Blot on Naveen’s ‘Mr Clean’ image

Expressbuzz, Dec 31, 2010
Bijay Chaki
BHUBANESWAR: After sailing smoothly for a decade, the BJD government in the State ran into rough weather, putting to severe test  Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s ‘Mr Clean image’ and claims of transparency in governance. While there was no serious political challenge to his authority, Naveen underwent trials and tribulations in other fields. The dream of rapid industrialisation remained a chimera as big-ticket projects like Posco and Vedanta remained non-starters after coming under Central scanner for violations of green laws. The multi-crore mining scam and the large-scale irregularities in the execution of NREGS did no good to the image of Naveen.  The State Government has come under real pressure with the Orissa HC passing  strictures quashing land acquisition for the proposed Rs 15,000-crore Vedanta University project in Puri district, prompting the Opposition to bay for Naveen’s blood. The successful public meeting of the Congress, in a show of unity and strength,  demanding Naveen’s head on the Vedanta issue was a pointer to the opposition building up against the decade-old BJD rule. In the midst of all this, the State Government suffered a body blow when the Supreme Court took a serious view of the alleged diversion of funds and large-scale irregularities in the implementation of NREGS and favoured a CBI probe. The government suffered a severe setback in July when the HC set aside the State Government’s recommendation for prospecting licence on Khandadhar iron ore reserve in favour of Posco-India for its proposed Rs  52,000-crore steel plant near Paradip. There were other stumbling blocks too for the project, the highest FDI in the country. The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) took a serious view of the alleged violations of the Forest Rights Act at the project site and stopped work. The Centre appointed two panels -  Saxena and Meena Gupta committees - to inquire into the allegations. The scope of the Gupta panel was later widened to verify whether all statutory rules were complied with during the execution of the project. Both the panels recommended withdrawal of environmental clearance to the project. The MoEF will take a final call on the project by end-January going by remarks of Minister Jairam Ramesh. The steel project for which the State Government signed MoU in June, 2005, faced strong resistance from locals over land acquisition even though a good R&R package was announced for the displaced.  The Centre’s red signal to Vedanta to mine ecologically fragile Niyamgiri  in Kalahandi district for bauxite came as a bolt from the blue for the Naveen Government. As the green concerns heightened across the country, the Centre cancelled the expansion proposal of Vedanta alumina refinery from one million tonne to six million tonne.  The issue was politicised after Nehru-Gandhi scion and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi addressing a rally at Lanjigarh described the rejection of Vedanta’s mining plan as a victory for the tribals and promised to remain their ‘sipahi’ in Delhi. This prompted a nervous BJD to organise a series of anti-UPA rallies.  On the political front, there were embarrassing moments for Naveen, who had won the Assembly elections for the third consecutive term in 2009 with an overwhelming majority.At the fag end of the year, the NCP, a minor ally of the BJD in Orissa, revolted against the ‘Big Brother’ attitude of the regional outfit and announced 'divorce'. Infighting in the BJD often came to the fore with senior leaders, including ministers, openly indulging in slanging matches. What became a matter of hot public discussion was a series of spats between Agriculture Minister Damodar Rout and party’s Rajya Sabha member Pyarimohan Mohapatra, who is considered the CM’s chief political strategist.   Suicide by a large number of farmers embarrassed the government even further. Even as the State Government did not admit to crop loss or loan burden as the cause of suicide, farmers’ agitations build up at different places opposing diversion of river water for industries.   Natural calamities visited the State leaving behind a trail of devastation, the farmers were the worst-hit. As over 90 blocks in 15 districts were hit by drought, paddy crops over more than 8.48 lakh hectares were severely affected. The State Government submitted a memorandum to the Centre seeking Rs 1,516.74 crore to deal with drought conditions.   The BJD’s anti-Centre stand got a shot in the arm when the Centre released interim relief to Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra affected by the untimely rains overlooking demands of Orissa’s which also bore the brunt.

* Multi-crore mining scam and large-scale irregularities in the execution of NREGS did dent the image of Naveen
* Posco and Vedanta remained non-starters
* Orissa HC quashed land acquisition for Vedanta varsity project
* SC favoured a CBI probe into NREGS irregularities
* The Centre waves red signal to Vedanta for mining in Niyamgiri
* A large number of farmers ended lives embarrassing the Govt
* I will remain your (tribals’) ‘sipahi’ in Delhi : Rahul Gandhi
 

Minister opens NVN School building at Lanjigarh

The Pioneer, Dec 31, 2010
Lanjigarh (Kalahandi): Labour and Employment Minister Pushpendu Singh Deo inaugurated a newly-constructed Niyamgiri Vedanta Nagar Government Primary School building here. Earlier, the school was running in a rehabilitation colony building constructed by Vedanta Aluminium Ltd. The Minister said people at the rehabilitation colony are fortunate that Vedanta opened a refinery at Lanjigarh for which they would get a lot of benefit for their development. Present on the occasion were VAL Vice-President Sanjay Kumar Pattnaik, ex-Minister Balabhadra Majhi, chairperson of Lanjigarh block Srimati Majhi and VAL CSR head Dr RC Rout. Pattnaik promised to provide computers to the students of the school and to further develop the rehabilitation colony. A playground would soon be dedicated to the children of the village. People of the Niyamgiri Vedanta Nagar gave a memorandum to the Minister for electrification of the colony free of cost from the VAL power plant. Singh Deo visited the Vedanta Hospital. He praised Vedanta for providing such a standard of healthcare to the local poor people. The Vedanta Niyamgiri Village was set up for rehabilitation of the project-displaced people.

MLAs’ team visits K’handi tribal schools

The Pioneer, Dec 30, 2010
Bhawanipatna: A four-member MLAs’ team, led by Pravat Ranjan Biswal, visited Kalahandi district on Wednesday. It inspected the district headquarters hospital at Bhawanipatna and tribal schools in the district. The team, which included MLAs Rajendra Dholkia, Purna Chandra Sethi and Dushmanta Naik, visited the tribal schools at Pastikudi and Chancher villages. The team also held a review meeting at the Collectorate here where Collector Roopa Mishra, ADM Chudamani Seth, SP Sudha Singh and other district officials were present. Biswal told reporters that the committee visited the NREGS works, Anganwadi centres, tribal schools and hospital and expressed its satisfaction over the works. A report would be submitted to the Government, he added.

Saakshar Bharat Mission to implemented in Orissa's 19 educational backward districts

Orissadiary, Dec 28, 2010

Report by Dipti Ranjan kanungo, Bhubaneswar: Centrally Sponsored Saakshar Bharat Mission will be implemented in 19 educational backward districts. In the first phase it will be implemented in 3 districts in the year 2010-11.
The School and Mass Education minister Pratap Jena told the media persons here in the Orissa Secretariat on Monday that in the first phase it will be implemented in Kalahandi, Sundargarh and Bolangir district. The Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will inaugurate the project from  15th January to 30th January,2011. About more than 15 thousand adults will be literate in the programme. It has been decided to literate 2 lakh 6thousand 42 in Kalahandi, 1 lakh 78 thousand 381 in Bolangir district, 1 lakh 89 thousand 917 in Sundargarh district.
Lok Sikhya Committee will be frame in every Panchayat and  seven senior citizens will be included in the committee. The Sarpanch will be the Chairman of the Committee. In the budget there is a allocation of Rs 4.5 Lakh for these three districts. The proposal for rest 16 districts has been given to the centre.

Orissa CM meets Environment Min on Vedanta

Moneycontrol.com, Dec 26, 2010

The chief minister of Orissa Navin Patnaik has met Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh on Anil Agarwal-owned Vedanta's aluminium mining project, reports CNBC-TV18. Patnaik also discussed the ban on Jindal Steel and Power Ltd's pending projects.
The chief minister is keen to push Vedanta's Lanjigarh project. In a severe blow to Vedanta, the environment ministry had planned to put a stop to its expansion plans at Lanjigarh by calling the expansion "unauthorised" and in serious violation of environmental laws.
Earlier on Friday, Orissa had written to the Ministry on forest land for the Lanjigarh mine.

Are Maoists on the backfoot in Orissa?

Economic Times, Dec 26, 2010
BHUBANESWAR: Offensives by security forces and the refusal of people to join have hit hard Maoists in Orissa, police say. But experts are not so sure and say the guerrillas are only lying low.


"The Maoists have weakened. They are not getting support. They are not able to increase their strength as people are refusing to join them," state Inspector General of Police Sanjeev Marik said.

He said the rebels were being smoked out of their strongholds as police and paramilitary forces have intensified combing operations since the middle of last year.

"The Maoists are frustrated. They have turned into criminals and extortionists. That is whey they are targeting more innocent civilians," the officer said.

The government has declared 15 of Orissa's 30 districts "Maoist-affected". The last major Maoist raid was in April 2009 when hundreds laid siege to a bauxite mine in Koraput district.

The rebels looted explosives and killed 10 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel in the attack.

"They usually conduct such raids to demonstrate their strength. There has been no such major raid since then. It shows they have weakened," a senior intelligence officer said.

However, sporadic incidents of violence continue.

Early this month, the Communist Party of India-Maoist killed two civilians in Sundergarh, over 400 km from here, after branding them police spies.

The rebels torched about 15 vehicles of a private construction company near Pindiki village in Gajapati district Dec 20.

The officer said such incidents only proved that the Maoists were getting desperate.

According to official figures, Maoists killed 53 civilians in Orissa this year. The figures for 2009 and 2008 were 28 and 24 respectively.

The initiatives taken by the authorities to wean away Maoists from the path of violence are showing results. This year 43 guerrillas surrendered. The number last year was just 10.

There have been virtually no major guerrilla activity in areas known as Maoist strongholds. The crackdown by security forces has forced them to shift base.

Consequently, Maoist activities have been reported in four new districts - Kalahandi, Nuapada, Bolangir and Bargarh.

But experts do not share the optimism.

"It seems to be a well-calculated strategy. When they see attacks are imminent, they stay low. I don't think they are weakening," says a retired police officer.

"They may not have launched any massive raids, but their activities have been reported from new areas, indicating they are expanding their bases," he said.

Around 10 years ago, Maoists in Orissa -- which borders West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand and and Chhattigarh, all of them Maoist bastions -- were confined to just three or four districts.

By 2007, this had gone up to 15 of 30 districts.

Orissa is home to 36.7 million people, of whom 22 percent and 16 percent are tribals and Dalits respectively. Most are steeped in poverty, a key reason for leftwing extremism.

Thirtyeight percent of Orissa is forested, providing safe hiding places to the guerrillas.

Orrisa's mineral reserves too are an added factor.

The state has 17 percent of India's mineral wealth, including 60 percent of bauxite reserves, 25 percent of coal, 28 percent of iron ore and 92 percent of nickel deposits.

According to official figures, 78 rebels were killed and 1,433 arrested in the last 10 years.

‘Giving tribals jobs could have saved Vedanta’

Indian Express, Dec 23, 2010
If it was the inability to resettle 450 families that sealed the fate for Korean steelmaker Posco in Orissa, the failure to give jobs to another 500 families in and around the Vedanta project in Niyamgiri put paid to the aluminium major’s plans, said National Advisory Committee member NC Saxena, who wrote the report that resulted in cancellation of Vedanta’s project.
On being asked about the contradictions between development and growth, the subject of a front-page series in FE over the past few weeks, Saxena, who was speaking at The Express Group’s Idea Exchange on Wednesday, said the issue was being exaggerated out of proportion. He said the issue was actually one of complete apathy, on part of both the government as well as private sector developers.
“I am in favour of growth,” he said while citing figures to show how this would generate more jobs. One hectare of land in some of these areas, he said, would generate around two jobs. However, giving the same land to industrial projects could result in jobs for 20-30 persons once you take into account the economic activity that gets generated. 

So why did he come down so heavily on the project in his 123-page report last August?
“When I first visited the Niyamgiri area in 2001, it was well known that a bauxite refinery was going to come up there… When I visited again in 2010, I found there had been no attempt to recognise the rights of the tribals under the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006. I found that people protesting had done so with thumb-prints, which suggests no attempt was even made to educate them, to provide them with basic skills.” Of the 7,952 tribals who live in the area, around a fifth live in villages in and around the proposed mining area.
Would giving them jobs have helped ensure the refinery got its permission under various statutes, considering there were environmental issues as well? Saxena admitted there were several issues, but felt that giving families livelihood would have played an important role.
“You can’t pass a law only to bypass it later,” he said in a rare display of humour in an interaction that lasted well over two hours. India passed too many laws, he said, that were impossible to implement and then got used to collect bribes. Even the FRA, he said, had several inconsistencies – despite this his job was to ensure that the Act was implemented in its current form, he added.
Section 3(1) of the Act, which recognised forest dwellers’ rights, lays down the criterion for doing so. “Going by this, around 60-70% of the forest area of 70 million hectare gets covered. Are we in a position to deal with the rights of people on 50 million hectare, more so when we have done this for only 20,000 hectare so far,” he asked.
Is asking miners to give 26% of profits to tribals a good idea given the fact that this means each mine will have to be converted into a standalone profit centre? “The NAC did not discuss the issue of profit-sharing, but money is not the issue as the tribal affairs ministry can’t even spend half the money allotted to it.”
Why can’t tribals be allowed to sell their forest rights and move to cities? Since they are illiterate, have no skills for modern jobs and are easily fooled, Saxena pointed out, this would result in massive land alienation, often for as little as a bottle of liquor.

Ramesh mining ban draws Patnaik's flak

Business Standard, Dec 25, 2010

The Orissa government is upping the ante against the Union ministry of environment & forests over its decision to cork mining in the Niyamgiri hills, the site of Vedanta’s bauxite mine.
In a 30-page rebuttal (including annexure), B P Singh, special secretary to the government of Orissa’s forest & environment department, has asked the inspector-general of forests under the Union environment ministry to reconsider its decision to cancel clearance for Stage-II of the mining project.

The environment ministry had raised several issues in a 20-page letter on the cancellation of the Stage-II forest clearance. “In our letter, we have reported the factual position on the proposed mining lease area. We have also stated that if the government of India imposes additional conditions, they can be complied with,” Singh said when contacted by Business Standard.

On December 22, Orissa Steel & Mines Minister Raghunath Mohanty had said in the Orissa Assembly that there were no tribals living in the Niyamgiri reserve forest area. Singh’s letter to the inspector-general came a day after Mohanty’s statement in the Assembly.

The letter (a copy of which is with Business Standard) highlights that the matter concerning Forest Rights Act (FRA) violations had been investigated by Orissa’s ST &SC development department, the nodal agency for implementing the provisions of the FRA in the state, four months after the Centre rejected the clearance given to Orissa Mining Corporation to mine the Niyamgiri hills for Vedanta’s aluminium refinery at Lanjigarh.

Singh’s letter pointed out that the proposal by user agency IDCO to withdraw the forest diversion proposal involving 58.943 hectares of forest land, including 28.493 hectares of village forest land, for Vedanta’s alumina refinery project at Lanjigarh was accepted by the environment ministry in 2005.
The forest diversion proposal was then allowed to be withdrawn on several grounds. They include gramya jungle jogya land in the alumina refinery area being demarcated and protected at the project’s cost along with providing free access to the people belonging to neighbouring villages.
But Singh’s letter now puts a question mark on the use of land by the villagers in the wake of the environment ministry’s decision.

“In view of the observation of the MoEF regarding this gramya jungle jogya land within the refinery complex, IDCO/the project proponent may be asked to file forest diversion proposal in respect of this patch of forest land. In that case pending forest diversion for such forest land, the access of local villagers to the land under question will continue,” the letter said.

Delay in projects affecting irrigation

NOTE: All the three major projects Lower Indra, Lower Suktel and Indravati are in KBK, this shows how officials are serious towards development of KBK

Expressbuzz, Dec 24, 2010
BHUBANESWAR: Even though the State Government has spent hundreds of crores in the irrigation sector during the last five years for increasing the area under irrigation, delays in completion of the projects have come in the way of achieving the goal. 

The Lower Indra and Lower Suktel projects have come under increased focus because of the discussion on these projects during the winter session of the Assembly which concluded yesterday. The 2009 report of the comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) had pointed out the delays in four irrigation projects which promised to increase the irrigation potential manifold. The CAG observed that the head works of the Lower Indra project were completed with an expenditure of ` 162.05 crore. While 80 per cent of the main canal had been excavated, there was only 15 per cent progress in excavation of branch canal, minor and sub-minors. The report maintained that due to the non-completion of the distribution system, the impounded water in the reservoir could not be utilised resulting in unfruitful expenditure of Rs 162.05 crore. 

There was cost over run in the canal construction of Indravati project because of the delay. The State Government had entrusted the work of planning and designing of the aqueduct of the right extension main canal over the river Sagada to the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur, with payment of ` 4.5 lakh in May, 2005.  But the design received from the IIT in May, 2007 was approved in May, 2008. The CAG observed that due to lapse of three years, the cost of the work increased from ` 13.4 crore to ` 29.42 crore and the project could not be completed on schedule.  The original site of the spillway in the Telengiri project was abandoned after incurring an expenditure of ` 99.2 lakh due to unsuitability of foundation strata, rendering the expenditure wasteful.

According to the CAG, despite an expenditure of ` 90.69 crore by March, 2009, not a single ayacut has been created. The state Government maintained that alternate scope for saddle spillway was examined. But considering the geological investigation data of both the locations, it was decided to construct central spillway, on which the work has already commenced. But ultimately the project was delayed by more than two years.  Subarnarekha project started under the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) in 1996-97 for completion by March, 2001, remained incomplete as on date with only 22 per cent physical progress. The CAG maintained that the lining work and failure zones of the main canal were not completed due to defective design and the aqueduct was not constructed due to default in execution by the contractor. So far, ` 973.83 crore has been spent on the project.

Lets Pray, Think and Work for Another New Step in the New Year !!!

Dear All,

Wish you all a very successful and joyful new year in advance.

Please note that many intellectual people in Kalahandi are advising to bring all people living outside of Kalahandi (in various cities in India and abroad) to bring together, as they feel participation of such people will help to bring awareness and development in the region.

It is difficult to bring all of them together unless every one living out side Kalahandi support and take interest in it. Luckily, today Kalahandia finds place in each corner of the world in various different fields.

We have formed following interntet groups, please suggest/advice your Kalahandi counterparts/friends to be part of it.

Kalahandia yahoo group is running actively since 8 years. To join it kindly suggest to email to:

kalahandia-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

 

Facebook group: Kalahandi (getting popular world wide)

Orkut group: Kalahandia (not much active now a days)

Twitter: Kalahandia

(Or, you may also follow "digpatra" for the same message)

Blog: http://kalahandia.blogspot.com/

Please note that intellectual and our involvement in the ground problems is encouraging people in the ground to work harder towards development of our region, few noted activity includes central university (instead we succeed to get engg and agri colleges), Wagon factory and Agricultural college/university by Sri Sri Ravisankar Guruji etc.

Our next step is to pursue for branch of Indira Gandhi National Tribal University in Kalahandi and a state University. Two new central schools have come in Nuapada and Khariar this year, when I met our MP and local sub-collector, both of them said another one in Dharamgarh may get approved next year as there was problem with some document this year. The model school and college are also in line as per sub-collector.   

Railway and state highways are important. We are writing letters on these issues. Of course, irrigation is very crucial and hopefully Koksara lift irrigation and expansion of Upper Indravati and Indra proejcts will be through soon. Thanks to Pushpendra babu for making the Koksara lift irrigation project approved by CM and hope our MP takes the issue in the central govt. 

Our Kalahandi MP, Bhakta Babu is taking positive interest on many of our demands. His efforts and hard work for Agricultural college/university by Sri Sri Ravisankar Guruji and Wagon factory are praise worthy. Our minister Pushpendra babu and leader of opposition Bhupendra Babu are also equally supportive on various issues. All these leaders have a great sympathy for the development of our region and encourage intellectual involvement in development, let’s not concentrating on each of their political affiliation or interest, help them as civil society effort so that they can help politically for our demand without bothering politics.

Honestly we do not need to go for politics and blame politician for every thing without even approaching them, rather lets put our demand to them and see whether they really work on the issue or not?

Knowing the ground difficulties intellectual initiatives and involvement taken by Prof. G.B.Behera, Dr A. K. Nanda and Dr Baba Mishra are really exceptional. Being an educationally backward district, awareness is poor and there are many hurdles in the ground as large percentage of the population rarely understand about how modern economic works, social, cultural and moral development are other parts.

However, things have started melting, and all our involvement in terms of bringing awareness, in terms of sharing little knowledge from the national and global experience and not tilting like professional NGOs/activist, may help our region in a big way. And to start with is to build a solid network among ourselves. Emailing,  facebook campaigning, encouraging younger generation to higher study as well as entrepreneurship (that we lack sufficiently in Kalahandi region) are other creative issues we need to closely work with.

A new positive step in new year ahead to looking forward for the development of the region.

Thanks and best regards

Digambara

No Tribal Lives in Niyamgiri Hills: Orissa Govt

Outlook, Dec 23, 2010
Annoyed over the Centre's rejection of a proposal to start bauxite mining atop Niyamgiri hills in Orissa's Kalahandi district, the state government today said no tribal was living in Niyamgiri Reserve Forest area spreading over 2,100 hectare.


This was stated by Orissa Steel and Mines minister Raghunath Mohanty while replying a question in the assembly. "As per the information available with the state government, no scheduled tribe person lives in the Niyamgiri reserve forest area," he said.

He said the total area of Niyamgiri area was 30.032 km. "There was no village in Niyamgiri area also," the minister said.

Stating that an estimated 88 million tonne of bauxite was reserved in Niyamgiri hills, the minister said that two central organisations like Geological Survey of India (GSI) and Mineral Exploration Corporation Limited (MECL) had undertaken survey work in the area.

The state owned Orissa Mining Corporation (OMC) was about to start bauxite mining atop Niyamrigi hills to feed Vedanta Alumina Limited (VAL)'s refinery at Lanjigarh when the Union ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) rejected the proposal on August 24.

Urgent attention on railway network under economically unviable but socially desired projects

To

The President of India, Smt. Patil

The Prime Minister of India, Dr. Singh

UPA Chairperson, Smt. Gandhi

The Speaker of Lok Sabha, Smt. Kumar

The Railway Minister, Smt Mamata Banerjee

The Chief Minister of Odisha, Sri Patnaik

Leader of Opposition, Odisha Assembly, Sri Singh

Chairman of the Railway Expert Committee, Dr Maitra

MPs from Odisha

Media and Intellectuals

Respected Sirs and Madam,

New Year Greetings in Advance!

Though separate East Coast Railway Zone has been established, the new zone has not given much importance towards train connection in place like Kalahandi. Among the far off places Kalahandi is one of the worst sufferers in terms of train connectivity with Odisha’s state capital.

Despite strong local demand to extend Bhubaneswar – Balangir intercity express upto Kesinga and extension of Raipur-Puri intercity express via Titilagarh to via Kesinga, the local people’s desire has not been fulfilled.

Though the railway track distance between Titilagarh and Kesinga is just 13 km, due to lack of a bridge over Tel River there is no direct short road route between Kesinga and Titilagarh that needs additional 40 km to connect these two towns. Extension of Raipur-Puri intercity express via Kesinga may take maximum additional half an hour for the train but will benefit whole Kalahandi region to reach state capital, Bhubaneswar and Raipur, both are two important cities for administrative and commercial need of the region.

Subsequently with Bhawanipatna railway link being operative I request you to kindly extend Howrah-Titilagarh Ispat Express, Bhubaneswar-Balangir express, Raipur – Kesinga passenger, Vizag - Rayagada passenger, Vijaywada – Rayagada passenger and Jharsuguda-Titlagarh passenger trains till upto Bhawanipatna in the coming railway budget. Similarly, new train should be introduced from Bhawanipanta to Vishakhapatnam.

Considering KBK-Kandhamal railway network under economically unviable but socially desired projects and a new Railway division at Bhawanipatna, a central location in KBK-Kandhamal, should be established under East Coast Railway Zone to focus railway development for KBK, Kandhamal, Boudh, Gajapati and Bargarh districts. 

In the budget kindly allot substantial amount to complete Khurdha - Balangir line as soon as possible, this line will directly connect Balangir, Sonepur and Boudh with Bhubaneswar. 

In the budget 2010-11, approve 100 crore for Kantabanji – Jeypore line considered as heart line connecting Balangir, Nuapada, Kalahandi, Nabarangpur and Koraput districts. This will facilitate first time there will be rail connection to Nabarangpur district by this line.

Speed up the progress of under survey Lanjigarh road - Phulbani – Talcher line connecting Kandhamal, Kalahandi, Nuapada, Titilagarh (Balangir dist), Nabarangpur and Rayagada districts with Bhubaneswar (Orissa’s state capital) by joining with Khurda-Balangir line near Puruna Cuttack (or Charichok). This will not only bring first time railway network to Kandhamal district but also make accessible to large part of inaccessible KBK and Kandhamal region from the state capital directly. Beside that this line will facilitate alumina/coal transportation for NALCO from its refinery in Damajodi to its Smelter in Angul by reducing distance about 100 km.

 In the budget 2010-11, kindly consider to survey for Raipur - Rajim - Debhog - Dharamgarh – Junagarh and Lanjigarh road-Gopalpur railway lines directly connecting Bhilai steel plant with Gopalpur port. Beside social development in KBK-Kandhamal-Ganjam region this line may be exploited commercially by many steel, iron and coal plants in Bhilai and Raipur regions to connect with Gopalpur port.

As East Coast Railway Zone is one of the larger profit making zone, more funds should be allotted to this zone for the development of economically unviable but socially desired projects such as KBK-Kandhamal region, I hope all of you will look into this matter for immediate action.

Thanking you and best regards

Digambara Patra

Vice President Calls for More Funds for State Universities to Improve Higher Education

Note: Thanks that VP of India raised the issue we have been advocating since couple of years. State University must get sufficient fund. The research funding should be based on perfomrance, few of the IIT, IISc, Central Universitirs professors gets huge funding due to lobby, personal contact and administrative power, research publication, h-index and citation should be criteria without contributing much to science. Even few of these guys are winner of pretigious Bhatnagar Award just because of IISc mark and personal contact and their publications does not give evidence of any break through in scientific research. India must push towards qualitative evaluation and not through IISc, IIT, or students of a powerful scientists.

PIB, Dec 20, 2010
The Vice President of India Shri M. Hamid Ansari has said that higher education cannot improve in India unless State Universities, which are the backbone and represent the bulk of enrolment, are able to obtain greater funds, create new infrastructure and enrich their existing academic programmes. Delivering foundation day lecture at University of Calcutta today Shri Ansari said, anecdotal evidence suggests that the budget of one Central University is almost the same or more than the budget of all State Universities in some States. Just like the Central Government has assumed the responsibility for elementary education through Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, it should also vastly enhance its support to State Universities as a shared national enterprise, the Vice President observed.


