Implementation of NREGA in Gujarat

Commissionerate of Rural Development

Gandhinagar

What is NREGA

• NREGA is designed as a safety net to reduce migration by rural poor households in the lean period by providing hundred days of guaranteed unskilled manual labour when demanded on water conservation, land development & drought proofing works.

Key Processes of Implementation

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

Objectives of NREGA

• The basic objective of the Act is to enhance livelihood security in rural areas by

• Providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every BPL & APL household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work

• This work guarantee can also serves other objectives like1. Generating productive assets, 2. Protecting the environment, empowering rural women, 3. Reducing rural urban migration and fostering social equity,

among others.

NREGA GOALS

a. Strong social safety net for the vulnerable groups by providing a fall-back employment source, when other employment alternatives are scare or inadequate

b. Growth engine for sustainable development of an agricultural economy

c. Empowerment of Rural poor through the processes of a rights-based Law.

SALIENT FEATURES OF THE ACT

1) The Gram Panchayat after due verification will issue a Job Card.

2) The Job Card should be issued within 15 days of application

3) A Job Card holder may submit a written application for employment to the Gram Panchayat,

4) Employment will be given within 15 days if it is not then daily unemployment allowance as per the Act

5) Work should ordinarily be provided within 5 km

6) Wages are to be paid according to the Minimum Wages Act 1948 for agricultural laborers

7) Wages are to be paid according to piece rate or daily rate. wages should be paid through Bank / post

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(8) At least one-third beneficiaries shall be women

(9) Work site facilities such as crèche, drinking water, shade have to be provided

(10) Shelf of projects for a village will be recommended by the gram sabha

(11) At least 50% of works will be allotted to Gram Panchayats for execution

(12) Permissible works predominantly include water and soil conservation, aforestation and land development works

(13) A 60:40 wage and material ration has to be maintained.

(14) No contractors and machinery is allowed

(15) Social Audit has to be done by the Gram Sabha

STAKEHOLDERS

Key Stakeholders are:I. Wage seekers

II. Gram Sabha

III. PRIs, specially the gram panchayat

IV. Programme Officer at the block level

V. District Programme Coordinator

VI. State Government

VII. Ministry of Rural Development

Responsibility of Gram Panchayat :• Planning of works• Receiving applications for registration• Verifying registration applications• Registering households• Issuing Job Cards• Receiving applications for employment• Issuing dated receipts• Allocating employment within fifteen days of application• Executing Works• Maintaining records• Convening the Gram Sabha for social audit• Monitoring the implementation of the Scheme at the village level

Responsibility at Block Level I. Scrutinizing the annual development plan proposed

by the GPs

II. Including the proposals of the Intermediate Panchayat

III. Matching employment opportunities with the demand for work

IV. Monitoring and supervising implementation

V. Disposal of complaints

VI. Ensuring that social audits are conducted by the Gram Sabha

VII. Payment of unemployment allowance

Responsibility at District

1) Information dissemination

2) Training

3) Consolidating block plans into district plan

4) Ensuring administrative and technical approvals to the shelf of projects

5) Release and utilization of funds

6) Ensuring hundred percent monitoring of works, Muster Roll Verifications,

7) Submission of Monthly Progress Reports.

Responsibility at State Level

I. Wide communication of the Scheme

II. Ensuring that full time dedicated personnel are in place for implementing NREGA at all levels

III. Ensuring that the State share of the NREGS budget is released on time

IV. Training

V. Establishing a network of professional agencies for technical support and for quality-control measures

VI. Regular review, monitoring and evaluation of NREGS Ensuring accountability and transparency in the Scheme at all levels

PERMISSIBLE WORKS

The Works permissible under NREG are :I. Water conservation and water harvesting;

II. drought proofing, including afforestation and tree plantation;

III. irrigation canals, including micro and minor irrigation works;

IV. provision of irrigation facility, plantation, horticulture, land development to land owned by households belonging to the SC/ST, or to land of the beneficiaries of land reforms, or to land of the beneficiaries under the Indira Awas Yojana/BPL families

V. renovation of traditional water bodies, including de-silting of tanks;

VI. land development;

VII. flood-control and protection works, including drainage in waterlogged areas;

VIII. rural connectivity to provide all-weather access. The construction of roads may include culverts where necessary, and within the village area may be taken up along with drains. Care should be taken not to take up roads included in the PMGSY network under NREGA. No cement concrete roads should be taken up under NREGA. Priority should be given to roads that give access to SC/ST habitations;

IX. any other work that may be notified by the Central Government in consultation with the State Government

IMPLEMENTING AGENCIES

• The Gram Panchayat is the single most important agency for executing works

• The other Implementing Agencies are• (1) Taluka Panchayat • (2)District Panchayats • (3) line departments of the Government• (4) Public Sector Undertakings of the Central and State • Governments• (5)Cooperative Societies with a majority shareholding by the • Central and State Governments • (6) Self Help Groups

Role of Line Departments

The role of the Line Department is to give

(1) Technical support in the nature of estimates,

(2) Measurement and

(3) Supervision of the works.

