| NEWSPAPER
Clippings about Survey Report on Hunger in Adivasi Areas of Rajasthan & Jharkhand
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Rs 2,100 cr rural job scam in MP?
Vibha Sharma
Tribune News Service
New
Delhi, July 25
After unearthing Rs 500-crore scam in Orissa, a second survey carried
out by the Delhi-based Centre for Environment and Food Security
(CEFS) has claimed to unearth yet another multicrore scam in the
UPA government’s flagship National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme
(NREGS) and this time in Madhya Pradesh.
Alleging
a Rs 2,100 crore scam in the rural employment guarantee scheme of
MP, the organisation, on the basis of a survey, says that only 25
per cent of NREGS funds were actually spent on providing employment
to the poor and remaining 75 per cent were siphoned off through
fake job entries in muster rolls and job cards.
According
to CEFS director Parshuram Rai, the sample survey was conducted
in MP between December 2007 and January 2008 in 125 poorest villages
spread over five poorest districts of the state in Shivpuri, Chhattarpur,
Tikamgarh, Dhar and Jhabua.
As
per data posted on the NREGA website, the state was provided Rs
3,288 crore under NREGS and was able to spend Rs 2,891 crore during
2007-08. With this expenditure, 2753 lakh persondays of wage employment
was given to 43,46,916 households during this period. In other words,
43,46,916 households were given 63 days of average employment during
2007-08.
Ray,
however, says that during first 10 months of 2007-08 (April 2007-January
2008), sample households got only 10.61 days of average employment
and just 2.36 per cent sample households got 100 days of wage employment.
“It was shocking to note that 65.39 per cent of sample households
did not receive even a single day of employment between April 2007
and January 2008. Moreover, 38.49 per cent of sample households
never got any employment under the NREGS,” he alleges.
The
CEFS study suggests that really speaking not more than 16 days of
average employment was given to needy households during 2007-08.
Since sample households in MP were given only 10.61 days of average
employment during first 10 months of 2007-08, the average employment
during 12 months of the financial year 2007-08 came to about 13
days.
“Even
if three days more are added on account of margin of error, the
average employment figure for the year comes to only 16 days. Therefore,
average employment figure of 63 days claimed by the state government
is about four times more than the CEFS figure of 16 days,” he says.
The
difference is because only about 25 percent of the job figures given
by the MP government are actual and remaining three-fourth are based
on faked job entries in job cards and muster rolls, he adds
In
other words, only 25 per cent of NREGS funds actually reached intended
beneficiaries in the state while the remaining, about 75 percent,
were siphoned off by officials.
Published
in The Tribune, Chandigarh dated July 26, 2008
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Funds for rural jobs stolen in Bhopal
New Delhi, July 24: An NGO has questioned Madhya Pradesh’s credentials
as India’s top performer in the rural job scheme, saying state officials
had siphoned off at least 75 per cent of the funds by showing bogus
projects.
A
sample survey by the Delhi-based Centre for Environment and Food
Security (CEFS), conducted across five districts of the BJP-ruled
state, says just over a fifth of the official spending and project
figures are true.
Officially,
the state’s 4,346,916 eligible families were provided an average
of 63 days of employment in 2007-08, against the National Rural
Employment Guarantee Scheme’s target of 100 workdays a year. The
CEFS survey says the actual figure was only about 13 days.
“The
difference is so steep because corruption is rampant in the region.
At the most, only 25 per cent of the job figures on the scheme’s
website are real — the remaining are fake entries in the muster
rolls and cards,” said CEFS director Parshuram Rai, who spent nine
months in the five districts to help complete the survey.
“Most
of these people don’t know what a muster roll is. So, if only 25
per cent of the actual allocated amount of Rs 2,891 crore is being
spent under the scheme, then Rs 2,100 crore (75 per cent) is being
siphoned off.”....
Click
here to view full report
Posted
at The Telegraph dated July 24, 2008
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M.P.
Government’s tall claims on jobs scheme challenged
BHOPAL: A study carried out by the Delhi-based Centre for Environment
and Food Security (CEFS) has challenged the Madhya Pradesh Government’s
claim that under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme
(NREGA) Rs.2891 crore out of a total allotment of Rs.3288 crore
was spent to give 2753 lakh person-days of wage employment to 4,346,916
households in the State during 2007-08.
Briefing
media persons here, CEFS Director Parshuram Rai said that the study,
based on a purposive sample survey, was carried out in December
2007-January 2008 in 125 poorest villages spread over five of the
poorest districts -- Shivpuri, Chhatarpur, Tikamgarh, Dhar and Jhabua.
According
to the CEFS survey, during the first 10 months of 2007-08 (April
2007-January 2008), the sample households got only 10.61 days of
average employment and just 2.36 per cent of the sample households
were given 100 days of wage employment. The CEFS findings reveal
that 65.39 per cent of the sample households did not receive even
a single day of employment during the year. The study suggests that
16 days of average employment was given to the needy households
during 2007-08...
Click
here to view full report
Posted
at The Hindu dated July 19, 2008
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Job
scheme: NGO survey finds huge scam in Madhya Pradesh
Bhopal, July 17: Even as the Madhya Pradesh Government pats itself
on the back for its implementation of the National Rural Employment
Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), the Delhi-based Centre for Environment
and Food Security (CEFS) on Thursday alleged that a major chunk
of the money was siphoned off by those in charge of disbursement.
The CEFS disclosure came out after a study conducted over two months
in 125 villages spread over five MP districts.
CEFS
director Parshuram Rai claimed officials submitted inflated estimates
and used heavy machines like JCBs and dumpers to carry out the works.
The money was pocketed by creating fake job cards and bogus entries
in muster rolls, the NGO alleged in its report released to the media.
According
to the NREGA website, the state was given Rs 3,288 crore and was
able to spend Rs 2,891 crore during 2007-08. In other words, 43,46,916
households in MP were given 63 days of average employment during
that period, Rai said.
The
CEFS survey, however, found that the households got only 10.61 days
of average employment during the period of the study and just 2.36
per cent of the households got 100 days of wage employment, which
is the scheme’s basic objective. Rai alleged that 65.39 per cent
of the households did not receive a single day of employment.
CEFS
alleged that as much as three-fourth of the job figures were based
on fake entries, adding that if the samples were extended to the
entire state a whopping amount of Rs 2,100 crore was siphoned off
and misappropriated by executing officials of the implementing agencies.
Sarpanches,
panchayat secretaries and local activists in Shivpuri, Tikamgarh,
Chhatarpur, Dhar and Jhabua districts reportedly told the researchers
that money was released only when the authorities concerned received
their pound of flesh. Transparency safeguards inbuilt in the scheme
are virtually non- existent in Madhya Pradesh, he alleged, adding
that not a single villager, labourer or gram panchayat functionary
in the sample villages had heard of social audits.
Despite
several attempts state Panchayat and Rural Development Minister
Rustam Singh was not available for comments. A senior bureaucrat,
who was associated with the department till recently, dismissed
the report saying: “It’s a big scheme, there may be some irregularities.
Action will follow a proper channel.”
Posted
at The
Indian Express dated July 18, 2008
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Corruption
in rural job scheme
SC notice to Centre, states
Vibha
Sharma
Tribune News Service
New
Delhi, May 20
The Centre's ambitious rural employment scheme - National Rural
Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) - is under scanner once again.
The scheme ensures employment guarantee of 100 days in every financial
year to adult members of any rural household willing to do unskilled
manual work at statutory minimum wage.
After
a reality check by CAG, which concluded post a survey of 68 randomly
selected districts, that barely 3.2 per cent of registered households
were able to avail 100 days of employment as promised by the scheme,
the Supreme Court has issued notices to the Centre and all states
following a petition alleging large-scale corruption in NREGS.
The
petition, filed by Delhi-based Centre for Environment and Food Security
(CEFS) in the Apex court in January 2008, highlighted that most
of the funds issued under the scheme were not reaching intended
beneficiaries. Lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan, the counsel for
the CEFS, asked for effective execution of NREGA and schemes envisaged
under the Act and pleaded that directions be issued for fixing responsibility
on the chief secretary and district collector.