Shri Ansari said, “Our Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education is half of the world’s average, two-third’s that of developing countries and around a fifth that of developed countries. Even though we have been able to achieve an economic growth rate of 9 per cent of GDP despite low enrolment in higher education, it would not be possible for us to sustain such economic growth, maintain our competitiveness and enhance our productivity without at least doubling our higher education enrolment. Unless we can increase access and educational outcomes at secondary and tertiary levels, our demographic dividend might turn into a demographic liability.”

Following is the full text of Vice President’s lecture delivered on the occasion:

“ This is a rare privilege. I do feel flattered to be invited to deliver the Foundation Day Lecture of a great and famous seat of learning, India’s oldest modern university, more so because of an ancient association of a few youthful years with this city. I also subscribe fully to what the Urdu poet Ghalib said about Kolkata which he visited around the year1830:

Kalkatte ka jo zikr kiya tu ne hum nasheen

Ek teer mere sine main maara ki hai hai

Ah me, my friend! The mention of Calcutta’s name

Has loosed off a shaft that pierces to my very soul

Voltaire was perhaps unduly cynical when he describes history as “nothing more than a tableau of crimes and misfortunes.” This is certainly not true of the history of this great city which is, in a sense, also the history of modern India.

Most of us associate the year 1857 with the First War of Independence, with the heroic deeds of many, as also with the eventual failure of the effort to overthrow the foreign yoke and seek freedom from bondage. Few today would associate 1857 with another event of seminal significance. It was on January 24, 1857 that the Calcutta University Act was enacted. It was the culmination of a process initiated by Lord William Bentinck and energised by his successor Lord Auckland. The conceptual input and framework had come earlier from Sir Charles Wood. Its purpose, and ambit, was unambiguously linked to a colonial purpose, namely “to confine higher education to persons possessing leisure and natural influence” over the minds of their countrymen and who, by attaining a higher standard of modern education “would eventually produce a much greater and more beneficial change in the ideas and feelings of the community.”

The expectations from this endeavour were anticipated to be modest. The first Vice Chancellor, Sir James William Colvile, was candid about results. “We must recollect,” he said in the first Convocation Address, “that we are not merely planting an exotic (tree), we are planting a tree of slow growth.” His successor went against the tide of opinion in the British Indian establishment in the aftermath of 1857 and said three years later: “Educate your people from Cape Camorin to the Himalayas and a second mutiny of 1857 will be impossible.”

These worthy gentlemen evidently could not discern the thirst for new knowledge among segments of the public, nor could they anticipate the use that would eventually be made of it. The alumnae of this institution played a great role in the freedom struggle as also in the furtherance of knowledge in all fields. The record does speak for itself.

The proclaimed and principal purpose of the university was, and is, ‘Advancement of Learning’. There was an element of idealism about it. In a celebrated work published in November 1858, Cardinal John Henry Newman spelt out the idea of a university in terms worthy of reiteration:

“ A university is a place of concourse, wither students come from every quarter for every kind of knowledge…It is a place where inquiry is pushed forward, and discoveries verified and perfected, and rashness rendered innocuous, and error exposed, by the collusion of mind with mind, and knowledge with knowledge…It is a place which wins the admiration of the young by its celebrity, kindles the affections of the middle-aged by its beauty, and rivets the fidelity of the old by its associations. It is a seat of wisdom, a light of the world, a minister of the faith, an Alma Mater of the rising generation.”

Over the past century and a half, the ideal has retained its relevance. What has changed in response to the evolving external environment is the content, some of the methodology, and some of the end product. These were propelled by the enormity of change - political, economic, technological and cultural. A historian of our times noted at the turn of the century that “we are entering a fearful time, a time that will call on all our resources, moral as well as intellectual and material.” In this endeavour, the intellectual inputs from seats of learning and research would impact decisively on the moral and material resources needed to respond to the emerging challenges.

The need to revisit the framework for higher education in the country has been felt in recent years. This was summed up in the 2008 Report of the National Knowledge Commission:

“The emerging knowledge society and associated opportunities present a set of new imperatives and new challenges for our economy, polity and society. If we fail to capitalize on the opportunities now, our demographic dividend could well become a liability. The widening disparities in our country will translate into social unrest, if urgent steps are not taken to build an inclusive society. And our growth rate, which is faltering now, will stagnate soon, if a sustainable development paradigm is not created. “

A look at the ground reality is relevant to this discourse. Today we have 504 Universities, with varying statutory bases and mandates. Of these, 40 are Central Universities, 243 are State Universities, 130 are Deemed Universities, five institutions established under State legislation, 53 are State private Universities, and 33 are Institutions of National Importance established by Central legislation. We have a total teaching faculty of around 6 lakhs in higher education.

The structure and quality of these institutions, and their output, was the subject of critical scrutiny in the Yashpal Committee Report of 2009, tasked to suggest measures for the renovation and rejuvenation of higher education. One of its observations is telling:

“Over the years we have followed policies of fragmenting our educational enterprises into cubicles. We have overlooked that new knowledge and new insights have often originated at the boundaries of disciplines. We have tended to imprison disciplinary studies in opaque walls. This has restricted flights of imagination and limited our creativity. This character of our education has restrained and restricted our young right from the school age and continues that way into college and university stages. Most instrumentalities of our education harm the potential of human mind for constructing and creating new knowledge. We have emphasized delivery of information and rewarded capability of storing information. This does not help in creating a knowledge society. This is particularly vile at the university level because one of the requirements of a good university should be to engage in knowledge creation – not just for the learner but also for society as a whole.”

The Report goes on to say that our universities remain one of the most under-managed and badly governed organisations in society, with constricted autonomy, internal subversion within academia and multiple and opaque regulatory systems. Furthermore, university education is no longer viewed as a good in itself but as the stepping stone to a higher economic and social orbit.

The Report dwells on the increasing demand for expansion of private college and university level institutions necessitating an understanding of its implications in terms of the system’s enrolment capacity, programme focus, regional balance, ownership pattern, modes of delivery, degree of regulation, quality and credibility as well as social concerns of inclusiveness. It points out that State universities and affiliated colleges represent the bulk of enrolment in higher education and remain the most neglected in terms of resources and governmental attention.

Targeted government interventions to enhance access to elementary education through the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan have been successful in quantitative terms, even though problems remain with regard to content, quality and outcomes. You are also aware that one of the focal themes of the Eleventh Five Year Plan is the expansion and enhancement of access to higher education.

Our Gross Enrolment Ratio in higher education is half of the world’s average, two-third’s that of developing countries and around a fifth that of developed countries. Even though we have been able to achieve an economic growth rate of 9 per cent of GDP despite low enrolment in higher education, it would not be possible for us to sustain such economic growth, maintain our competitiveness and enhance our productivity without at least doubling our higher education enrolment. Unless we can increase access and educational outcomes at secondary and tertiary levels, our demographic dividend might turn into a demographic liability.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, gross enrolment in higher education is not directly linked to economic growth and prosperity or to elementary school enrolment. Thus, for example, some of the economically and educationally backward states with respect to literacy rate and school enrolment, such as Orissa, Assam, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh have higher enrolments in higher education as compared to relatively better off states such as Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. It would seem that enrolment is a function of a variety of social, cultural, institutional and economic processes and is significantly affected by the availability of educational infrastructure and facilities.

In addition to expansion, the other two central themes of the Eleventh Plan are inclusion and excellence. This is recognition of the fact that expansion does not necessarily ensure automatic access to the marginalised sections of the society and that quantitative expansion without maintaining quality would defeat the basic objective.

There are five questions pertaining to higher education that need to be addressed urgently:

First, we must ponder whether the existing means of instituting new universities is desirable and sustainable. Currently, Universities can be established only through Central or State legislation or through recognition as Deemed Universities on a selective basis. Legislation has been accorded to many private Universities by some State Governments, and both Central and State governments have accorded statutory status to some institutions.

Second, higher education cannot improve in India unless state universities, which are the backbone and represent the bulk of enrolment, are able to obtain greater funds, create new infrastructure and enrich their existing academic programmes. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the budget of one central university is almost the same or more than the budget of all state universities in some states. Just like the central government has assumed the responsibility for elementary education through Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, it should also vastly enhance its support to state universities as a shared national enterprise. The Midterm Appraisal of the Eleventh Five Year Plan takes note of this option and has observed:

“Many state universities including the old and reputed universities of Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai and Pune are starved of funds and this allocation could be used for improving the conditions of the existing State universities and colleges which faces severe paucity of resources to help them retain their excellence and competitive edge..... The Central funding of State institutions should be linked to the reforms and a MOU signed between MHRD, UGC, States, universities and institutions for implementation of time-bound reforms and outcomes.”

Third, a significant focus of reform should be the college system, numbering around 26000 colleges, where most of the enrolment in higher education occurs. Sadly, under graduate education does not get the attention it deserves in universities amidst paucity of funds for qualitative development and quantitative expansion of colleges. The government is planning to establish colleges in 374 educationally backward districts in the country, representing over 60 per cent of all districts, with shared funding between the state and central governments.

Fourth, we need to liberate education from the strict and fragmented disciplinary confines of our formal higher education structures. This has become a significant impediment in the creation of new knowledge, especially in view of our stated objective of creating a knowledge society. We need to remind ourselves that the Indian Nobel Prize winners in the early part of the last century were a part of our higher education set-up. We had then allowed free interplay between science and engineering, languages and the humanities, performing and fine arts. It was at the fringes of such inter-disciplinary interaction that new knowledge was produced and existing knowledge flourished. I am aware of academic administrators who bemoan that those pursuing Mathematics could not simultaneously study Sanskrit grammar in India despite sound academic and research logic of doing so, due to systemic rigidities of our university system.

Fifth, higher education in our country must be an arena of choice, not of elimination. Increasingly, one notices that entrance and admission criteria and procedures are designed to screen out and eliminate, due to the adverse ratio of demand and availability, especially in disciplines with job potential or where the college or university reputation is likely to be a determining factor in employment. We must create avenues for skills training and vocational education so that entering universities does not become a default choice for the sake of employment, particularly for those who might not have interest in the subject or desire for higher education.

Allow me to conclude, ladies and gentlemen, by pointing out that the entire gamut of issues dealing with the rejuvenation and restructuring of higher education in India is in the public domain for an open policy debate. In the near future, we would witness civil society, policy community, academia, the government and the legislatures debating issues ranging from regulatory and governance structures, academic and administrative reforms, capacity building and teacher training, and entry of individual and institutional foreign education providers. This is a positive development and must be pursued to its logical conclusion.

It is my hope that this distinguished audience, and students, would be part of the ongoing debates on higher education. Each of you is an important stakeholder in the process and must contribute to it, not only as members of the academic community, but more importantly as citizens of this Republic. It is only with active engagement that we can hope to mould higher education as an instrumentality to achieve the Constitutional vision propounded by our founding fathers.”

Image of Sri Sri Ravishankar's visit to Dharamgarh and laying foundation stone for Agriculture Coellege near Dharamgarh

Contributed by Ingit Panda

Rural Job Scam Survey Report on Implementation of NREGA in Orissa: By Parshuram Rai

Shared by Sri Dillip Kumar Das

Centre for Environment and Food Security

New Delhi

2007

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Content Page

Executive Summary

Chapter- I 

KALAHANDI

Chapter- II

KORAPUT

Chapter- III

NABARANGPUR

Chapter- IV

RAYAGADA

Chapter- V

NUAPADA

Chapter- VI

BOLANGIR

Annexure-1

List of Surveyed villages

Executive Summary

You may have heard about the loopholes and irregularities in implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), the biggest anti-poverty scheme in the history of India. The State of Orissa, however, does not have any loopholes or irregularities in the implementation of this high-profile rural job scheme.In a random survey conducted in 100 villages of Orissa’s 6 districts, we found only blackholes and serious irregularities as the only regular thing in all these villages. Our calculations suggest that about 75 per cent of the NREGA funds spent in Orissa have been siphoned and pocketed by the government officials and this loot has been very participatory and organised.

This survey was conducted during May-June 2007 by Delhi-based Centre for Environment and Food Security (CEFS) to assess and evaluate the performance of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) in the state of Orissa. The survey was carried out in 100 villages spread over six districts of KBK (Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput) region, namely; Bolangir, Nuapada, Kalahandi, Koraput, Nabarangpur and Rayagada.

The findings of CEFS survey are shocking, scandalous and outrageous. The Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in Orissa has been virtually hijacked by officials responsible for the implementation of this scheme. Our survey findings have revealed that there is participatory loot, plunder and pillage in Orissa’s rural job scheme. There is open loot of taxpayers’ money, there is plunder of poors’ right to guaranteed wage employment for 100 days and there is pillage of every single norm of democratic governance and administrative accountability.

It is shocking to note that we could not find a single case where entries in the job cards are correct and match with the actual number of workdays physically verified with the villagers. Out of the 100 sample villages covered for this survey, 18 villages have not received any job card, 37 villages have not received any job under NREGS even after 16 months of launch of the scheme, 11 villages have received neither job cards nor any job, Job cards of 23 villages were lying with VLWs (Village Level Worker) and JEs (Junior Engineer) for more than 6-8 months against the will of card holders.

In 25 villages, only half, one third or partial wage payments were made. In 20 villages, we found scandalous difference in the number of workdays recorded in the job cards and the number of actual workdays given to the workers. There are 3 villages where no wage payments have been made even after 4-8 months of the works done. We found 6 villages in Kashipur block of Rayagada district where NREGS work was being done without any job cards being issued to the villagers.

As per the NREGA Implementation Status Report for the Financial Year 2006-7 (http://nrega.nic.in/states/nregampr.asp), the total number of job cards issued in Orissa was 2593194. Orissa was able to provide 7.99 crore persondays of employment to 13,94,169 households spread over 19 districts of the state.In other words, 13,94,169 families have got an average of 57 days of wage employment. This includes 3.93 crore persondays of employment provided to Adivasis (STs) and 1.89 crore persondays of employment provided to Dalits (SCs). Orissa also claims that 1,54,118/ families in the state completed 100 days of wage employment during 2006-7.But, our experience in 100 villages of Orissa suggests that all these claims are bogus and manufactured only in official records in order to siphon NREGS funds.

Our back of the envelop calculations suggest that less than 2 crore persondays of employment has been provided on the ground and more than 6 crore persondays of employment has been provided only in the pages of false job cards and fabricated muster rolls.We could not find a single family in the 100 sample villages who had actually got 100 days of wage employment. We found very few families who had got 40- 60 days of wage employment. The rest of the families,if at all they have got any employment, it is mostly between 5 to 21 days.However, online job cards of most of these households have false and fabricated job and wage entries for 108 days,104 days,102 days,100 days,96 days,90 days,84 days,72 days,65 days,60 days, 52 days and so on. This is the way Orissa Government has “successfully” spent Rs.733/ crore and provided about 8 crore persondays of employment.

Our back of the envelop calculations suggest that out of Rs 733 crore spent in Orissa during 2006-7, more than 500 crore has been siphoned and pocketed by the government officials of executing agencies.In other words, less than 25 per cent of the NREGS funds have reached the targeted population and more than 75 per cent have been eaten up by sarkari babus. There are thousands of villages in Orissa where more than 80-90 percent of NREGS funds have been misappropriated by the executing officials.

According to the Government of Orissa, each of the needy households in 19 districts of the state was given on an average 57 days of wage employment under NREGA during 2006-7. Our calculations suggest that only about 5 days of average employment has been given to the needy families in the 19 districts of Orissa where NREGA was implemented during 2006-7. How have we arrived at the figure of 5 days of average employment? It is very simple.

First, as per the Government data, about 26 lakh households were issued job cards and only about half of them demanded jobs. It is a manufactured lie of “Chomskyian” variety. Our survey in 100 villages of Orissa revealed that more than one third needy households have not received job cards and over 90 per cent families in rural areas of Orissa are desperate for wage employment. To put it differently, there were about 39 lakh needy households in these 19 districts and all of them were in desperate need of wage employment.Therefore, if the total of 799 lakh persondays of employment is divided among 39 lakh needy households, the average days of employment per household comes to 20 days.

Second, out of the total of 799 lakh persondays of employment given in the official records, only about 25 per cent has actually been given to the people, the remaining 75 per cent persondays of employment has been given only on fake muster roll registers, false job cards and forged official documents. Therefore, the actual average employment per needy household in 19 districts of Orissa comes not to 57 days or 20 days, but only 5 days.To put this in perspective, the NREGA promises 100 days of wage employment to every needy household, the Government of Orissa (with highest per capita allocation of NREGA funds in the country) has delivered on an average only 5 days of employment to every needy family. A terrific accomplishment in the 60^th year of India’s Independence!

In the 100 villages of six sample districts where we carried out this survey, we did not come across a single family who has availed 100 days of wage employment. But, see their great performance in the official job records. All these sample districts claim that they have provided 100 days of employment to thousands and thousands of families. On the official records, cumulative number of households which have completed 100 days of employment is 10572 in Bolangir district, 9074 in Kalahandi, 13893 in Koraput, 7581 in Nabarangpur, 11292 in Nuapada and 8357 households in Rayagada district. So, the modus operandi of this great job robbery in Orissa is very simple and clear.

It is impossible to believe that this kind of open loot can be organized without active connivance of the entire state machinery.The NREGS has various inbuilt vigilance and monitoring mechanisms and it is not possible to perpetrate such an open loot of NREGS funds unless it is participatory and organized.

The Current level of hunger, poverty and deprivation in Orissa’s KBK region is as deep, demeaning and dehumanising as ever despite the so- called successful implementation of the NREGS with the highest per capita allocation of funds anywhere in the country. The Rural Employment Scheme has made virtually zero impact on the livelihood security of Orissa’s rural poor.There is no let up in the level of distress migration of Adivasis and Dalits from Orissa’s KBK reason in search of livelihood in other parts of the country. The current level of distress migration in the districts of Bolangir, Nuapada, Nabarangpur and Kalahandi is as high as ever.

On Human Development Index, many of the Sub-Saharan villages would fare better than most of the KBK villages. Hunger and abject poverty are widespread in all the 100 villages of KBK region we visited. Large number of children in these villages are suffering from severe malnutrition. Hunger and abject poverty are apparent and writ large on the hollowed cheeks, sunken eyes and distended bellies of the children.

Social Audit looks like a fraud on the rural poor of Orissa. There has been no Social Audit whatsoever in any of the 100 villages visited by us. There is zero accountability and total absence of transparency in the administration of NREGS.Out of 100 villages visited, we could not find a single Panchayat office open.There was lockout on all the Panchayat Bhawan’s we visited. The villagers told us that these offices open only once or twice in a month.

It is distressing to note that in the implementation of the Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, we found complete subvertion of the grassroots democracy. Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) have been completely sidelined in the implementation of NREGS. Sarpanches are asked by VLWs to sign on blank cheques and VLWs (Village Level Worker) decide everything. In most of the Panchayats, VLWs do not share a single information about the NREGS works in the Panchayat with any of the elected representatives of Gram Panchayat. It is a mockery of grassroots democracy.

Muster rolls are more secret a document in Orissa than the nuclear secrets of the country. We could not meet a single person in these 100 villages who had ever seen muster rolls of the NREGS works in his village. Muster rolls are always kept in the homes of VLWs and villagers who work in NREGS projects are made to sign on blank muster rolls.

In Orissa, Indian citizens and NGOs do need BDO’s permission to see muster rolls of NREGS and they do need District Collector’s permission to go to the Block office or meet BDO.The BDO of Nandapur Block (Koraput district) has instructed all the VLWs of the block not to show muster rolls of NREGS works to anyone without his permission. Since we had found massive financial bungling in many villages of Nandapur Block, we wanted to verify the muster rolls and job cards of concerned Panchayats which were lying with the respective VLWs. But, when we approached the VLW of Raisingh Gram Panchayat, Nagesh Choudhary, he gave us in writing that he needed BDO’s permission to show muster rolls to any body.

When we approached the BDO of Nandapur (Jyoti Ranjan Mishra) the next day, he bluntly refused to show any muster rolls to us unless we did get permission for the same from District Collector or some higher authority of Govt of India. When we contacted Secretary, Panchayati Raj, Orissa Govt (Rabindra Nath Dash) and requested his intervention in the matter, he told us that he would immediately ask the concerned BDO to show muster rolls to us. To our utter shock and disbelief, within half-an-hour we received a call from the Personal Staff of Panchayati Raj Secretary asking us whether we did have permission of the District Collector or any higher authority for meeting the concerned BDO.

When we asked as why did we need District Collector’s permission, he told us as how dare we go to the BDO’s office without District Collector’s permission. He asked us in stern voice to return back from the Block office and not to visit any village in the Block. We also got three telephone calls from APD (Additional Project Director, DRDA-Koraput) asking us not to visit any village of Nandapur block. We had also sought intervention from the offices of District Collector (Koraput), Chief Secretary and Chief Minister of Orissa. Despite all these efforts, we did not succeed in seeing the muster rolls.

This experience in Nandapur block was highly demeaning and disgusting. The whole administrative machinery was pressed into service to cover up the financial bunglings in the block. If this could happen to a research team coming from Delhi, one shudders to imagine what could happen to a poor and illiterate Adivasi or Dalit of Orissa.The sense of fear of bureaucracy among Orissa’s Adivasis and Dalits is not only frightening and sickening but also reminiscient of the British era’s reign of terror unleashed by imperial bureaucracy.

The way Orissa Government is implementing the rural job scheme, this scheme looks like a cruel joke on the hungry and poor Adivasis and Dalits of the state. Brazenness and callousness of Orissa officials involved in the implementation of this scheme is outrageous and unparallel anywhere in India. Activists and NGOs spreading awareness about the NREGS among rural poor of the state are threatened with dire consequences and many have been terrorized into silence by BDOs and other executing officials.The government officials have been behaving worse than any mafia or terror syndicate.When CEFS sent some activists of Orissa to carry out field trial of CDT in some villages of Khariar block(Nuapada district) during July 2007, many villagers refused to tell them as how many days of actual employment was given to them, because the BDO and other officials had threatened villagers to send them to jail if they told any one about their actual days of NREGS employment.

In Tentulikhunti block of Nabarangpur district, the BDO and other officials have threatened NGOs and activists with dire consequences if they point out irregularities in NREGS. Some local activists who accompanied the CEFS research team during survey in Tentulikhunti block in last week of May are being threatened by the government officials and contractors who have misappropriated NREGS funds.One day in the middle of night in July,some drunk goons knocked at the door of one of the activists and warned him of dire consequences.

We wonder whether there is rule of law or proverbial Jungle Raj in the state of Orissa? Are government officials in Orissa public servants and governed by the constitution of India or members of a terror syndicate governed by the rule book of a mafia? Is this the kind of rule of law founding fathers of Indian Constitution had envisioned? Can someone explain to the hungry Adivasis and Dalits of Orissa, who live in constant fear of sarkari mafia, the meaning of 60 years of India’s Independence? Can the Prime Minister of India and Chief Minister of Orissa explain to the starving and mango kernel eating Adivasis of Panasguda, Gottiguda and Bilamal (Kasipur block, Rayagada district) as how many more years they would have to wait for wage employment under NREGA? If these starvation hot-spots have not got any wage employment under NREGA, where has Rs 733 crore been spent in Orissa?

The major part of the NREGS fund has been sucked by bureaucratic blackholes. Only leakages and crumbs have reached the rural poor of Orissa. This scheme has become less of Employment Guarantee Scheme for the hungry and poor villagers and more of a money spinning machine and Income Guarantee Scheme for Orissa’s sarkari babus. Orissa’s officials and agencies executing National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) passed by Indian Parliament are guilty of contempt of Parliament. Every single rule and norm governing this scheme is being observed only in violation in the state of Orissa.The Orissa government will have to take the full responsibility for contempt of Parliament and contempt of Constitution, because NREGA is not another welfare scheme but part of statute book.

Chapter- I

KALAHANDI

Kalahandi is widely known as the hunger capital of India. It is only logical to give top priority to this district in terms of fund allocation, implementation and monitoring of the rural employment guarantee scheme. However, implementation of this high-profile rural job scheme in Kalahandi has created new records of corruption and financial bungling in India.The total number of job cards issued in Kalahandi is 190092. The district was allocated Rs 111 crore to implement NREGA in the district during 2006-7. As per official records, this district spent Rs.72 crore and provided a total of 61.76 lakh persondays of employment to 121517 households in the district. In other words, each of the 121517 families has been given on an average 50 days of wage employment. The total number of households which completed 100 days of employment in the district is 9074 during the year. This is a terrific achievement. However, our survey in 18 villages of the district revealed a different story.The ground reality in the villages of Kalahandi is absolutely dismal.

Palsipada is a small dusty village in Talbelgaon Panchayat of Bhawanipatna block, Kalahandi district. Located at a distance of hardly 5 kilometers from Bhawanipatna, district headquarters of Kalahandi, every household of the village is cursed to live a life of chronic hunger and abject poverty. On human development index, this village would fare worse than many of Sub-Saharan villages.Distended bellies, sunken eyes and hollowed cheeks of children are so frightening.

Palsipada is a predominantly Adivasi village. Most of the households are virtually landless and eke out a living by odd daily wages. This village would definitely fall in the category of poorest villages of the country. This village should have the first charge on the jobs provided under National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS).

Most households of this village have received job cards and jobs too.Under NREGS, three road work projects were implemented around this village during June-July-August 2006 and January 2007. Formation of Road from Palsipada to Thuapadar Road was done during June 2006. Formation of Road from Khaing to Khajurpada was done during July-August 2006 and formation of road from Khaing to Uperbelgaon was undertaken during January 2007. Many of the households in Palsipada have been given more than 100 days of wage employment and paid wages at the rate of Rs. 55 per day. But there is a small problem. Most of these jobs have been given only in the online pages of job cards and forged muser roll registers, not on the ground.

Rupa Majhi (job card no-OR-10-001-031-008/14364) actually worked for 21 days on these road works and was paid only Rs.600.But,on his job card it is written that he had worked for 336 days.When we verified the work and payment details of Rupa Majhi on the NREGS website(http://nrega.nic.in/), we found a third version of work and payment details.According to the entries on the NREGA website, Rupa Majhi was given 102 days of wage employment and paid Rs.6310/.So, out of this Rs.6310, only Rs. 600 actually came in the hands of Rupa Majhi. The remaining Rs. 5710/ which is more than 90 percent of the total wage payment made in the name of Rupa Majhi has been pocketed by officials involved in the implementation of this rural employment scheme.

Sukla Majhi(job card no-OR-10-001-031-008/14278), another poor Adivasi of Palsipada had actually worked for 21 days on road works and received Rs. 600 as wages for the same.But, in his job card it was written that he had been given 126 days of wage employment. When we verified the work and payment details of Rupa Majhi on the NREGA website, we found another version of work and payment details. According to the entries on the NREGA website, Sukla Majhi was given 104 days of employment and paid Rs.5720/ for the same at the rate of Rs. 55 per day.So, in the case of Sukla Majhi, Rs. 5120/ has gone straight into the pockets of the VLW(Village Level Worker) of Talbelgaon Panchayat.

