PAEG organized a public hearing of the (ten) entitlements under NREGA at the

Gandhi Peace Foundation on November 12, 2010 to developing a collective

understanding of the status of MGNREGA across states and develop a concerted action
plan to improve its implementation.

We heard workers experiences of accessing their entitlements for “Employment”,

“Wages” and “Corruption and Transparency”. There have been some successes but
serious implementation gaps remain.

Employment
Violation of the dated receipt for job application was reported in almost all states
represented. Often people needed to go in multiples of 50-100 to even submit their
applications. Vulnerable groups were denied the opportunity to even get jobcards made to
force them into bonded labour situations. For instance one person in Rajasthan sold
himself for Rs 4000 while he could have earned Rs 10,000 under NREGA if he had a job
card. Work was deliberately not allotted either with the intention of getting the work done
through machining or defalcate unemployment allowance

Wages
Payment of less than the notified wage is rampant across all states due to deliberately
shoddy implementation of the piece-rate system. Workers are often able to make more
money on non-NREGA works than under NREGA. This situation is exacerbated because
many states are paying less than the state notified minimum wages. Even the reduced
payments are subject to acute delays to further disincent workers from NREGA.
Jharkhand and Rajasthan have reported some success in obtaining compensation for late
payments by invoking the Payment of Wages Act, 1936 and launching a helpline in
conjunction with the Collector in the latter

Corruption and Transparency

There is evidence of patent disinterest in the Government to pursue corrupt officials. For
instance Rs 6 crores of defalcation was found in 32 panchayats; however no action has
been taken against any of the implicated persons.

In view of the above, PAEG has passed the following resolutions:

1) MoRD must issue notice to all states that NREGA workers must be registered
under the Trade Union Act
2) We note with great concern the continued prevalence of bonded labour in the
country. The government must immediately take up the issue on priority basis.
However the fact that NREGA workers in 19 states are being paid less than
minimum wage shows that the government itself is perpetuating forced labour.
The government must immediately revert to Section 6(2) of the NREGA
3) NREGA notified wages must be reconciled with the Minimum Wage Act and
must be linked with inflation (CPIAL) and revised annually
4) MoRD must immediately investigate and punish the corrupt officials that resulted
in payment of Rs 1 per day for eleven days of work to 99 workers in Tonk district.
The workers must immediately be paid their just wages along with compensation
for delayed payment
5) Number of days entitled under NREGA should be increased from 100 days to 200
days per family
6) NREGA has helped highlight the chronic inefficiency and unaccountability of the
country’s governance. The government must immediately implement
transparency in all its work
7) If the use of JCBs are found at any worksite, the machine must be immediately
seized
8) Compensation must be immediately paid for late payments
9) Schedule 13b must be amended to enable facilitation by civil society groups in
social audits, to ensure proper implementation and transparency in NREGA
works. In addition the sarpanch or any other implementing agency shall not chair
the social audit gram sabha
10) The government must immediately initiate punitive action against all implicated
officials for the Rs 6 crores worth of defalcation found in NREGA works in 32
panchayats
11) UID must not be implemented in NREGA
12) A coordination group will be revived to take up MGNREGA issues at the
National level

In Solidarity
Annie Raja, Aruna Roy, Arundhati Dhuru, Neta Hardikar, Nikhil Dey, R D Vyas