Last
week, an apex court bench directed the rural development ministry
and state governments to respond to allegations levelled in the
petition that politicians and bureaucrats were involved in bungling
in the distribution of funds allotted by the Centre for implementation
of the scheme.
According
to CEFS director Parshuram Ray a field study carried out on implementation
of National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) in Orissa last
year revealed 'that most of the funds allocated for NREGS do not
reach intended beneficiaries and are instead siphoned off by corrupt
officials and contractors, thereby denying crores of poor people
their fundamental right to livelihood and other incidental fundamental
rights like the right to food and education.'
Ray,
who is now conducting a similar exercise regarding implementation
of NREGA in Madhya Pradesh, says out of Rs 733 crore spent under
NREGS in Orissa during 2006-07, more than 500 crore were misappropriated
by government officials of implementing agencies.
"There
are thousands of villages in Orissa where around 80-90 per cent
of NREGS funds have been misappropriated by executing officials."
NREGA
was initially launched in 200 selected districts and extended to
130 more districts in 2007-08. With an eye on general elections,
the government decided to extend the scheme, earlier than scheduled,
to other remaining districts in April 2008.
During
2007-08, the Centre released Rs 12,353.22 crores under the programme.
Against the total available funds of Rs 19, 028 crores, the states
reported an expenditure of Rs 15,678.86 crore, adding that 3.37
crore households were provided employment during 2007-08 and 142
crore man-days of employment generated under the programme.
Tribune
News Service, dated May 20, 2008
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Notice
to Centre, states on NREGA implementation
NEW DELHI: The UPA government's pet project, National Rural Employment
Guarantee Programme (NREGP), came under SC's scanner on Thursday
as it entertained a PIL alleging lack of transparency and accountability
in implementation of projects under the scheme.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan and Justice M
K Sharma issued notice to the Centre and all states on the allegation
of petitioner NGO 'Centre for Environment and Food Security' that
the merits of the scheme were being lost by its lack of transparent
implementation.
Appearing for the NGO, counsel Prashant Bhushan said the Comptroller
and Auditor General (CAG), in its recent report, had pointed out
several anomalies in the implementation of NREGP, especially transparency
in payment of wages. He said that district level implementing authorities,
like DMs should be held accountable for depositing the wage in the
bank account or the post office account of the beneficiary instead
of the present practice of paying wages in cash.
Posted
at The
Times of India dated May 16, 2008
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SC
asks states to explain delay in implementing NREGS
NEW
DELHI, MAY 15: The Supreme Court on Thursday asked all states and
the Centre to furnish replies with regard to allegations about the
tardy implementation of the UPA Government’s flagship National Rural
Employment Guarantee Scheme.
The
directive came on a petition filed by an NGO, Centre for Environment
and Food Security (CEFS), which highlighted that most funds allocated
under the scheme “do not reach the intended recipients, are are
instead siphoned off by the corrupt officials and contractors”.
The petition is based on the draft CAG report besides the NGO’s
own survey. The Indian Express, too, had highlighted the same in
a series of reports earlier this year.
Acting
on the submissions of advocate Prashant Bhushan, who appeared for
the NGO, Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan issued a notice to the Ministry
of Rural Development besides chief secretaries of all states. Urging
the court to make the authorities concerned accountable for non-implementation
of the Act, the advocate pleaded that the court issue directions
for fixing liability on the chief secretary or the district collector.
Alleging
that the scheme, which was notified in September 2005 with a view
to provide 100 days of minimum guaranteed employment to at least
one member of each rural household, is riddled with corruption and
mismanagement, the NGO has sought “proper and equitable implementation
of the Act and schemes envisaged under it”.
The
first reality check for the scheme had come after a six-month performance
audit conducted under the CAG across 68 randomly selected districts.
The report had concluded that barely 3.2 pc of the registered households
could avail 100 days of employment in a year.
Posted
at Indianexpress.com
dated May 16, 2008
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SC
issues notice to Centre and states on implementation of NREGA
The
Supreme Court today sought response from the Centre and all the
states on a petition seeking proper and effective implementation
of National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREG) Act aimed at providing
employment to at least one member of each household.
A
bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan issued notices to
Ministry of Rural Development and state governments on a petition
filed by an NGO -Centre for Environment and Food Security (CEFS)
seeking proper utilisation of the funds allocated under the Act.
CEFS
alleged that Rs 22,000 crore project, which was implemented in September
2005 with a view to provide 100 days of guaranteed employment to
at least one member of each rural household, suffers from large
scale corruption and mismanagement.
The
NGO contended that various organisations including CEFS conducted
field study on the working of the Employment Guarantee Act which
reveals that the scheme under the Act is not working as it has been
marred by corruption due to non-transparency of the implementation
of the scheme and entry of private contractors who are banned under
the Act.
Advocate
Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGO, submitted that District
Collector/District Magistrate should be made responsible for the
effective implementation of the project.
He
said study shows that "most of the funds allocated for the implementation
of the Act and schemes thereunder do not reach the intended recipients
and are instead siphoned off by corrupt officials and contractors
denying lakhs of poor people their fundamental right to livelihood."
Doordarshan
News, dated May 15, 2008
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National
SC notice to Centre and all states on implementation of NREGA
New
Delhi, May 15 (PTI) The Supreme Court today sought response from
the Centre and all the states on a petition seeking proper and effective
implementation of National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREG) Act
aimed at providing employment to at least one member of each household.
A bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan issued notices
to Ministry of Rural Development and state governments on a petition
filed by an NGO -- Centre for Environment and Food Security (CEFS)
-- seeking proper utilisation of the funds allocated under the Act.
CEFS
alleged that Rs 22,000 crore project, which was implemented in September
2005 with a view to provide 100 days of guaranteed employment to
at least one member of each rural household, suffers from large
scale corruption and mismanagement.
The
NGO contended that various organisations including CEFS conducted
field study on the working of the Employment Guarantee Act which
reveals that the scheme under the Act is not working as it has been
marred by corruption due to non-transparency of the implementation
of the scheme and entry of private contractors who are banned under
the Act.
Advocate
Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the NGO, submitted that District
Collector/District Magistrate should be made responsible for the
effective implementation of the project.
He
said study shows that "most of the funds allocated for the implementation
of the Act and schemes thereunder do not reach the intended recipients
and are instead siphoned off by corrupt officials and contractors
denying lakhs of poor people their fundamental right to livelihood."
Another
study conducted in three districts of Orissa namely Kalahandi, Bolangir
and Boudh by Prof Jean Dreze, a member of Central Employment Guarantee
Council and one of the architects of the Act, has found that the
employment guarantee scheme in the state is vulnerable to corruption.
The
report says that the 'job cards' that are meant to enable labourers
to verify the details of their wage payments are virtually useless
as the design of the card does not provide any space for recording
these payments.
Similarly,
the administration has allowed extensive adjustments in the muster
rolls to accommodate workers who do not have a job card, opening
the door to further adjustments that serve different purposes, Prof
Dreze's report said.
It
further said that private contractors, banned under the Act, are
still in control of projects in many areas.
Contending
that transparency safeguards mandated by the NREG Act are not in
place in Orissa, the petitioner sought a CBI probe or a thorough
inquiry by special commission of inquiry appointed by the apex court
to look into the corruption involved in the state.
Citing
the study report conducted in 21 districts of 14 states by another
NGO Society for Participatory Research in Asia, CEFS submitted that
less than six per cent of households registered under NREG scheme
in the country got 100 days of employment.
The
study also highlighted that in four out of 14 surveyed states, namely
Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana and Orissa, no State Employment Guarantee
Council had been constituted even after more that a year of the
Act coming into force.
The
NGO submitted that about 42 per cent of the households, who were
surveyed, said that they were paid less than the minimum prescribed
wages for agricultural labour in the state.