In the name of Janakea Majhi (job card no-OR-10-001-031-008/14379), NREGS website shows 108 days of employment and Rs.5940/ as the amount paid for the same. But actually, Janakea Majhi had worked for only 15 days and was paid Rs. 450/ as wages. So in this case, officials have pocketed more than 92 per cent of the wage money and the target beneficiary has received less than 8 percent.

Chandra Majhi (job card no-OR-10-001-031-008/14360) of Palsipada has not received any employment under rural employment guarantee scheme.But in his job card (hard copy) there is entry of 126 days of wage employment. On the NREGS website, 108 days of employment and Rs. 5940/ as wages have been shown in the name of Chandra Majhi.In this case, 100 per cent of the wages have been pocketed by the government officials executing this scheme.

Employment and payment entries in the job card posted on the NREGA website show that Gautia Majhi (job card no-OR-10-001-031-008/14255) was given 108 days of wage employment and paid an amount of Rs. 5940/ as wages for the same.However, Gautia Majhi had actually worked for 40 days and received only Rs. 600/ as wages.In this case, there is a double robbery. First, for 40 days work the total wages would be Rs.2200/ at the rate of Rs. 55 per day but he had been paid only Rs. 600/. Second, officials have eaten up about 90% of the wages withdrawn in his name.

Job and payment details given in the online job card of Durjyadhan Mund (job card no-OR-10-001-031-008/14291) show that his family has been given 108 days of employment and paid Rs. 5940/ as wages. But, actually his family got 21 days’ employment and only Rs. 650/ as wages for this work.So, Durjyadhan Mund too has been robbed twice by the government officers.

Job and payment details given in the online job card of Jagat Majhi (job card no-OR-10-001-031-008/14288) show that his family has been given 108 days’ employment and paid Rs. 5940/ as wages. But, actually his family got only 15 days’ employment and Rs. 700/ as wages for this work.In this case, Rs.5240/ has been directly pocketed by officials.

These are the job details of only a few households of Palsipada. Many more families of this poor village have been robbed of their right to employment in the similar fashion. We have found 18 more families of this village whose online job cards show job entries of 108, 96 and 72 days, but actually hardly any household has received more than 15-20 days’ job in this village. Our calculations suggest that approximately 90 per cent of the NREGS funds spent in Palsipada have been siphoned off by government officials implementing the rural job scheme. Moreover, more than half of the families of this deprived village have not received any job under rural employment scheme despite facing chronic hunger and abject poverty.

Pokhari Ghat is another village of Kalahandi district where rural employment scheme has been implemented, but more than 95 per cent of the allocated fund has been pocketed by executing officials. Located in Chancher Panchayat, Bhawanipatna Block of Kalahandi, this dirt poor village has about 100 households, 60 Gond Adivasis and 40 Dalits. Abject poverty and chronic hunger are self-evident in this village.On human development index, this village would definitely fall at the bottom.

Only half of the households of Pokhari Ghat village have received job cards.In this village, two works have been done under NREGS during 2006-7; first, New Tank at Pokhari Ghat with estimated cost of Rs 3 lakh and second, Formation of Road from Talpipli to Upperpipli with estimated cost of Rs 4 lakh. In Pokhari Ghat, every single document related to rural job scheme is forged and fabricated.Not a single job card entry about given jobs and paid wage amounts did match with actual work days and wage payments when we physically verified with card holders. Moreover, even the job details written in actual job cards are totally different from the job and payment details written in online job cards. Villagers were stunned when we told them that according to the entries in their job cards they had worked for over 2-3 months.

Chabi Majhi is a Gond Adivasi of Pokhari Ghat village and his family has not received any work under rural employment scheme.But, job and payment details given in the online job card of Chabi Majhi (job card no-OR-10-001-005-011/16703) show that his family has been given 108 days of employment and paid Rs. 5940/ as wages.So, the entire wage amount of Rs 5940/ withdrawn in the name of Chabi Majhi has been eaten up by government officials.

Beda Majhi is another Gond Adivasi of Pokhari Ghat and even his family has not received any work under national rural employment guarantee scheme.But, job and payment details given in the online job card of Beda Majhi (job card no-OR-10-001-005-011/16838) show that his family has been given 102 days of employment and paid Rs. 5610/ as wages.In this case too, 100 per cent of the wage money has been pocketed by executing officials.

Sitapati Pujhari (job card no-OR-10-001-005-011/16843) too has not done any work under NREGS. But, job and payment details given in his online job card show that he has been given 72 days of employment and paid Rs. 3960/ as wages.In this case too, entire wage money has been eaten up by officials.

Job and payment details given in the online job card of Arkhita Pujhari (job card no-OR-10-001-005-011/16910) show that his family has been given 108 days of employment and paid Rs. 5940/ as wages. But, actually his family got just 8 days’ employment and Rs. 500/ as wages for this work. About 92 per cent of the wage amount withdrawn in the name of Arkhita Pujhari has been siphoned off.

Job and payment details given in the online job card of Eilama Naik (job card no-OR-10-001-005-011/16799) show that his family has been given 108 days’ employment and paid Rs. 5940/ as wages. But, actually his family got 20 days’ employment and Rs. 500/ as wages for this work. Thus, Eilama Naik has been fleeced twice. First, for 20 days’ work the total wages would be Rs.1100/ at the rate of Rs. 55 per day but he has been paid only Rs. 600/. Second, officials have eaten up about 90% of the wages withdrawn in his name.

Budu Naik (job card no-OR-10-001-005-011/16869) is another poor Adivasi of Pokhari Ghat village whose right to employment has been hijacked by implementing authorities.His family actually worked for 10 days and received Rs.500/ as wages. But, job and payment entries made in his online job card show that his family has worked for 108 days and received Rs 5940/ as wages for the NREGS work. In this case too, about 90 per cent of the wage amount has been siphoned off.

The family of Idai Pujari (ST) has actually worked for 8 days and received Rs.400/ as wages. But, entries in his online job card (job card no-OR-10-001-005-011/16696) suggest that his family got 36 days’ work and Rs 1980/ as wages.So, 80 per cent of the wage amount in this case has been siphoned off.

These are only a few examples of open loot in Pokhari Ghat village.No family in this village has actually received more than 15-20 days of work or more than Rs 500/-600/ as wages.But, employment and payment entries made in online job cards of another 26 households of Pokhari Ghat show that they have been given employment for more than 2-3 months. 12 more job cards have work entries of 108 days each, 3 cards have work entries of 102 days each and 4 cards have work entries of 96 days each.

Online job cards of Pokhari Ghat village show that Rajib Naik (J.C.N.16639),Kala Bati Bewa (J.C.N.16640), Bhagwan Harijan (J.C.N.16643), Bhagat Pujari (J.C.N.16648), Alakh Naik (J.C.N.16657), Sisu Majhi (J.C.N.16667), Chinu Harijan (J.C.N.16670), Jugaswar Tandi (J.C.N.16695), Dama Pujari (J.C.N.16705), Bhala Naik (J.C.N.16863), Netra Pujari (J.C.N.16902) and Shyam Pujari (J.C.N.16903) have got 108 days of employment each and received wage payment of Rs 5940/ each.

Online job cards of Jagatram Pujari (J.C.N.16846), Ghasiram Beshra (J.C.N.16906), Sambaru Pujhari (J.C.N.16914) and Ghasi Majhi (J.C.N.17002) show that each of them has received 102 days of employment under NREGS and wage payment of Rs 5610/ each.Online job cards of Amar Bewa(J.C.N. 16637), Radhika Dai (J.C.N.16651),Rajib Majhi (J.C.N.16656) and Tamakhia Naik (J.C.N.16665) show that each of these card holders got 96 days of job and Rs 5280/ as wage payment.All these job and wage entries are bogus.

The scale of financial bungling committed in rural job schemes of Pokhari Ghat village is shocking and unparallel.Our calculations suggest that approximately 95 per cent of the NREGA funds spent in this village have been pocketed by government officials implementing the rural job scheme.

The stories of Palsipada and Pokhari Ghat villages in Kalahandi district are not isolated cases of corruption and financial bungling, this is the story of over 90 per cent of Orissa villages where rural job scheme has been implemented. Shall we still call it corruption and financial bungling or open and participatory loot by Sarkari Babus? Is this kind of embezzlement of NREGS funds possible without active connivance of the entire state machinery? Will the political and judicial institutions of the largest democracy of the world ever be able to catch up with these sarkari croocks and bring them to justice? Will the poor and hungry Adivasis and Dalits of Orissa ever be able to recover back this siphoned NREGS wage money from the sarkari mafia? And most importantly, will the tax payers and citizens of this country remain mute spectators to this sarkari loot in the name of poor and hungry people of rural India? Only time will answer these questions.

Sekerguda in Chancher Panchayat of Bhawanipatna Block is another poor village of Kalahandi where rural employment scheme has been hijacked by implementing authorities.This village has 45 households, 35 Adivasis and 10 Dalits. Deprivation, hunger and abject poverty are the common destiny of all the families of Sekerguda. During April 2006, Improvement of RD Road from Sekerguda to Benegaon was undertaken under NREGS. Online job cards of Sekerguda village suggest that many households have been given jobs in Road Improvement for over 2-3 months during 2006.The physical verification with these villagers told us a different story.

The family of Jala Naik has not got any job so far under rural employment guarantee scheme.But, employment and payment details given in the online job card of this household (OR-10-001-005-013/16774) show that 72 days of employment and Rs.3960/ as wages were given to this family. Similarly, the family of Kartik Majhi actually did not get any work under this scheme. However, his online job card (OR-10-001-005-013/16761) shows that he has been given 72 days of work and paid an amount of Rs 3960/ as wages. So, 100 per cent of the wage money withdrawn in the names of Jala Naik and Kartik Majhi has been pocketed by executing officials.

The online job card of Sunamali Naik (OR-10-001-005-013/16874) shows that his family was given 96 days of employment in the Road Improvement and Rs 5280/ as wages for this work. But, actually this household was given only 10 days of employment and Rs 500 as wages. So, more than 90 per cent of the wage money withdrawn in the name of this family has gone straight into the pockets of officials. Sisu Naik (OR-10-001-005-013/37863) actually did not get any work under this scheme, but his online job card shows that he was given 48 days of work and an amount of Rs 2640/ as wages for the same.

Samru Majhi (OR-10-001-005-013/37854) actually got 8 days of work and Rs 400/ as wages.But, entries in his online job card suggest that he was given 48 days of employment and Rs 2640/ as wages. The online job card of Prabesh Naik (OR-10-001-005-013/16847) shows that his family was given 48 days of employment and Rs 2640/ as wages.But, actually his family has not got even a single day’s work under NREGS so far. Similarly, Damu Majhi of Sekerguda village has not got any work under this scheme.But, entries in his online job card (OR-10-001-005-013/37866) suggest that he has been given 48 days of work and Rs 2640/ as wages.Ichhu Majhi (OR-10-001-005-013/16774), another poor Adivasi of Sekerguda village did not get any work under rural job scheme. But, his online job card has work entry of 24 days and wage entry of Rs 1320/.

These are details of only a few households of Sekerguda who have been robbed of their right to employment by implementing authorities.The remaining households too have been fleeced in the same way.Only a few households of this village were given 8-10 days of work and majority of the families did not get any work under this scheme.However, online job cards of this village show that every job card holder of this village was given employment in Road Improvement work.

The online job cards of Sekereguda show that Susan Bewa (J.C.N.16810), Narun Majhi (J.C.N.16817) and Ajit Ku. Pradhan (J.C.N.16837) have been given 96 days of employment each and every one paid Rs 5280/ as wages for the same. The online job cards of Raibaru Majhi (J.C.N.16727), Santosh Naik (J.C.N.16766), Radu Bewa (J.C.N.16781), Dilip Pradhan (J.C.N.16800), Pradip Naik (J.C.N.16822), Chinu Naik (J.C.N.16827), Lalji Majhi (J.C.N.16849), Kalanda Majhi (J.C.N.16855),Naran Naik (J.C.N.16867) and Tetengudha Majhi (J.C.N.16887) show that each has been given 72 days of work and paid an amount of Rs 3960/ as wages.The remaining online job cards of Sekerguda too have job entries like 48 days,24 days or 12 days.

The employment and payment details given in the online job cards of Sekereguda village and physical verification with the villagers suggest a phenomenal financial bungling in this village. Our calculations suggest that more than 95 per cent of NREGS funds spent in this village have been pocketed by government officials.We were told by the villagers that after the work, VLW had taken away and kept all the job cards of the village with him for over 3 months.Most of the job cards of this village are still lying with VLW. Every single job document and entry on them is forged and fabricated. It is impossible for any VLW to do this kind of bungling without connivance with Block and District authorities. It is really a participatory loot.

Chancher village of Chancher Panchayat is another poor village of Kalahandi district where NREGS has become money-spinning machine for sarkari babus. This village has 65 households of poor Adivasis and Dalits.We were told by the villagers that very few households have been given job cards and even fewer families have got some work under rural job scheme.Only a few households of Chancher village have been actually given 2-3 weeks of employment However, verification of online job cards of Chancher village show that most of the households in this village have been given more than 2-3 months of wage employment in 4 Road Formation works implemented under NREGS.

Villagers had confirmed of working only on one road formation work. But, online job cards of Chancher village show that people from this village have worked in four different road formation works,namely-1. Formation of Road from Bhulia to Upper Pipli,2. Formation of Road from Chancher to Gudang,3. Formation of Road from Chancher to Tikrapada and,4.Formation of Road from Talpipli to Upper Pipli. Our calculations suggest that there has been massive financial bungling and open loot of NREGS funds in this village.

The family of Chuta Majhi (ST) has actually got no work under the rural employment scheme. But, the job card he showed us had work entry of 72 days. When we verified the online job card of this family (OR-10-001-005-004/16989), we were shocked to see that this card has fake work entry of 108 days and payment entry of Rs.5940/. The online job card shows that four members of the family-Chuta Majhi, Ghasi, Indra and Rupadei were given employment in Road Formation from Talpipli to Upperpipli and Road Formation from Chancher to Tikrapada during July 2006 and December 2006. 100 per cent of the wage money paid in the name of this family has been pocketed by implementing authorities.

The online job card of Jaga Majhi(OR-10-001-005-004/17085) shows that four members of his family-Adhabari, Biswanath, Jaga Majhi and Saibani have been given 48 days of wage employment during January 2007 in Road Formation from Chancher to Gudang.The hard copy of the job card that Jaga Majhi showed us had no work or payment entry at all.In fact, this family has got no work at all under NREGS. Interestingly, Jaga Majhi is father of the current Sarpanch of Chancher Panchayat and he was waving the job card in his hand and shouting that his family had not received any work under this scheme.The wage amount of Rs 2640/ shown in the online job card of Jaga Majhi has been completely eaten up by the executing officials.

The family of Budera Majhi (ST) is one of the few fortunate families of Chancher village who have got some work under rural job scheme.This family actually got 21 days of work.However, the online job card of this household (OR-10-001-005-004/16873) shows that this family was given 108 days of employment and paid an amount of Rs 5940/ as wages for the same.So, this too is a case of massive fraud by officials.

We were told by the villagers that very few households of the village had got 2-3 weeks of work and the rest did not receive any work at all.But, online job cards of the village show fake job entries of 108 days in another 13 job cards,102 days entry in 3 job cards, 96 days entry in 3 cards,84 days entry in 3 cards, 72 days entry in 9 cards and many more cards of Chancher village have 60 days and 48 days of job entries and corresponding wage payments at the rate of Rs 55 per day.

The online job cards of Laxmana Majhi (16793), Sandra Majhi (16818), Rupa Majhi (16831), Bale Majhi (16862), Lacchu Majhi (16864), Dalimi Majhi (16884), Butula Majhi (16888), Gasha Majhi (16898), Pujhari Majhi (16938), Chakra Majhi (17004), Bhagawan Suna (17036) and Manika Majhi (17085) show that each one of them have been given 108 days of wage employment and paid an amount of Rs 5940/ as wages.

The online job cards of Bananga Majhi (16809),Kani Bewa (16857) and Mangi Majhi (16899) show that each of these households were given 102 days of employment and paid Rs.5610/ as wages. The online job cards of Danake Majhi (16762), Suna Majhi (16934) and Radharani Suna (16942) have bogus work entries of 96 days and payment entries of Rs 5280/ each. There are fabricated work entries of 72 days and payment entries of Rs.3960/ in the online job cards of Gangu Majhi (16820), Dashi Majhi (16839), Rai Majhi(16907),Siya Harijan  (16941), Sandhu Majhi  (16960), Kandara Bhoi  (16964), Surendra Majhi (16971) and Jaya Majhi (16991) of Chancher village.

The employment and payment entries in Chancher’s online job cards and physical verification of the actual jobs given in this village suggest that more than 95 per cent of the NREGS funds spent in this village have been eaten up by officials implementing this scheme. The main supply of the NREGS funds in this village has gone into the pockets of executing officers and only leakages and crumbs have reached hungry and poor Adivasis of Chancher.This is proverbial open loot. The delivery of this high-profile anti-poverty scheme in Chancher Panchayat has touched newer depths of corruption in the history of Independent India.It is impossible for a VLW to commit this kind of financial fraud without active connivance with Block and District level officials.

CEFS research team visited five villages of Duarsuni Panchayat, located in Bhawanipatna Block of Kalahandi district. We visited Kutanpadar, Atang Guda, Banipada, Gosanimunda and Duarsuni on 24^th May 2007.Since all the job cards of these five villages were lying with the VLW, there was no documentary source of information available in these villages about NREGS works, and therefore, in the absence of Job card numbers we could speak to the villagers about NREGS works in the villages only in general terms.

We found very few people in these villages who had actually got some work under rural job scheme. However, when we verified the online job cards of Duarsuni Panchayat, most of the online job cards of the visited villages had more than 2-3 months of fake job entries and corresponding wage payments.Out of a total 853 households of Duarsuni Panchayat who have been given job cards,147 job cards show job entries of 100 and more days.During 2006-7, Duarsuni Gram Panchayat was given Rs 19.91 lakh under NREGS.Our calculations suggest that more than Rs 15 lakh of the allocated funds to this Panchayat have been pocketed by government officials.

Atang Guda is an Adivasi dominant village of Duarsuni Panchayat. This village has 90 households, 70 Adivasis and 20 Dalits.We were told by the villagers that out of the total 90 households, only half had received job cards.People in the village knew and confirmed that some NREGS work had been executed in their village.But, none of the 20 persons we spoke to had got any work under rural employment scheme. Many villagers complained that they were denied work when they had gone to work site asking for the job. Two ladies had got 4 days of work each. But, we were told by the villagers that some households of the village had got 2-3 weeks of job in road work.

The online job cards of Atang Guda village give a totally different picture about the NREGS works around this village.Entries in the online job cards of Atang Guda village suggest that people in this village have been given jobs in 5 different road projects. The road projects executed under NREGS include;

1. Formation of Road from RD Road to Bengaon via Kutanpadar,

2. Formation of Road from RD Road to Durduri,

3. Improvement of Road from PWD Road to Dakibundel via Bundelguda,

4. Formation of Road from PWD Road to Dakibundel via Bandelguda and,

5. Formation of Road from Sirliguda to Musiguda.

The online job cards of Atang Guda show that 13 households of this village had got 100 and more days of work. The online job card of Ganga Naik (OR-10-001-009-001/15238) shows that his family was given 108 days of employment and paid Rs 5940/ as wages.Similarly, online job cards of Rukchand Goud (15238), Narendra Hans (15308), Ghenu Goud (15314), Hemanta Goud (15323), Baikuntha Sabar (15380), Durbal Rout (15405), Mandhara Goud (15468), Rukdhar Goud (15499), Iswar Hans (15526), Nurutan Goud (15846),Balabhadra Naik (15850) and Bada Majhi (15861) show 100 and more days of work entries and corresponding payments to each of these households. All these entries are false and fabricated because no household in this village has got more than 2-3 weeks of work.

The online job cards of Sashidhar Gopal (15255), Kalaka Goud (15260), Nakula Sa (15287), Kamala Kanta Patra (15303), Panka Sabar (15306),Suresh Chandra Patra (15434), Madana Patra (15518) and Ghana Sahu (15546) have more than 90 days of fake work entries and corresponding wage payments.Many more job cards have work entries of over 2 months.

Our calculations suggest that there has been massive financial bungling in the NREGS works in Atang Guda village. Another Adivasi-Dalit village where most of the households live a life of chronic hunger and abject poverty has been robbed of its right to work and executing officials have pocketed the funds that were given by India’s tax payers for these deprived citizens of the country. Is NREGS employment guarantee scheme for the rural poor of India or Income Guarantee Scheme for Sarkari Babus?

Kutan Padar is another deprived Adivasi-Dalit village of Duarsuni Panchayat where most of the NREGS funds have been pocketed by executing officials.Out of 45 households in the village, 42 are Adivasis and 3 Dalits. Most of the households have got job cards but all of them are lying with VLW. Under NREGS, Formation of Road from RD Road to Bengaon via Kutan Padar was executed in 2006 and some villagers had got hardly 2-3 weeks of employment on this project. However, when we verified the online job cards of Kutan Padar village, the job entries in 29 job cards of the village show that these households have been given more than 2-3 months of work and corresponding wage payments.

Employment and payment details given in the online job cards of Rabi Majhi (OR-10-001-009-009/16018), Kalia Majhi (16060) and Shambha Majhi (16080) show that each of these families has been given 108 days of employment and paid an amount of Rs.5940/ as wages. The online job card of Site Bewa (16107) shows 102 days of job entry.All these entries are bogus and wages withdrawn in the names of these poor Adivasis have been eaten up by Sarkari Babus.

The online job cards of Abhiram Behera (15971), Balbhadra Kand (15989), Budru Majhi (16001), Kirtan Majhi (16013), Madana Majhi (16030), Ghasi Majhi (16032), Satra Majhi (16044), Lochana Naik (16047), Koli Majhi (16053), Mami Majhi (16057), Duryodhan Bandhichor (16067), Markand Majhi (16070), Jagabandhu Majhi (16100), Kala Majhi (16103), Mangalu Majhi (16113), Sukru Majhi (16118), Miniketan Gahir (16123), Gurubari Majhi (16131) and Laxman Naik (16133) show 96 days of job entry and wage payment of Rs 5280/ to each of these families. Every single entry is fake.

The online job cards of Loknath Kand (15993), Gobardhan Majhi (15997), Suna Majhi (16074) and Kishan Majhi (16128) show 72 days of job entry and an amount of Rs 3960/ as wage payment to each family.There is 84 days of job entry and wage entry of Rs 4620/ in the job card of Gopinath Gahir (15998).Our calculations suggest that there has been open loot and massive financial bungling in the rural employment scheme of Kutan Padar village.

Duarsuni village of Duarsuni Panchayat has about 70 households, most of them Adivasis and Dalits. All the job cards of this village are lying with the VLW.There was no way for us to collect information about individual households of the village in the absence of job cards. So, we could gather NREGS related information only in general terms. We were told by the villagers that two NREGS projects had been implemented in the village during 2006 and most of the job card holders in the village had got 2-3 weeks work under NREGS. They had also received their wages at the rate of Rs.50 per day.The villagers complained that many of them were denied job and instead 4 tractors were engaged for 4 days in the tank renovation work. The verification of online job cards of Duarsuni village suggest a massive fraud in the NREGS works in this village.

The online job cards of Duarsuni suggest that people from this village have worked on 3 different projects, not only two as told by villagers.The NREGS projects of this village include,

1. Renovation of Duarsuni Sagar Tank,

2. Formation of Road from Duarsuni to Gaintia Pada and,

3. Formation of Road from Gunchipadar to Sambhunagar Pada.The close scrutiny of online job cards suggests very serious irregularities and massive financial fraud in this village.

The online job card of Purna Majhi (OR-10-001-009-005/16497) shows that his family was given 108 days of employment and paid an amount of Rs.10874/ as wages.This job card shows that Kapura, the wife of Purna Majhi, has been paid Rs 2372/ for 12 days of work, daily wage of about Rs 200/ per day. Buti, another member of the household too has been paid Rs 2372/ for 12 days of work on Formation of Road from Duarsuni to Gaintia Pada.This is a kuchha Road work and involves only unskilled earth work.This does not need any skilled labour.So, it is pure fraud because wage rate for unskilled work is only Rs 55/ per day.About 14 online job cards of Duarsuni show similar fake and fabricated payment entries at the rate of Rs 200/ per day.

The job card of Chhabi Bag (16494) has job entry of 108 days and payment entry of Rs.9972/.In this case too, there is payment entry of Rs.2004/ for 12 days of work.There are 14 online job cards of Duarsuni which show work entries of more than 2-3 months and wage payment at the rate of Rs 170-200 per day.The job card of Chandra Bag (16575) has 96 days of work entry and wage entry of Rs.9006.The online job cards of Sundar Sunani (15808), Baru Majhi (16058), Chitra Rana (16273), Purandar Majhi (16290), Mohan Patra (16407), Parkhita Rana (16447), Chitru Majhi (16453), Santosh Majhi (16489), Kailash Majhi (16569), Chandra Bag (16575), Rajindra Rana (16587) and Sajana Naik, all have job entries of more than 2-3 months.All these entries are fake. Our calculations suggest that there is massive financial bungling in Duarsuni village too.

We had also visited Gosanimunda village of Duarsuni Panchayat and we were told by the villagers that none of them had got job card or any work under NREGS.But, this small village with 25 households has many online job cards which have job and payment entries in them.Chaitu Majhi (OR-10-001-009-007/15782) has 60 days of work entry and payment entry of Rs 3300/. Similarly, online job card of Kesar Mahakhud (15731) shows 36 days of job entry, Bisnu Bag (15699) has 24 days of entry, Kuni Majhi (15686) has 18 days of entry and Ketaki Majhi has 12 days of work entry in his job card. These are all false and fabricated entries.

Though we had visited only 5 villages of Duarsuni Panchayat, verification of online job cards of other villages of this Panchayat too show a similar trend of fake entries in the job cards. The online job cards of Jamuna Nagar village show as if many households in the village have been given work for 108 days and 96 days. Similarly, online job cards of Masiguda village, Sankariguda village, Sirliguda village and Sukanabhata village suggest as if large number of households in these villages have been given more than 2-3 months of NREGS work.

There has been an organized and open loot of NREGS funds in Duarsuni Gram Panchayat, because this scale of fraud is not possible without active connivance of Block and District authorities. In fact, the pattern of fake and forged entries in all these villages makes us wonder if these officials have been systematically trained to commit these frauds.There is a definite method in this fraud and the entire state machinery seems to be party to the hijacking of Orissa’s rural job scheme. Will the Nation remain a mute spectator to this open and participatory loot of rural job scheme in Orissa?