(4) Muster Rolls to be maintained

(5) To execute the works on behalf of Gram Panchyats.

No overhead charge will be given to any line department.

Rajasthan Experience

1. The Sarpanches,MLAs and the elected members take keen interest in the implementation of NREGS

2. Besides Talaties, Gram Sewaks are also involved in the implementation of NREGS.

3. Gram Rojgar Sewaks appointed are being paid 2500 Rs per month.

4. Proper allocation of job work that enables them to earn Rs 100 per day.

5. System of deployment of Mates is very strong which enables proper attendance ,reporting and measurement at the worksite.

Continued 6. Effective review at Taluka and District level.7. Model estimates of works commonly taken up under

NREGA by the line Deptt.8. 50 % of works are being implemented by Different line

Deptt of Government.9. Effective role of line Departments which includes

proposing of works to Gram Panchyats and its execution.10. The use of Machinery to the extent of 40 % is permissible

and the estimates are made accordingly. 11. The shortage of Engineers is taken care by recruiting

surveyors. 12. Collectors are overall in charge for implementing NREGS

CONVERGENCE

• Convergence of the NREGA funds with funds from other sources for the creation of durable assets is permissible.

• Funds available with PRIs from other sources from central and State Governments funds can also be dovetailed with NREGA funds for the construction of durable community assets/works permissible under NREGA

• However, NREGA funds should not be used as a substitute for Departmental plan funds of different departments and agencies.

Forest Department

Permissible activities1. Village Forest 2. Road side Plantation 3. Pond side plantation4. Check dams5. Deepening of Ponds 6. Roads in the forest area and villages7. Land development etc8. Drought Proofing9. Social Forestry10. Afforestation 11. Compound wall for conservation and protection of wild life

centuries. 12. Land development of kotar land

Cont…..

Procedure to be followed 1. Suggest activity to the Grampanchyats 2. Prepare plan & estimates of the activities 3. List out the names of possible wage earners of the village.4. Prospective wage earners without job cards to be provided job cards

through Grampanchyats and this will be ensured by the Programme Officer

5. Sufficient number of Job card formats are already placed in the custody of Gram Panchayat so that Job cards to all the BPL HHs will be provided.

6. Where job cards are not immediately available the names of job seekers may be included in the Job Card issue register to provide him work

7. Administrative approval to be sought from the Programme Office i.e. TDO and will be completed timely & will be ensured by Programme Officer

1. Panchyats will provide muster rolls and related registers 2. To inform the progress of work & the names of the persons engaged on

the works to the Gram Panchayat alternatively the report may also be sent on line on NREGAsoft ,nrega.nic.in in the prescribed format given in the website.

3. To measure the work undertaken on weekly basis so as to ensure that the payment is made within a week or not beyond fifteen days.

4. Payments to be deposited in the Post Office /Bank account of the wage earners

5. Opening of the accounts of the wage earners will be ensured by the Programme Officer.

6. Advance funds for the planned works will be placed at the disposal of the implementing agency as per the plan and estimates of the works.

7. Timely payments of wages will be ensured by the respective line departments. Help will be given by Taluka Panchyats

Cont…..

1. Monthly progress reports be sent to the TDO on the last day of the month.

2. The report may also be sent on line on NREGAsoft ,nrega.nic.in in the prescribed format given in the website.

Cont…..

Road & Building Department

Permissible activities1. Village roads 2. Internal roads with drainage.3. Roads leading to the fields4. Village to Village connecting roads5. Approach road to Villages6. Culverts on the roads7. Strengthening the sides of the existing roads No RCC roads permissible

Procedure to be followed

Same as suggested for the Forest Department

Convergence with NREGA

Road and Building Department Convergence with

NREGA

• The estimates may be divided in to two parts

(A) The work that can be taken under NREGA

(B) The work of the road that is required to be taken up from the State Budget Funds

Cont…

• The labour intensive part of the road which requires earth works and metal spreading can be taken under NREGA &

• The Bitumen spreading and rolling could be taken up under State Budget Funds

Irrigation Department

Permissible works• Water conservation and water harvesting • Irrigation cannels • Micro and Minor irrigation works • Renovation of traditional water bodies • Desiliting of ponds & Tanks • Drainage in water logged areas• Flood control and protection works. • Check Dams

Cont….

• Canal and creek deepening ,widening

• Irrigation filed channels

• Salinity ingress

• Works related to treatment of water logging conditions.