Posted
at Outlookindia.com
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Rural employment
guarantee project missing its objectives
...The
report’s author, Parshuram Rai, said a just concluded study in Madhya Pradesh
had reached similar conclusions, with between 55% and 75% of funds missing... Posted
at Livemint.com, dated Februray 12, 2008 to
read full article please click
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India's $4.5 billion
poverty plan under fire
By
Raja M ...
"The NREG program is shocking and disastrous in its scale of corruption," an angry
Parshuram Ray, director of the New Delhi-based Center for Environment and Food
Security, told Asia Times Online. "Over 70% of the funds have been looted and
the program has made little impact to rural people at the ground level. And now
the government refuses to accept the findings of its own auditors." Ray
admitted to being so upset at the large-scale abuse of taxpayers' money that he
shouted at Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh during a TV discussion
on the controversy in a leading English news channel, NDTV. Ray,
talking to Asia Times Online while touring rural districts of Maharashtra state
in western India, alleges that many non-governmental organizations executing the
program are also guilty. "They [NGOs] get NREG program funds for creating awareness
and so on and the most shocking part is they have become part of the corruption.
We have filed a public interest litigation in the Supreme Court and a hearing
is due on January 20." ... Posted
at Asia Times Online, dated Januray 16, 2008 to
read full article please click
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CAG finds many irregularities
BHUBANESWAR:
While New Delhi based NGO Centre for Environment and Food Security (CEFS) has
alleged that NREGS fund to the tune of Rs 500 crore has been misappropriated in
the State, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has detected several procedural
and financial irregularities... Posted
at Newindiapress.com, dated Januray 12, 2008 to
read full article please click
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NIRD to study NREGS wage employment
BHUBANESWAR:
National Institute of Rural Development, Hyderabad, will evaluate the wage employment
programme under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) to find
out its impact on the beneficiaries. The
State Government entrusted the job to NIRD following allegations of misappropriation
of funds to the tune of Rs 500 crore in the implementation of the programme in
2006-07 by Centre for Environment and Food Security (CEFS), a New Delhi-based
NGO. The
Centre for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (CPME), NIRD, will conduct a household
survey in 40 gram panchayats under NREGS while in another 40 the evaluation will
be made through social audit. This
was decided at a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Ajit Kumar Tripathy
here today. Professor
and head of CPME S.Rajakutty, faculties of Xavier Institute of Management, Kalinga
School for Rural Management and representatives of six NGOs - Rupayan, Network,
SPREAD, Action Aid, Harmony and Humanity were present. During
the social audit, grassroot-level NGOs will be involved to organise gram sabhas
where the programme will be assessed by the beneficiaries. Some
NGO representatives expressed apprehension of non-cooperation from BDOs concerned
to the social audit. Allaying
the fears, Panchayati Raj Director Saswat Mishra reportedly said the instruction
will be issued by the Government to the BDOs to cooperate with the NIRD team.
The
survey work will be completed by January 25 and the report will be submitted by
February-end. Meanwhile, the State Government has submitted a report to the Centre
giving pointwise counter to the CEFS report. Posted
at Newindiapress.com,
dated December 18, 2007 - - - - - - - - - -
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demand panel to plug holes in rural job plan
By
HT Friday December
7, 2007 Reacting
to reports of alleged misappropriation of funds in the National Rural Employment
Guarantee Programme (NREGP), Rajya Sabha members have demanded the setting up
of a foolproof mechanism to plug loopholes in the UPA government's flagship employment
scheme. A monitoring
panel needs to be set up to prevent corruption in the scheme, Congress member
V. Narainswamy said in the Upper House on Wednesday. The Hindustan Times (October
16 edition) had reported that Orissa and Chhattisgarh had allegedly diverted a
whopping Rs 550 crore from NREGP funds for purposes other than generating employment
in rural areas.
The report had quoted the findings of the New Delhi-based Centre for Environment
and Food Security (CEFS) that 75 per cent of NREGP funds spent in Orissa in 2006-07
(Rs 500 crore of the total Rs 733 crore spent) were siphoned off. Narainswamy
clarified that 68 per cent, and not 75 per cent as reported by the media, of funds
in Orissa had been siphoned off. He also cited similar reports concerning misappropriation
of funds in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat. Pointing
out that the demand for jobs under the scheme hasn't increased, CPM leader Brinda
Karat said this was because of the limited and rigid definition of work under
the plan. Wage payment and productivity norms also need to be revised, she added.
Arjun Sengupta (Independent) said there is an opportunity for the NREGP to be
an example for other social programmes. The
Hindustan Times, dated : 07 December 2007 - -
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State Of Disgrace
Tall claims around Naveen Patnaik’s government prove hollow
on the ground, reports BIBHUTI PATI in a comprehensive round-up of the
many ills that continue to plague Orissa. It
has been a long honeymoon. But there are unmistakable signs that it is finally
coming to an end. As the country gets into election mode, BJD supremo and Orissa
Chief Minister Navin Patnaik is preparing for what could well be his first real
electoral battle. ...
Even as the government was patting itself on the back for being the ‘No. 2’ state
in the country in the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee
Scheme (NREGS) came the stunning allegation by the Delhi-based Centre for Environment
and Food Security (CEFS) that as much as Rs. 500 crore of the Rs. 750 crore purportedly
spent under the scheme had been siphoned away by officials. The Union Rural Development
minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh has now ordered a CAG inquiry into the scandal,
seriously denting the image of the supposedly ‘corruption-free’ government.... Tehelka December
06, 2007 to read
full article please click
here - - - - -
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Darkness Visible
At the risk of sounding cynical, corruption in India surprises
no one. Be that as it may, a two-part report in this paper, uncovering the fact
that funds collected in 1999-2000 by Red Cross societies in Punjab never reached
the victims, has made us sit up. The
funds were used, instead, for personal expenses by government bureaucrats. The
report also added that grants received from central ministries were also diverted.
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has now ordered a probe. Everything,
alas, looks all too familiar. These
are not isolated cases. Recently, there were reports of large-scale siphoning
of funds from the UPA’s showpiece National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS)
in Orissa. A survey conducted by a Delhi-based NGO uncovered that of the Rs 733
crore spent under NREGS in six of the poorest of poor districts in the state,
more than Rs 500 crore went unaccounted for — probably misappropriated by officials.
In October, people in West Bengal’s Bankura and Birbhum districts attacked ration
dealers because food stocks were being diverted to feed the open market. Though
the dealers came under scrutiny, there is no doubt that someone ‘upstream’ had
given the go-ahead to this diversionary tactic in exchange for benefits. And on
a broader scale, there have been cases of foreign donor agencies shying away from
putting their money in the development sector fearing similar siphoning of funds.
Corruption seems more de rigeur than the exception in this country. So what is
to be done? Two
things perpetuate such frauds. One, most of us — the urban, educated class included
— are not even aware of our rights, and therefore are in no position to demand
them when denied. In most cases, we make a contribution to the relief funds and
forget all about it. If this is the case in urban India, then rural India, with
its high illiteracy rates, doesn’t stand much of a chance in exercising its rights.
The other side of the story is the hoarding of information by the government itself.
Even in today’s Information Age, bureaucrats find out ways to keep the public
away from information. While the Right to Information (RTI) has made some difference,
it has hardly been the be all and end all. RTI makes sense as a legal measure
to be used as the proverbial last resort. Easy and timely access to information
is the key to making corruption a difficult pastime. From that difficulty will
stem its extinction. The
Hindustan Times, dated December 03, 2007 - -
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NREGS: no let-up in graft charges
Staff Reporter 32 p.c. of the fund for the scheme being
misappropriated, says economist
BHUBANESWAR: Even as the Orissa Government claims to have ‘found’ no discrepancy
in implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) in
the State, there seems to be no let-up in corruption allegations. Jean
Dreze, development economist and member of Central Employment Guarantee Council
(CEGC), here on Thursday alleged nearly 32 per cent of NREGS fund being spent
to provide jobs to needy people was going to pockets of officials and contractors.