Sukaram Munda is a poor Adivasi from Sukunabhata village of Santpur Panchayat, Narala Block in Kalahandi district of Orissa.His family can not afford two square meals a day and lives in abject poverty and chronic hunger.Sukaram Munda has sent his son Nalin to Raipur to eke out a living by coolie work.Bare survival in the village is very difficult.The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) was launched precisely to help this kind of poor families.

The online job cards of this village suggest that three projects under NREGS have been already implemented in this village during 2006-7.The online job card of Sukaram Munda (OR-10-003-020-010/29203) shows that his family has been given 104 days of employment and paid an amount of Rs.5720/ as wage for the work on Renovation of Suknabahat Khajuri Kata. But, actually Sukaram Munda’s family has not received even a single day’s work under rural job scheme. 100 per cent of the wage amount shown in the name of this poor Adivasi has gone into the pockets of government officials.

Madhaba Munda is another poor Adivasi of Sukunabhata village who has been robbed of his right to work by implementing authorities. His online job card (29203) has 78 days of work entry and wage entry of Rs 4290/, but his family has not got any work under NREGS. Richek Parabhoi (29264) too has not received any work under this scheme, but there is 78 days of work entry and payment entry of Rs.4290/ in his online job card.The online job card of Raghunath Parabhoi (29266) shows 52 days of job entry and wage entry of Rs. 2860/, but actually he has not availed any NREGS job so far.Our calculations suggest that there has been open loot of NREGS funds in Sukunabhata village.

The online job card of Fatu Parabhoi (29212) shows that he has got 91 days of employment and was paid Rs 5005/ as wages.But, actually Fatu Parabhoi had worked for only 20 days and received Rs 1000/ as wages. Shyam Parabhoi (29257) had got only 8 days of work, but his online job card shows 78 days of job entry and payment entry of Rs 4290/.Satya Goud (29237) had got only 2 days of employment, but his job card shows 52 days of job entry and Rs 2860/ as wage payment.

Haldhar Majhi (29215) had worked for only 4 days but his job card shows 52 days of job entry and corresponding payment entry. Purnami Bewa (29238) had got only 4 days of work, but her job card has 52 days of job entry. Purun Majhi (29239) had worked for only 6 days but his job card has 52 days of job entry. Rama Majhi had got only 4 days of work, but his job card has entry for 26 days.

Only one household in Sukunabhata village had actually got 20 days of work, the rest had hardly availed 5-8 days of job. But, verification of online job cards of this village suggests that 31 job cards have job entries between 104 days and 52 days. Villagers had told us only about one NREGS project in the village. But, online job cards suggest that 3 different NREGS projects have been executed in the village, 1. Construction of C.C.Road at Gumapadar, 2. Renovation of Suknabahat Khajuri Kata and, 3. Formation with CD from Ghugurbahali to Sukuna Bhata. There has been proverbial open loot in this village. Our calculations suggest that more than 95 per cent of the NREGS funds spent in Sukunabhata village have been pocketed by sarkari babus.

Badachiching is another village of Santpur Panchayat where most of the employment and payments have been given only on papers and very little has reached villagers. Most households of this poor village have got job cards but all the cards are lying with VLW.Villagers had told us about one road formation work where some households of the village had got 8-10 days of wage employment. Some people in the village have not received their wages fot that work till now. But, online job cards of this village suggest that 39 households had got employment between 104 days and 39 days and every one has been already paid. Two different NREGS works have been executed in this village,
1. Improvement of Road from Badachiching to Gumapadar, and 2. Formation of Road from Pajibahali to Nadikhandi.

Bhusanda Durga (OR-10-003-020-001/28913) and Kamal Bag (28940) both have 104 days of job entry and payment entry of Rs 5720/ in their online job cards. The job cards of Chutu Bag (28920), Bhuja Durga (28924), Dusha Durga (28922) and Markanda Gahir (28973) have job entry of 91 days and wage entry of Rs 5005/ each. The online job cards of Sadananda Bag (28920), Padman Suna (28972), Shyamlal Bag (28980), Budu Suna (28990) and Jagman Suna (28991) show job entry of 78 days each and corresponding wage payments.

 As per entries in the job cards of Suka Durga (28912), Panbudu Bag (28933), Durjyan Bag (28934), Goura Bag (28939), Bhagarathi Benua (28942), Khyama Jal (28950), Basu Suna (28956), Dhanabal Bag (28964), Gambhir Bag (28965), Chabira Bag (28967), Sardhakar Bag (28969), Arjun Durga (28981) and Faguna Karuan (28984), each has been given 65 days of employment and paid Rs 3575/ as wages.

The employment and payment entries in the job cards of Pankaj Tal (28931), Bhima Bag (28941), Sundra Bag (28945), Parsu Karuan (28947), Narsingh Bag (28948), Niran Suna (28960), Kadam Karuan (28968), Ramlal Bag (28975) and Archu Karuan (28985) show that each of them had got 52 days of employment and paid Rs 2860/ as wages for the NREGS work.

The job cards of Nrupati Goud (28926), Jaharlal Bag (28928), Markanda Jal (28930), Susila Durga (28932), Chintamani Karuan (28955), Sibram Bhoi (28957), Thakura Jal (28971) and Barik Bhoi (28995) have job entries of 39 days each and payment entries of Rs 2145/.

Every single job and payment entry in the job cards of Badachiching village is fake and fabricated. Our close scrutiny of the online job cards of this village suggests that executing officials have eaten up more than Rs 1,45,000/ from this village alone. Hardly 2-3 per cent of the allocated NREGS funds for Badachiching village have reached the targeted population.

Sapadohani in Baddharpur Panchayat is another poor village of Orissa where rural job scheme has brought windfall in the homes of government officials. Located in Narala Block of Kalahadi district, this village had executed one NREGS work in May-June 2006. With estimated budget of Rs 4 lakh, Formation of CD Road from Shapdahain to Pajidahain (1180 meter) gave 40 days of employment to 38 households of this viilage, as per official claims.

But, villagers told us that about 30 households of the village had got hardly 8-15 days of job in this road formation work. There are 8 families who had got no work at all but their job cards show job entries of 40 days and wage payment of Rs 2200/ each. Our calculations suggest that there has been a lot of financial bungling in this village too and more than 80 per cent of the funds have been pocketed by government officials.

The job card of Trinath Dora (OR-10-003-001-010/1227) has job entry of 40 days and wage entry of Rs 2200/. But actually, family of Trinath Dora has not got any work under rural job scheme. Similarly, Tabira Dora (1187) has done no NREGS work so far, but his job card shows 40 days of job entry and Rs 2200/ as wages. No one in the family of Tankadhar Sahu (1194) has ever got any work under this scheme, but his job card shows 40 days of employment and Rs 2200/ as wage payment. Trilochan Sahu (1186) has got no work under this scheme, but his job card has 14 days of job entry. Kesari Sahu (1188) had got no job under NREGS, but his job card too has 14 days of job entry.

Budu Harijan (1214) had actually got only 12 days of employment in the road formation work, but his job card suggests that he was given 40 days of work and paid Rs 2200/ as wages. Tunu Majhi (1230) had got only 14 days of work but his job card has work entry for 40 days. Padman Majhi (1191) had worked for only 5 days but his job card has 40 days of job entry. Padman Majhi is even aware about over- entry in his job card, but finds helpless and does not know who and where to lodge complain against this. He says that VLW Shukru Latur had taken away all the job cards of the village after NREGS work and kept them at his home for many months.

We had physically verified 45 job cards of Sapadohani and took individual testimonies of majority of card holders. Out of 45 job cards examined, 43 had fake and fabricated job entries. Job entries in only two cards did match with the actual workdays availed by the card holders. These villagers were very agitated after learning about these fake entries in their job cards but expressed utter helplessness as if they have lost all the faith in the institutions of governance.

The loss of faith in the institutions of governance is a much more serious threat for the democratic polity of this country than corruption and financial bungling in the delivery of welfare schemes as such. This sense of cynicism is providing breeding ground for naxalites, no wonder that this menace is spreading fast in the neighbouring districts of Kalahandi.

Albula is another poor village of Orissa where rural job scheme has been implemented less as Employment Guarantee Scheme for the rural poor and more as the Income Guarantee Scheme for Sarkari Babus living in towns and cities. Located in Ghantmal Panchayat of Narala Block in Kalahandi district, this deprived village too is victim of the great job robbery in Orissa. Two NREGS projects have been implemented in this small village; 1. Renovation of Khajuri Sagar at Keshpala and, 2. Formation of Road from PWD Road to Alabula. We were told by the villagers that only half of the households out of total 30 in this village had received job cards but most of the households had got 8-15 days of wage employment.

The verification of online job cards suggests that there has been heavy financial bungling in this village. Out of the total 21 online job cards of Albula, 1 card has 73 days of job entry, 4 cards show 60 days of job entry, 3 cards show 52 days of job entry, 1 card has 47 days of job entry, 1 card has 42 days entry, 1 has 34 days entry, 2 cards have 26 days of job entries and 2 cards show 21 days of job entries. Only few cards have 13 days of job entry. All the job cards showing more than 20 days of job entries are false and fabricated.

The online job card of Jayanta Goud (OR-10-003-007-002/19146) shows job entry of 73 days and wage payment of Rs. 4015/. The job cards of Pankaj Bag (19136), Arun Goud (19146), Gurekha Naik (19149) and Trilochan Goud show 60 days of job entries and wage entries of Rs 3300/ each. The employment entries in the job cards of Dayanidhi Goud (19150), Mahadeb Harijan (19155) and Narafala Tandi suggest that each of them has been given 52 days of job and paid Rs 2860/ as wages. But, villagers told us that no household in Albula had got more than 15 days of employment. Our calculations suggest that more than 80 per cent of the NREGS funds spent in this village have been siphoned off.

Kucheijore village of Baddharpur Panchayat has also implemented one road formation work under NREGS. Located in the Narala Block of Kalahandi district, this village with more than 115 households has got very little wage employment under this much-hyped rural job scheme. Out of 115 households in the village, hardly 40 households did get 10-12 days of employment under this scheme. But, online job cards of 15 households show job entries between 25 and 39 days.

Nala Goud (OR-10-003. 001-005/1312) had actually worked for only 10 days but his job card has 32 days of employment entry. The online job card of Debarchan Goud (1316) shows 39 days of job entry and that of Linga Sabar (1339) has 25 days of work entry. Upini Majhi (1315), Dambaru Sabar (1349), Satrughan Majhi (1352), Maheswar Gahir (1359), Satrughan Goud (1360), Krutibash Majhi (1366) and Arjun Goud have job entries of 26 days each. Dambaru Majhi (1358) and Jaharlal Sabar both have 35 days of work entries in their online job cards. Banabas Sabar (1363) has 34 days of job entry in his online job card. All these job entries and wage entries are false and fabricated. Our calculations suggest that government officials have eaten up a lot of wage money from this village too.

The entire Murka village of Talnagi Panchayat in Orissa is witness to double robbery in the wage employment offered under the rural job scheme. Located in Thuamul Rampur Block of Kalahandi District, Murka’s abject poverty and chronic hunger are apparent to any visitor. There is hardly any household in this predominantly Adivasi village which could afford two square meals a day. Most of these Adivasis are virtually landless and survive on odd daily wages.

Murka got one road construction project under NREGS. The work on Construction of Road from Talnagi to Murka started in May 2006 and continued till February 2007. Most households of this village did get wage employment for one to three weeks in the road construction work. But, they did not get their wages till April 2007. In May 2007, they were paid but only one-third or one fourth of their due wages, that too after some instruction from higher authorities.

Lela Jhodia (OR-10-007-015-008/15606) is a poor Adivasi of Murka and had actually worked for 13 days on the road construction work under NREGS. At the rate of Rs 55/ per day as the daily wage under this scheme, Lela Jhodia should have been paid Rs 715/ as the due wages for 13 days of work. But, he has received only Rs 300 as wages. Moreover, the online job card of Lela Jhodia shows that he has been paid Rs 1400/ as wages and he availed 16 days of wage employment.

Lela Jhodia has been fleeced twice by government officials. First, instead of paying Rs 715/ as due wages for 13 days of job, government officials paid him only Rs 300/. Second, as per the entries in his online job card, the wage amount of Rs 1400/ has been withdrawn in his name and there is 16 days of job entry in his online job card. This is not an isolated case of Lela Jhodia. Every villager of Murka who worked on road construction project under NREGS has been robbed in the same manner.

Saheb Jhodia (ST) actually worked for 15 days on NREGS project, but he has been paid only Rs 300/ as wages. His online job card (15610) has payment entry of Rs 700/. Lelen Bewa has been paid only Rs 300/ for 12 days of job and her online job card (15626) shows payment entry of Rs. 750/. Baga Jhodia (ST) has been paid only Rs 400/ for 16 days of work and his online job card has job entry of 22 days and payment entry of Rs. 1210/. Ghenu Jani (ST) worked for only 1 day and got Rs 50/ for the same. But, his online job card (15576) shows 8 days of job entry and Rs 650/ as wage payment. Budu Jani (ST) worked for 10 days and received only Rs 300/ as wages. But, his online job card (15608) has payment entry of Rs. 700/.

Bhagaban jhodia is another poor Adivasi of Murka who has been cheated by government officials. He has actually worked for 23 days on the road construction project under NREGS, but received only Rs 400/ as wages. His online job card (15609) shows only 8 days of job entry and Rs 700/ as wage payment. Hiramani Jhodia (ST) had worked for 10 days and received Rs 300/ for the same. But, his online job card (15628) has payment entry of Rs. 750/. Pati Jhodia (ST) worked for 13 days and got only Rs 400/ as wages. His online job card (15602) shows that he has been paid Rs 1300/.

Dambarudhara Jhodia (ST) had actually got 9 days of job and was paid only Rs 300/. His online job card (15586) shows that he had got 16 days of job and paid Rs 1400/ for the same. Dubarjoya Gouda (15595) had actually worked only for 6 days and got Rs 300/as wages. But, his online job card shows that he worked for 16 days and was paid an amount of Rs 1400/ as wages. Raghu Gouda (15624) had worked for 12 days and was paid Rs 300/ as wages. His job card has 16 days of job entry and wage entry of Rs. 1500/. Padu Jhodia (ST) had got 15 days of job and wage payment of only Rs 300/, while his online job card (15578) has payment entry of Rs 1300/.

Basudev Bisoi (15618) had actually worked for 22 days and at the rate of Rs 55/ per day, he should have got Rs 1210/ as wages. Instead he has been paid only Rs 400/. Moreover, his online job card shows that he has been paid Rs 1400/. Milaku Sahu (15613) had worked for only 1 day and got Rs 50/ for the same. But, his online job card has job entry of 8 days and payment entry of Rs 700/. Meta Sahu (15612) had actually worked for 20 days and he should have got Rs 1100/ as wages for this work. He has been paid only Rs. 400/. Moreover, his online job card has job entry of 30 days and payment entry of Rs. 2130/. It is literally double robbery.

Kunja Jhodia (ST) had worked for 10 days and got Rs 300/ as wages. His online job card (15600) shows that he has been paid Rs 1400/. Sukru Jani (15583) actually worked for 15 days and got Rs 400/as wages. His online job card has payment entry of Rs1300/. Railu Jani (15584) had actually got 20 days of job, for which he should have got Rs 1100/. But, government officials have paid him only Rs 300/. Moreover, his online job card shows that he has been paid Rs 1400/ for 16 days of work.

Every single entry in the online job cards of Murka village is bogus and the way government officials have cheated these poor villagers, not even most croocked and rapacious contractors would have ever done anywhere. Our calculations suggest that about 80 per cent of the wage money of Murka village has been eaten up by executing officials.

Talnagi is another village of Talnagi Panchayat where government officials have hijacked rural job scheme and poor villagers find utterly helpless and remain mute spectators to this daylight job robbery. During 2006-7, people of this poor village of Kalahandi have been given NREGS jobs in two road projects; 1. Construction of Road from Talnagi to Dyke, and 2. Construction of Road from Talnagi to Murka. But, only 20-30 per cent of the due wage amounts have been paid and that too after one year of the work.

Kajalu Harijan (OR-10-007-015-012/12365) is a poor Dalit of Talnagi village. He had actually got 15 days of job in road construction for which he should have been paid Rs 825/ as wages. But, he has been paid only Rs 300/. That is not the only loot Kajalu Harijan has faced. The employment and payment entries in his online job card show that he had been given 39 days of employment and paid an amount of Rs 2145/ as wages. So, Kajalu Harijan has been fleeced twice by sarkari babus.

Surendra Harijan (12395) actually worked for 31 days on the NREGS project for which he should have got Rs. 1705/ as wages. But, he has been paid only Rs. 600/. His online job card has employment entry of 22 days and wage entry of Rs1420/. Kumar Harijan (12337) had actually worked for 15 days but he has been paid only Rs. 300/ as wages. His online job card has job entry of 40 days and payment entry of Rs 2750/. So, out of Rs 2750/ withdrawn in the name of Kumar Harijan, Rs 2450/ (89 per cent of the wage money) has been pocketed by government officials.

Padan Harijan (12406) had worked for 25 days for which he should have got Rs 1375/ as wages, but he has been paid only Rs 300/. Similarly, Nabin Bag (12366) too worked for 25 days but he has been paid only Rs 300/ as wages. His online job card has payment entry of Rs 825/ for 15 days of job. Kanda Jhodia (15360) had worked for 20 days for which he should have been paid an amount of Rs 1100/ as wages, but he got only Rs 200/. Singa Majhi (15332) had got 22 days of job but he has received only Rs 400/ as wages.

Keshab Harijan (12339) had actually worked for 19 days but received only Rs 400/ as wages. His online job card shows that he had worked for 46 days and was paid Rs 3060/ as wages. Government officials have robbed this poor Dalit twice. First, 19 days’ wage amount would be Rs 1045/ but he has been paid only Rs 400/. Second, payment records made in his online job card show that he has been paid Rs. 3060/ as wages, but actually he has been paid only Rs 400/. This is double robbery. Punia Harijan (12381) had worked for 14 days but got only Rs. 300/ as wages. His online job card has job entry of 22 days and payment entry of Rs. 1520/.

Sindhika Majhi (12359) had actually worked for 10 days but was paid only Rs. 200/ for this work. His online job card shows that he was given 41 days of employment and paid Rs 2255/ as wages. This clealy shows that about 91 per cent of the wage amount withdrawn in the name of Sindhika Majhi has been pocketed by government officials. Sankara Naik (12405) had actually worked for 28 days but received only Rs. 300/ as wages. His online job card has payment entry of Rs. 1420/. Our calculations suggest that there has been massive financial bungling in Talnagi village and about 80 per cent of the NREGS wage money of this village has been eaten up by sarkari babus.

The stories of Palsipada, Pokhari Ghat, Sekerguda, Chancher, Kutanpadar, Atang Guda, Banipada, Gosanimunda, Duarsuni, Sukunabhata, Badachiching, Sapadohani, Albula, Kucheijore, Murka and Talnagi villages of Kalahandi district are only tip of the ice-berg. These stories have revealed only scratch on the surface. The rot is much deeper and begs emergency operation. Otherwise, the cancer of corruption will shortly cripple and kill this high-profile rural job scheme. Adivasis and Dalits may have the first charge on the resources of India in the speeches of politicians, but on the ground, Sarkari Babus have the first and foremost charge on the resources of the country. It is more so in the case of Orissa. The sarkari babus have become main beneficiaries of the national rural job scheme and only left-overs are reaching the targeted population. NREGS in Orissa has become less of an employment guarantee scheme for the poor and more of a corruption guarantee scheme for bureaucracy.

Findings during Field Trial of Corruption Detection Tool (CDT) in Kalahandi

CEFS has also prepared a list of about 5000 villages from 19 NREGA districts of Orissa. Along with this Survey Report, we are releasing names of 2461 villages from 5 NREGA districts of Orissa, namely- Koraput, Kalahandi, Nuapada, Mayurbhanj and Gajapati. The names of villages from remaining 14 NREGA districts will be released within one month. On every alternate day, CEFS will release names of villages from one NREGA district of Orissa till all the 19 NREGA districts are completed. This list of villages has been prepared by using Corruption Detection Tool (CDT) devised by CEFS. We have devised this research tool of CDT based on our first hand experience in 100 villages of Orissa and secondary reports/inputs on the implementation of NREGS in 19 districts of Orissa. We also carried out Field Trial of CDT in many villages of Orissa. However, we do not claim that CDT has detected every village where financial bungling has been committed. Financial bungling has been committed in almost every village of Orissa where NREGA has been implemented. Our only claim is that there has been open loot and massive financial bungling of NREGA funds in more than 95 per cent of the villages selected by CDT. The names of villages selected by CDT can be downloaded from our website: www.cefsindia.org.

We also carried out field trial of the Corruption Detection Tool (CDT) in 2 villages (only selected job cards) of Kesinga block, Kalahandi during July 2007. The field trial results from these 2 villages are on expected lines. We conducted field trial in Kanabira and Pujiguda villages of Gaigaon Gram Panchayat.

We tested 18 job cards of Kanabira village during field trial. Tanu Sabar (13102) had actually got no work under NREGS, but his official job records have fake job entry for 102 days. Similarly, Durjya Sabar (13179) had done no work at all, but his online job card has bogus job entry for 100 days. Indra Sabar (25066) had actually got only 13 days of work but he has fake job entry for 109 days. Lucha Sabar (13156) too had worked for only 13 days but has bogus job entry for 102 days. Bhasa Sabar (13097) had worked for 40 days but has job entry for 102 days. Hari Sabar had got 60 days of work but has fake job entry for 100 days. Ajit Sabar had worked for 26 days but has fake entry for 101 days. Chudamani Sabar had worked for 40 days but has job entry for 103 days.

Gangari Sabar (13159) had worked for only 20 days but has fake job entry for 104 days. Madhu Sabar had worked for 26 days but has job entry for 100 days. Sribascha Sabar too had worked for 26 days but has fake entry for 110 days. Jagmohan Sabar had worked for 26 days but has job entry for 100 days. Gautam Sabar had got 30 days of work but has job entry for 103 days. Padmanabha Sabar had worked for 40 days but has job entry for 109 days. Jalasai Harijan (25001) and Lachinder Sabar (25049) both had worked for 20 days each, but they have fake job entries for 107 days and 101 days respectively. Jari Sunani had worked for 40 days but has bogus job entry for 100 days. It is clear that executing officials have siphoned and eaten up significant amount of wage money from this village.

We tested 10 job cards of Pujiguda village and found massive financial bungling. Daitari Sabar (12872) from this village had got no work under NREGS. However, the official job records have fake job entry for 109 days in his name. Sana Goud (24798) too had got no work but has fabricated job entry for 106 days. Bada Goud (12929) had got only 13 days of work but has fake job entry for 101 days. Hiranya Sabar had worked for 60 days but has job entry for 101 days. Rupadhar Sabar had actually got only 20 days of work but has job entry for 104 days. Sasya Sabar had worked for 39 days but has job entry for 102 days. Gopal Sabar had worked for 80 days but has job entry for 106 days. Jukhyesthi Sabar had got 60 days of work but has job entry for 111 days. Danbuda Jani had worked for only 30 days but has fake entry for 111 days. Jambu sabar had worked for 26 days only but has fake job entry for 107 days. This kind of open loot of NREGS funds is not possible without active connivance of block and district officials.

Chapter-II

KORAPUT

Koraput district of Orissa was allocated Rs 57 crore to implement NREGS in the district during 2006-7. As per official records, Koraput was able to spend Rs. 53 crore and provided a total of 55. 65 lakh persondays of employment to 81513 households in the district. In other words, each of 81513 families have been given an average of 67 days of wage employment The cumulative number of households which completed 100 days of employment in the district is 13893 during the year. An awesome performance on all parameters. But, all these achievements have been made only in the official records and not in the villages of Koraput district.

Out of 21 villages surveyed in Koraput district, we could not find a single family which had actually got 100 days of employment. Most of the households who got wage employment under this scheme have actually received it between 5-20 days. However, as per official records, thousands of households in hundreds of villages in Koraput district have availed 100 and more days of wage employment during 2006-7. How has Koraput achieved this feat?

Chuchukana is a very poor Adivasi village in Pipalpadar Panchayat of Laxmipur block, Koraput district. The poverty level of this village could be guaged from the fact that most families of this village still survive by eating mango kernel for the better part of the rainy season. We found bags of dry mango- kernel stored by many households of this village. As per the official records, villagers of chuchukana were given wage employment in 4 NREGA projects; 1. Construction of all weather road at Chuchukana, 2. Completion of incomplete F/C at Piskadang, 3. Construction of D/W & F/C at Ramijhola, and 4. Construction of road from Ramijhola to Musipali. The online job cards of Chuchukana show that many households of this village have been given 100 and more days of wage employment. The physical verification with villagers told us a different story.

Mangulu Praska is a poor Adivasi of Chuchukana. His online job card (OR-11-004-011-003/3615) has job entry for 108 days and wage entry of Rs 5940/. However, the family of Mangulu Praska has actually worked for only 17 days and received Rs 850/ as wages. So, Rs 5090/ of tax payers’ money spent in the name of poor Mangulu Praska has been siphoned off and eaten up by government officials. This is not an isolated case in Chuchukana village. Most families of this village have been cheated in the same manner.

34 online job cards of this village have more than 100 days of job entries, 13 online job cards have 96 days of job entries, 9 cards have 84 days of job entries, 5 cards have 72 days of entries and 7 cards have 60 days of job entries. All these entries are false and fabricated, because we had found only one family which had got 74 days of employment and another which had got 40 days of work. The rest of the households had got wage employment between 20 and 30 days.

The family of Pandu Praska had actually got 25 days of wage employment and Rs 1250/ as wages. But, his online job card (3637) has job entry for 108 days and wage entry of Rs 5940/. So, Rs 4690/ has been siphoned off in the name of this family. Kandu Praska had got 25 days of job and Rs 1350/ as wages. However, the job card he showed us had job entry for 120 days and his online job card (3616) has job entry for 108 days and payment entry of Rs 5940/. In this case, at least Rs 4590/ has been siphoned off by sarkari babus.

Nisthu Praska (3636) had got 28 days of work and Rs 1400 as wages, but his online job card has work entry for 108 days and wage entry of Rs 5940/. The sarkari babus have eaten up Rs 4540/ from the wage money withdrawn in the name of Nisthu Praska. Kiya Kaleka’s family has got 74 days of work but his online job card has job entry for 108 days and corresponding wage payment. Dumuri Praska (3630) had worked for 28 days and received Rs 1450/ as wages. However, his online job card shows work entry for 108 days and wage entry of Rs 5940. Rs 4490/ has been siphoned off in this case. Mali Praska (3527) had actually got 30 days of wage employment and Rs 1500 as wages. But, his online job card shows 108 days of employment and Rs 5940/ as wages. In this case, Rs 4440/ has been pocketed by government officials executing this scheme.