• Irrigation to the SC/ST/BPL families

Procedure to be followed

Same as suggested for the Forest Department

Tribal Development & Agriculture Deptt

All Tribal agriculturists are entitled for

1. Works related to land development.

2. Works that provide irrigation including micro irrigation facility to tribal agriculturists.

3. Horticulture projects.

4. Works like cannel and channel digging.

5. Providing pipelines to the field of agriculturists.

6. Irrigation wells

Works related to RKVY can be taken up under NREGA

1. Development of Horticulture Farms

2. Plantation of Date ,Palm ,Jetropha and Sandal

3. Treatment of saline and water logged areas.

4. Labour intensive and earth work related ,land development activities for quality seed protection.

Cont…..

6. Earth work related activities where village is adopted.

7. Eco friendly activities ,establishment of model nurseries

8. Checking salinity in coastal areas 9. Reclamation of saline and alkaline soils10.Rain fed area development 11.Water shed development12.Land development of hilly areas

Cont.

13 Reclimination of degraded Bhal areas

14. Development of infrastructure like ,road and

rain water drainage.

15 Development of grass land.

Training & Capacity Building

• Staff of all implementing agencies shall be provided training at Taluka ,District & SPIPA-SIRD.

• Details of the NREG Act and Operational guidelines is available on web site www.nrega.nic.in

• FAQs will be supplied as and when demanded.

• All expenses related to training and capacity building will be borne from the NREGS funds.

Monitoring • Weekly monitoring of the performance.• Involvement of Panchyat Dept. for persuading the village

functionaries and TDOs and DDOs to implement NREGA.• More frequent holding of Gramsabhas.• More frequent regional meetings.• Filling of technical posts and giving targets to the technical staff to

undertake works in their respective area of responsibility.• Review and Monitoring of progress more aggressively• A State cell shall be setup to monitor all the vital parameters of the

programme to give fillip to the programme.• The staff and implementing functionaries will be trained adequately

to perform reasonably.• TDOs workshops shall be arranged to train and motivate them.

Special Initiatives taken at State level for smooth implementation of NREGA

• Collectors of all the Districts have been requested to call regular meeting to review the progress of NREGA at the District Coordination Meeting .

• Special training programme were planned and organized in the State with the volunteer support of Civil Society Organization

• Line departments of Governments are repeatedly requested to draw their action plan for implementation of NREGA in their area of expertise.

• Revision process of NREGA SORs has been completed

• Districts were requested to start minimum one work per village in the State in special categories of work like Panchwati, Plantation and Desiliting of Check dams and Ponds through Gram Mitras

Innovative Plans under NREGA

• New works like brick manufacturing & soak pits under NREGA are proposed to GOI to be taken up under NREGA.

• Implementation of NREGA through Sakhi Mandal• Inclusion of wage earners living on the periphery

of urban areas under NREGA• Voluntary support of Civil Society Organization

for Capacity Building of Stakeholders.

WOMEN 46.54%

OTHERS

53.45%

At least 1/3rd of the beneficiaries shall be women who have registered and requested for work under the Scheme (NREGA ACT, Schedule II, Section 6) Till March 2008

Transparency• Documents :• (1) Job Cards ( in the custody of workers) • (2) Muster Rolls, • (3) Measurement Books and • (4) Asset Registers• Processes : • (1) Acceptance of employment application,• (2) Issue of dated receipts,• (3) Time bound work allocation and wage payment, • (4) Citizen Information Boards at worksites, • (5) Vigilance Monitoring Committees, • (6) Regular block, district and • state level inspections • (7) social audits • (8) MIS.

Issues of NREGA • Lack of initiative on the part of Talati, Sarpanch

and the TDOs• Lack of awareness at the Taluka and Village

level despite intensive IEC activities• Failure on the part of District Administration to

get the village plan implemented.• Lack of desire among the people to undertake

NREGA works. • Non involvement of line Departments in

implementation of NREGA• Lack of technical support

Proposed Plan of action to tackle the issues under NREGA

• DDOs will be asked to invoke the Panchayat provisions against the Sarpanches lacking initiative to implement NREGA in their Villages

• Details of TDOs who have not taken initiative so far will be sent to Development Commissioner for initiating disciplinary action.

• The wage rates have been enhanced to compete with the market rates.

• The DDOs will be asked to hold Gramsabahs more frequently to bring about the awareness about NREGA amongst the people.

• The Districts will be directed to ensure that the village plan and the labour plan is implemented vigorously.

• To overcome the shortage of qualified Engineers ,services of ITI qualified surveyors will be taken to run the Scheme.

Continued • The staff at District /Taluka and Village level has been sanctioned

it will be ensure that all the posts are filled up at the earliest.• The BPL amongst the villagers and also members of the

Sakhimandals will be persuaded to take advantage of the employment Scheme.

• If the BPL Families do not avail at least 50 mandays in the year. They will be debarred from all BPL benefits in the next year

• Collectors to review NREGA programme in Coordination meetings.• Intensive drive to issue Job cards to all BPL HHs by 15 Aug 08