CAG review had found major gaps in NREGA functioning

Times of India, March 26, 2009

NEW DELHI: The Congress manifesto claims to have provided work to "many lakh" people under NREGS and promises to further widen the scheme but a
review done by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had found that there was no data on the number of people who demanded jobs and who actually benefitted.

The CAG review said in as many as 70% of the villages checked, there were no proper records available on number of households who demanded jobs and the actual number of people who benefited from the job guarantee scheme.

The survey was initiated in 2006 and completed late last year. It was done at the request of the rural development ministry to ascertain the success of its NREGA scheme. In 26 states, 558 village panchayats were identified for the survey spread over 68 districts and 141 blocks.

Surprisingly, the report said in many cases, it found that jobs were allocated on "verbal basis" and no documentation was available with the village body.

The rules provide that before demanding employment under NREGA, households have to register themselves, and get a job card. A door-to-door survey may be undertaken to identify persons while photographs of adult applicants should be attached to the job cards after an introductory gram sabha meeting is convened at the commencement of the programme.

However, the fact-finding revealed that in 340 villages in 24 states, no such meetings were conducted, neither was there any documentary evidence available in this regard. No door-to-door survey was conducted in these villages to identify persons.

To prevent any leakages, the government had launched a drive to allocate unique identity numbers to job applicants. However, out of 558 gram panchayats checked, it was found that in 331 of them, unique identity numbers were not allotted.

In one of the poorest corners of the country, Kalahandi in Orissa, the survey found that 670 household in 16 villages were not registered despite submitting applications on the ground that their names did not feature in the 2002 BPL survey list.

A similar survey conducted by CAG in 2007 on the effectiveness of the Centre's Public Distribution System, through which it gives subsidised foodgrains to poor, revealed that 40% of beneficiaries were kept away from the scheme by denying them ration cards and 99% of those who availed the benefits reported they had not received foodgrains regularly.