Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act – Operational Guideline, 2013

The Mandate The mandate of the Act is to provide at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.

GOALS 1. Social protection for the most vulnerable people living in rural India by providing employment opportunities 2. Livelihood security for the poor through creation of durable assets, improved water security, soil conservation and higher land productivity 3. Drought-proofing and flood management in rural India 4. Empowerment of the socially disadvantaged, especially women, Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Schedules Tribes (STs), through the processes of a rights-based legislation 5. Strengthening decentralised, participatory planning through convergence of various anti-poverty and livelihoods initiatives 6. Deepening democracy at the grass-roots by strengthening Panchayati Raj Institutions 7. Effecting greater transparency and accountability in governance

Key Stake holders District Programme Coordinator Programme Officer Pradhan

PROCESS OF ISSUE OF JOB CARDS Application for registration should contain names of those adult members of the household who are willing to do unskilled manual work (“adult “means a person who has completed 18 years of age), particulars such as age, sex, SC/ST status, Rashtriya Swastha Bima Yojana (RSBY) number, Aadhar number, Below Poverty Line (BPL) status and bank/post office account number (if s/he has opened one). The GP will verify: a. Whether the household is really an entity as stated in the application b. Whether the applicant household are local residents in the Gram Panchayat concerned c. Whether applicants are adult members of the household. The process of verification shall be completed as early as possible, and in any case not later than a fortnight after the receipt of the application in the Gram Panchayat.

Custodian of Job Card To ensure transparency and accountability, it must be ensured that the JC is always in custody of the household to whom it is issued. If for any reason i.e., updation of record, it is taken by implementing agencies it should be returned on the same day after the updates. JCs found in the possession of any Panchayat or MGNREGA functionary, without a valid reason, will be considered as an offence punishable under Section 25 of the Act.

Entries for Employment and Wages in Job Card Entries pertaining to employment and wages should be updated from time to time and in any case no later than 7 days of the corresponding event date. Missing entries or delay in entries in the JC will be considered a violation and punishable under Section 25 of the Act.

Validation of Job Card & Renewal The JC shall be valid for a period of five years and will have provision for the addition/deletion of members eligible to work. Deletions in any household on account of demise, or permanent change of residence of a member, are to be reported immediately by the household concerned. Additions desired may be applied for by the household. Renewal of job cards will be done by the Gram Panchayat in due time free of cost. Old job card will be in the custody of the job card holders.

APPLICATION FOR WORK AND RECORDING OF DEMAND 1. Every adult member of a registered household whose name appears in the JC shall be entitled to apply for unskilled manual work. 2. As per Schedule II para 7 of the Act, applications for work must be for at least fourteen days of continuous work. There shall be no upper limit on the number of days of employment for which a registered person may apply, or on the number of days of employment actually provided to him/her subject to a maximum of one hundred days per household in a given financial year. 3. Applications for work should generally be submitted to the GP. They may also be submitted to the PO but this should be treated as a ‘fallback’ option only. 4. Applications for work given in writing should state the following: a. The registration number of the JC; b. The date from which employment is required; and c. The number of days of employment required. 4. Application for work may be on plain paper or it may be in a printed proforma that will be made available free of cost at the GP.

Dated receipt for work application The Gram Panchayat or Programme Officer, as the case may be, shall be bound to accept valid applications for work and to issue a dated receipt to the applicant. Ideally, the Application Form for work should have a counterfoil receipt on which the date can be entered and the dated receipt can then be issued immediately upon the submission of the application for work. Refusal to accept work applications and provide dated receipts will be treated as a contravention under Section 25 of MGNREGA.

Authority to receive demand & issue date receipts each Gram Panchayats in the meeting of Artha O Parikalpana Upa Samity shall authorize one of its employees to receive all applications for MGNREGS and to issue dated receipt for such application

Authority outside GP to receive demand & issue date receipts Gram Panchayat members, anganwadi workers, school teachers, SHGs and Common Service Centres (CSCs)

ALLOCATION OF WORK Employment should be provided from the date that employment has been sought, or within 15 days of the date of application, whichever is later. If some applicants have to be directed to report for work beyond 5 km. of their residence, the workers are required to be paid 10 per cent of the wage rate as extra wages to meet additional transportation and living expenses.

