Presentation on SOCIAL AUDIT (10-3-2015) Directorate of Social Audit, Haryana

General Principals of Social Audit During Social Audit all the officials of the implementing agencies should have mandatorily presence and answer the raised queries. Social Audit must be conducted once in every six months (twice in a year). The Social Audit public forum and the Social Audit public hearing should be open for all members of the public to participate. It is the responsibility of the Gram Sabha to conduct a Social Audit with the help of the Village Social Audit facilitators. The Quorum of a Gram Sabha as defined in the State Panchayati Raj Act will apply to the Social Audit Gram Sabha too.

Procedure for Conduct of Social Audit A Social Audit is conducted by the Gram Sabha. A committee constituted by Gram Sabha consisting of atleast 11 members, two persons from Vigilance & Monitoring Committee (VMC), 6 persons from MGNREGA, 3 members of disadvantage groups (1 member from SC, 1 from minority and 1 physically handicapped) and 1/3 women are mandatory. Present Sarpanch and Panchayat Members should not be included in the Social Audit committee.

Setting up of Social Audit Unit Directorate of Social Audit Unit has already been established with 44 Sanctioned posts, out of which only 12 posts are filled up i.e. Director, Additional Director, Senior Accounts officer, two Accounts officers, System Analyst(MIS Nodal Officer), Project Officer, Assistant, Clerk, Programmer and two Data Entry Operators. The matter regarding the filling up of the remaining posts is under process.

Achievements of Social Audit Unit Awareness programme of Social Audit of 21 District of the State have already been organized by the teams of Social Audit Unit. 431 Gram Panchayats have been visited by the Social Audit Unit for awareness of Social Audit during the year 2013-2014. District Karnal, was selected for the Social Audit on pilot basis. Social Audit on pilot basis of three blocks of District Karnal i.e. Ghraunda, Indri and Nissing has also been got conducted by this Directorate Social Audit Unit along with Village Resource Persons deployed in these 3 Blocks out of 6 and the problems arising during the Social Audit were solved on the spot.

Achievements – (Cont..) 71 Village Resource Persons have been deployed after training conducted at HIRD, Nilokheri to conduct the Social Audit of remaining of three blocks i.e. Nilokheri, Asandh and Karnal. Social Audit on Pilot basis has also been conducted in these three Blocks i.e. Asandh, Nilokheri and Karnal. Out of 6141 Gram Panchayats, 6595 Social Audits have been conducted and 4758 GPs were covered during the year 2014-2015 as per MIS. Haryana Social Audit and Grievance Redressal Rules, 2014 have been notified on 14th November, 2014 and copies have been sent to all the District Programme Coordinators MGNREGA (DC’s) and Additional District Programme Coordinators MGNREGA (ADC’s) for compliance.

Photographs of Social Audit (District: Karnal)

Photographs of Social Audit (District: Karnal)

Special Project During the review of Progress of Social Audit of the States by MoRD it has been found that Social Audits are conducted in a routine manner, in contravention of the rules, diluting the effects of this important transparency and accountability initiative. In order to rectify this situation and to support the states to conduct the Social Audit, MoRD has decided to provide technical assistance under a Special Project that will be in operation till 2017. Under this project one independent Director, 4 Social Audit Experts and one District Resource Persons for every 30 crore of expenditure (2013-2014) are to be recruited. Recruitment of the posts is under process.

Impact Awareness amongst the primary stakeholders have been Increased. People have come forward for participation. People have become aware about their rights.

Challenges Peoples are not taking interest to attend the meeting of Gram Sabha for Social Audit. Sarpanch wield upon the weaker sections. Lack of awareness about the scheme. Transparency & accountability needs to be increased. People needs to be motivated. Full, free & fair participation of all the communities in the Gram Sabha meetings needs to be increased.

Plan of Action Appointment of District Resource Person (DRP), Block Resource Person(BRP) & Village Resource Person(VRP) is under process. A State level workshop on Social Audit for MGNREGA & IAY Schemes will be organized shortly. 71 Village Resource Persons have been trained at HIRD, Nilokheri and deployed in district Karnal for conducting the Social Audit on Pilot basis. A calendar for conducting the Social Audit under IAY Scheme will be issued in the month of April, 2015. Under Special Project, the matter regarding the appointment for the posts of Director, 4 Social Audit Experts & 21 District Resource persons is under process.

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