The
‘findings’ were based on a quick survey initiated by the G. B Pant Social Science
Institute (Allahabad University) and conducted by students from Delhi University
with local volunteer at 30 worksites in three Orissa districts such as Bolangir,
Boudh and Kalahandi from October 3 to 12 this year. ‘PC’
system Making
a presentation on the findings here, Mr. Dreze said, “a major part of the loot
is recycled through the so-called ‘PC’ (percentage) system, whereby various functionaries
receive fixed percentage of NREGA funds.” The
beneficiaries of percentage system were Block Development Officer (2 per cent),
Junior Engineer (5 per cent), Assistant Engineer (3 per cent), Block staff (1
per cent), Village Level Worker (5 per cent, Gram Panchayat Secretary (3 per cent)
and miscellaneous (3 per cent), he charged saying contractors were making 10 per
cent profit. “Private
contractors are banned under NREGA. However, in a majority of the samples of gram
panchayats, the investigators found evidence of continued involvement of contractors,
either directly, or indirectly (through dummy village labour leaders),” the survey
findings said. The
survey pointed out 10 major loopholes in the implementation of NREGS in the state.
These
include NREGA staff shortage, dormant gram sabhas, lack of grievance redressal
cell, lack of transparency in muster rolls and faulty design of job cards. Charges
rejected Recently,
the State Government carried out two-tier inquiries – one by district-level officials
and other by State-level officials – to ascertain the veracity of report of one
NGO that alleged the corruption in NREGS implementation in Orissa amounted to
Rs. 500 crores. The Orissa Government had dismissed all the allegations of corruption
saying “these were without any basis or rationality.” Meanwhile,
CEGC is scheduled to meet government officials and civil society groups here for
an interaction on implementation of the anti-poverty scheme. Posted
at The
The
Hindu, dated November 23, 2007 - - -
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Study panel points out lacunae in execution of NREGS
Bhubaneswar : A
fact-finding committee, constituted by the State Government to probe the alleged
misappropriation of funds to the tune of Rs 500 crore, has found procedural deficiencies
in records related to the implementation of National Rural Employment Guarantee
Scheme (NREGS). The team was constituted after CEFS, a New Delhi-based NGO, lodged
complaints, official sources said on Thursday. "There
are procedural deficiencies in the record keeping on the number of working days
in job cards and in the employment register. "The online data posted on the national
portal has not been validated and discrepancies have been noticed between the
actual data (recorded in the register) and the data provided online," observed
the committee in its report. The report has been submitted to the Government.
The Government team believes that the discrepancies may be attributed to the general
lack of knowledge among the panchayat workers regarding the process. However,
the committee, headed by Panchayati Raj Secretary, ruled out any misappropriation
of funds released for the implementation of the Central Employment Scheme. Recently
CEFS, a New Delhi-based NGO, had alleged that funds to the tune of Rs 500 crore
released for the implementation of the NREGS had been embezzled. "This allegation
is baseless and not based on facts," said the committee in its report. "There
is no discrepancy in the work done, the records kept or the payment made according
to the muster roll. No case of misappropriation has been noticed. Quality of work
has been found to be good," the report added. The report has been submitted to
the Centre. Posted
at The
Pioneer News Service, dated November 23, 2007 -
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Govt asks NGO to cross-check facts
Bhubaneswar: With serious mismatch between the findings of the
Centre for Environment and Food Security (CEFS) and the State Government fact-finding
team on the alleged financial irregularities in the implementation of National
Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), the latter has invited the Delhi-based
NGO to cross-check facts. The
State Government will submit its report to the Centre only after verifying facts
and figures with CEFS which brought out a report making serious allegation of
financial irregularities to the tune of Rs 500 crore against the Government in
the implementation of NREGS in 2006-07. The
Government thought of cross checking some facts and figures with the NGO in view
of the discrepancies in the findings, official sources said. The fact-finding
teams of the Government detected fault in the on-line entry system, the software
for which has been provided by the Centre. Similarly, job card entry and muster
roll entry were found to be defective. The State Government has nothing to do
with it, the officer said. The CEFS's allegation of non-payment to the job card
holders were found to be false. Fact-finding
teams of the Government visited the same villages and contacted the persons with
whom the NGO claimed to have talked. However, a majority of the people contacted
by the official teams said neither they have any idea of CEFS nor they have talked
to any non-Government agency people on NREGS. There
were cases of late payment but none of the contacted job card holders complained
of non-payment for their works, the sources added. On verification of records
and audit of accounts, the Government teams found that permanent assets have been
created out of the NREGS funds utilised and there is no evidence of siphoning
of funds as alleged by CEFS. However,
the Government officer admitted that works under NERGS were provided to persons
who do not possess job cards. As each BPL family is entitled to a single job card,
in some cases other adult members of the family were provided job on demand. Hence,
100 days of work per card holder was exhausted within a month, the sources said
and added that the families were forced to migrate to other places in search of
job. Besides,
people migrate when get better payment offer from private agencies. The Government
cannot stop them, the officer said. Posted
at The
New Indian Express, dated November 5, 2007 -
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Rural employment: proposed integrated card system to check corruption
By Anand Kumar
INDIA has been rather slow in enacting social security legislation to bail out
the poor, the jobless and the aged in times of crises, because of lack of funds
and an inadequate machinery to execute and monitor the projects.
The first notable social security act was introduced by the Maharashtra government
way back in the mid-1970s, at a time when the state was facing a major crisis
caused by drought. Millions of rural workers were migrating to the cities in search
of employment, abandoning their homes and farms. Politicians and bureaucrats panicked
and soon responded by introducing an Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS), which
was funded by taxing professionals and employees in the organised sector. The
funds were used to provide employment to the rural poor, whose labour was utilised
to execute public works – constructing rural roads, building canals or dams. The
poor were usually provided foodgrains for their labour. Of course, most of the
projects failed to take off and appeared directionless, but the poor were gainfully
employed for a few months a year and earned some money.
The apparent success of the EGS, which slowed down the process of rural migration
and provided succour to the needy in many of the backward districts of the state,
triggered off similar programmes elsewhere in the country.
Southern states like Tamil Nadu came out with innovative programmes like the Midday
Meal scheme, in the 1980s to lure the poor to send their children to schools.
Other states, including Gujarat, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh came out with similar
schemes; in 2001, the Supreme Court directed all government schools to provide
meals to poor pupils.
The relative success of the Maharashtra EGS also saw the central government introduce
a National Rural Employment Programme in the 1980s, followed by other programmes
including food-for-work schemes, none of which, however, made much of an impact.
Recent years have seen a slackening in the implementation of the EGS in Maharashtra
as well, with corrupt officials and contractors siphoning off a large chunk of
funds. The enactment of the landmark Right to Information Act has seen several
NGOs and individuals seeking details about specific projects, shedding light on
numerous scams.
Billions of rupees have been spent on social security schemes in India in recent
years, but there is a huge question mark about the effectiveness and success of
these schemes. Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had in the late 1980s noted
that less than 15 paise out of every 100 spent by the government on such schemes
reached the poor.
* * * * *
THOUGH politicians of mainstream parties like the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) have been reluctant to splurge on social security schemes in India,
there has always been a vocal section of society – including members of NGOs,
left parties and academicians – that has been demanding allocation of increased
funds for pro-poor schemes.
When the Congress got the support of the left parties and formed the United Progressive
Alliance government at the centre in 2004, it had to agree to the demand for initiating
a nationwide employment guarantee scheme. The result was the National Rural Employment
Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), which was initially rolled out in 200 districts across
the country.
Described as a remarkable initiative, representing a paradigm shift in the government’s
approach towards providing employment for the poor, it was launched in early 2006
in 200 of the most backward districts of the country. Later, the government extended
the scheme to another 130 districts.
The NREGS act guarantees at least 100 days of assured wage employment every financial
year to a rural household that is willing to do unskilled manual labour, providing
a safety net to the poor. For the first time in India, a member of a poor rural
household could demand as a right a job from the government for 100 days in a
year.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh noted that the legislation aims at not only providing
wages to the rural poor, but also creating durable assets for them. It would also
hopefully strengthen the third tier of governance – the Panchayati Raj institutions
– as 50 per cent of the programme would be executed by these local bodies.
