data base so that nondomiciled contractor’s workers are not used on NREG works

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Issues critical to fulfillment of NREGA objective

Issue of job cards Ensuring job card verification is done on the

spot against an existing data base Reducing the time lag between application and

issue of job cards to eliminate the possibility of rentseeking, and creating greater transparency etc

Ensuring that Job Cards are issued prior to employment demand and work allocation rather than being issued on work sites which could subvert the aims of NREG

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Issues critical to fulfillment of NREGA objective Obtaining and acknowledging applications for

employment -to ascertain choices and perceptions of households

regarding lean season employment-to ensure exercise of the right to employment within the

time specified of fifteen days-to ensure that works are started where and when there is

demand for labour, not demand for worksthe process of issuing a dated acknowledgement for the

application for employment needs to be scrupulously observed.

In its absence, the guarantee cannot be exercised in its true spirit

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Issues critical to fulfillment of NREGA objective.

• Selection of works by gram sabha in villages and display after approval of shelf of projects-

-to ensure public choice, transparency and accountability and prevent material intensive, contractor based works and concocted works records

Execution of Works At least half the works should be run by gram

panchayats

Maintenance of muster roll by executing agency -numbered muster rolls which only show job card holders must be found at each work

-to prevent contractor led works

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Issues critical to fulfillment of NREGA objective

Regular measurement of work done according to a schedule of rural rates sensitive

Supervision of Works by qualified technical personnel on time.

Reading out muster rolls on work site during regular measurement

-to prevent bogus records and payment of wages below prescribed levels

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Issues critical to fulfillment of NREGA objective

Payment of wages through banks and post offices

-to close avenues for use of contractors, short payment and corruption

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Issues critical to fulfillment of NREGA objective

Provision of adequate quality of work site facilities for women and men labourers

Creation and maintenance of durable assets

Adequate audit and evaluation mechanisms

Widespread institution of social audit and use of findings

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Fund for NREGA

NREGA Central Fund rules in process of finalisation

Fund to be maintained in the form of non-lapsable public account and budget to be transferred to this account as desired by ministry

Incremental fund release on demand by States and districts on 60% utilisation and

On the basis of performance report on physical and financial parameters

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Procedure adopted for fund release

Quantitative and qualitative evaluation of demand for employment and fund requirement is being made based on

-reported number of those seeking employment Checked against

Job cards demanded and issued & employment provided and average turnout at work sites (as reported

by State and observed by field visits) Manner in which job card registration and demand for employment are

being processed at field level (as seen from reports of area officers and NMs)

fund availability (as reported by State)The endeavour is to place at once funds to meet up to 100 days of

employment for those reported to be seeking employment at district level

Fund allocation and utilisation and mandays generated in same districts under wage employment programs last year is looked at for placing some funds on ad hoc basis in States for which there is no demand and little data to ensure adequate fund availability, up-front.

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IT interface to the programme

NIC developed generalised software being used by States with appropriate modification.

Andhra Pradesh: IT solution being used to register households and generate formats for implementation of works at mandal level.

Problem areas are: Connectivity Last mile IT outreach at the cutting edge level of the village Non familiarity of the beneficiary workforce with IT usages.

Committee set up to suggest hardware alternatives at the village level:

Handheld devices utility is being assessed. A group set up for accreditation of IT software that private IT

experts may wish to develop for NREGA that can then be recommended to States for their consideration.

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Visits of National Monitors and Area Officers to Major States

• 58 monitors made field visits in March, 2006 and 30 Area Officers visited States/districts in April, 2006 Another 90 NLMs are visiting the remaining districts.

No. of visits by monitors No. of visits of area officers

A.P. 4 3

Bihar 7 2

Chattisgarh 2 2

Jharkhand 3 2

Maharashtra 2 2

M.P. 3 4

Orissa 7 1

Rajasthan 2 6

U.P. 6 2

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Qualitative monitoring and studies by professional institutions

*Five institutions of repute identified to undertake studies in 12 States

Report to be submitted in 90 days Covering roughly 10 villages over 2

blocks and 20 households to be covered in each village

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Details of InstitutionsIndian Institute of Women’s Studies

Centre for Budget & Governance Accountability

IIM Bangalore Institute of Human Development

Centre for Development Alternatives

Objective Analyse women access to NREGA, assess State Schemes, document labour market conditions, assist design gender sensitive works.

Monitor implementation of NREGA, identify implementation challenges faced by State Gov, Local admn and PRIs, increase awareness of NREGA,

Identify Practical issues of implementation, management and coordination through quick surveys at the worksites, village, conformity with Act & Guidelines

Process documentation; assess impact of NREGA on wages, employment, durable assets;policy, recommendations; sensitise stakeholders

Suggestive corrective measures, assess strengths and weaknesses in Schemes

Coverage 2 distts of Orissa,Maharashtra, TN, WB

1 distt. In AP, 2 each in Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, MP

1 in AP and 1 in Karnataka

6 districts of Bihar

6 districts of Gujarat

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Institutional systems NREG Council rules formulated and

notified Council structure decided

Process of nomination initiated Technical secretariat being set up

Technical Advisory Group consisting of experts set up to advise on implementation of NREGA two meetings held,

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NREGA Progress Date: July 12, 2006

Sl. No. State Districts Rural households Applications Job cards Employment provided No. of works Funds released1 Andhra Pradesh 13 6104032 3954522 3954522 704101 22063 200002 Arunachal Pradesh 1 7905 45070 16256 272.853 Assam 7 923966 160897 104383 6990 534 13970.8454 Bihar 23 8943456 2401836 1071522 505281 17619 40503.385 Chattisgarh 11 1792584 1696860 1534636 162480 9671 17321.726 Gujarat 6 1596636 604695 597028 73791 1716 4113.947 Harayana 2 304178 81489 76421 15573 288 913.398 Himachal Pradesh 2 167349 70084 62408 24848 2249 683.649 Jammu & Kashmir 3 319692 169038 65531 4127 283 986.365

10 Jharkhand 20 3806040 1755005 1171831 467832 9451 37618.5911 Karanataka 5 1484815 572892 315412 118810 3678 6329.6912 Kerala 2 603527 225133 2179.5113 Madhya Pradesh 18 3890287 4281258 4144413 1804953 69783 93617.2214 Maharashtra 12 3706706 4139778 1094659 183075 6152 17961.64515 Manipur 1 22299 45172 17880 570.8916 Meghalaya 2 109577 2064.6817 Mizoram 2 22828 41808 29016 298.918 Nagaland 1 48697 430.1119 Orissa 19 3503354 2702290 1900553 563681 23559 31516.5620 Punjab 1 237480 39318 33375 21284 976 755.7521 Rajasthan 6 1461606 1443720 1423013 846263 13809 4000022 Sikkim 1 7955 4696 4696 451.523 Tamil Nadu 6 1811557 541568 535519 82009 668 9889.2124 Tripura 1 57709 62736 58114 16218 327 1456.6625 Utttar Pradesh 22 9021545 1950901 1641250 466726 15627 33498.6926 Uttranchal 3 211495 282182 176636 6206 1739 1910.627 West Bengal 10 7374151 3322241 1149145 495493 3305 18358.84

TOTAL 200 57541426 30595189 21178219 6569741 203497 397675.175

# In column applications are for registration of households# Blank spaces in the table denote information not received from States

Index: 1. Funds released pertain to 2006-7 [in lakh Rs.]

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