UNEMPLOYMENT ALLOWANCE If an applicant is not provided employment within fifteen days of receipt of his/her application seeking employment, he/she shall be entitled to a daily unemployment allowance. The unemployment allowance will be paid as per Section 7 of the Act. The allowance will not be less than one-fourth of the wage rate for the first thirty days and not less than one-half of the wage rate for the remaining period of the financial year.

The liability of the State Government to pay unemployment allowance to a household during any financial year shall cease as soon as: 1. The applicant is directed by the GP or the PO to report for work either by himself or depute at least one adult member of his household; or 2. The period for which employment is sought comes to an end and no member of the household ofthe applicant had turned up for employment; or 3. The adult members of the household of the applicant have received in total at least one hundreddays of work within the financial year; or 4. The household of the applicant has earned as much from the wages and unemployment allowance taken together which is equal to the wages for one hundred days of work during the financial year.

An applicant who 1. Does not accept the employment provided to his/her household; or 2. Does not report for work within fifteen days of being notified by the Programme Officer or the implementing agency to report for the work; or 3. Continuously remains absent from work, without obtaining a permission from the concerned implementing agency for a period of more than one week or remains absent for a total period of more than one week in any month. shall not be eligible to claim the unemployment allowance payable under this Act for a period of three months but shall be eligible to seek employment under the Scheme at any time.

Sectors of work 1. water conservation and water harvesting including contour trenches, contour bunds, boulder checks, gabion structures, underground dykes, earthen dams, stop darns and springshed development; 2. drought proofing including afforestation and tree plantation; 3. irrigation canals including micro and minor irrigation works; 4. provision of irrigation facility, dug out farm pond, horticulture, plantation, farm bunding and land development on land owned by households specified in paragraph lC; 5. renovation of traditional water bodies including desilting of tanks; 6. land development;

Sector of Works 7. flood control and protection. works including drainage in water logged areas including deepening and repairing of flood channels, chaur renovation, construction of storm water drains for coastal protection; 8. rural connectivity to provide all weather access, including culverts and roads within a village, wherever necessary; 9. construction of Bharat Nirman Rajiv Gandhi Sewa Kendra as.Knowledge Resource Centre at the Block level and as Gram Panchayat Bhawan at the Gram Panchayat Level 10. agriculture related works, such as, NADEP composting, vermi-composting, liquid bio-manures; 11. livestock related works, such as, poultry shelter, goat shelter, construction of pucca floor, urine tank and fodder trough for cattle, azolla as cattle-feed supplement; 12. Fisheries related works. such as, fisheries in seasonal water bodies on public hind;

Sectors of Works 13. works in coastal areas, such as, fish drying yards, belt vegetation; 14. rural drinking water related works, such as, soak pits, recharge pits; 15. rural sanitation related works, such as, individual household latrines, school toilet units, anganwadi toilets, solid and liquid waste management AConstruction of Anganwadi Centres BConstruction of Play Fields 16. Any other work which may be notified by the Central Government in consultation with the State Government.

Conditions for execution 1. Scheme must be included in the Annual Action Plan 2. The 60:40 ratio for wage and material costs should be maintained at GP level for all works to be taken up by GP and for works to be taken by all other agencies it should be maintained at the Block level. 3. No contractors and no labour-displacing machinery shall be used in execution of works.

Payment of Wages According to Section 3(3) of MGNREGA, workers are entitled to being paid on a weekly basis, and in any case within a fortnight of the date on which work was done.

Electronic Fund Management System (e-FMS) 1. to make all MGNREGS payments through a Central Account being operated at the State level 2. to generate all Payment Orders for payments from Bank/ Post Offices exclusively using NREGASoft. 3. to adopt Digital Signatures for approving the payments.

COMPENSATION FOR DELAY IN PAYMENT OF WAGES As per the provisions in para 30 of Schedule II, workers are entitled to compensation as per the provisions of the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 in the event of any delay in wage payments, Compensation costs have to be borne by respective State Government.