According to the government, in financial year 2006-07, about 21 million households
have been provided employment under the NREGS. They include nearly 60 per cent
of scheduled caste and scheduled tribe households, and 40 per cent of the beneficiaries
were women.
Nearly 800,000 projects were taken up and over 45 per cent of it has been completed.
The government allocated over Rs120 billion for the scheme and nearly 75 per cent
of it has been spent.
The NREGS was to have been expanded gradually and all the 604 districts in the
country were to have been covered within five years of launch. But the apparent
success of the scheme has seen the project being fast-forwarded.
Rahul Gandhi, who was recently promoted as general secretary of the Congress,
in a much publicised move, urged the Prime Minister to extend the NREGS to cover
all 604 districts in the country. And Singh responded enthusiastically, agreeing
to do so immediately, instead of waiting for a few more years. Rahul’s mother,
Sonia – who is the Congress and UPA chief – has also been hailing the implementation
of the NREG. *
* * * * BUT
has the ambitious social security scheme of the UPA government been effective
in alleviating rural poverty? Two recent studies conducted by NGOs indicate that
the scheme has been a huge failure, and the only beneficiaries are corrupt politicians
and bureaucrats.
According to a study by the Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA),
just six per cent of the registered households under the NREGS that were surveyed
could get 100 days of employment in 2006-07. In the first phase of the study that
was conducted last year, PRIA noted among other things that there was low awareness
among people about the procedure for registration and getting employment and a
“lack of transparency and accountability in the absence of proactive disclosure,
functional monitoring and vigilance committees and social audit.”
The second phase of the study, conducted across 14 states, revealed that just
45 per cent surveyed among the registered households had demanded a job. And only
27 per cent of such households had been given a receipt. Less than half of those
who had demanded a job got employment within 15 days as prescribed by the law;
worse, no unemployment allowance was paid to these people.
Similarly, over 40 per cent of those who responded claimed they were paid less
than the minimum prescribed wages.
Another Delhi-based NGO, the Centre for Environment and Food Security, was scathing
in its criticism of the government regarding implementation of the NREG scheme
in Orissa. The organisation conducted a survey in 100 villages in Orissa and found
that of the Rs7.33 billion spend under NREGS last year, over Rs5 billion “has
been siphoned off and misappropriated by government officials of executing agencies.”
The CEFS study revealed that a large number of needy households were denied not
only jobs but even job cards, and not more than five days of average wage employment
was given to each of the needy families in the 19 NREG districts in the state.
“We
have found that more than 75 per cent of the NREG funds spent during last year
have been siphoned off,” the NGO wrote in a letter to Prime Minister Singh. “However,
we are absolutely certain that there are thousands of villages in Orissa where
the scale of misappropriation is 80-90 per cent. It is distressing to note that
there has been open and participatory loot of NREGS funds in Orissa.” Aware
about the potential for scams in such multi-billion-rupee schemes, the government
is now trying to tighten up the rules. It is toying with the idea of issuing multi-application
smart ID cards to monitor schemes like the NREG. The Planning Commission has been
urging the government to go in for an integrated smart card system for entitlement
schemes to check corruption and fraud. Posted
at DAWN
dated November 05, 2007. - - -
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Awards planned for creating awareness about job scheme
NEW DELHI: The Union Rural Development Ministry is planning to
institute awards for non-governmental organisations and civil society groups which
play a role in creating awareness of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. The
awards will be given at the panchayat, district and State levels to promote people’s
participation in the scheme, Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh
said. The
incentives would be Rs. 1,000, Rs. 5,000 and Rs. 25,000 respectively. “We
are working out the details of the scheme,” he said.The move was prompted by the
“highly positive” role played by NGOs and civil society groups in informing people
of the scheme and highlighting any discrepancy detected in its implementation. Recently
an NGO in Orissa brought to light ‘frauds’ in the implementation in several districts,
while another NGO in Madhya Pradesh helped people in Badwani district get unemployment
allowance because the State failed to provide them jobs within the stipulated
time. Civil
society groups are involved in social audit of the scheme. Posted
at The
Hindu dated October 27, 2007. - -
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NREGA fails to curb exodus
Statesman News Service NAWARANGAPUR, Oct. 22: The National
Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGA), which was implemented in the district
from 2 February 2006, have failed to check the mass exodus of labourers from the
district. A
survey conducted by the leading NGOs reveals the presence of large-scale irregularities
in the implementation of the NREGA. At some places, labourers who work under this
scheme are not paid. According to a survey conducted in 100 villages, it has been
revealed that out of Rs 5,138,29 lakh spent under the scheme, more than Rs 4,000
lakh have not reached the beneficiaries. Official
sources said that a large number of labourers are migrating to the neighbouring
districts and states in search of jobs. According to the official data, under
the scheme, 1,78,48 households are registered and 1,73,618 job cards have been
issued up to the end of August 2007. Out of these 8, 22,935 households have demanded
work and 17,046 households have been provided employment under the NREGA/OREGS
scheme. Besides this, 26,829 job seekers have been provided employment in the
district by the end of September 2007. Under the NREGA/OREGS schemes, Rs 1,565,44
lakh and Rs 1,56,55 lakh have been provided by the Central and state governments
respectively, out of which only Rs 729,04 lakh have been utilised by the end of
September 2007. In
an attempt to provide 100 compulsory working days to each labourer, a centrally
sponsored scheme, SREGS/OREGS was launched in February last year in 10 blocks
targeting three lakh rural households in this tribal dominated district. But
18 months, after its implementation, the scheme began to flounder following the
lack of coordination between the gram panchayats and the blocks. There is a rumour
that contractors have formed a nexus with the PEOs and the block staff. Funds
have been siphoned off. With work becoming increasingly mechanised, manual labourers
are being forced to migrate from the district in search of jobs. Often
these workers end up as bonded labourers. The labourers alleged that the PEOs
are not receiving their application for work. Recently a study conducted by the
Delhi based centre for environment and food security (CEFS) reinforced the belief
that food security, despite the implementation of NREGA has emerged as the main
headache. Reports of the CEFS and other fact finding teams are unanimous in their
information. NREGA has not been able to ensure livelihood to the tribals. When
the scheme was launched in Nawarangapur district, hundreds of job seekers rushed
to the panchayats to get themselves registered. But work order has not been issued,
alleged Mr Diba Bhatara, sarpanch of Agnipur GP under the Nawarangpur block. He
also alleged that due to the lack of coordination, 14 labourers migrated to Andhra
Pradesh, out of which one died there. In
another case, the Nawarangapur police have rescued 14 labourers while they were
on their way to Bangalore. OREGS and NREGAs in Nawarangpur, Nandahandi, Tentulikhunti,
Kosagumuda, Raighar, Umerkote, Jharigam, Dabugam, Papadahandi and Chandahandi,
have failed completely. There are allegations that the scheme benefits have not
explained to the villagers. A
high-level inquiry have been proposed regarding the misappropriation of funds. Posted
at The
Statesman dated October 24, 2007. -
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Rs 600 cr diverted from job scheme
THE UPA'S flagship National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme
(NREGP) has been undermined by non-Congress ruled states, including Chhattisgarh
and Orissa, which have been charged with diverting Rs 600 crore for purposes other
than generating employment in rural areas. The
New Delhi-based Centre for Environment and Food Security's (CEFS) findings suggest
75 per cent of NREGP funds spent in Orissa in 2006-07 (Rs 550 crore of total of
Rs733 crore) was siphoned off and pocketed in "participatory and organised loot".
