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Jean Drčze, social activist Kalyani Meena and Balram at the meeting in Ranchi on Sunday. Picture by Hardeep Singh
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Ranchi, Feb. 12: Activists have warned of a premature death of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in Jharkhand, basing their fears on the diminishing yearly expenditures of the state government on the rural job scheme.
The alarm bells were raised by members of the Jharkhand NREGA Watch, which held a preparatory meeting today ahead of discussions with state government officials and the chief minister.
Gurjit Singh, the co-ordinator of Jharkhand NREGA Watch, said, “The annual expenditure on MGNREGS projects is decreasing every year. Two years ago, it was around Rs 1,600 crore, which came down to Rs 1,200 crore last year. This year, with only one and half months to go, the state government has spent only around Rs 775 crore so far.”
He added that the trend was a cause of concern and the state government had to wake up and address various issues such as low levels of generation of work and delay in payment of wages, which negatively affected the overall expenditure.
“As many as 35 lakh families have been issued job cards and of these, only 24,000 have worked for 100 days this year. On an average, one family has been employed for only around 10 days, instead of the mandatory 100 days,” Singh pointed out while presenting the annual report on the job scheme in Jharkhand.
Noted economist Jean Drčze, Palamau divisional commissioner and former MGNREGS commissioner A.K. Singh and the Jharkhand adviser to Supreme Court’s commissioner on right to food, Balram, also attended the meeting.
Members of the Jharkhand NREGA Watch will tomorrow hold a meeting with officials of the state rural development department to discuss various issues that are adversely affecting the job scheme.
On Tuesday, villagers and MGNREGS activists from different parts the state will gather at Morabadi grounds to hold a rally. Chief minister Arjun Munda is also scheduled to address the villagers and activists.
Taking a dig at Jairam Ramesh, Balram said, “The Union rural development minister, who often visits Jharkhand, does not seem to be paying attention to MGNREGS. Had he done so, the funds expenditure scenario could have been better.”
The meeting at Xavier Institute of Social Service was also attended by social activists associated with MGNREGS in Jharkhand. Issues such as delay in wage payment, insufficient generation of projects, involvement of middlemen and threats to activists were also discussed.
The activists complained that panchayats had been involved in the projects, but mukhiyas and panchayat sevaks were not trained or allotted suitable roles, which also affected the proper monitoring of MGNREGS in villages.
Palamau divisional commissioner Singh said that villagers needed to form unions in order to pressure the government machinery, which, too, was in need of improvement.
“Villagers need to unite and demand work. The panchayat and block authorities will then be forced to mend their ways,” Singh said. He also advised the people to remain vigilant and take part in selection of projects based on their need so that the rural job scheme could create assets in their villages.
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