National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) 2005 An Act to provide for the enhancement of livelihood security of the households in rural areas of the country by providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work Strengthening the Right to Information Proactive Disclosure under RTI- Problems & Perspectives

Presentation Structure  NREGA Status  Proactive Disclosure, Social Audits, Complaints and Grievance Redressal  New Initiatives  Future direction and new initiatives  Good Practices

Process Outcomes Strengthen grass root processes of democracy Infuse transparency and accountability in governance Auxiliary Regenerate natural resource base for sustainable rural livelihoods o Water conservation & water harvesting o Drought Proofing (afforestation & tree plantation) o Irrigation canals, micro & minor irrigation works o Works individual land of SC/ST/BPL/IAY/ Land reform beneficiaries/ Small & Marginal farmers o Renovation of traditional water bodies o Land development o Flood control & protection, drainage o Rural connectivity Primary Supplement employment opportunities 3 NREGA Objectives

NREGA National Overview

NREG Act: Pro-active Disclosure

Citizen Information Board

NREGA Information on Wall of Gram Panchayat

Muster Rolls at NREGA Worksite

MIS for Transparency & Accountability Management Information System (MIS)  To bring transparency in the whole system  Provide single window interface for all the stake holders of NREGA  Track transfer of funds to various implementing agency (sanction order, financial releases)  Prepare inventory of works/assets created under NREGA for future planning.  Register grievances of workers.  Details of works and workers  Separate pages for approximately 2.5 lakh Gram Panchayats, 6465 Blocks, 619 Districts and 34 States & UTs.

Job Cards & Muster Rolls in Public Domain ( ) S NO.Upto Month Number of Job Cards (Since inception) Number of Muster Rolls (Since inception) 1JUN, Crores0.44 Crores 2SEP, Crores0.78 Crores 3DEC, Crores1.06 Crores 4MAR, Crores1.18 Crores 5MAY, Crores1.60 Crores 6Mid SEP, Crores2.10 Crores  Daily thousand Muster Rolls are uploaded on the website by the States.

Amendments in the Act to provide procedure for social audits Social audits to be conducted once in six months Prior planning and announcement of audit DPC & PO responsible for audit (planning & availability of documents) Formation of Social Audit Committee (workers & 1/3 women) Documents made available 15 days prior to SAC for verification Public representatives and concerned officials to attend SAC to read out findings, ATR Minutes recorded Social Audits

Women at a Social Audit in Rajasthan

Grievance Redressal Mechanism Complaints Grievance Redressal Mechanism Penalty Provision Amendment to the Act was made to provide procedure for effective redressal of complaints and enforcing Section 25

Helplines & Grievance Redressal Rules Helplines for receipt of complaints & forwarding to state/districts -Set up at Ministry -States- A.P, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, H.P, J&K, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Orissa, Sikkim, U.P, Uttarakhand, W.B, Goa Grievance Redressal Rules Formulated by Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, H.P, J&K, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Nagaland, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttarakhand 14

Financial Inclusion Amendment to sub-section I of Section 29 (Feb 2009) 7.75 crore NREGA bank and post office accounts have been opened -Separation of monitoring agency from payment agency -Encourages saving habits -Money directly in the hand of workers -Individual accounts in the name of women Challenges -Poor coverage of bank and post office accounts -Delay in payments Payment through Business Correspondent Models using latest ICT technologies Smart Card & bio-metrics, ATMs

Performance Feedback Sources External & Independent Mechanisms National Level Monitors Studies commissioned in (5 studies, 28 districts, 11 states) (6 studies, 33 districts, 11 states) Professional Institutional Network (18 institutions, 18 states, 60 districts) Statutory Mechanisms CAG (Audit of 68 districts in 128 blocks and 513 GPs) Central Employment Guarantee Council Internal Mechanisms MPRs & MIS Performance Review Meetings Area Officers for field verifications State, district, block level inspections Helplines, Complaints

Major Challenges Lack of adequate technical and administrative manpower at block and GP levels (full time dedicated Programme Officers, administrative and technical assistants) Lack of Awareness Non-maintenance of records like job cards, dated receipts, employment registers, measurement books, asset registers, Muster Rolls Non conduct of social audits Lack of adequate monitoring mechanisms Incorrect/non-standardized reporting of physical and financial achievements Instances of rent seeking and misuse of authority (inflated estimates, bogus muster rolls, fund diversion)

President’s Address to Parliament – 4 June 2009 … increasing transparency and public accountability of NREGA by enforcing social audit and ensuring grievance redressal by setting up district level ombudsman....To ensure transparency and public accountability, independent monitoring and grievance redressal mechanisms will be set up at the district level …

New Initiatives Social Audits Issue of instructions to the State Governments for enforcement of the new social audit provisions under NREGA Organization of meeting of District Programme Coordinators at the State level for drawing up action plan for social audit Social Audit Calendar and monitoring of audits online -Details of action taken uploaded -Follow up action can be tracked down to the Gram Panchayat level Thirty seven National Level Monitor were deputed to 37 districts in 15 states for special monitoring of the social audit campaign initiated by the Ministry. Currently 89% of the Gram Panchayats are being covered under social audits

Ombudsman 1Appointment State Government to appoint Ombudsman based on the recommendations of Selection Committee. Selection Committee will consist of Chief Secretary of State, Representative of Union Ministry of Rural Development, eminent Civil Society person nominated by Ministry of Rural Development and Secretary of Department in State Government dealing with NREGA as Member-Covenor 2Qualification Persons with 20 years of experience in Public Administration Should not be more than 65 years No member of political party will be eligible He should be physically active Prior publication of panel should be done in the official website of the State for receiving comments within 30 days Selection Committee should dispose of objections within 30 days Anonymous comments and objections should not be considered Instructions under Section 27 issued on establishment of district level Ombudsman to States (within 3 months of September 7, 2009)

3Tenure & Removal Tenure will be 2 years Tenure can be extended by one year based on performance or up to 65 years of age No reappointment State Government can remove if unsatisfactory performance and recommendation of Selection Committee 4Autonomy Ombudsman will be independent of State and Central Government 5Remuneration A compensation of Rs.500/-Per sitting 6Location of Office District Headquarters One or more Ombudsman in each District 7Office Support DRDA to provide Technical and Administrative support or any other body specified by the State Government 8Appraisal Selection Committee to appraise the performance regularly every year 9Powers Lodge FIRs against the erring parties Direct redressal,disciplinary and punitive actions Inititate proceedings in the event of any circumstances that may cause any grievance

10Disposal of Complaints Ombudsman will issue notice to NREGA authority for appearance Case will be disposed by passing appropriate direction once the facts are admitted Award should be based on evidence and incompliance with NREG Act, instructions issued by State or Central Government Copy of award will be to parties Costs may be imposed in case of false, malicious and vexatious complaints NREGA authority will comply with award within one month or pay penalty at Rs.50 per day of delay The Penalty should not exceed the amount stipulated as fine in Section 25 of NREG Act Monthly report should be sent to Chief Secretary and Secretary in charge of NREGA In case of Corruption the Ombudsman will forward the matter to take up criminal prosecution A representative of Programme Officer/ District Programme Coordinator may appear in cases where they are party Programme Officer/ District Programme Coordinator shall appear only when a proceeding is taken up All cases that do not involve complicated questions of fact or law should be disposed within 15 days Other cases may be disposed within 45 days 11Appeal There shall be no appeal against the award of Ombudsman The award of Ombudsman shall be final

NREGA with UIDA NREGA partnership with Unique Identification Development Authority of India (UIDA) has been initiated. The database of NREGA will be utilized by the UID Authority to expedite the development of the identification system for the residents.