The family of Reli Praska (3595) had actually worked for 27 days and received Rs 1350/ as wages, but the job card he showed us had work entry for 132 days. Jaga Praska (3610) had worked for only 30 days and received Rs 1500/ as wages. But, the job card he showed us had job entry for 132 days. His online job card has job entry for 108 days and wage entry of 5940. So, Rs 4440/ has been siphoned off in the name of this poor Adivasi. These are names of only a few households of Chuchukaka which have been used by government officials to siphon off NREGS funds.

Somburu Praska (3442), Kito Praska (3486), Hira Kulasika (3495), Poro Praska (3501), Bingu Hikoka (3515), Kesa Mondinga (3523), Jogi Kulasika (3525), Shiri Praska (3535), Jolo Mani Mandinga (3561), Gopi Praska (3582), Radhab Praska (3586), Salila Praska (3587), Jhadia Praska (3617), Dangari Praska (3630), Laba Kulasika (3634), Sana Nachika (3635), Sama Kulasika (3639), Bari Maninga (3640), Amburu Mandinga (3653), Shivarao praska (3654), Giriya Praska (3655), Dani Praska (3656), Shipu Praska (3661) and Jitiya Praska- all have fake job entries for 108 days and wage entries of Rs 5940/ in their online job cards.

There are 13 online job cards of Chuchukana which have false job entries for 96 days. The online job cards of Soma Mandinga (3471), Sodaram Sarka (3490), Jalla Praska (3496), Rasu Praska (3497), Satara Praska (3521), Bechana Praska (3526), Bhagi Praska (3614), Nitia Praska (3631), Bhima Kulasika (3633), Hari Praska (3638), Ghenu Praska (3641), Pardeshi Praska (3657) and Andru Mandinga (3662) show job entries for 96 days and wage entries of Rs 5280/ each. So, it is clear that more than 70-80 per cent of the wage amounts withdrawn in the name of these poor Adivasis have been siphoned off and eaten up by sarkari babus.

Musipalli is another village of Pipalpadar Panchayat where NREGS has brought windfall for government officials. Adivasis of this village too are so poor that they survive only by eating mango- kernel during rainy season. Under NREGS, one road construction work from Musipalli to Ramijhola was implemented during last year. Most families of this small village had got 1-3 weeks of wage employment in this project. However, verification of the online job cards of this village shows job entries for 108 days in 20 job cards, 1 card has 111 days of job entry, 1 card has 105 days of job entry, 1 card has 99 days of work entry, 3 job cards have 96 days of job entries and 3 cards have 72 days of job entries. All these entries are false and fabricated. There has been massive financial bungling in the implementation of NREGS in Musipalli.

Pilku Kulasika is a very poor Adivasi of Musipalli. He had got only 2 days of wage employment and Rs 100 as wages. However, his online job card (OR-11-004-011-009/3327) has job entry for 108 days and wage entry of Rs 5940/. So, over 98 per cent of the wages shown in his name have gone into the pockets of government officials. Malia Kulasika (3313) had actually worked for only 6 days and received Rs 300/ as wages. But, his online job card has job entry for 108 days and payment entry of Rs 5940/. In this case, about 95 per cent of the wage money has been siphoned off and pocketed by sarkari babus. Similarly, Balaji Kulasika (3339) had got only 5 days of work and Rs 250/ as wages for the same. The job card he showed us had job entry for 96 days. But, his online job card has 108 days of employment entry and wage entry of Rs 5940/. About 96% of the NREGS money spent in the name of this poor Adivasi has been actually pocketed by government officials. Most families of this village have been robbed of their 100 days of guaranteed employment in the same fashion.

Das Kulasika (3321) had actually got 17 days of work and received Rs 650/ as wages for the NREGS work in road construction. However, his online job card has work entry for 105 days and wage entry of Rs 5775/. Therefore, about 90% of the wage money shown in the name of Das Kulasika has been siphoned off. Jhudungu Kulasika (3314) had worked for 20 days and was paid Rs 1000/ as wages. The job card that was shown to us had work entry for 96 days. However, his online job card shows job entry for 108 days and wage entry of Rs 5940/. So, there are two versions of official records. None of them is true. More than 80% of the wages shown in the name of Jhudungu Kulasika have been eaten up by NREGS bureaucracy. Similarly, Shili Kulasika (3345), who is now dead, had worked for 21 days and was paid Rs 1000/ as wages. Hard copy of his job card had job entry for 72 days. But, his online job card has job entry for 108 days and wage entry of Rs 5940/. In this case too, 80% of the wage money has been siphoned off.

Dalji Kulasika (3333) had worked for 20 days and received Rs 1000/ as wages. The job card that he showed us had job entry for 96 days. However, his online job card has work entry for 108 days and payment entry of Rs 5940/. So, over 80% of NREGS fund spent in the name of Dalji Kulasika has been pocketed by sarkari babus. Dora Kulasika (3332) had worked for 27 days and received Rs 1350/ as wages. Hard copy of his job card has job entry for 98 days. But, his online job card shows job entry for 108 days and wage entry of Rs 5940/. Therefore, about 75% of the wage money spent in the name of Dora Kulasika has been siphoned off.

There are many more online job cards of Musipalli which have fake job entries for more than 100 days. The online job card of Abhi Kulasika (3322) has job entry for 111 days and wage entry of Rs 6105/. The online job cards of Jarabi Kulasika (3315), Palsu Kulasika (3318), Kasai Kulasika (3319), Phala Kulasika (3325), Lada Kulasika (3329), Sima Kulasika (3331), Luku Kulasika (3335), Kadu Kulasika (3336), Dasari Mandinga (3340), Palu Kulasika (3342), Dhabulu Kulasika (3343), Eshwar Kolaka (3590) and Rali Praska (3592) have fake job entries for 108 days and wage entries of Rs 5940/ each. There are many more online job cards of this village which have fake job entries for 99 days, 96 days and 72 days.

It is very clear that there has been open loot and massive financial bungling in this village. Our calculations suggest that approximately 80- 90% of the NREGS funds spent on the wage employment of Musipalli and Chuchukana villages of Pipalpadar Panchayat have been siphoned off and pocketed by government officials executing the rural job scheme. This is the way Koraput district has spent Rs 53 crore on NREGS, given an average of 67 days of wage employment to 81513 households and provided 100 and more days of employment to 13896 families. Even God can not make NREGS work with this kind of callous and croocked bureaucracy. The least Orissa Government can do is to order immediate dismissal of all the officials involved in this kind of financial bungling and their number is in thousands.

Mangarel is another poor village of Orissa where NREGS has been implemented less as employment guarantee scheme for the poor and more as income guarantee scheme for sarkari babus. Located in Raising Panchayat of Nandapur block, Koraput district, this is a predominantly Adivasi village. As per the official records, people from this village have been given wage employment in two works; 1. Construction of road with Ghatcutting at Debasandhaguda, and, 2. Ghatcutting at Debasandhaguda.

Bhagu Khemendu, a poor dalit from Mangarel village, had actually got only 6 days of wage employment and Rs 300/ as wages under NREGS during 2006-7. But, his job card has job entry for 58 days. His online job card (OR-11-005-021-009/2360) shows job entry for 51 days and wage entry of Rs 2805. So, about 90% of the wages shown in the name of Bhagu Khemendu have been siphoned off and pocketed by government officials. Minibudi Khilo (2335) had got only 8 days of employment and Rs 400/as wages. His online job card has job entry for 35 days and wage entry of Rs 1925/. About 80% of the wages shown in the name of Minibudi Khilo have been eaten up by sarkari babus.

Balaram Sisa (2397) had worked for only 5 days and got Rs 250/ as wages for this NREGS job. But, his online job card has job entry for 33 days and wage entry of Rs 1815/. So, about 88 % of the NREGS fund spent in the name of Balaram Sisa has been siphoned off. Hari Sisa (2401) had got 20 days of NREGS work and Rs 1000/ as wages. But, his online job card has job entry of 50 days and wage entry of Rs 2750/. In this case, Rs 1750/ has been siphoned in the name of Hari Sisa. These are only a few examples of misappropriation of NREGS funds in Mangarel. Most of the families of Mangarel have been cheated in the same manner. Villagers had told us that they had got NREGS work for 5-20 days. But, there are fake job entries between 39-95 days in 37 online job cards of Mangarel. There has been massive financial bungling in this village.

The online job card of Jayaram Majhi (2378) has job entry for 95 days and wage entry of Rs 5225/. Sanu Sisa (2396) has 74 days’ job entry, Samara Sisa (2336) has 73 days’ job entry, Dhanapati Sisa (2322) has 76 days’ job entry and Ghasi Pujari (2296) has 85 days of job entry in his online job card. Dasa Sisa (2295) has 58 days of job entry, Shida Pujari (2298) has 42 days of job entry, Lalita Sisa (2303) has 48 days, Dambu Sisa (2305) has 61 days of job entry, Sanu Pujari (2309) has 39 days, Ghasi Pujari (2311) has 56, Kumulu Sisa (2318) has 48 days, Manguli Sisa (2323) has 40, Adu Sisa (2325) has 47, Sanu Sisa (2326) has 38, Dhana Muduli (2327) has 41, Guru Sisa (2329) has 60 days, Raghu Sisa (2330) has 43, Guru Sisa (2334) 45 days and Gopi Sisa (2339) has 46 days of fake job entry in his online job card.

The online job card of Dhana Sisa (2344) shows 69 days of job entry, Mana Sisa (2345) has 51 days of job entry, Antu Sisa (2347) has 49 days, Purna Pangi (2353) has 45, Budu Khara (2354) has 45, Jaya Khemendu (2362) has 56, Samara Khemendu (2363) has 44 days, Chandra Pangi (2373) has 68, Gobardhan Majhi (2376) has 52 days, Kamulu Majhi (2380) has 40 days, Bhaktaram Majhi (2390) has 47, Narsingh Sisa (2399) has 45 and Ghenu Sisa (2400) has 49 days of forged job entry. Samara Majhi (2383), Rama Khara (2369) and Dhana Khara (2368)- each has job entry for 39 days. Our calculations suggest that major share of NREGS funds spent in Mangarel have been pocketed by government officials and only a small proportion has reached the targeted population of this poor village.

There has been misappropriation of NREGS money in Chiliput village of Raising Panchayat too. Most households of this poor village had got wage employment in the construction of all weather concrete cement road at Chiliput during 2006. We checked 31 job cards in this village. When we verified the job entries in the cards with villagers, we found that most of the job cards had recorded almost double number of workdays compared to the actual job days availed by villagers. Most households had worked for 5-7 days, but their job cards have job entries for 14-15 days.

Chitan Badanaik (OR-11-005-021-001/1767) had actually got 6 days of NREGS work in the road construction at Chiliput. But, his job card has job entry for 12 days. Kamalulochan Patia (1742) had worked for 6 days but his card has job entry for 10 days. Basadev Golari (1725) had worked for 7 days but his card shows 10 days’ job entry. Rambabu Khilo (1759) had availed only 6 days of wage employment but his job card has job entry for 12 days. Erana Khilo (1758) has job entry for 25 days, but he had actually got only 10 days of work in the road construction. So, there has been some misappropriation of NREGS money in this small village too.

Kakada village of Raising Panchayat has been victim of daylight robbery by sarkari babus. Two NREGS works were executed in this village during 2006-7; 1. Construction of protection wall at Kakada, and 2. Ghatcutting at Kakada RD road to Khudasing. When we visited this village, there was not a single job card available in the village. All the job cards were lying with VLW. In the absence of job cards, it was not possible to record individual testimonies of the households. We were told by the villagers that most of them had worked in the NREGS projects, but they had received only half of their due wages. The online job cards of this village show that everyone had been already paid his full wages at the rate of Rs 55/ per day. So, half of the NREGS wages given in the name of these poor villagers have been openly pocketed by the government officials.

 Raising village of Raising Panchayat has also seen similar loot by the government officials. People from this village had worked in two NREGS projects; 1. Construction of protection wall at Kakada, and 2. Ghatcutting from Raising to Rudhicuan. The job cards of this village too were lying with VLW. Villagers told us that most of them had worked in NREGS projects, but they were paid only half of their due wages. Their online job cards show that all of them had received their full wages at the rate of Rs 55/ per day. So, atleast half of the NREGS funds spent in Raising village have been eaten up by sarkari babus.

It is interesting to note here that when we approached the VLW of Raising Panchayat and requested him to show us the job cards and muster rolls of the above villages, he refused to show us any document and gave us in writing that he could not show these documents to anyone without permission of the BDO. When we approached the BDO of Nandpur block, he bluntly refused to show us any document unless we got permission for the same from the District Collector. We also approached the offices of District Collector (Koraput), Commissioner cum Secretary, Department of Panchayati Raj, Orissa, Chief Secretary and Chief Minister of Orissa. Despite all these efforts, we were not able to see the muster rolls and job cards of Raising Panchayat where NREGS funds have been openly siphoned off and misappropriated by the government officials. Instead, we were told by the officials to immediately get out of Nandpur block and not to visit any village in the block. The whole administrative machinery was pressed into service to hide the open and participatory loot of NREGS funds in Nandpur block. We came across a literal Jungle Raj in Orissa.

Khilua is another village of Orissa where government officials’ greed has been given primacy over poor villagers’ need for work. Located in the Hikimput Panchayat of Nandapur Block, Koraput district, this village is very poor and many young boys of the village have gone out in search of labour work in Andhra Pradesh and Chattisgarh. Kamal Lochan Sisa, village labour leader (VLL) told us that the VLW (Nageshwara Khara) had demanded Rs 15,000/ from him saying that the Junior Engineer would not allot NREGS work to this village unless he was given this money. The VLL finally paid Rs 15,000/ from his pocket, thinking that he would be able to recover back this money from the cuts and commissions he would get from this work, as he used to do in the food for work programmes in the past. But, all the cuts and commissions of NREGS work have been apparently pocketed by the VLW and other officials and the VLL has lost Rs. 15,000/.

We checked 31 job cards of the village but all of them were blank and there was no job entry in them. However, villagers told us very clearly that most of them had got 10-12 days of employment and wages for only 8-9 days. When we checked online job cards of Khilua, we found 30 job cards with job entries between 26-81 days. Moreover, there are many job cards where wage entries show payment at the rate of Rs 100-220 per day. These are apparently forged entries made in order to siphone off NREGS funds. While villagers had told us that they had worked in only one road work- construction of metalling road from PWD road to Khilua, the online job cards of Khilua show two NREGS works, 1. Construction of metalling road from PWD road to Khilua, and 2. Construction of road from PWD road to Bilaput.

The online job card of Dasamanth Sisa (OR-11-005-009-007/13574) has job entry for 81 days and wage entry of Rs 4455/. Laichan Khila (13615) has job entry for 54 days and wage entry of Rs 2970/. The online job card of Guru Dumari (13589) shows that he was given 53 days of employment. His wage entries show that he was paid at the rate of Rs 55 for 40 days’ work at Khilua road and at the rate of Rs 100 for 13 days’ work at Bilaput road. The online job card of Hariram Dumari (13594) shows that he had got wage employment for 41 days. His wage entries show that he was paid at the rate of Rs 55 for 28 day’ work at Khilua road and at the rate of Rs 215/ per day for 13 days’ work at Bilaput road. In case Hariram Dumari was a skilled worker, he would not have worked in the unskilled job at the wage rate of Rs 55 per day. If he was unskilled worker, then he can not be paid at the rate more than Rs 55/ per day. So, the wage entries are obviously forged.

As per online job cards of Khilua, Krushna Sisa (13575) had worked for 46 days, Trilochana Sisa (13570) had worked for 40 days, Dhanapati Malik (13642) has 40 days of job entry, Bhakta Malik (14274) has job entry for 40 days and Hari Petia (14305) too has job entry for 40 days. The online job cards of Parshuram Pangi (14557), Sadan Pangi (14654), Daya Pangi (14660), Prahlad Kurtali (14781), Surendra Kurtali (14787), Ratnakar Kurtali (14794), Pitambar Kurtali (14800), Arjun Kurtali (14807), Mati Kurtali (14812), Narsingha Kurtali (14818), Sukra Kurtali (14831) and Udhaba Khemundu (14981) show that each of them has got wage employment for 40 days and Rs 2200/ as wages. Six job cards have job entries for 26 days each. All these entries are forged, because we were told by the villagers that they had got only 10-12 days of NREGS work. Our calculations suggest that there has been heavy financial bungling in the NREGS works in Khilua.

Bisiput is another village of Orissa where about 80-90% amount of the NREGS wages has been siphoned off and pocketed by the government officials. Located in the Hikimput Panchayat of Nandapur block, Koraput district, Bisiput had got two NREGS works during 2006-7; 1. Ghatcutting at Badaliguda to Bhaluguda via Bisipur, and 2. Construction of road from PWD road to Bisipur. Out of total 80 households in this village, 63 are Adivasi. Only half of the households in Bisiput have got job cards. Some families of the village had got wage employment under NREGS, but hardly for 1-2 weeks. However, 19 online job cards of this poor village show forged job entries between 38-114 days.

Kartika Khila (OR-11-005-009-003-/13159) is a poor Adivasi of Bisiput and he had actually got only 7 days of wage employment under NREGS and Rs 350/ as wages. But, his online job card shows forged job entry for 90 days and wage entry for Rs 5968/. So, about 95% of the wage amount shown in the name of Kartika Khila has been siphoned off and eaten up by sarkari babus. The family of Kama Khila (13157) had actually availed only 12 days of NREGS work and received Rs 600/ as wages. But, his online job card has fake job entry for 90 days and wage entry of Rs 5764/. In this case, about 90% of the wage money has been siphoned off and misappropriated by executing officials.

Mana Khila (13165), a poor Adivasi of Bisiput, is a victim of double robbery by the government officials. First, he had actually worked for 14 days but was paid only Rs 200/ as wages, whereas he should have got Rs 770/. So, he was robbed of Rs 570/ in this manner. Second, his online job card has fabricated job entry for 90 days and wage entry of Rs 5555/. Therefore, out of this wage amount of Rs 5555/ shown in his name, he has been given only Rs 200/ and remaining Rs 5355/ has been pocketed by government officials. More than 96% of the NREGS fund spent in the name of Mana Khila has been siphoned off and eaten up by sarkari babus.

Puruba Khila (13153) had got just 7 days of wage employment and Rs 350/ as wages. His online job card has false job entry for 76 days and wage entry of Rs 4586/. About 93% of NREGS wages spent in the name of Puruba Khila has actually gone in the pockets of sarkari babus. Gangadhar Gamel (13563) too has been fleeced twice by implementing authorities. He had actually worked for 9 days but received only Rs 250/ as wages, while his due wage amount would be Rs 495/. Moreover, his online job card has fake job entry for 14 days and wage entry of Rs 770/. These are only a few examples of open loot of NREGS funds in Bisiput village. Most households who had worked under NREGS have been robbed in the same manner. While no one in the village had got more than two weeks of wage employment, 16 online job cards of Bisiput have forged job entries for 52-114 days and corresponding wage entries.

The online job card of Madan Khila (13161) has forged job entry for 114 days and wage entry of Rs 7695/. Hari Khila (13152) has fake job entry for 102 days and wage entry of Rs 6117/. Das Khila (13155) has false job entry for 90 days and wage entry of Rs 4896/. Gangadhar Khila (13156) has job entry for 90 days and wage entry of Rs 5662/. Lalita Khila (13154) has job entry of 52 days and wage entry of Rs 3063/. Sitaram Khila (13158) has job entry for 76 days and wage entry of Rs 4586/, Ghanu Khila (13160) too has job entry for 76 days and wage entry of Rs 4994/ and Dhania Khila (13162) has work entry for 64 days and wage entry of Rs 4436/.

Sukru Khila (13163) has fake job entry for 78 days and payment entry of Rs 6172/, Urdav Khila (13496) has got 76 days of job entry and wage entry of Rs 4852/, Chandru Khila (13497) has job entry for 52 days and wage entry of Rs 3776/ and Loknath Khila (13499) has job entry for 76 days and Rs 4140/ as wages. The online job cards of Vaktaram Khila (13507), Bingu Khila (13502) and Narayan Khila (13521) have fake job entries for 38 days each and wage entries of Rs 2090/ each. Many more online job cards of Bisiput have forged job entries. It is clear that about 90% of the NREGS funds spent on the wage employment of Bisiput have been siphoned off and misappropriated by government officials implementing the rural job scheme.

Hanjarpentha village of Bheja Panchayat in Nandapur Block has also seen double loot of NREGS funds by implementing authorities. This predominantly Adivasi village of Koraput district had implemented one project under rural job scheme. The construction of road from PWD road to Hanjarpentha was undertaken under NREGS during September 2006. We were told by the villagers that they had got hardly 5-7 days of wage employment in the road contruction and received only half amount of their due wages. Since all the job cards of this village were lying with the VLW for previous 6 months, it was not possible for us to record individual testimonies of the workers. But, we were told by the villagers that no one in the village had got more than 1 week of employment. However, online job cards of this village show job entries for 22 days in 31 job cards, 7 job cards have job entries for 23 days and 1 card has job entry for 33 days. All these entries have been forged and fabricated in order to siphone off NREGS funds.

Goura Kankaria (OR-11-005-004-006-/8464) has fake job entry for 33 days and wage entry of Rs 1815/. The online job cards of Raghu Badanaik (8498), Dhana Sisa (8501), Samnath Golori (8504), Budu Badanaik (8509), Rama Badanaik (8511), Ghasi Hantal (8517) and Dhanapati Sisa (8519) show fake job entries of 23 days and wage entries of Rs 1265/ each. The online job cards of Bandhu Khilo, Samara Pujari, Nanda Khilo, Madhu Pangi, Dhana Hantal, Budu Pangi, Tumnath Khara, Labakusa Khara, Lakinath Hantal, Jagabandhu Kankalia, Raghunath Khilo, Ghanu Khara, Dambaru Hantal, Samanth Hantal, Jaya Hantal, Basudeb Guntha, Daitari Hantal, Mana Hantal, Budu Pangi, Aitu Sisa, Ghasi Sisa, Budu Sisa, Panigrahi Badanaik, Ramachandra Badanaik, Laikhan Duma, Arjun Khilo, Sukura Pangi, Dambu Badanaik, Adu Akhilo, Sukura Hantal and Damuru Hantal have fake job entries for 22 days and wage entries of Rs 1210 each.

All these poor Adivasis have been fleeced twice by the government officials. First, they were paid only half of their due wages. Second, by making false job entries and wage entries in their online job cards, officials have withdrawn wage amounts 5-10 times more than the actual wages paid to these helpless villagers. A lot of NREGS money has been siphoned off in this village too.

Bheja village of Bheja Panchayat, Nandapur Block, has seen an unusual fraud in the implementation of the rural job scheme. Most households in this poor village of Koraput district have received job cards but none of them has got any wage employment under the NREGS. However, we were shocked to find that many online job cards of this village have forged job entries and wage entries. 16 online job cards of Bheja have fake job entries for 11-50 days. It is a cruel irony that while many poor people from this village have migrated to various cities and towns out of Orissa in search of labour work, the government officials have given wage employment to these deprived villagers only on the official records in order to siphone off NREGS funds.

The online job card of Rama Lulur (OR-11-005-004-003-/8731) has job entry for 50 days and wage entry of Rs 3025/. Madhab Khemendu (8713) has job entry for 37 days and wage entry of Rs 2035/. Dhanurjaya Matam (8717) has 34 days of work entry and wage entry of Rs 1870/. Dahana Khara (8718) has 32 days of job entry, Kamallochan Matam has 29 days of job entry, Sitaram Khilo (2721) has job entry for 35 days, Gobardhan Khara (8729) has 30 days of job entry and Sukudeb Matam (8730) has 33 days of work entry in his online job card.

Dambaru Matam (8744) has fake job entry for 35 days, Ramachandra Khilo (8750) has 34 days of false entry, Balaram Matam (8759) has job entry for 36 days, Nandan Matam (8760) has 30 days of entry in his card, Gangadhar Muduli (8712) has 11 days of job entry, Ramachandra Khara (8762) has job entry for 33 days and Ghasi Lulur (8781) has false job entry for 30 days and wage entry of Rs 1650 / in his online job card. So, by recording forged job and wage entries in the name of the poor villagers of Bheja, the government officials have siphoned off and pocketed more than Rs 25, 000/ of the NREGS funds.

Findings during Field Trial of Corruption Detection Tool (CDT) in Koraput

Besides 19 villages of Nandpur Block (Koraput) where we had carried out Survey in the last week of May 2007, we carried out field trial of the Corruption Detection Tool (CDT) in 6 villages (only selected job cards) of the same block during July 2007. The field trial results from these 6 villages are on expected lines.

We tested 3 job cards of Parajabadapada village under Parajabadapada Gram Panchayat. Sadu Matam (2779) had actually got only 16 days of work, but he has job entry for 104 days. Balu Badnaik (2785) had worked for 18 days, but his online job card shows job entry for 111 days. Bhagat Ram (2796) had got 21 days of work, but there is job entry for 100 days in his official records.

We have tested 28 job cards of Dangabir village under Parajabadapada Panchayat. Ramaswami Gunjia (2620) had actually worked for 45 days, but he has job entry for 109 days. Ramdas Gunjia (2621) had worked for 45 days but he has job entry for 100 days. Damodar Pangi had worked for only 30 days but he has job entry for 109 days. Ramakrushna Gunjia and Sundarai Gungia both had worked for 45 days each, but they have job entries for 100 days each. Bandhu Gunjia had got only 10 days of work but he has job entry for 100 days. Jagatrai Gunjia had worked for 30 days but he has job entry for 112 days. Raju Hantal had worked for 36 days but he has job entry for 106 days. Samu Khilo had worked for 47 days but he has job entry for 109 days. Rajana Khilo worked for 32 days but he has job entry for 117 days.

Pusia Pangi had worked for only 19 days but he has job entry for 102 days. Arjuna Khemundu had worked for 58 days but he has job entry for 108 days. Jagarao Gunjia had worked for 45 days but he has job entry for 100 days. Ghasi Gunjia had worked for 40 days but he has job entry for 100 days. Chuchayi Gunjia had worked for 45 days but he had job entry for 112 days. Balaram Gunjia had worked for 48 days but he has job entry for 100 days. Natha Gunjia had worked for 45 days but he has job entry for 111 days. Dasarath Gunjia had worked for 45 days but he has job entry for 100 days. Genu Gunjia had worked for 33 days but he has job entry for 111 days. Ramdas Gunjia (2697) had worked for 45 days but he has job entry for 102 days.

Dhana Hantal had worked for 33 days but he has job entry for 107 days. Khageshwar Gunjia had worked for 45 days but he has job entry for 113 days. Khemdas Gunjia had worked for 45 days but he has job entry for 110 days. Dhana Pangi (2715) had got only 3 days of work but he has job entry for 107 days. Andharu Khemundu (2716) had worked for only 10 days but he has job entry for 106 days. Ramana Hantal had worked for 37 days but he has job entry for 116 days. Sitaram Gunjia had worked for 48 days but he has job entry for 112 days. Ramachandra Gunjia (2731) had worked for 45 days but he has job entry for 106 days. It is clear that there has been heavy financial bungling of NREGS funds in Dangabir village.