The Hyderabad-based National Institute of Rural Development is inquiring into
the matter. In Chhattisgarh's Kanker district, 40 per cent of funds for 2006-07
(Rs 50 crore) was illegally spent on "land treatment" instead of "land development"
and for unauthorised purchase of several hundred tonnes of pesticides and fertilisers,
a state government inquiry committee found. In
the name of NREGP implementation, unaccounted funds were also reportedly spent
on the purchase of items including utensils while an unjustifiable sum of Rs 50
lakh was provided to an NGO to conduct a workshop for village sarpanchs. The UPA
government is expected to ask the Chhattisgarh government to immediately replenish
the Rs 50 crore diverted from the scheme. The CEFS study was conducted in May-June
2007 in 100 villages across six districts in Orissa. Officially, 799 lakh people
were employed but the survey found that just 25 per cent of them had actually
got jobs. The
employment records of the remaining 75 per cent were based on "fake master rolls,
false job cards and forged official documents". The NREGP has been virtually hijacked
by the very officials responsible for its implementation, the survey states. As
for Chhattisgarh, which failed to furnish a detailed statement on the illegal
spendings in Kanker, the Rural Development Ministry has held back the release
of an additional Rs 20 crore demanded by the state. Sources
indicate the Raman Singh government has expressed willingness to compensate for
the loss by redirecting Rs 50 crore from the state budget to the NREGP corpus.
Meanwhile, with the complete inquiry report awaited, there are apprehensions that
the rural job scam could well exceed Rs 50 crore. Possibilities of the case being
referred to the CBI are not being ruled out. Posted
at The Hindustan Times dated October 18, 2007
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NREGA battling cancerous corruption in Orissa
Rs.500 crores of Orissa's funds for rural employment guarantees
for 2006-7 appear to have been siphoned off by the state bureaucracy. This money
would have brought 10 lakh poorest families two subsistence meals for four-six
months, at a time of hunger and starvation deaths. Parshuram Rai has more.
19 October 2007 - The
National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) is arguably the most progressive
and radical legislation in the history of Independent India. If implemented in
letter and spirit, this historic Act has the potential to transform the face of
rural India. It would be a great tragedy if the National Rural Employment Guarantee
Scheme (NREGS) ends up as another money minting machine for India's sarkari babus,
i.e. the bureaucracy. Unfortunately, that is what has happened in the state of
Orissa.
Rupa Majhi, a poor Adivasi of Palsipada village in Kalahandi district, was actually
given 21 days of employment and paid Rs.600 as wages during 2006-7. Majhi worked
on a road construction project executed under the high-profile anti-poverty programme
NREGS. But, on his job card, government officials falsely wrote that he had worked
for 336 days. Majhi job card posted online on NREGS website has a third version
of work and payment details. As per those entries, Majhi was given 102 days of
wage employment and paid Rs.6310 as wages. So, out of Rs.6310, only Rs. 600 actually
came in Majhi's hands. The remaining Rs.5710 which is more than 90 percent of
the total wage payment has been siphoned off and misappropriated by the government
officials.
Chandra Majhi of Palsipada village has not received any employment under rural
job scheme. But, in his job card (hard copy), there is fake job entry of 126 days.
On the NREGS website, 108 days of employment and Rs.5940 as wages have been falsely
shown in his name. In this case, 100 per cent of the wages have been eaten up
by the government officials.
In their names we partake The
stories of Rupa Majhi and Chandra Majhi are not isolated cases of financial bungling
and misappropriation of NREGS funds in Orissa. This is the story of about 13 lakh
poor households of Orissa who were 'supposedly' given wage employment under NREGS
during 2006-7.
Orissa is one of the poorest states with a very high percentage of rural population
living in abject poverty and chronic hunger. It is only logical to give top priority
to this state in terms of fund allocation. Orissa was allocated Rs.890 crores
under NREGS and the state was able to spend Rs.733 crore during 2006-7. As per
the official records of the state government, it provided 799 lakh persondays
of employment to 13,94,169 households during 2006-7 and no family was denied wage
employment. In other words, every needy and demanding family in the state was
given an average 57 days of wage employment during the year and not a single needy
household was denied wage employment in 19 NREGS districts of the state. The Orissa
government also claims that 1,54,118 families in the state completed 100 days
of wage employment during 2006-7.
But a random survey in 100 villages of Orissa has revealed that all these claims
are bogus and manufactured only in official records in order to siphon off NREGS
funds. The survey conducted in Orissa's six poorest districts has uncovered that
of Rs.733 crores, more than Rs.500 crores has been siphoned off and misappropriated
by the government officials.
The Delhi-based Centre for Environment and Food Security (CEFS) conducted this
survey in 100 villages from six districts of KBK (Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput)
region - Bolangir, Nuapada, Kalahandi, Koraput, Nabarangpur and Rayagada. I was
the principal investigator and writer of this survey report. Our back of the envelope
calculations suggest that less than 200 lakh persondays of employment has been
provided on the ground and more than around 600 lakh persondays of employment
has been provided only in the pages of false job cards and fabricated muster rolls.
Not more than 5 days of average employment has been given to each of the needy
families in 19 NREGS districts of the state and large number of needy families
were denied any employment.
We could not find a single family in the 100 sample villages who had actually
got 100 days of wage employment. 37 villages out of 100 sample villages have got
no wage employment whatsoever. More than 40 villages had on an average of four
to five times fake job and wage entries than their actuals. We found very few
families who had got 20-40 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 job and wage entries for 111
days, 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, which are evidently fabricated. This is the
way Orissa has spent Rs.733 crore.
To put Rs.500 crores of siphoned NREGA funds in perspective, this amount of money
would have given about 90 days of wage employment to about 10 lakh poor families
of Orissa. In other words, each of these 10 lakh poorest families would have got
Rs.5000 as wages. This amount of Rs.5000 in the context of these poor and hungry
families would have given 4-6 months of two subsistence meals or one meal for
the whole year. Therefore, it is not just another financial scam, but the Orissa
bureaucracy has literally robbed 10 lakh hungry families of one meal for the whole
year. It is not surprising that during last one month hundreds of Adivasis have
died in Rayagada, Koraput and Kalahandi districts of Orissa due to disease, and
hunger.
As a result, the current levels of hunger, poverty and deprivation in Orissa's
KBK region is as deep, demeaning and dehumanising as ever. 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.
On the 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. The hollowed cheeks, sunken eyes and distended
bellies of the emaciated children tell this story. Sidelining
the panchayat system to avoid local oversight
The provision of social audit included in the NREGA 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, total absence of transparency
in the administration of NREGS, and subversion of the grassroots democracy. Panchayati
Raj Institutions (PRIs) have been completely sidelined in the implementation of
NREGS. For example, Sarpanches are asked by Village Level Workers (also called
Panchayat Executive Officers in some states or PEOs) to sign on blank cheques
and VLWs (Village Level Worker) decide everything.
The VLWs are the lowest rung in the chain of state bureaucracy, with the Chief
Secretary of the state being at the apex. VLWs are appointed by the state governments
and they are supposed to report to the Block Development Officer (BDO). As per
the constitutional scheme, the role and relationship of the VLW with the Sarpanch
should be similar to the role and relationship of a secretary/commissioner with
the Minister of a Ministry or Department. The former is accountable to the later
and not vice versa.
Out of 100 villages visited, we could not find a single panchayat office open.
There was lockout on all the panchayat bhawans we visited. The villagers told
us that these offices open only once or twice in a month. The VLWs, who are the
only fulltime and salaried officials, normally stay in towns 40-50 kms away from
the gram panchayats, and they go there only when it is 'absolutely necessary'.
They do most of their official works from home. Even muster rolls and job cards
of the NREGS are kept in the homes of VLWs, which is illegal.
In the panchayats we visited, VLWs are not sharing a single piece of information
about the NREGS works with any of the elected representatives. Muster rolls are
treated as more secret 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. This is the
flagrant violation of the NREGA law passed by Parliament. As per the NREGA, muster
rolls are a public document and should be always available for public scrutiny
by anyone.
It is a mockery of grassroots democracy and blatant violation of the 73rd amendment
of the Indian constitution whereby gram panchayats have been given substantive
executive, financial and monitoring powers with regard to implementation of all
the development programmes and social welfare schemes pertaining. But the colonial
work culture of Orissa's bureaucracy allows a VLW to behave as if the Sarpanch
is accountable to him and not vice-versa. This inversion of role and relationship
is the biggest hurdle in the way of real empowerment of PRIs.
