Operation finite justice

After the farce of India Shining, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) came as a ray of hope in 2006 as it promised 100 days of employment to at least one adult member of the household in a year and that too within a radius of five kilometers from their own village. However, it has been two years since its implementation and this ambitious project is yet to bring economic and social relief to the vast majority of Dalits in the remote villages of India's sprawling caste society.

Like thousands of others across the Bihar landscape, Bharosan Majhi, a 37-year-old Dalit from Kodhur village in the Patna district of Bihar, has no work. He is worried about how to feed his family. "This is not the agricultural season so I can't work on the fields. Nor do I have connections that can bring me work. We were told that we would get work under the government scheme if we get our job cards; but till this day I have only worked for seven days under that scheme," he says.

Experts believe that the NREGA will be hugely beneficial to a large section of the economically marginalised society, across the class and caste spectrum. Argues Jamal Kidwai, Director, AMAN Trust, working for NREGA's social awareness in rural Bihar: "This is one of the largest job grant schemes in the world. It is the only scheme where states can be accused if it's not implemented properly. The NREGA is designed in such a manner that it leaves little scope for corruption."

But what good has it done to landless Dalits in a feudal rural society who were supposed to get maximum benefits out of it? "The NREGA is not helping the Dalits," says Arun Khote, Secretary, National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR). "It is not fulfilling their primary needs. First, they want dignity and equality. And in India, one should possess land to have social dignity."

He, like several other Dalit activists, is certain that the deep-rooted caste system in our society is preventing Dalits from ‘uplifting' their livelihood through the NREGA. "The condition of Dalits will depend on the kind of work they are assigned. They are always assigned jobs that require more hard labour and menial jobs such as cleaning of drains or scavenging. If at all the State wanted to spend money, they should have given land to the Dalits."

Jamal Kidwai agrees. He gives an example from Thanabegha village in Jehanabad district of Bihar. "There was a piece of government land which was used by the Dalits of the village for cremating the dead. It was decided that an irrigational pond would be constructed on that land. The Dalits were kept out of the construction of the pond, since, according to upper cast Hindus, Dalits would pollute the pond. Now, these Dalits have even lost this bit of land and they did not get money during the construction of the pond because they did not get the work. Crucially, they can't even cremate their dead in the land which upper caste Hindus use for cremation." In another incident, Dalits were asked to do scavenging when a drainage line was being constructed. "Apart from that, they were kept out of the whole construction process," says Kidwai.

KS Gopal of the Centre for Environment Concerns (CEC) states that there is lack of idea, vision and direction in the implementation of the Act. The government should have done its homework before implementing it. "Indian society is heterogeneous and these kinds of problems are bound to arise. The work is not productive. For example, in Andhra Pradesh, plantation work was done under the NREGA, but after plantation and watering of plants, they were left to rot. They should come up with plans that can inculcate more work. Housing is not even part of this project. If construction is included it will give jobs to a number of people."

There is discrimination even in villages where governing bodies comprise Dalits. Says Janmesh Kumar Singh, Education Officer, Central Board for Worker's Education, Ranchi: "The work is provided to friends and relatives of the mukhiyas. Or to those who voted for them."

Kidwai, among others, suggests that the NREGA should go hand in hand with several other schemes. "There are several construction projects where the NREGA can be implemented. In many cases, machines are used that can do the work of 20-30 people. If machines are removed from such construction sites, that can generate work for 20-30 job card holders," he says.

Often, Dalits don't get stipulated wages. Explains Khote: "First of all, they are not given jobs even though they have job cards. And even if they get jobs, they don't get minimum wages."

There have been revelations of fraud muster rolls prepared by mukhiyas. "I myself have seen mukhiyas asking villagers to give their thumb impression on a blank muster roll, and then keeping Rs 3 from each worker's salary. The workers did not oppose that. On the contrary they were happy and thanked the mukhiya. This was because workers who do not have any source of income otherwise did not really mind giving Rs 3 to the mukhiya. If they get Rs 80 for a day's work, why complain," says Kidwai.

Gopal's draws attention towards the condition of women working under the NREGA. It reveals that women are inevitably underpaid. "In Andhra Pradesh, where watering of plants was undertaken, there were two ways in which it was being done. In the first case, a tractor brought water from cement tanks and labourers watered the plants. The wage rate fixed is per plant and a separate rate is available for hiring the tractor. But in places where such water facilities are not available, women fetch the water from nearby wells. But their daily wage is based on the number of trees watered and the effort involved in fetching the water is not included. Thus, women undertake tedious manual work but get paid not more than Rs 30 a day," says Gopal.

For widows who need work under the NREGA, it seems even impossible to get a fair deal. "Widows have been widely refused work. It was claimed that they did not work properly as they had to look after their children. Officials say crèches must be demand- based, leading to arguments that crèches cannot be provided as enough children are not coming. Women complain that they cannot avail of the NREGA as they have small children to look after. My contention is, one has to understand the problem of single women and one has to take care of that," asserts Gopal.