We also carried out field trial of CDT in Sabun village of Bilaput Panchayat. Ghasi Khara (10738) had worked for 40 days but his online job records have job entry for 100 days. Mangala Matam had worked for 38 days but he has job entry for 102 days. Sukara Khilo had worked for 40 days but he has job entry for 102 days. Bijaya Pangi had got 34 days of work but has job entry for 102 days. Sanu Pujari, Jayasen Khara and Sukra Khilo had worked for 40 days each, but they have job entries of 102 days each. Ramachandra Khilo had worked for 38 days but he has job entry for 102 days. Tumnath Khara had got 40 days of work but has job entry for 100 days. Ghasiram Matam had worked for 38 days but has job entry for 100 days. The executing officials have pocketed a lot of wage money from Sabun village.

We tested 5 job cards of Attub village under Kulabir Panchayat. Kartika Khemundu (7740) and Bhimana Khemundu (7747) from Attub had got no wage employment under NREGS. However, they have bogus job entries for 110 days and 111 days respectively. Similarly, Bhadra Sukuri (7762) and Sitaram Sukuri (7768) had got no work at all under this scheme, but both have fake job entries for 110 days each in their official records. Gobardhan Gatan (7766) had got only 8 days of work but has job entry for 106 days. There has been open loot of NREGS funds in this village.

We also tested 8 job cards of Talaguda village under Kulabir Panchayat and found massive financial bungling. Bhibisen Dumuta (7627) and Ramchandra Dumuta (7628) had got no wage employment under the rural job scheme during 2006-7. However, their official job records have fake job entries for 107 days and 106 days respectively. Balaram Dumuta (7605) had got only 12. 5 days of work but has fake job entry for 100 days. Sitaram Khemundu (7623) had got 25. 5 days of work but has bogus job entry for 106 days. Arjun Khilo (7636) had got only 14. 5 days of work but has fake job entry for 112 days. Sanu Khemundu (7637) had worked for 18. 5 days but has job entry for 107 days. Labakusa Golori had got only 6 days of work but his official records have fake job entry for 100 days. Ramachandra Golori (7643) had got 12. 5 days of work but his online job records have bogus job entry for 103 days. It is clear that the government officials have literally looted the NREGS funds of Kulabir Panchayat.

During field trial of CDT, we tested 5 job cards of Padwa village under Padwa Gram Panchayat and found that 100 per cent of the wage amount shown in official records has been siphoned and pocketed by sarkari babus. The online job card of Haribandhu Semiliya (15666) has job entry for 100 days and wage entry of Rs 5500/. However, Haribandhu Semiliya had worked for only 4 days and he had received no wage at all. Similarly, Jagatram Semiliya (15729), Hari Semiliya (15735) and Dhanu Semiliya (15743) had worked for only 6 days each and received no wage at all. However, their official job records have job entries for 100 days each and wage entries of Rs 5500/ each. Guru Semiliya (15752) too had got only 6 days of work and no wage payment. His online job card has job entry for 108 days and wage entry of Rs 5940/. There has been open loot of NREGS funds in this village.

It is impossible for a VLW or Junior Engineer to commit this kind of cent per cent loot without active connivance of the block and district officials. We have sufficient reasons to believe that the entire government machinery is involved in this crime and there is a very well organized sarkari mafia behind this rural job scam. We can now very well understand as why the BDO of Nandapur block has instructed all VLWs of the block not to show muster roll registers to any one. If people had access to muster roll registers in Nandapur block, the BDO and all his VLWs would have already been sent behind the bars and lost their jobs.

Chapter-III

NABARANGPUR

Nabarangpur district of Orissa was allocated Rs 46 crore to implement NREGS in the district during 2006-7. The official records show that this district was able to spend Rs. 44 crore and provided a total of 49. 85 lakh persondays of employment to 79118 households in the district. In other words, each of the 79118 families has been given on an average 63 days of wage employment. The total number of households which completed 100 days of employment in the district is 7581 during the year. A wonderful performance by all parameters. However, this great performance of the NREGS is limited to the official records only, the ground reality in the villages of Nabarangpur is absolutely different and dismal.

Out of the 15 villages surveyed in Nabarangpur district, we could not find a single family which had actually got 100 days of employment. Most of the households which got wage employment under this scheme had actually received it between 2-20 days. However, as per official records, thousands of households in hundreds of villages in Nabarangpur district have availed 100 and more days of wage employment during 2006-7. The modus operandi of this “great performance” is usual, by making forged and fabricated job and wage entries in the job cards and muster roll registers of the illiterate and poor villagers, most of them Adivasis and Dalits facing chronic hunger and abject poverty.

Kanheimunda is a very poor village of Nabarangpur district. Located in Lamtaguda Panchayat of Tentulikhunti block, this village has about 400 households, most of them Adivasis. This poor village had got one NREGS project during 2006-7. Under this project, the Soil Conservation Department of the district carried out Cashew Plantation Ist year Operation from July 2006 to January 2007. 70- 80 households of the village got wage employment in cashew plantation for 2-15 days and more than 50 households in the village were denied any work in this project. However, the official records of this project show that more than 60 families of Kanheimunda were given wage employment between 26 -104 days. Actually, we did not find a single family in this village which had got more than 15 days of work in this NREGS project. As per our findings, there has been open loot of NREGS funds in this village. The Soil Conservation Officer and his colleagues have siphoned off and eaten up about 95 % of the wage money of this project.

Lakshmana Amanatya had actually worked for only 2 days, but the job card he showed us had job entry for 48 days. His online job card (OR-30-010-004/21790) has job entry for 26 days and wage entry of Rs 1430. Madhu Amanatya (18806) had got only 3 days of job, but his online job card has job entry for 48 days and wage entry of Rs 2640/. Gobinda Gouda (18796) had actually worked for only 6 days and received Rs 300 as wages, but his online job card has job entry for 104 days and wage entry of Rs 5720/. So, about 95 % of the wages shown in the name of Gobinda Gouda have been misappropriated by the Soil Conservation Officer. The family of Baraja Chalana (18848) had worked for 10 days and received Rs 500/ as wages. However, the online job card of this household has job entry for 104 days and wage entry of Rs 5720/. About 92 % of the wage amount withdrawn in the name of this household has been pocketed by the Soil Conservation Officer.

Narahari Amanatya (18874) had worked for only 1 day and got Rs 50 as wage. His online job card has job entry for 48 days and wage entry of 2640/. About 98% of the wage money withdrawn in the name of Narhari Amanatya has gone into the pockets of the Soil Conservation Officer. Balarama Pujari (18788) had got 11 days of work, but his online job card has job entry for 52 days and wage entry of Rs 2860/. Damu Amanatya (18935) had worked for only 7 days and received Rs 350/ as wages, but his online job records show that he had worked for 78 days and received Rs 4290/ as wages. About 92% of the NREGS wages spent in the name of this poor Adivasi have been eaten up by the Soil Conservation Officer. Mangalu Amanatya (18835) had actually worked for 11 days but his online job card has job entry for 52 days and wage entry of Rs 2860/.

Harihar Amanatya (18931) had got only 8 days of wage employment in the cashew plantation project and received Rs 400 as wages, but his online job records show that he had worked for 91 days and got Rs 5005/ as wages. Therefore, about 92% of the wages shown in the name of Harihar Amanatya have been siphoned off by the executing official. Loba Amanatya (18967) had worked for only 11 days but his official records have job entry for 78 days and wage entry of Rs 4290/. Kanhei Amanatya (18973) had got 9 days of work under NREGS, but his online job card has job entry for 26 days. Kamalu Amanatya (18787) worked for 7 days but his official record has job entry for 35 days. Urhaba Amanatya (18876) had got only 6 days of work but his job card has entry for 39 days. Raja Nayaka (18762) worked for just 5 days but his official record has entry for 40 days. Samaru Pujari (18875) had got 12 days of work but his online job card has 26 days of job entry and the job card he showed us has job entry for 39 days.

Lachamana Pujari (18813) had actually got 6 days of work in the cashew plantation, but his online job card has 65 days of job entry and wage entry of Rs 3575/. More than 90% of the wage money shown in his name has been siphoned off. Hari Gouda (18862) had got 14 days of work but his online job card has job entry for 48 days and wage entry of corresponding amount. Dambaru Amanatya (18800) had got wage employment for only 5 days but his online job record has job entry for 61 days and wage entry of Rs 3355/. More than 92% of the wages shown in his name have been pocketed by the Soil Conservation Officer. Harishchandra Nayaka (18925) had got just 5 days of NREGS work, but his online job card has job entry for 73 days and wage entry of Rs 4015/. In this case, the executing officer has pocketed about 94% of the wages.

 Hara Gouda (18772) had got 11 days of work in the cashew plantation project, but his official record has job entry for 48 days and wage entry of Rs 2640/. Guru Amanatya (18807) had worked for 14 days but his official record has job entry for 48 days. Sadana Pujari (18867) had got only 6 days of work, but his online job card has job entry for 52 days and wage entry of Rs 2860/. Sada Bisoi (18984) had got only 8 days of work but his online job record has job entry for 69 days and wage entry of Rs 3795/. About 88% of the wages shown in this case have been misappropriated by the executing officer.

Purana Chalana (18902) had got 15 days of wage employment under NREGS, but his online job card has job entry for 78 days and wage entry for Rs 4290/. Basadeba Gouda (18847) had worked for 15 days but his job card has entry for 48 days. Bhanumati Nayaka (18926) had got only 7 days of work but his online job card has job entry for 52 days and wage entry of Rs 2860/. Hari Chalana (18846) had worked for 15 days but his online job record has job entry for 48 days and wage entry of Rs 2640/. Karna Chalana (18750) had got only 3 days of work in the cashew plantation project and received Rs 150/ as wages, but his online job card has job entry for 48 days and wage entry for Rs 2640/. About 93% of the NREGS wages spent in the name of Karna Chalana have been siphoned off and misappropriated by the Soil Conservation Officer of Nabarangpur.

Every single entry in the online job cards of Kanheimunda village is forged and fabricated. While we could not find a single family in this village which had got more than 15 days of wage employment in the cashew plantation project, there are 57 online job cards of this village which have job entries between 39-104 days. There are 9 online job cards with 104 days of job entry and wage entry of Rs 5720/ each. The online job cards of Dinu Soura (18760), Ghana Jani (18779), Dhana Muduli (18819), Jagata Muduli (18825), Habina Soura (18858), Purusatama Soura (18759), Gobinda Gouda (18796) and Baraja Chalana (18848)- each has job entry of 104 days and wage entry of Rs 5720/. Purna Chalana (18902) and Narihar Amanatya (18931) both have job entries of 104 days each.

There are 9 online job cards of Kanheimunda which have job entries of 78 days each. The online job cards of Gupta Soura (19019), Padalam Muduli (19022), Mangalu Gouda (19015), Jaga Muduli (19010), Sada Naik (18992), Balaram Muduli (18975), Laba Amanatya (18967), Keshab Chalana (18954) and Damu Amanatya (18935) have job entries of 78 days each and wage entry of Rs 4290. Hari Chandra Nayak has job entry of 73 days, Jagadish Jhadia has entry for 65 days, Kamal Lochan Soura has entry for 65 days and Sada Bisoi has 69 days of job entry. Chakra Muduli, Samanatha Amanatya, Bhaga Muduli and Dambaru Amanatya- each has job entry for 61 days.

The online job cards of Trilochana Amanatya, Balaram Pujari, Mangalu Amanatya, Sadana Pujari and Murli Soura have job entries for 52 days each and corresponding wage entries. Hara Goudani, Dhanurjaya Muduli, Madhu Amanatya, Guru Amanatya, Narana Muduli, Hari Chalana, Basadeba Gouda, Raghu Jani, Hari Gouda and Narhari Amanatya- each has job entry for 48 days. There are 10 job cards with 39 days of job entries. Kamalu Amanatya, Urhaba Amanatya, Laxmana Amanatya, Sadana Soura, Keshab Muduli, Nidhana Chalana, Linga Amanatya, Krushna Pradhani and Damu Amanatya- each has 39 days of job entry and wage entry of Rs 2145/. All these entries have been forged in order to siphone off wage money allocated under NREGS. Our survey findings suggest that there has been open loot of NREGS funds allocated for cashew plantation project in Kanheimunda village. More than 90% of the allocated fund has been siphoned off and pocketed by the Soil Conservation Officer of Nabarangpur district.

Parajabarangapadar in Parajabarangapadar Panchayat of Tentulikhunti Block is another village of Nabarangapur District where larger share of the NREGS cake has been eaten up by sarkari babus and only left-overs have reached the targeted population. With more than 400 households, about half population of this village comprises of very poor Dalits (SCs). Most Dalits of this village are landless and survive by odd daily wages. There is no let up in the distress migration from this poor village. Many youngsters of this village have gone out of Orissa in search for labour work. Most Dalit families of this village live in abject poverty and chronic hunger. Despite their desperation for labour work, most households of this village were either denied any NREGS work or got it only for a few days and received the daily wages at the rate of Rs 40/ only.

CEFS survey findings of Parajabarangapadar village suggest that the government officials have violated every single norm that governs the rural employment guarantee scheme. There has been open loot and financial bungling in the implementation of NREGS in this poor village. The construction of check dam at Kadamjhola was carried out under NREGS during July- December 2006. Some households of the village were given wage employment in this project, but only for a few days. Most of the job card holders have not received any work under NREGS.

The job card of Sambaru Muduli (21387) has job entry for 24 days and wage entry of Rs 1320/. But actually, Sambaru Muduli has not received any wage employment under NREGS during 2006-7. Bhikhari Bisoi (21436) had actually got only 4 days of work and Rs 160/ as wages, but his online job card has job entry for 35 days and wage entry of Rs 1265/. So, Rs 1105 / has been siphoned off in the name of Bhikhari Bisoi. Dasa Muduli (21450) had actually got 10 days of wage employment in the construction of check dam at Kadamjhola and received Rs 400/ as wages. However, his online job card has job entry for 75 days and wage entry of Rs 4125/. So, more than 90% of the wages shown in the name of Dasa Muduli have been siphoned off and pocketed by the government officials.

Bali Santa (21385) had got 11 days of NREGS employment and Rs 440/ as wages. His online job card shows fake job entry for 50 days and wage entry of Rs 2750/. Therefore, about 85% of the wage money in this case has been siphoned off. Dasarath Harijan (21406) had worked for only 2 days, but his job card has job entry for 7 days. Junesh Harijan (21464) had got 13 days of work in the construction of check dam, but his online job card has fake job entry for 44 days and wage entry of Rs 2420/.

Saroj Kumar Takari (21470) had actually worked for only half day and received Rs 20 as wage, but his online job card has job entry for 19 days and wage entry of Rs 1285/. So, about 98% of the wages withdrawn in the name of Saroj Kumar Takari have been siphoned off and eaten up by the government officials. Ghana Suna (21356) had actually worked for only 3 days and got Rs 120/ as wages. His online job card has job entry for 20 days and wage entry of Rs 1100/. In this case, about 90% of the wage money has been pocketed by sarkari babus.

Joyasinga Majhi (21421) had got 7 days of wage employment under NREGS and received Rs 280/ as wages, but his online job card has fake job entry for 51 days and wage entry of Rs 2805/. In this case, 90% of the wage amount has been misappropriated by the government officials. Khagapati Harijan (21311) had worked for one and half days and got Rs 60/ as wages. His online job card has false job entry for 12 days and wage entry of Rs 660/. In this case too, about 90% of the wages have been pocketed by sarkari babus.

Kumar Suna (21399) had actually got only 3 days of wage employment and Rs 120/ as wages. His online job card has job entry for 31 days and wage entry of Rs 1705/. So, about 95% of the NREGS wages withdrawn in the name of Kumar Suna have been siphoned off and eaten up by the executing officials. Kunu Harijan (21467) had got only 2 days of work under this scheme and received Rs 80 as wages/. His online job card has fake job entry for 17 days and wage entry of Rs 935/. So, more than 90% of the wages shown in the name of this poor Dalit have actually gone into the pockets of sarkari babus. Hajari Harijan (21342) too had got only 2 days of work and Rs 80 as wages. His online job card has 14 days of job entry and wage entry of Rs 770/. In this case too, about 90% of the wage money has been siphoned off and misappropriated by the government officials.

Sundara Harijan (21314) had actually worked for 4 days and received Rs 160/ as wages. However, his job card has fake job entry for 19 days and wage entry of Rs 1045. Daupadi Suna (21409) had got only 2 days of work and Rs 80 as wages. Her online job card has job entry for 21 days and wage entry of Rs 1155/. So, about 94% of the wages shown in the name of Daupadi Suna have been siphoned off and eaten up by the executing officials. Johana Hial (21479) had formally demanded 8 days of employment in the construction of check dam, but he was given only 3 days of wage employment and Rs 120/ as wages. However, his online job card has job entry for 18 days and wage entry of Rs 1260/. Once again, about 90% of the wages have been siphoned off and pocketed by sarkari babus.

Padma Harijan (213120) is a divorcee Dalit woman of Parajabarangapadar. She is landless, lives alone and has to survive by herself. She went to the construction site of the check dam at Kadamjhola for 5-6 days demanding work, but she was not given NREGS job even for a single day. However, her online job card has false job entry for 6 days and wage entry of Rs 330/. Jaganath Harijan is a very poor and landless Dalit of this villag, but he does not have even BPL card. He went to the Secretary of Gram Panchayat for 8 times requesting him to issue job card, but he has not got any job card so far.

The executing officials of Parajabarangapadar Gram Panchayat have violated every single norm governing the implementation of NREGS. The rural employment scheme for the hungry and poor Dalits of Parajabarangapadar village is nothing more than a cruel joke on their demeaning deprivation. This high-profile anti-poverty scheme has made virtually zero impact on the livelihood security of these poor Dalits and there is no let up in the distress migration from the village.

Manchagam village under Manchagam Panchayat, Tentulikhunti Block, Nabarangpur District, implemented two NREGS projects during 2006. The construction of road from Manchagam to Bangalguda was carried out in October-November 2006, and metalling of road from Beheraguda to Alchiaguda was undertaken during August-September 2006 under NREGS. We were told by the villagers who had worked in these projects that most of them had got 8-12 days of wage employment under the NREGS. No household in the village had got more than 15 days of work in these projects. However, 59 online job cards of Manchagam village have job entries between 24-72 days. Our investigation has revealed that executing officials have siphoned off a lot of wage money of this village through usual method of over-entries of workdays in the job cards of poor and illiterate villagers.

The online job cards of Chakra Santa (17074) and Sadana Santa (16870) show job entries of 72 days and wage entries of Rs 3960/ each. Pitabasha Harijan (16717) has 68 days of job entry and wage entry of Rs 3740/. Agadhu Santa (16985) has job entry for 64 days and wage entry of Rs 3520/. Tila Santa (17092) and Laxman Das (17177) both have job entries of 58 days in their online job cards. Pitambar Gouda (17069) has job entry for 56 days and wage entry of Rs 3080/. Jema Pujari (16687), Damu Santa (16777), Siba Soura (16821), Utama Gouda (16887), Bhima Gouda (16809), Sikanu Santa (16788), Budu Bindhanai (16999), Jaganath Gouda (17012), Gara Gouda (17013), Khairu Gouda (17017) and Budei Gouda (17040) – each has job entry of 49 days and wage entry of Rs 2695/ in their online job cards. All these entries are false and fabricated.

Padlama Nag (16776), Gobindachandra Bagh (16778), Chaitana Harijan (16800), Nanda Santa (16816), Dasarathi Nayak (16825), Gobardhana Gouda (16885), Samanath Gouda (16900), Nanda Sanda (16917), Damadar Harijan (16994), Dibakar Harijan (16995), Ratan Gouda (16998), Chandra Gouda (17104), Taila Harijan (17107) and Chingadu Gouda (17110)- all have job entries of 47 days and wage entries of Rs 2585/ in their online job cards. Mukunda Gouda (16888) and Dhanurjaya Das (16914) both have job entries of 38 days and wage entries of Rs 2090/. The online job cards of Puranchandra Gouda (16713), Daitari Gouda (16802), Kamalu Muduli (16804), Thakadhar Gouda (16831), Nara Gouda (16837), Bhima Gouda (16891) and Jadu Muduli (16892) have job entries of 29 days and wage entries of Rs 1595/ each.

Ulalasi Bagh (16718), SadanaPaika (16719), KamalaPaika (16722), Lokinath Gouda (16779), Puratama Harijan (16791), Abhimanu Das (16810) and Krusa Santa – each has job entry of 28 days and wage entry of Rs 1540/ in their online job cards. These are all false and fabricated entries, because no household of this village had got more than 15 days of wage employment under the NREGS during 2006. There are many more online job cards of Manchagam which have forged job entries. So, it is clear that the implementing authorities have siphoned off a lot of NREGS funds of this village too.

Chapter-IV

RAYAGADA

Rayagada district of Orissa was allocated Rs 41 crore to implement NREGS in the district during 2006-7. As per official records, this district spent Rs. 37 crore and provided a total of 41. 59 lakh persondays of employment to 70423 households in the district. In other words, each of the 70423 families has been given on an average 60 days of wage employment. The total number of households which completed 100 days of employment in the district is 8357 during the year. A great performance by all standards. However, our survey in 30 villages of Kasipur Block of the district has revealed that all these tall claims are limited to official records only. The ground reality in the villages of Rayagada is absolutely different and dismal. The modus operandi of this great performance is usual, by making forged and fabricated job and wage entries in the job cards and muster roll registers of the illiterate and poor villagers, most of them Adivasis and Dalits living a life of semi-starvation and abject poverty.

Jodambo under Adajore Gram Panchayat, Kasipur Block, is a very poor village of Rayagada district. Most of the villagers here live a life of abject poverty and semi- starvation. Many households of this village have been given job cards. This village had got one project under NREGS during 2006; Ghat cutting of road from Jodambo to Adatakiri carried out in October 2006. Many families of this village were given wage employment in this project. The online job cards of this village suggest that most card holders had worked for 25 days and received Rs 1000/ as wages. The ground reality is totally different.

Hadi Goud (22488) had worked for only 5 days and was paid Rs 100/ as wages, at the rate of Rs 20/ per day. However, his online job card has job entry for 25 days and wage entry of Rs 1000/. In this case, 90% of the wage amount has been misappropriated by the executing officials. Parshu Goud (22532) had worked for 8 days only and received Rs 200/ as wages, at the rate of Rs 25/per day. However, his online job card has fake job entry for 50 days and wage entry of Rs 2000/. So, 90% of the wages shown in the name of Parshu Goud have been siphoned off and eaten up by sarkari babus.

Ganga Majhi (22428) had actually got only 5 days of work in this project and received Rs 120/ as wages, at the rate of Rs 24/ per day. However, the online job card of Ganga Majhi has fake job entry for 25 days and wage entry of Rs 1000/. So, 88% of the wages shown in the name of Ganga Majhi have been siphoned off and pocketed by the government officials. Masku Majhi (22518) too had worked for only 5 days and was paid Rs 120/ as wages. But, his online job card has false job entry for 25 days and wage entry of Rs 1000/. In this case too, 88% of the wages recorded in the online job card have been misappropriated by sarkari babus.

The wife of Saheba Gouda (22509) worked for 4 days and got Rs 160/ as wages, at the rate of Rs 40 per day. But, his online job card has job entry for 25 days and wage entry of Rs 1000/. In this case, 84% of the wage money has been siphoned off. Laba Gouda (22430) had worked for 8 days and was paid Rs 200/ as wages, at the rate of Rs 25 per day. His online job card has job entry for 25 days and wage entry of Rs 1000/. So, 80% of the wages paid in the name of Laba Gouda have been eaten up by executing officials. Chita Goud (22483) is a walking skeleton, living a life of semi-starvation and suffering from serious ailments due to chronic hunger. He had also worked for 8 days in Ghat cutting project during October 2006. He was paid Rs 200/ as wages in March 2007 (after 5 months of work), at the rate of Rs 25 per day. His online job card has forged job entry for 25 days and wage entry of Rs 1000/. So, 80% of the wages paid to this starving family have been actually misappropriated by sarkari babus. Is there anybody listening?

Vidyadhar Goud (22472) had worked for 7 days and received Rs 120/ as wages. His online job card has job entry for 25 days and wage entry of Rs 1120/. So, out of Rs 1120/ shown as wages, only Rs 120/ has reached in the hands of Vidyadhar Goud, remaining Rs 1000/ has gone into the pockets of executing officials. Meta Majhi (22497) had got only 7 days of work and was paid Rs 300/as wages. His online job card has job entry for 25 days and wage entry of Rs 1000/.

Ramsingh Majhi (22441) had worked for 18 days, but he has received only Rs 300/ as wages. His online job card has job entry for 25 days and wage entry of Rs 1000/. So, 70% of the wage money withdrawn in the name of Ramsingh Majhi has been misappropriated by the executing officials. Shakru Majhi (22426) had also worked for 18 days, but received only Rs 250/ as wages. His online job card has fake job entry for 25 days and wage entry of Rs 1000/. In this case, 75% of the wage money has been siphoned off. Dhanpul Majhi (22431) too had worked for 18 days and was paid Rs 240/as wages. His online job card has job entry for 13 days and wage entry of Rs 520/. There are many more online job cards of this village with fake job entries for 25 days and 50 days.

The online job cards of Buduka Majhi (22424), Bhaga Gouda (22438) and Rajamani Nayak show job entries for 50 days and wage entries of Rs 2000/ each. Padmalochan Gouda had worked for 9 days but he has not received any payment. Padmawati Gouda had worked for 8 days and got only Rs 120/ as wages. Gharmani had worked for 7 days but received only Rs 160/ as wages.

All entries in the online job cards of Jodambo are forged and fabricated. There has been open loot of NREGS funds in Jodambo. The government officials have siphoned off and pocketed about 80-90% of the wage amount spent under this NREGS project. The work was done in October 2006 and wage payments were made in March 2007, 5 months after the work. Most workers have been paid wages at the rate of Rs 20-25 per day. Is there any authority or institution in the largest democracy of the world which can ensure justice to these poor and hungry citizens of India? What is the meaning of Platinum Jubilee of India’s Independence for these hapless villagers living and dying in “ Jungle Raj”?

Adajore village in Adajore Gram Panchayat executed one NREGS project during November-December 2006; Ghat cutting of road from Tikiratunish to Kalahandi Boarder. Many families of this village were given wage employment in this project. However, most online job cards of this village have fake job and wage entries. A lot of wage money has been apparently siphoned off by the executing officials.

