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."