Vigilance & Monitoring Three – tier Vigilance & Monitoring Committee to be constituted State Level District Level Gram Panchayat Level

State Level Vigilance & Monitoring Committee Commissioner, Panchayat & Rural Development Department, Govt. of West Bengal to function as Chief Vigilance Officer

District Vigilance & Monitoring Committee Constituted vide Order No. 1126/MGNREGS dated of the District Programme Coordinator, MGNREGS & District Magistrate, Jalpaiguri District Nodal Officer (MNGREGA): In – Charge Assistant Engineer (MGNREGA): Member

Function of the District V&MC  The District Vigilance Cell will carry out the directions of the State Vigilance Cell.  Perform inspections on its own and take follow up actions for recovery, disciplinary action and filing of criminal cases in respect of non-officials and officials whose disciplinary authority is at the district level.  Oversee the inspection schedule of officials, the observance of transparency provisions at the district level and below and the functioning of Vigilance and Monitoring Committees at the local level.  Where action has to be taken by the State Vigilance Cell, the District Vigilance Cell would send proper reports to it. It will also send an annual report to the State Vigilance Cell.

Gram Panchayat Vigilance & Monitoring Committee Gram Panchayat Vigilance & Monitoring Committee All Gram Panchayats to constitute a 10 - member committee within 30th September, 2013 half of whom shall be women. Members of the V&MC may be identified from among the local school teacher, anganwadi workers, members of SHG, member of community based organization, youth clubs etc. Members of the committee to be engaged by the Gram Panchayat and such engagement would be for a period of six months with subsequent extension which should not exceed one year

Gram Panchayat V& MC should  Act as a forum for Concurrent Social Audit  Visit worksites and interact with workers  Assess quality of materials and costs  Provide end of work report on its satisfactory completion including a qualitative assessment of the nature of work and its usefulness  Place report of the committee at the meeting of Gram Sabha

Social Audit  Social audit is a tool for empowerment of the stakeholders, not a fault-finding mission  Ensures true Democracy by direct participation  Social audit is done by Gram Sabha, facilitated by trained youth  Comprehensive verification of records

Pre-Social Audit Processes  Schedule is drawn up by the DPC  Selection of Social Audit Team Members by the Programme Officer  Intimation letters are sent to the Prodhan regarding dates of the Social Audit, schemes to be audited & documents to be provided

Social audit process  5 day process  Day 1 – Training of Social Auditors & consolidation of documents  Day 2 & 3– Field Verification  Day 4 – Social Audit Report writing  Day 5 – Social Audit Public Hearing  Resource Person & the Teams always move with the stakeholders  Verification of figures on records with facts on ground  Muster Rolls & Scrolls are verified with Job Card & Pass Books  Awareness building on rights and entitlements of the wage seekers  Recording of evidence – statements in case of deviations

Post social audit  Social Audit & Decision Taken Report hosted on public domain  Programme Officer takes the initial follow up action.  Report sent to the District Programme Coordinator for information within 7 days  Report sent to all those invited for the Public Hearing

IT in Social Audit  Exclusive link in the District web site for Social Auditwww.nregajalpaiguri.com  All Social Audit reports & Action Taken reports are available in the public domain  Social Audit video – clippings are also available in the public domain

Vulnerable Groups 1. Persons with Disabilities 2. Primitive Tribal Groups 3. Nomadic Tribal Groups 4. De-notified Tribes 5. Women in Special circumstances 6. Senior citizens above 65 years of age 7. HIV positive persons 8. Internally displaced persons

Enhancing Women Participation COULD WORK UNDER MAHATMA GANDHI NREGA COULD PROPAGATE MESSAGE ON ASPECTS OF MAHATMA GANDHI NREGA COULD FACILITATE REGISTRATION OF DEMAND UNDER MAHATMA GANDHI NREGA COULD FACILITATE MONITORING UNDER MAHATMA GANDHI NREGA

IMPORTANT CONTACTS District Website District ID District Facebook District Contact No District Helpline (Toll Free)

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