Upendra Nayak (22328) had actually worked for 13 days and received Rs 500/ as wages. However, his online job card has fake job entry for 30 days and wage entry of Rs 1497/. About two-third of the wage amount paid in the name of Upendra Nayak has been siphoned off and pocketed by the government officials. Abildhar Nayak (22304) had got only 8 days of work and was paid Rs 320/ as wages. But, his online job card has false job entry for 30 days and wage entry of Rs 1497/. So, about 80% of the wage money shown against Abildhar Nayak has been siphoned off and pocketed by sarkari babus.

Gobind Chandra Nayak (22271) had worked for only 6 days and received Rs 300/ as wages for the same. His online job records show job entry for 30 days and wage entry of Rs 1497/. About 80% of the wages shown in the name of Gobind Chandra Nayak have been siphoned off and misappropriated by the executing officials. Hasamani Nayak (22248) had worked for 14 days and received Rs 560/ as wages. His online job card has job entry for 30 days and wage entry of Rs 1497/. In this case, about 60% of the wages have been siphoned off.

Debraj Nayak (22389) had worked for 21 days and received Rs 740/ as wages. But, his online job card has job entry for 30 days and wage entry of Rs 1497/. About half of the wage money shown in the name of Debraj Nayak has been siphoned off. Abhiram Nayak (22315) had got 20 days of wage employment and received Rs 800/ as wages. However, his online job card has job entry for 30 days and wage entry of Rs 1497/. So, Rs 679/ has been siphoned off in this case.

No household of Adajore village had received more than Rs 800/ as wages. But, there are many more online job cards with wage entry of Rs 1497/. The online job cards of Shukru Nayak (22278), Phaguram Bag (22305), Asedhara Nayak (22312), Surumani Nayak (22321) and Surendra Nayak (22325) have fake wage entries of Rs 1497/ each. Therefore, it is clear that a lot of NREGS fund of Adajore village has been misappropriated by executing officials.

Some families of Tikaratunis village of Adajore Panchayat had also worked in a Ghat cutting project executed under NREGS, but all of them received their wages only at the rate of Rs 40/per day. Sukru Majhi had worked for 20 days and he received Rs 800 as wages, at the rate of Rs 40/ per day. Most probably, these workers have been paid on measurement basis.

Barangpas is another village of Adajore Panchayat where we found very serious irregularities in the implementation of the rural job scheme. Nobody in this village has got any job card. However, many households of the village had got wage employment in Ghat cutting from Barangpas to Sarisobada carried out under the NREGS during October-November 2006. The family of Lab Nayak had got 50 days of work, but he has received only Rs 1400/ as wages. Duriya Majhi too had worked for 50 days and got Rs 1400/ as wages. Jambawati Nayak had worked for 24 days, but got only Rs 350/ as wages. The family of Padmawati Nayak had worked for 47 days and received Rs 1150/ as wages. Nowa Dei Majhi had worked for 65 days and received Rs 1650/ as wages. These villagers are under the impression that the remaining amount of the wages would be paid to them once the money arrives in the Gram Panchayat. In the absence of official version of the story, it is not possible for us to say anything more about this village. All the online job cards of Barangpas are blank.

We were unable to reach 3 villages of Adajore Gram Panchayat because there is no motorable approach road to these villages. However, we were informed by the people of Adajore village that workers of these three villages (1. Julkaguda, 2. Adiguda and 3. Simliguda) had been paid at the rate of Rs 32 per day for the Ghat cutting work done under NREGS. We came to know that estimated cost of this project was Rs 3 lakh and this was executed by Block Panchayat. The work was done during December 2006, but wage payments were made in April 2007 by Junior Engineer (Mr Sahoo) at the rate of Rs 32/ per day.

Podabandha is a very poor village of Rayagada district. Many families of Podabandha village in Maikanch Gram Panchayat (Kasipur Block) had got wage employment in Ghat cutting at Podabandha carried out in February 2007 under the rural job scheme. No household in the village had got more than 16 days of work in this project. Villagers had told us that after the completion of the work the VLW had asked them to sign on blank muster rolls. The VLW sent the blank muster rolls register thrice, but the workers refused to sign every time unless the workdays were filled up on the same. After three rounds of fight with these villagers, the VLW finally got their signatures on filled up muster roll register where actual days of employment were already written. The workers felt very happy and proud that they had successfully thwarted the VLW’s nefarious designs to siphon NREGS money by taking their signatures on blank muster rolls.

In our note books, we had also written that this village was a success story of NREGS and no irregularity was found in Podabandha. After the completion of the field survey in 100 villages of Orissa, when we were addressing a Press Conference in Bhubaneshwar on 6^th June, one journalist asked us if there was a single village out of the list of 100 villages surveyed by us which had successful and satisfactory implementation of the NREGS. We immediately told the journalist that Podabandha village in Kasipur Block of Rayagada district was a success story and we did not find any irregularity there.

We were absolutely wrong. The verification of online job cards of Podabandha has now revealed that the VLW had succeeded in siphoning off NREGS money and the muster roll register where workers had signed was fake and duplicate. Most online job cards of this small village have fake job entries for 32 days and wage entries of Rs 1508/, while no one in the village had job entry of more than 16 days in the muster roll register. The wage payments were made in April 2007.

Punia Jhodia (19277) is a very poor Adivasi of Podabandha and he had worked for 16 days in the Ghat cutting project carried out in November-December 2006. He had received Rs 752/ as wages for this NREGS work. However, his online job card has fake job entry for 32 days and wage entry of Rs 1508/. So, half of the wage amount withdrawn in the name of this poor Adivasi has gone into the pockets of the VLW and his colleagues. Sridhar Jhodia (19285) too had got 16 days of wage employment and was paid Rs 752/ as wages. But, his online job card has false job entry for 32 days and wage entry of Rs 1508/.

Chabi Jhodia (19241) had worked for 16 days and received Rs 752/ as wages. His online job card has fake job entry for 32 days and wage entry of Rs 1508/. Chaitanya (19239) and Sankar Jhodia (19263) both had worked for 16 days and received Rs 752/ as wages. However, their online job cards have false job entries for 32 days and wage entries of Rs 1508/ each. Half of the wage amounts shown in the official records of these workers have gone into the pockets of the VLW and his colleagues. 13 online job cards of Podabandha village have job entries for 32 days and wage entries of Rs 1508/, whereas actually no household in this village had got more than 16 days of work and Rs 752/ as wages. Now, it is clear that there has been financial bungling in the NREGS work of Podabandha too. Our single success story of survey and only ray of hope has now been eliminated and eclipsed, thanks to ingenuous sarkari babus of Orissa.

Khurigam in Kasipur Gram Panchayat (Kasipur Block) is another village of Rayagada district where executing officials have converted rural job scheme into income guarantee scheme for themselves. This village implemented one NREGS project during 2006-7; Ghat cutting from Khurigam to Routaghati. This project started in June 2006 and continued till March 2007. Many families of the village got wage employment in this project. However, most of the workers have received either partial/nominal payments or no payments at all.

Krishna Chandra Naik (31027) had worked for 15 days during September 2006, but he has not received any wage so far. However, his online job card has wage entry of Rs 660/. Sukru Nayaka (16102) too had worked for 15 days during August 2006, but he has not received any wage payment so far. Gopal Nayaka (16038) had actually worked for one month during September-October 2006, but he has not received any wages so far. Butuka Jhodia (16168) too worked for one month, but he received only Rs 200/ as wages.

Purundar Naik (31059) did not work at all in this project, but his online job card has job entry for 12 days and wage entry of Rs 660/. Ram Chandra Jhodia (31071) had actually worked for 15 days, but he has received only Rs 50/ as wages for that work. Sana Mana Jhodia (31074) had worked for 1 month but received only Rs 500/ as wages. Pakulu Jhodia (16062) had got 4 days of work and he was given only 6 kg of rice as wages. His online job card has fake job entry for 24 days and wage entry of Rs 1320/. Mangatia Jhodia (31081) had worked for 1 month but received only Rs 700/ as wages.

Pita Jhodia (31066) had worked for 23 days but received only Rs 500/ as wages. Purushotam Jhodia (16183) had worked for 25 days, but he has been paid only Rs 400/ as wages. Arjuna Jhodia (31044) actually worked for 41 days but he has received only Rs 600/ as wages. Dinu Jhodia (31048) had got wage employment for one month but was paid only Rs 200/ as wages. Duria Jhodia (16203) had worked for 25 days but got only Rs 100/ as wages. Kedu Jhodia (16113) had worked for 15 days but received only Rs 100/ as wages. Khetra Mohan Naik (31073) had worked for 15 days but received only Rs 400/ as wages.

Danguru Jhodia (16196) had worked for 25 days but received only Rs 500/ as wages. Bhagirathi Naik (31077) had worked for 30 days but got only Rs 500/ as wages. Vishwanath Naik (31088) had worked for 40 days but has been paid only Rs 1000/ as wages. Purandar Naik (16333) had got 43 days of wage employment in the Ghat cutting work, but he has been paid only Rs 1000/ as wages for that work. The executing officials have apparently misappropriated a lot of NREGS money from Khurigam village.

Dumel is a predominantly Adivasi village under Rengacoloy Gram Panchayat of Kasipur Block. Most households of this poor village have got job cards. Many families of Dumel got wage employment in a Ghat cutting work executed under NREGS during November 2006-February 2007. However, we did not find a single job entry in the job cards of this village. Even the online job cards of Dumel are absolutely blank. Our investigation has revealed that the VLW of Rengacolony Gram Panchayat has done massive financial bungling and misappropriated a lot of NREGS funds. Not a single worker of this poor village has been paid full wages. Every household which has got wage employment under NREGS has been paid less than half of the due wage amount.

Sitaram Nayak (1578) is a very poor Dalit of Dumel village. His family had got 50 days of wage employment under NREGS in December 2006. He should have been paid a wage amount of Rs 2750/ at the rate of Rs 55/ per day. However, Sitaram Nayak has been paid only Rs 1400/ as wages. Therefore, about half wage amount of this poor Dalit has been misappropriated by the VLW. The family of Kamalochan Nayak (1618) too had worked for 50 days but received only Rs 1200 as wages. More than half wage amount of Kamalochan Nayak has been siphoned off. The family of Birushu Majhi (1608) had worked for 54 days, but they have been paid only Rs 1500/. The total wage amount of Birushu Majhi would be Rs 2970/. In this case too, about half of the wage money has been misappropriated by the VLW.

Janaki Nayak (1552) had worked for 45 days and received only Rs 700/ as wages. The total wage amount for 45 days would be Rs 2475/. So, about 70% of Janaki Majhi’s wages have been pocketed by the VLW. The family of Kumbhakaran Nayak (1620) had got 50 days of work under NREGS, but they have been paid only 1200/ as wages. The total wage amount for 50 days would be Rs 2750/. Therefore, more than half wages of Kumbhakaran Nayak have been misappropriated by the executing official. The family of Bachi Majhi (1615) had worked for 55 days but received only Rs 1200/ as wages, whereas the due amount would be Rs 3025/. In this case, more than 60% of the wages have been eaten up by the VLW.

Almost every household of Dumel which had worked in the Ghat cutting project has been paid less than half of the due wages. Raghu Majhi (1562) had worked for 45 days but received only Rs 1200/ as wages. The families of Mangalu (1554), Mali Majhi (1617), Nand Goud (1565) and Duryodhana Nayaka (1622) had worked for 45 days each, but have been paid only Rs 1200/ each. The due wage amount for 45 days at the rate of Rs 55/ per day would be Rs 2475/. So, more than half wages of all these four poor families have been pocketed by the VLW of Rengacolony Gram Panchayat. The family of Suresh Nayak (1627) had worked for 50 days and received Rs 1500/ as wages, whereas the due wages for 50 days would be Rs Rs 2750/. So, it is clear that major share of NREGS funds spent in the name of poor Adivasis and Dalits of Dumel village has actually been siphoned off and pocketed by the VLW.

Phatamunda is another village of Rengacolony Gram Panchayat where the VLW has siphoned significant amount of the NREGS funds. The story of Phatamunda is much similar to that of Dumel. Phatamunda had executed one road formation project under NREGS during December 2006-January 2007. However, there is no job related entry in the job cards of Phatamunda. The online job cards are absolutely blank. Most households had worked for 18-20 days but they have been paid only Rs 500/ as wages. The due wage amount for 20 days would be Rs 1100/ and that for 18 days would be Rs 990/. So, only about half of the wages have reached the targeted beneficiaries and the remaining half has apparently gone into the pockets of the VLW and his colleagues.

Tumeshwar Nayak (1306) is a very poor Dalit of Phatamunda village and had worked for 20 days in the road formation project, but received only Rs 500/ as wages. So, this poor Dalit has received less than half of his due wages. Kanesti Nayak (1289) too is a poor Dalit and had worked for 20 days and was paid only Rs 500/ as wages. Jagatrao Nayak (1276)is a very poor Adivasi and had worked for 20 days and received only Rs 500/ as wages. Abina Nayak (1311) and Sudarshan Nayak both had worked for 20 days each and they have been paid Rs 500/ each. So, both have been paid less than half of their due wages. Somnath Nayak (1329) and Nilami Nayak (1214) both have worked for 20 days each and received Rs 500/ each as wages. More than half of their due wages have been siphoned off.

Tabila Nayak (1314), Dasha Jhodiya (1224), Pitambar Jhodia (1323), Jimi Jhodia (1293), Boli Majhi (1260), Salai Majhi (1243), Pandu Majhi (1280), Naba Jhodia (1312), Lakshman Jhodia (1251), Sudar Jhodia, Gunja Jhodia (1258), Dama Jhodia (1261), Tumbeshwar Jhodia (1286), Bibe Jhodia (1227), Tisujani Jhodia (1244), Heeramani Jhodia (1318), Lachhamani Majhi (1254) and Shankar Jhodia (1267)- all had worked for 18 days and were paid Rs 500/ each as wages, only about half of their due wages.

When we approached the VLW of Rengacolony Gram Panchayat to see and verify the muster rolls of Phatamunda and Dumel, we were shocked to find that he had maintained multiple sets of muster roll registers and none of them were official muster rolls. All the labour entries and payment entries were shown only on ordinary registers and he did not show us a single genuine and official document. In fact, he khew very little about the NREGS works, most of the information was being provided by his brother and brother in law. Villagers had told us that the VLW had engaged his younger brother and brother in law to do most of his work. The wage payments in Dumel village were also made by his brothers at 10 pm in the night in absence of any members of the Gram Panchayat. The family members of the VLW were actually talking as if they were the ones who had been doing all NREGS related works instead of the VLW.

When we asked the VLW as why had the workers of Dumel village been paid only partial wages, he said that villagers were liers. The VLW told us that all the workers of Dumel had been paid their full wages at the rate of Rs 55 per day and they had worked only for 20-22 days and not for 45-50 days. The VLW was telling us a patent lie. We visited Dumel village for a second time accompanied by the current Sarpanch of Rengacolony Gram Panchayat, newly appointed Rojgar sevak of the Panchayat and ex President of the Block Panchayat Samiti of Kasipur. In the presence of all these people, the workers of Dumel gave personal testimonies about their actual workdays and all these people agreed and signed on a piece of paper that villagers were absolutely correct.

The VLW’s clarification about the irregularity in wage payments of Phatamunda village was most bizzare. He told us that he had already paid not only full wages but almost 70-80% more than their due wages. He told us that the wage payments in Phatamunda village had been done on the measurement basis and as per the measurements of the Juniour Engineer the total due wages would be Rs 54, 000, whereas workers of Phatamunda had already been paid about Rs 1 lakh. The VLW told us that workers of Phatamunda were very lazy and the Junior Engineer had asked him to go and request the workers of Phatamunda to work without wages for some days so that the extra wage payment of Rs 46, 000/ should be recovered and adjusted. In other words, as per the version of the VLW, the workers of Phatamunda should not have been paid more than Rs 12-15 per day, because on the measurement basis they had not worked for more than Rs 15 per day. The VLW of Rengacolony Gram Panchayat has effectively set a new wage rate in NREGS, Rs 12-15/ per day. Is it what has been promised under NREGA? The Government of Orissa owes an explanation to the nation.

We had also visited Panasguda (Kasipur Gram Panchayat), Gottigudda (Kasipur Gram Panchayat) and Bilamal (Tikari Gram Panchayat) in Kasipur Block. Many starvation deaths were reported from these three villages during 2001 and the Chief Minister had personally visited these village to offer relief. Most households in these villages are still living a life of semi-starvation and chronic hunger. For better part of the rainy season they still have to make a choice between starvation or eating mango kernel. Panasgudda and Gottigudda have not received even job cards. Some households have been given job cards in Bilamal but even those households have got only 2-3 days of work under NREGS. The family in Bilamal which had lost 4 members to starvation in 2001 has not received job card as yet. Where has Orissa Government spent Rs 733/ crore of NREGS funds? These hungry Adivasis of Orissa deserve at least an answer in the Platinum Jubille year of India’s Independence. Will these poor Adivasis and Dalits ever get freedom from hunger?

Chapter-V

NUAPADA

The total number of job cards issued in the district of Nuapada is 80187. Nuapada was allocated Rs 30. 93 crore to implement NREGS in the district during 2006-7. As per official records, this district spent Rs. 26. 74 crore and provided a total of 31. 55 lakh persondays of employment to 45796 households in the district. In other words, each of the 45796 families has been given on an average 69 days of wage employment. To put it differently, more than half of the job card holding familes in Nuapada district have been given on an average 69 days of wage employment during 2006-7. The total number of households which completed 100 days of employment in the district is 11292 during the year. In other words, every fourth NREGS beneficiary family of Nuapada district has availed 100 days of wage employment. This is a terrific achievement. However, our survey in 11 villages of Khariar Block of the district revealed a different story. The ground reality in the villages of Nuapada is absolutely dismal. The modus operandi of this terrific achievement is usual, by making fake and fabricated job and wage entries in the job cards and muster roll registers.

Saradhapur village of Nuapada district is a live definition of hunger, distress migration and abject poverty. Located in Saradhapur Gram Panchayat of Khariar Block, this village is literally living on the edge. With population of about 1500 (Adivasis and Dalits), this village is still waiting for the rural job scheme to arrive. More than half population of this village is always out in search of daily wages in Andhra Pradesh Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Gujarat. Those who are left behind in the village do survive by selling fuel-wood collected from the forest located at the distance of 7 kms. One adult person can not earn more than Rs 15-20 per day, because Khariar market where they sell the wood is located at the distance of 10 kms from the village. It is very difficult to rear any cattle in the village because there is no drinking water available. The PDS rice was given to the villagers after a gap of four months.

Most of the villagers who have migrated to other states are engaged in bone - breaking works like brick making and rickshaw pulling. After a few months of work they either fall sick or get exhausted and return back to their village empty handed. Pustam Sabar, aged 25, was working with other 3 family members in a brick kiln in Andhra Pradesh. He was unable to survive the hazards of the brick kiln and he died in May 2007. After his death at the brick kiln, the contractor gave Rs 2000/ to his family members for the last rites of Pustam Sabar, no other compensation or anything else. Basi Khai (SC), aged 50, was working with four members of her family in a bick kiln in Andhra Pradesh. She worked there for 7 months. But, she has now returned back to home and is bed-ridden, because she is now suffering from some terminal illness. The family has returned empty handed. Most of these families are given Rs 2000-3000/ as advance wages by contractors, but they do not get any cash while returning home after continuous work of 6-8 months. When asked as to why did they go and work in other states if they did not get any cash while returning home, they said, “ what do we do here? At least we do get two meals a day while working in the brick kilns. If we do not go there, we will starve to death in the village. So, we go and work in these hazardous occupations just to survive for 6-8 months of the year. ”

Saradhapur has about 150 households, most of them Adivasis and Dalits. Most households of the village were given job cards in June 2006. When we visited this village on 23^rd May, large number of villagers came out on their own and started narrating their tells of deprivation and destitution. We were told by the villagers that they had not got any work under NREGS and they were desperately waiting for this scheme to arrive in the village. Since we were told by the villagers that they had not got any wage employment under rural job scheme, we had nothing to investigate about NREGS in the village and we stayed in the village for couple hours just to understand the scale and dimensions of deprivation in the village. However, we have been shocked to find that there are 49 online job cards of Saradhapur village with job and wage entries. Moreover, we were told that there were only 150 households in the village, but we have found 213 online job cards in the name of this village. We now suspect that there are ghost job cards in Saradhapur village and significant amount of wage money has been siphoned in their names.

The online NREGS job records of Saradhapur village suggest that 49 households had been given wage employment between 87-9 days in improvement of road from Saradhapur to Kotamal carried out during August 2006 to February 2007. The online job card of Gaya Tandi (15305) has job entry for 87 days and wage entry of Rs 6470/. Tulasiram Tandi (15316) has job entry for 42 days and wage entry of Rs 2310/. Supate Sabar (15517) has job entry for 50 days and wage entry of Rs 2930/, Tahasil Jagat (15546) has job entry of 48 days and wage entry of Rs 2640/, Kaikei Sabar (15553) has job entry for 53 days and wage entry of Rs 4895/ and Lalit Mohan Sabar (15557) has job entry for 54 days and wage entry of Rs 2970/.

The online job card of Bimbadhar Sabar (15559) shows job entry for 56 days and wage entry of Rs 3920/, Nehru Bibhar (27365) has job entry for 42 days and wage entry of Rs 3690/ and Sagar Sabar (27369) has job entry for 40 days and wage entry of Rs 2200/. Ganga Bibhar ( (27371) has job entry for 30 days and wage entry of Rs 2490/, Gurubaru Sabar (15516) has job entry for 31 days and wage entry of Rs 1769, Dasaratha Sabar (15429) has job entry for 36 days and wage entry of Rs 1980 and Redhar Bibbar (15406) has job entry for 37 days and wage entry of Rs 2875/. Prem Chand Sabar (15271) has job entry for 18 days, Bhagatram Tandi (15304) for 12 days, Jaganath Tandi (15303) for 12 days, Nageshwar Sabar (15309) for 24 days and Tikaram Sabar (15319) has job entry for 16 days.

Bhagatram Sabar (15355), Dibakar Sabar (15379), Narayan Sabar (15456), Jayaram Tandi (15459), Bhaskar Tandi (15460), Ramdas Sabar (15488), Dasru Sabar (15535), Janadei Sabar (27355), Belbewa Sabar (27360), Budu Sabar (27367), Jadaba Sabar (27389) and Budha Sabar (27399)- each has job entry for 12 days and wage entry of Rs 660/.

The online job cards of Madhu Bibbar (15331), Ratan Sunani (15413), Kartik Bibbar, Nabaghana Sabar (15457, Gaya Bag (15491), Sakachan Bibbar (15518) and Chakra Tandi (15545) have job entry for 18 days and wage entry of Rs 990/ each. Padmanabha Sabar (15414), Sombaru Sabar (15437), Premananda Sabar (15485), Krustan Sabar (15522), Pitam Raut (15547), Mini Bag (15561) and Jashoda Sabar (27363)- each has job entry for 24 days and wage entry of Rs 1320/. Nabe Sabar (15426), Tularam Sabar (15448), Kashi Sabar (15458) and Bhubaneswar Sabar (15466) have job entry for 15 days and wage entry of Rs 825/ each. Netra Tandi (15520) has job entry for 9 days and wage entry of Rs 500/.

All these job entries and wage entries in the online job cards of Saradhapur village are fake and fabricated, because we were told by the villagers that no household of the village had got any wage employment under NREGS. So, the entire wage amount shown in these 49 job cards has been siphoned off and pocketed by the executing officials.

Kotamal under Ranimunada Panchayat (Khariar Block) is another village of Nuapada district where wage employment under NREGS has been given only on official records, not on the ground. We were told by villagers that Kotamal has about 300 households and more than one third population of the village works as daily wagers in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Gujarat. They resort to distress migration for sheer survival. We were told by the villagers that some families of the village had received job cards in February 2006, but no one had got any wage employment under NREGS. However, it is shocking to note that Kotamal has 62 online job cards with fake job and wage entries. Moreover, the total number of online job cards of this village is 299, whereas we were told by the villagers that only some of the total 300 households of Kotamal have been given job cards.

 It is interesting to note here that 62 households of this village too have been given wage employment in the same road construction (construction of road from Kotamal to Saradhapur) where 49 households of Saradhapur village were given employment under NREGS, as per online job records of these villages. So, in official records, 49 families from Saradhapur village and 62 families from Kotamal village were given wage employment in construction of road from Kotalmal to Saradhapur. But, we were told by villagers of Saradhapur and Kotamal both that they had not received any wage employment under rural job scheme. Therefore, all these job and wage entries recorded in the online job cards of both these villages have apparently been done in order to siphone and misappropriate NREGS funds.

There are 62 online job cards of Kotamal village which have fake job entries between 1-43 days. The online job card of Jita Majhi (20520) shows job entry for 43 days and wage entry of Rs 2365/. Prasanna Sabar (20483) has job entry for 35 days and wage entry of Rs 1925/, Bhengaraj Sabar (20484) has 31 days of job entry and Rs 1705/, Dharmu Bhoi (20644) has job entry for 30 days and wage entry of Rs 1650/, Bansidhar Duria (20812) has job entry for 33 days and wage entry of Rs 1815/. The online job cards of Chintamani Bisi (1210) and Purna Chandra Sabar (20619) have job entry for 22 days and wage entry of Rs 1210/each.

The online job cards of Pitambar Sabar, Girdhari Sabar (20400), Lingraj Sabar (20401), Lachman Sabar (20395), Tularam Sabar (20405), Baldeb Sabar (20411), Juge Sabar (20417), Benu Sabar (20417), Bighna Sabar (20440), Durjyadhan Thela (20443)Lachman Sabar (20444), Mule Sabar (20458), Jayasan Thela (20461), Sasidhar Sabar (40462), Chakra Sabar (20463), Bhagban Sabar (20464), Kapur Sabar (20466) and Sabetri Sabar (20467) have job entries between 21-1 days.

Harsha Sabar (20469), Nirakar Sabar (20473), Sanyasi Sabar (20475), Dambarudhar Sabar (20476), Ketaki Sabar (20504), Digambar Sabar (20507), Bailochan Pod (20512), Keshaba Pod (20513), Rabi Sabar (20559), Mayadhar Sabar (20563), Bikram Sabar (20573), Purna Sabar (20575), Sanat Sabar (20576), Rajin Sabar (20578), Parshuram Sabar (20579), Rupadhar Podh (20586), Purnachandra Sabar (20619), Jharpodh Sabar (20620), Tirtha Sabar (20622), Dambaru Sabar (20626), Jagal Sabar (20702), Upendra Sabar (20735), Chandrasekhar Sabar (20737), Sugre Sabar (20738) and Cheru Sabar (20741) have job entries between 1-18 days.