Muslims apparently are missing in most NREGA schemes. Activists argue, for instance, that Muslims traditionally belonging to the ‘artisan community' for centuries, can't do manual work, or switch jobs suddenly. Hence, they migrate to urban areas and instead choose to work in some apparel or related industry. "How do you expect people who are involved in traditionally creative occupations to suddenly do hard manual work like digging earth and building roads? They are not used to it. Surely, their skills and art can be used for developing tools that can be used by them and others for collective benefit," says Gopal.

Udit Raj, Chairman, All India Confederation of SC/ST employees, believes that the NREGA is only a "partial success" -- the objective with which it was launched is not being achieved. "Local contractors manipulate and work hand-in-glove with sections of corrupt bureaucrats and politicians. There are irregularities in muster rolls. Contractors, along with local bodies, are involved in issuing bogus job cards to make money," he says. He thinks that providing part-time jobs and giving money won't lead to tangible social shifts: "We need a revolutionary change in the education system. If a portion of the money that is being spent on NREGA is spent on providing professional courses to Dalits, then this can certainly create a permanent impact in terms of basic and long-term socio-economic transformation."

Udit Raj thinks that the NREGA is only a "belly-filling" job. With Dalits, it's not simply a question of livelihood, but also that of living with dignity. "Some state governments are not taking the NREGA seriously. UP, with a Dalit chief minister, is high on corruption in terms of implementation of the NREGA. These politicians know too well that at the time of elections, voting will be based on caste and religion, and not on issues like the NREGA."

Teklal Mahto, Jharkhand Mukhti Morcha MP from Giridih in Jharkhand told : "I don't agree that the voting pattern depends on caste and religion. At least not in my constituency. There are people of different castes and religion and voting is always performance-based. I have raised the issue of the NREGA not being implemented properly. Even in my constituency, high officials are involved in corruption."

Kidwai hopes that this Act will make people have deeper faith in the Indian State and democracy: "It can be a significant political programme whereby people will judge the representatives right from the mukhiya level to elected MPs in Parliament. I feel this is going to create a completely new bureaucracy with little scope for corruption."

One only hopes that his optimism translates into the bitter realism of a fragmented, abjectly poor and caste-divided rural India. The hope that the Indian State will at least partially touch the principles of equality and justice based on the Constitution, and give the vast majority the dignity of livelihood and an iota of economic security. The hope that still flickers in the nooks and corners of rural India, against all odds -- like a miracle -- after six decades of infinite despair and injustice.

10 questions the government refused to answer
How officials of the Union Ministry of Rural Development played hide n' seek with Hardnews

Friday, 6, 2008, Friday: Called up Amita Sharma, Joint Secretary (JS) (NREGA), Ministry of Rural Development (MRD), Delhi. Hardnews seeks appointment. Asked to meet S K Singh, Director (NREGA), MRD. Called up S K Singh. Appointment fixed. 12:30pm, June 9.

June 9, Monday: SK Singh asks reporter to meet PRO and get press release. On insistence that that we need information not press releases, (also stated on phone), he said: "I need time to collect such intensive information. Give me a day's time to prepare and I will give it to you tomorrow -- by 4 pm."

June 10, Tuesday: Krishi Bhawan. 4 pm. The director had gone for "some meeting" and would hit office next day. Asked to call up by 11 am next day to fix up the appointment again.

June 11, Wednesday: Director's office informs Singh is in a meeting. Called up JS again and explained everything. She asked to mail her the questions to which she promised to reply next day. Mail sent.

June 12, Thursday: We didn't receive the mail till evening so we called up the office but were told that JS is in a meeting. Next few days, we kept on calling JS's office. She was always in a meeting or not in office.

June 23, Monday: We re-send mail requesting her to answer our queries and also called up her office, but were told by the staff that she is not in office. Her staffer said: "She was out of station for the last three days and will be attending a conference for next three days. You call up tomorrow morning at 9:30am -- let's see if you can get a chance to speak to her."

June 24, Tuesday: called up the JS's office at 9:30 am. No communication. We are asked to fax a request for appointment. Letter faxed. No response.

The ten unanswered questions:
1) How has the progress of NREGA been in the last two years of its implementation?
2) Which are the states that are doing well in the implementation of the Act?
3) Which are the states showing poor performance?
4) What are the difficulties the government is facing in the implementation of the Act?
5) What kind of work is being taken up mostly under this scheme?
6) What is the system of social audit according to the Act?
7) Through what channel is the money given to the manual workers, right from the government department to the workers.
8) What is the role of NGOs in the implementation of the Act?
9) How many NGOs are working hand-in-hand with the government for implementation?
10) There are a number of people and organisations, which claim that corruption is rampant at many places where this act has been implemented. Have you also received such complains? If yes, then what are the steps the government is taking to curb that?