The rot goes all the way to the top. Orissa's citizens and NGOs need the permission
of the BDO to see muster rolls of NREGS and what's worse, citizens need the District
Collector's permission to go to the block office or meet the BDO! The BDO of Nandapur
Block (Koraput district) Jyoti Ranjan Mishra 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 the 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
the BDO's permission to show muster rolls to any body.
When we approached 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 Government of India. We then contacted the Secretary,
Panchayati Raj, Orissa Government, Rabindra Nath Dash, and requested his intervention
in the matter. Dash told us that he would immediately ask the BDO to show muster
rolls to us. To our utter shock and disbelief, within half-an-hour we received
a call from Dash's personal staff asking us whether we did have permission of
the District Collector or any higher authority for meeting the concerned BDO.
When we asked why we needed this 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 from the block office and not to visit any village in the Block. We
also got three telephone calls from APD (Additional Project Director, District
Rural Development Agency-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.
The 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 palpable,
and also reminiscent of the British era's reign of terror unleashed by imperial
bureaucracy.
There's more. Activists and NGOs spreading awareness about the NREGS among rural
poor of the state are threatened with dire consequences and many have been terrorised
into silence by BDOs and other executing officials. In Tentulikhunti block of
Nabarangpur district, the BDO Gangaram Pradhan and other officials have threatened
NGOs and activists. 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. When
CEFS sent some activists of Orissa to carry out field investigation 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.
Unless transparency safeguards incorporated in the NREGS are implemented in letter
and spirit, it appears that little can protect NREGS from the lust of Orissa's
sarkari babus. If this radical scheme has to really achieve its stated objectives,
it has to be liberated from the clutches of the self-serving bureaucracy and handed
over into the custody of panchayat bodies themselves. This may warrant a few amendments
in the law itself.
Parshuram Rai The
author is director of Delhi-based Centre for Environment and Food Security, and
was a principal investigator in the survey.
Posted at India
Together dated October 18, 2007 - - - - -
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Dear Rahul Gandhi
The
key to India’s prosperity lies not in the actions of its government, but in the
enterprise of its people Dear
Rahul, Congratulations on your recent elevation as general secretary of the Congress
party. Yes, I know, it was just a formality, and there’s more to come. Still,
it’s a start, and one that you used to make a statement. Shortly
after getting this post, you took a delegation to Manmohan Singh and asked for
the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) to be extended to all 593
districts of this country. A couple of days later, the Prime Minister announced
that extension. With this, you demonstrated your clout in the party, and you also
made a gesture of commitment towards the poor people of this country. I
have a question, though. Have you had a chance to look at the reports evaluating
the NREGS that have been released recently? One of them, by the Society for Participatory
Research in Asia, found that just 6% of the households registered under the scheme
actually got 100 days of employment in 2006-07. Another, carried out by the Centre
of Environment and Food Security (CEFS) a few months ago, is even more worrying. “(A)bout
75% of the (NREGS) funds spent in Orissa have been siphoned and pocketed by the
government officials,” it reports, “and this loot has been very participatory
and organized.” The CEFS 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”. The report concludes: “(O)ut of Rs733 crore spent in Orissa
during 2006-7, more than Rs500 crore has been siphoned and pocketed by the government
officials of executing agencies.” These
figures are astonishing, for one-third of the money has not been reported as siphoned
off. As your father, Rajiv Gandhi, once remarked, only about 15% of government
spending on the poor reaches the intended beneficiary. India’s chief justice,
K.G. Balakrishnan, recently spoke out against the Public Distribution System,
saying that in some states, “not a single grain reaches the common man”. A
common reaction to these findings would be: “Oh, the programmes are OK, it’s the
implementation that has been faulty. We just need to fix that, and all will be
well.” But Rahul, surely you know that these are not aberrations that can be sorted
out with a committee here and an inquiry panel there. This corruption is written
into the system itself. It
is in the nature of government servants to want to increase their power, influence
and budgets. This is exacerbated when government servants are unaccountable and
tenured, as they effectively are in India. Government servants, like other rational
human beings, look to their self-interest first. All their incentives are tailored
towards misuse of power, with no safeguards built into the system against it. Even
if you could magically transform every bureaucrat in India into a paragon of honesty,
a scheme like the NREGS would still be a mistake. That is because the scheme has
a cost: The money spent on it doesn’t come from the heavens, but from your maidservant
and your driver and millions of poor people in this country, who may never file
returns, but are constantly assailed by hidden taxes. Leave
aside the many ways in which you could spend this money better: solving India’s
power shortage, building roads to connect India’s hinterlands so that smaller
urban centres can take the load off the big cities, and so on. If you just leave
this money with the taxpayers to begin with, they will put it to more productive
use than an unaccountable government spending someone else’s money. Also, individuals
will have more incentives to work hard if they are taxed less, and businesses
will have more resources available for expansion, all of which benefits the economy,
raises productivity and creates jobs. Indeed,
if it’s employment you really want to provide, the best way to do so would be
to remove the barriers to private enterprise that exist in this country. Put an
end to the licence and inspection raj, reform our labour laws, abolish the laws
that agricultural land can only be used for agricultural purposes, remove the
restrictions on many goods being manufactured by anyone other than “small scale
units”, and welcome foreign investment. All of these will provide far more employment
than the well-intentioned but ill-conceived NREGS. Rahul,
in the same breath that the media acknowledges you as a future leader of this
country, it mocks you for having nothing but your family name as your qualification.
Prove us wrong. Reject received wisdom, learn from the lessons of the past 60
years, and convince your party that the key to India’s prosperity lies not in
the actions of its government, but in the enterprise of its people. Set them free. All
the best. Amit
Amit
Varma publishes the website India Uncut, at http://www.indiauncut.com. Your comments
are welcome at thinkingitthrough@livemint.com Posted
at livemint.com
dated October 17, 2007 - - - - - - - - - - -
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Reckless welfare schemes are now part and parcel of governance in India
With electoral bells about
to ring, populism is back with a vengeance. With a slew of populist schemes up
its sleeve, the government is in no mood for any restraints. It is all for fiscal
recklessness. Consider
the direct costs of these schemes announced and extended during the past one month.
The flagship National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) was allocated
Rs12,000 crore this financial year for 331 districts. Now it is to be extended
to 600 districts and the cost is likely to gallop to Rs21,750 crore. After expansion,
the national old age pension scheme will cost Rs4,000 crore, the common man insurance
scheme another Rs1,000 crore, the national health insurance scheme Rs700 crore
and the proposed loan facility to minorities approximately Rs1,000 crore per year.
The bill comes to Rs28,450 crore per annum. These
schemes leave a host of unanswered questions. What right does a ruling party or
coalition have to spend money for outright electoral appeasement or gain? Why
must citizens be taxed for funding these schemes? If welfare of citizens is at
the heart of these programmes, why should bureaucrats implement them? How much
money will be siphoned off from these plans? To give a concrete example of in-built
corruption and inefficiency, consider the NREGS in Orissa. A survey of 100 villages
in some of the poorest districts of the country by the NGO, Centre for Environment
and Food Security, found gigantic siphoning of funds and corruption in the programme.
Of the Rs733 crore spent by the state in 2006-07, an estimated Rs 500 crore had
been pocketed by government officials. One
can continue with the details, but that sheds no light on the structure of inefficiency
built into these schemes. Economists call it an “agency problem.” In
simpler words, it’s a mismatch between the incentives faced by officials who implement
the scheme and those whom it is meant to benefit. The implementers have few incentives
to properly spend the money provided. The elaborate vigilance mechanism set up
under the NREG Act only adds layers of officials whose incentives are aligned
perfectly towards colluding with primary officials. Economics has yet to discover
a solution to the problem. That,
however, has not deterred a powerful coalition of politicians, economists and
social scientists demanding an extension of the NREG Act and a slew of other,
similar plans. What is not considered in news is the pernicious effect of these
schemes on the terms of democracy in India. With
such programmes being widespread, the costs incurred on them have become a major
component of maintaining democracy. They are now part and parcel of electoral
costs. Earlier, the latter included only the direct costs of conducting elections
and costs incurred by candidates. Now, no ruling coalition has the courage to
enter the electoral arena without announcing such programmes first. Everyone
gains from this arrangement, save those for whom these plans are meant in the
first place. The ruse works. First, the alleged beneficiaries are spread across
the country and, secondly, the symbolic value of such actions in a democracy is
very high. The
plan to provide loan facilities to persons from minorities over the next five
years can be seen in this light. It has an in-built agency problem: it will be
implemented by an umbrella organization, the National Minorities Development Corporation.