The online job cards of Kshetra Sabar (20778), Mahendra Bishi (20786), Rajendra Duria (20802), Gundhar Sabar (20827), Tikeram Sabar (27568), Bhoka Sabar (27569), Uma Sabar, Akshya Sabar (27572), Radhamohan Suna (27574), Bhaira Sabar (27575), Dhansa Sabar (27576), Madhava Naik (27577) and Gobardhan Sabar (27578) have job entries between 1-14 days. Since no household in Kotamal has received any job under NREGS, all these job entries are fake and fabricated and have been done in order to misappropriate funds. So, it is clear that executing officials have siphoned significant amount of NREGS funds by forging job related documents of Kotamal village.

Ranimunda under Ranimunda Panchayat (Khariar Block) is another village of Nuapada district where the government officials have converted rural employment guarantee scheme into income guarantee scheme for themselves. Ranimunda is a very poor village and there is very high level of distress migration in this village. We were told by the villagers that this village has about 300 households but only 20 families have been given job cards. Since all the job cards of the village were lying with the Panchayat Secretary, it was not possible for us to record individual testimonies. However, large number of villagers came out to meet us. They told us that every social wefare scheme meant for poor Adivasis and Dalits of the village is fraught with massive corruption.

The PDS ration is given once in 4-6 months, but the Panchayat Secretary makes bogus entries of ration offtake even for the months when no ration has been given. The brother of Panchayat Secretary has collected Rs 400-500 from many poor villagers giving false promise of providing them Old Age Pension and Widow Pension. The Panchayat Secretary (Madhav Hati) has collected Rs 500 from Harishankar Putel, aged 65, promising him Old Age Pension. Varja Bisi, aged 70, has given Rs 150 to the Secretary hoping that he would be given Old Age Pension. The brother of Secretary (Parame Hati) has collected Rs 200 from Belmati Bisi promising her widow pension. He has collected Rs 400 from Pakhane too promising him Old Age Pension. Many more villagers have been exploited by the Panchayat officials in similar manner.

We were told by the villagers that some families had got 10-15 days of wage employment in road improvement work from Ranimunda Gahirpada to Dumermunda (estimated budget Rs. 4, 18, 000), but nobody had received any wage payment for NREGS work. The work was done during Jan-Feb 2007. When we checked the online job cards of Ranimunda village, there is no mention of this work in these cards. However, we found 66 online job cards of Ranimunda which show job and wage entries for a totally different work- metalling of Ranimunda to Sardhapur Road in September-October 2006. Moreover, there are 374 online job cards of Ranimunda village, whereas villagers had told us that only 20 families out of total 300 households had got job cards. Therefore, it is clear that not only Panchayat officials have got job cards in the name of all the households of the village, but there is possibility of many ghost job cards too in the village.

Is it possible that 66 families of the village have been given wage employment under NREGS and no one in the village knows anything about it? It is almost impossible. It is apparently a case of ghost work and fake job entries in order to misappropriate NREGS funds. There are 66 online job cards of Ranimunda village with fake job entries between 72-5 days for the metalling of Ranimunda to Sardhapur Road during Sept-Oct 2006. The online job card of Bajanath Hial (19512) shows that 4 members of the family have been given employment for a total of 72 days and paid an amount of Rs 3960/ as wages. The online job card of Mohangiri Hial (19395) too shows that 4 members of the family were given a total of 62 days of wage employment under NREGS and were paid Rs 3630/as wages. The online job card of Abhimanyu Sunani (19405) suggests that 3 members of the family were given a total of 45 days of work and were paid Rs 2475/ as wages.

The online job card of Kurupati Duria (19410) suggests that 4 members of the family have been given a total of 56 days of work under NREGS and received Rs 3052/ as wages. The online job card of Thandu Hial shows that 3 members of the household have availed a total of 41 days of employment and have been paid Rs 2255/ as wages. The online job card of Rabichan Mangaraj (19509) suggests that 5 members of the family had worked for a total of 55 days and were paid Rs 3025/ as wages. Hiradhar Mangaraj (19669) has job entry for 40 days and wage entry of Rs 2200/. The online job card of Rupadhar Hial (19718) shows that 4 members of the family have got wage employment for 58 days and Rs 3190/ as wages.

Kusa Hial (19738) has 42 days of job entry and wage entry of Rs 2310/. The online job card of Damru Hial (19791) suggests that 3 members of the family were given a total of 43 days of work and Rs 2310/ as wages. Dhaniram Sunani (19794) has job entry of 42 days and wage entry of Rs 2310/ for 3 members of the family. Artha Sunani (19903) has job entry of 49 days and wage entry of Rs 2640/ for 5 members of the family. Balmat Hial (19916) has job entry for 48 days and wage entry of Rs 2640/. Dhaniram Hial (19409) has job entry for 39 days, Lalkar Duria (19414) for 29 days, Thulru Sunani (19472) for 31 days, Jagat Hial (19559) for 36 days, Rohit Sunani (19624) for 32 days, Daya Hial (19671) for 21 days and Badala Bibhar (19677) has job entry for for 32 days. Benudhar Bag (19678), Cheru Jagat (19680), Mrutyunjaya Deep (19699), Bira Mangaraj, Kalasingh Jagat (19904) and Harsh Mangraj (27515)- each has job entry for 24 days and wage entry of Rs 1320/.

The online job card of Dasru Duria (19719) has job entry for 33 days, Agin Tandi (19731) has job entry for 27 days, Murli Sunani (19789) for 36 days, Indra Sunani (19978) for 29 days, Digbal Jagat (26049) for 32 days, Jaldhar Hial (26051) for 27 days, Sundar Jagat (26052) for 33 days and Kondi Jagat (27516) has job entry for 36 days. Upendra Hial (19399), Gaurang Hial (19404), Puran Sunani (19406), Sadhu Sunani (19410), Mangalu Mangaraj (19499), Laikhan Jagat (19514), Leban Duria (19515), Tripura Jagat (19784), Jamin Sunani (19828), Rukse Hial, Sahadeb Hial (19854), Manoj Hial (19874), Sabu Bag (19883), Nagarhi Sunani (19931), Chaitanya Hial (19952), Bholanath Hial (26030), Jugeswar Hial (26032), Kokil Hial (26035), Setbali Mangaraj (26046), Ghasiram Bag (26054), Suka Sunani (27444), Kusha Hial (27445), Sadu Jagat (27446), Pabitra Mangaraj (27447), Dhaniram Sunani (27448), Malia Sunani (27449) and Shibratu (27517) have job entries between 4-16 days.

All these entries are fake and fabricated because nobody from Ranimunda village has got any work in this road project. The entire wage money withdrawn in the name of these 66 households of Ranimunda has been siphoned and misappropriated by the executing officials. Is it financial bungling or open and participatory loot by sarkari mafia of Orissa?

Dabari village under Dabari Panchayat (Khariar Block) had also got some NREGS projects. We were told by the villagers that some of them had worked in the metalling of road from Dabri to Bhairajpur during june 2006, but they did not get any payment. Many villagers had also worked in a tank renovation work in December 2006, but they did not get any payment. Since all the job cards of the village were lying with VLW, it was not possible for us to record individual testimonies. Purna Tandi and his wife had worked for 20 days in the tank renovation project during December 2006, but they did not get their wages. Diasar Tandi told us that he along with 6 other villagers had worked for 20 days on the road project, but none of them have received their wages. We were also informed by the villagers that they get PDS rice only once in 5-6 months.

Bhaludungari village of Dabari Panchayat had also got some projects under NREGS. The metalling of road from Dabari to Bhairajpur was carried out in June 2006 and construction of CC road at Bhaludungari Basti Road Phase II is going on. The wife of Gabru Majhi had worked for 12 days in January 2007, but she has not received her wages. There are 10-12 women who worked in the CC road project, but they have not receved their wages. These women were given the task of sprinkling water on the CC road. They were being paid only half of the wages, because the task was considered easier. Therefore, all these women refused to accept it and told the executing officials that they would take only full wages. Some of the women who had worked in the CC road project and have not been paid include, Madhuri Majhi, Surekha Majhi, Rudani Majhi and Urmila Majhi.

Findings during Field Trial of Corruption Detection Tool (CDT) in Nuapada

Besides 11 villages of Khariar Block (Nuapada) where we had carried out Survey in the last week of May 2007, we carried out field trial of the Corruption Detection Tool (CDT) in 6 villages (only selected job cards) of the same block during July 2007. The field trial results from these 7 villages are no less shocking.

We tested 3 job cards of Khasbahal village under Khasbahal Panchayat. Murlidhar Sabar (6970) had actually got only 45 days of wage employment, but his online job card has job entry for 107 days. Rohit Sabar (6285) had got 66 days of work under NREGS, but his online job card has 102 days’ job entry. Durjayadhan (6781) too had got 66 days of employment during 2006-7, but his online job card has job entry for 107 days.

We tested 6 job cards of Chandel village under Khasbahal Panchayat. Jayaram Dandasena (7251) had worked for 84 days, but his online job card has job entry for 108 days. Gangadhar Naik (7219) had got only 21 days of work, but his online job card has job entry for 105 days. Chabilal Goud (7090) had worked for 42 days, but his online job card has job entry for 108 days. Patuari Dandasena (7226) had worked for 84 days, but he has job entry for 108 days. Phulsingh Dandasena (7082) had worked for only 42 days, but he has job entry for 110 days. Tainchu Parabhoi (7223) had got only 42 days of work, but his online job card has job entry for 108 days.

We have tested 7 job cards of Bahalpadar village (Khasbahal Panchayat) during field trial of CDT. Abhiram Bhoi (6680) had actually got only 30 days of employment, but his online job card has job entry for 106 days. The online job card of Ganesh Thela (6817) has job entry for 108 days, however, he had worked for only 42 days. Bairagi Punji (6857) has job entry for 101 days, but he had actually worked for only 4 days. Manjula Thela (6813) and Makunda Bhoi (6821) both had worked for 60 days each, however, their online job cards have job entries for 106 days each. Chatranga Thela (6833) had got 63 days of work under NREGS, but his online job card has job entry for 105 days. Chinu Nag (6807) had actually worked for only 24 days, but his online job card has job entry for 103 days.

We tested 4 job cards from Duajhar Gram Panchayat during field trial. Jaidhar Majhi (12226) from Samserpadar village had got only 8 days of work, but official records have job entry for 102 days. Giridhari Majhi (12513) and Chitman Majhi (12568) from Khamatrai village have job entries of 102 days and 100 days respectively. However, none of them had actually got any work under the rural job scheme. Gajman Majhi (26698) from Khamatrai village had got only 30 days of work, but his online job card shows job entry for 102 days.

We have tested 3 job cards from Kirkita Gram Panchayat too. Kunja Rout (4030) and Kendu Majhi (4004) from Junapani village of Kirkita Panchayat had actually got only 14 days of work each. However, official records of both show job entry for 108 days each. Rupsingh Majhi (3596) from Kirkita village had worked for only 33 days, but his online job records show job entry for 100 days. There has been open loot of NREGS funds in all these villages.

Chapter-VI

BOLANGIR

The total number of job cards issued in the district of Bolangir is 162162. Bolangir was allocated Rs 46. 70 crore to implement NREGS in the district during 2006-7. As per official records, this district spent Rs. 42. 47 crore and provided a total of 49. 15 lakh persondays of employment to 80092 households in the district. In other words, each of the 80092 families has been given on an average 61 days of wage employment. To put it differently, about half of the job card holding familes in Bolangir district have been given on an average 61 days of wage employment during 2006-7. The total number of households which completed 100 days of employment in the district is 10572 during the year. This is no mean achievement. However, our survey in 11 villages of Turekela Block of the district gave us a totally different picture of the NREGS implementation. The reality in the villages of Bolangir is not so encouraging.

We had surveyed 10 villages of Turekela Block in Bolangir district. The surveyed villages include Hial (Hial GP), Kuibahal (Kuibahal GP), Chatuanka, kurli and Beherensilet from Chatuanka GP, Bandhanpali, Kasamal, Jamutjhola, Dhamandanga and Kandhabahal from Dhamandanga GP. All these villages have a very high level of distress migration. Most of these villagers live a life of semi-starvation and abject poverty. We were told by villagers that job cards had been issued in all the ten villages, but there was no NREGS work in 8 of the villages.

Hial was the first village visited by us. It is a tribal dominant village. Villagers told us that most of them had received job cards in June 2006, but there was no wage employment given under NREGS in the village. Since we were doing an evaluation and assessment of the NREGS, there was nothing more to investigate in the village, because villagers told us clearly that they had not got any work under this scheme. However, we are shocked to note that out of 171 online job cards of Hial village, 86 of them have job entries between 34-102 days. The online job records of Hial suggest that 86 families of the village were given wage employment in improvement of Balasutrakata at Hial during April-June 2006. All these job entries are apparently fake and fabricated and a lot of NREGS money has been siphoned in the name of these poor villagers.

The online job card of Muni Majhi (24378) has fake job entry for 102 days and wage entry of Rs 5610/. The online job cards of Hemasagar Gaenta (25225), Kismata Sahu (17630), Bhanu Chandra Sahu (17618), Phaganu Bag (17570), Satya Majhi (17555), Lokanatha Majhi (17552), Nare Majhi (17535), Keshaba Majhi (17532) and Tekachanda Putel have job entries for 80 days and wage entries of Rs 4792 each. Rukuni Putel (24468), Muni Putel (24476), Bhim Ganeta (25217), Nipesh Majhi (17539), Gunia Putel (17553), Ganesh Putel (17558), Mohana Majhi (17595) and Haresha Majhi (17529)- each has job entry for 79 days and wage entry of Rs 4737/.

The online job cards of Purohita Majhi (17475), Rasika Majhi (17485) and Dambaru Majhi (17501) have job entries for 78 days and wage entries of Rs 4682/ each. Bhujabala Majhi (25221) and Metu Sahu (17619) both have job entries for 74 days each and corresponding wage entries. Rabiram Bhue (17552) has job entry for 73 days, Tanka Majhi (17464) for 46 days, Tila Gainta (17466) for 40 days, Dhaneswar Majhi (17472) for 57 days, Subha Majhi (17487) and Kaibala Majhi (17491) both for 34 days each, Kapurchan Majhi (17493) and Kirtan Majhi (17494) both for 40 days each, Gurubaru Majhi (17460) for 39 days, Nrupa Majhi (17423) for 34 days and Sumitra Majhi (17432) has job entry for 38 days.

Radha Majhi (17429), Iswar Gainta (17436), Indara Majhi (17438), Gangananda Gainta (17439), Phaganu Sipka (17417), Dhamansingh Majhi (17421) and Gunia Putel (17459)- each has job entry for 40 days. Sukru Majhi (17413) has job entry for 39 days, Hira Tandi (17447) and Sija Majhi (17453) both for 34 days each, Kusala Majhi (17455) for 31 days and Dambaru Gainta (17445) has job entry for 71 days. All these job entries are apparently fake and fabricated. There are another 40 online job cards of Hial with similar job and wage entries. So, it is clear that significant amount of NREGS fund has been siphoned in the name of these poor villagers.

Kuibahal was the second village of Bolangir visited by us. The story of Kuibahal is similar to Hial. We were told by the villagers that they had got job cards but no wage employment under the rural job scheme. When we checked the online job records of this village, we found 208 online job cards and many of them have job entries for more than 2-3 months. It is shocking to note that 18 online job cards of Kuibahal have job entries for more than 100 days.

The online job records of Kuibahal suggest that two NREGS projects were executed in the village during April-June 2006; (1)TKl-Improvement of Tank at Khaliamunda at Kuibahal in May -June 2006, and (2) Construction of Tank at Hatpada at Kuibahal in May-June 2006. The online job card of Bamana Tandi (16412) has job entry for 103 days and wage entry of Rs 5665/. Baishnaba Mahananda (16451) has job entry for 100 days and wage entry of Rs 5500/. Arkura Hans (16467), Diga Kumbhar (16471), Tinagalu Tandi (16478), Krushna Lahak (16593), Arjuna Lahak (16632), Pabitra Tandi (16736) and Arnasara Dharua (16737)- each has job entry for 102 days and wage entry of Rs 5610/. Rudra Sipka (16747), Satrughana Bag (16614) and Sobhakara Bag (16506) have job entries for 101 days and wage entries of Rs 5555/ each.

Banchha Lahak (16518), Dhusa Sagria (16592) and Sahadeba Lahak have job entries for 105 days and wage entries of Rs 5775/ each. Ratnakar Mahananda (16622) has job entry for 104 days and wage entry of Rs 5720/. There are dozens of online job cards with job and wage entries.

In Jamutjhula village, villagers told us that they had received only job cards and no work under NREGS. However, we have found that out of 354 online job cards of this village, many have job and wage entries. The official records suggest that large number of villagers were given wage employment in Jamutjhula to Bandhanpali road with CD works in May-June 2006. There are 3 online job cards of Jamutjhula with job entries for more than 100 days. Jita Rana (9071) has job entry for 105 days, Bishnu Rana (9083) has entry for 104 days and Manohara Rana (9132) has job entry for 102 days. There are many more job cards with job entries for more than 2-3 months. It is clear that executing officials have siphoned off a lot of wage money from this village too.

We were told by people in Kandhabahal village that they had not received any wage employment under rural job scheme and about half of the villagers had migrated out of Orisaa in search of wage work. However, we have found that out of 190 online job cards of this village, many have job entries for over 1-2 months. The official job records of this village suggest that large number of villagers were given wage employment in two NREGS projects; (1)Improvement of Janimunda Tank at Kandhabahal in May-June 2006, and (2)Jamutjhula to Bandhanpali road with CD works in May- June 2006.

The online job card of Tankadhar Nag (10347) has job entry for 50 days. Gupteswar Jani (10359) and Tara Jani (10363) both have job entry for 40 days each. Gopal Bag (10350) has job entry for 48 days, Dhanasingh Bag (10366) for 37 days, Santosh Panika (10374) for 54 days, Anirudh Parabhue (10391) for 72 days, Tularam Jani (10399) for 37 days, Parmeshwar Parabhue (10401) for 46 days and Krushna Hans (10415) has job entry for 51 days. Large number of online job cards of Kandhabahal have similar job entries, whereas villagers had categorically denied working in any NREGS project. If villagers were correct, then there has been a lot of financial bungling in this village too.

Beherensilet village had executed two NREGS projects during 2006-7 ; 1. renovation of Runibandh Tank at Beherensilet during April-June 2006, 2. improvement of road from Bhimagadi to Naik Pada at Beherensilet in June- July 2006. We were told by the villagers that many of them had got wage employment in these projects. Since all the job cards of the village were lying with the VLW, we decided againt recording individual testimonies. However, villagers told us that they had worked for 20-30 days in these projects. We also met the new Sarpach but she did not know anything about these works.

There are 268 online job cards of Beherensilet. Large number of job cards have job entries for more than 2-3 months. There are 14 online job cards with job entries for 102 days, 1 card has job entry for 103 days and 1 has entry for 100 days. Lalit Sindur, Panchu Nial, Rushi Naik, Ganapata Bag, Duryodhana Majhi, Jala Majhi, Haladhara Nial, Kandarpa Majhi, Ratana Majhi, Jugase Majhi, Bada Nag, Suka Bag, Lalita Dharua and Ganda Chinagun- all have job entries for 102 days. Alekha Putel has job entry for 103 days and Jayakrushna Majhi for 100 days. If villagers are correct, then there has been massive financial bungling in this village.

Bandhanpali village had implemented one NREGS project last year; improvement of Gocharmunda Tank at Bandhanpali during May-June 2006. We were informed by the villagers that they had worked in this project for 10- 20 days. However, many of the 142 online job cards of this village have job entries between 30-63 days. Uttam Kaur (24180) has job entry for 44 days, Indra Majhi (9576) for 33 days, Kirti Kaur (9578) for 35 days, Kabi Majhi (9594) for 63 days and Banamali Kunar has job entry for 44 days. There are many more job cards with similar job entries. Since all the job cards of this village were lying with the VLW, we could not take individual testimonies. Therefore, it is difficult for us to make any definitive comment about this village. However, if villagers were correct, then there is definitely financial bungling in this village too.

Annexure-1

List of Surveyed villages

BOLANGIR DISTRICT

1.	Village: Hila Gram Panchayat: Hial Block: Turekela	2.	Bandhanpali: GP: Dhamandanga Block: Turekela
3.	Village: Kuibahal Gram Panchayt: Kuibahal Block: Turekela	4.	Kasamal GP: Dhamandanga Block: Turekela
5.	Village: Chatuanka GP: Chatuanka Block: Turekela	6.	Jamurjhola GP: Dhamandanga Block: Turekela
7.	Village: Kurli GP: Chatuanka Block: Turekela	8.	Dhamandanga GP: Dhamandanga Block: Turekela
9.	Village: Beherensilet GP: Chatuanka Block: Turekela	10.	Kandhbahal GP: Dhamandanga Block: Turekela

NUAPADA DISTRICT

11.	Village: Sardhapur GP: Sardhapur Block: Khariar	12.	Khamtarai GP: Duajhar Block: Khariar
13.	Ranimunda GP: Ranimunda Block: Khariar	14.	Village: Dabri GP: Dabri Block: Khariar
15.	Kampany Gumma GP: Ranimunda Block: Khariar	16.	Bhainrajpur GP: Dabri Block: Khariar
17.	Village: Palma GP: Ranimunda Block: Khariar	18.	Kudal Dungri GP: Dabri Block: Khariar
19.	Kantamal GP: Ranimunda Block: Khariar	20.	Bhaludungir GP: Dabri Block: Khariar Nuapada
21.	Mahulkot GP: Ranimunda Block: Khariar

KALAHANDI DISTRICT

22.	Tengna Bahali GP: Chancer Block: Bhawani Patna	23.	Duarsuni GP: Duarsuni Bhawanipatna
24.	Dhanrabhatta GP: Chancher Bhawanipatna	25.	Village: Palsipada GP: Talbelgaon Bhawanipatna
26.	Pokharighat GP: Chancher Bhawanipatna	27.	Kucheijore GP: Baddharpur Block: Narla
28.	Sikerguda GP: Chancher Bhawanipatna	29.	Sapdohani GP: Buddharpur Block: Narla
30.	Chancher GP: Chancher Bhawanipatna	31.	Village: Suknabhatta GP: Santapur Narla
32.	Kutenpadar GP: Duarsuni Bhawanipatna	33.	Alabula GP: Ghatmal Block: Narla
34.	Atangaguda GP: Duarsuni Bhawanipatna	35.	Village: Murka GP- Talnagi Block-Thuamulrampur
36.	Ghosanimunda GP: Duarsuni Bhawanipatna	37.	Village: Talnagi GP- Talnagi Block-Thuamulrampur

KORAPUT DISTRICT

38.	Village: Khilua GP: Hikimput Block: Nandapur	39.	Village: Bispur GP: Hikimput Nandpur
40.	Niladharput GP: Hikimput Block: Nandapur	41.	Village: Sarbaput GP:Hikimput Block: Nandapur
42.	Bilaput GP: Hikimput Block: Nandapur	43.	Patrapandi GP:Hikimput Block: Nandapur
44.	Village: Satsemali GP: Thuba Block: Nandapur	45.	Hantiput GP: Bheja Nandapur
46.	Raisingh GP: Raisingh Nandapur	47.	Village: Bheja GP: Bheja Nandapur
48.	Kokhada GP: Raisingh Block: Nandapur	49.	Taintar GP: Bheja Nandapur
50.	Village: Mangarel GP:Raisingh Block: Nandapur	51.	Village: Khadaput GP: Balda Nandapur
52.	Village: Katerba GP:Raisingh Block: Nandapur	53.	Kantasaru GP: Balda Nandapur
54.	Chiliput GP:Raisingh Block: Nandapur	55.	Village: Musipali GP: Pipalpadar Block-Laxmipur
56.	Village: Hanjar Pentha GP: Bheja Block: Nandapur	57.	Village-Ramijhola GP: Pipalpadar Block-Laxmipur
58.	Village: Kharaguda GP:Raisingh Block: Nandapur

 NABARANGPUR DISTRICT

59.	Village: Kanheimunda GP: Lamtaguda Block-Tentulikhunti	60.	ParjaBarangpadar GP: Goudadeopali Block- Tentulikhunti
61.	Lakiguda GP: Lamtaguda Block-Tentulikhunti	62.	Paik Barangpadar GP: Goudadeopali Block- Tentulikhunti
63.	Lamtaguda GP: Lamtaguda Block-Tentulikhunti	64.	Pujariguda GP: Pujariguda Block- Tentulikhunti
65.	Village: Manchagaon GP: Manchagaon Block- Tentulikhunti	66.	Daniguda GP: Pujariguda Block- Tentulikhunti
67.	Kenduguda GP: Manchagaon Block- Tentulikhunti	68.	Bijapadar GP: Tentulikhunti Block- Tentulikhunti
69.	Parajadeopali GP: Goudadeopali Block- Tentulikhunti	70.	Tabhapadar GP; Tentulikhunti Block- Tentulikhunti
71.	Goudadeopali GP: Goudadeopali Block- Tentulikhunti	72.	Village: Merakani GP: Tentulikhunti Nabarangpur
73.	Chapdapas GP: Goudadeopali Block- Tentulikhunti	74.	Village: Khandiguda GP: Tentulikhunti Nabarangpur

RAYAGADA DISTRICT

75.	Village: Khurigaon GP: Kashipur Block- Kashipur	76.	Badamaribhatta (Gopalsahi) Gorakhpur GP Kashipur
77.	Village:Maligaon GP-Kashipur Kashipur	78.	Village: Limada Gorakhpur GP Kashipur
79.	Champajodi GP: Renga Block-Kashipur	80.	Village: Gotiguda GP: Kashipur
81.	Village: Dumel GP: Renga Block-Kashipur	82.	Village: Jhariguma GP- Taljhiri Kashipur
83.	Village: Perepa GP: Siripai Block-Kashipur	84.	Village: Ladakhaman GP- Sunger Kashipur
85.	Badamaribhatta GP: Gorakhpur Block-Kashipur	86.	Village: Ada Takri GP- Sunger Kashipur
87.	Village: Siriguda Kashipur	88.	Village: Adajore GP: Adajore Block- Kashipur
89.	Kumbharsila GP-Kashipur Block-Kashipur	90.	Village: Tikra Tunesh GP: Adajore Block- Kashipur
91.	Village: Podabandha GP: Maikanch Kashipur	92.	Village: Julkaguda GP: Adajore Block- Kashipur
93.	Village: Renga GP: Renga Kashipur	94.	Village: Musatakri GP: Adajore Block- Kashipur
95.	Villages: Telengiri GP: Renga Kashipur	96.	Village: Barangpas GP: Adajore Block- Kashipur
97.	Village: Phatamunda GP; Renga Kashipur	98.	Village: KrisaKebedi GP: Adajore Block- Kashipur
99.	Village: Mahulkona GP: Renga Kashipur	100.	Village: Jodamba GP: Adajore Block- Kashipur
101.	Village: Charjodi GP; Renga Kashipur	102.	Village: Panashguda GP: Kashipur Kashipur
103.	Gorakhpur villages Gorakhpur GP Kashipur	104.	Village: Bilamal GP: Tikri Block- Kashipur