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Resource centre on India's rural distress
 
 

Time to find out where the money goes
The Union Government’s belated decision to establish an audit mechanism for projects undertaken under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme has been motivated by a number of complaints regarding irregularities in the implementation of the programme. The Government should have taken the step much earlier, in fact soon after the scheme was introduced with much fanfare as the ruling United Progressive Alliance’s flagship social sector project. But at the time, the Government — and more so the Congress, as its dominant partner — was less concerned about accountability. It was busy touting its ‘commitment’ to the common man in rural India. As a result, the MGNREGS has been badly managed, hitting not just the public exchequer which made the funds available, but even the targetted beneficiaries who received lesser than what they deserved. From time to time, experts have pointed out the anomalies in the execution of the scheme and even the courts have intervened with their concerns about the issue. Recently the Supreme Court expressed worry about the lack of accountability in the implementation of the ambitious programme. But since no effective system existed to ensure accountability, little could be done to tackle the problem. This is despite the fact that Section 17 of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act — the specially created Act of Parliament under which the mammoth scheme was implemented — clearly mentions the need for a social audit. Therefore, there is really no justification for this delay. With a huge outlay of Rs 40,000 crore, the MGNREGS cannot be run like a personal fiefdom where there is no public accountability. The scheme itself is vast; it is supposed to touch more than 88 million households across 625 districts in rural India. If it is run effectively, it has the potential to drastically reduce unemployment and empower entire families living in villages.

According to some estimates, MGNREGS could bring down poverty levels by as much as 16 to18 per cent in the chronically poor States that are referred to as BIMARU — Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Others like Jharkhand, Odisha and Chhattisgarh also stand to gain enormously if the scheme is executed with a sense of accountability. An audit mechanism will ensure that the funds are not squandered or diverted to undeserving pockets and also make certain that the real beneficiaries get their due that will hopefully enable them to escape the vicious cycle of poverty. Additionally, now that the Government has decided to link wages to the Consumer Price Index, workers should be getting paid at least Rs 100 per day. That is unlikely to happen if effective audits are not undertaken. It is here that the role of the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India, which will train people for audits and participate in the deliberations, is crucial.