There
is no word on how inherent conflicts of interest will be resolved, if at all.
Who will tame the errant officials? Politicians? The outcome is unlikely to be
different from other such programmes. Yet, it would have served political purposes
well. Disadvantaged people will feel something is being done and votes would have
been cast. Posted
at livemint.com
dated October 15, 2007 - - - - - - - - - - -
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NREGS: Teams detect minor irregularitie BHUBANESWAR:
The fact-finding teams of the State Government have reportedly detected a few
minor irregularities in the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee
Scheme (NREGS) but debunked the charges of misappropriation of funds to the tune
of Rs 500 crore. After
making a sample survey of the projects taken up under NREGS and talking to residents
of several villages on the programme of Rayagada, Koraput, Nabaranagpur, Nuapada,
Balangir and Koraput districts, six senior officers of the Panchayati Raj Department
submitted their reports to the Government. While
the officers received allegations of delayed payment, there was hardly any complaint
of nonpayment or less payment of wages, sources said. But
in several cases, job card holders admitted to have lent their cards to persons
who are not registered job seekers. Migration of labourers from Balangir, Kalahandi
and Nuapada is still rampant and the NREGS programme has failed to check it, admitted
the senior officers. While
100 days of work is guaranteed to each of the job card holders in a year, in some
cases, the 100 days are exhausted within a month. Such cases are reported where
a family has four or five members who are majors but received a single job card.
In
some cases, works have been provided to people who are not job card holders, the
sources said, adding, this is because of inadequate distribution of job cards.
Initially, the Government agencies in charge of job card distribution were not
very liberal apprehending misuse of the card. These
officers have reportedly recommended the Government to ensure distribution of
job cards to all the eligible people including all the majors of a family. Mismatch
in online entry and musters rolls at panchayat-level and several irregularities
in record maintenance were also detected. The State Government was in a spot following
publication of a report by a New Delhi-based NGO, Centre for Environment and Food
Security, alleging misappropriation of funds to the tune of Rs 500 crore during
implementation of NREGS. The
State Government is in the process of preparing a final report which will be submitted
to the Centre shortly. Posted
at New Indian
Express dated October 14, 2007 - - - - -
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Cholera stalks Orissa villages Sarada
Lahangir Rayagada
(Orissa), Oct 14 (IANS) Driving down to the Kashipur village block is almost an
idyllic fantasy. But the picturesque landscape hides a dark truth - cholera is
stalking the region, pushing it towards doom, reports Grassroots Features. At
least 52 people in this block in Rayagada district have died of cholera. It was
in 1987 that Kashipur made headlines following reports of starvation deaths. Leaders
including the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi rushed to the area. Again
in 2001, the death of 20 people due to consumption of poisonous food made headlines
in all national and international newspapers, forcing the chief minister and a
central team to visit Kashipur several times. The
fatal outbreak of cholera once again throws light on the poor health facilities
and non-implementation of government programmes in the area. The
story of Singari Majhi of Bilamala village whose grandson is suffering from diarrhoea
and has been admitted in a PHC (primary health centre) speaks the true story of
their condition. 'My
grandson had severe vomiting and loose motions since last two days. We took him
to the Rayagada hospital, 70 km from here. I can't afford to take any chance with
my grandson's health; I had already lost my husband, two sons and one daughter
in 2001. He is the only hope for my old age,' she said. Devjani
Majhi of Kucheipadar village was not as fortunate as Singri. She lost her husband
due to the cholera outbreak. 'There was no transportation facility. If he had
been treated on time, we could have saved him. He has left me helpless with my
three small children,' she cried. In
Panasguda, seven people had died within two days in 2001, after consuming mango
kernels. Ram Majhi's brother was among them. 'We don't always have sufficient
food to eat and we have to eat mango kernel paste, roots, mushrooms, etc. I got
Rs. 10,000 compensation, 20 kg rice and a BPL (Below Poverty Line) card when he
died. But with no work how long will that last,' he said. 'In
our village nobody has job cards. So how can we survive? Every year during rains
people suffer diarrhoea. When we tribals, die, it makes news for you people. We
have lost faith in everybody, including the government,' he added. In
Panasguda and Gotiguda in the Kashipur block, villagers have not received any
job cards, whereas in Bilamala, those who have been issued cards got work for
only two or three days. Although
a number of tube wells were put up in the area to ensure the availability of safe
drinking water, the tribals continued to fetch water from the open sources, which
are now contaminated. While
diarrhoea and malaria have been regularly claiming lives, the large-scale deaths
reported during the rains indicated a sharp fall in their resistance power. In
Kashipur only seven out of the 10 doctor's posts have been filled. Mandibisi,
Sunger, Dongasil and Kucheipadar health centres are operating without doctors.
After
the visit of Rajiv Gandhi here in 1987, a special grant of Rs. 600 million had
been released under IFARD (Integrated Fund for Rural Development) for the development
of the Koraput district and the Kashipur block in particular. Since
then, millions of rupees have been released for the area but the condition of
the tribal is yet to change for reasons best known to the administration. Reports
of a fact-finding team drawn from various voluntary organisations as well as a
survey by the New Delhi-based Centre for Environment and Food Security (CEFS)
have reinforced the belief that food insecurity, despite the implementation of
National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), has emerged as the main villain.
The
CEFS report, which links cholera to the misappropriation of NREGS funds reported
that out of Rs. 7 billion spent on the programme during 2006-07, about Rs. 5 billion
was siphoned off. With
cholera taking a heavy toll, questions are being raised on the manner in which
such a huge sum of money was utilised. During the last nine years, Rs.1.51 billion
was spent for improvement of health services in the area while another Rs.27 billion
was spent for generation of employment. Posted
at monstersandcritics.com
dated October 14, 2007 - - - - - - - - - - -
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A V Rajwade: Incredible India@60 Are
we getting carried away by the present numbers, blithely ignoring basic weaknesses
and problems. The
fun and games, reception and speeches celebrating Incredible India@60 in New York
have ended. The Sensex recently touched an all-time high, unaffected by political
uncertainties. GDP will grow in the current year (if not forever) at 9% plus.
The rupee is at a decade-high in nominal terms, and perhaps higher in real effective
terms than at any time since 1993. Foreign investors seem more anxious than ever
to invest in the country. The monetary tightening over the last 12 months has
succeeded spectacularly and has halved the inflation rate. Vishwanathan Anand
is the world chess champion; the Indian team has won the inaugural T20 World Cup;
and even the hockey team is Asian champion. In
such a time of general euphoria, it would sound churlish to strike a discordant
note. But, paraphrasing what Robert Samuel wrote recently about the US economy,
“by taking (growth) for granted, people perversely subvert (growth). The more
we — business managers, investors, consumers — think that economic growth is guaranteed
and that risk and uncertainty are receding, the more we act in ways that raise
risk, magnify uncertainty and threaten economic growth … the fact that the (Indian)
economy grew in spite of so many daunting obstacles — (very high real interest
rates; an uncompetitive exchange rate; a rapidly growing deficit on the current
account; a crumbling infrastructure; az soft, inefficient state; a political class
with few convictions, only too willing to change policies in response to a demonstration;
a country ranking pretty low in Transparency International’s league table, etc.)
— may have created a false sense of confidence that it could overcome almost anything.
Sophisticated investors and (media commentators) alike seem to have fallen under
the spell of this logic” (Newsweek, September 24). Perhaps
the weakest and most worrying part is the political economy and governance: - The
socialistic, dirigiste mindset of our political masters, despite the failure of
the “socialistic pattern” to deliver any significant improvement in per capita
incomes for 40 years. Netas and babus want to control everything from independent
regulators to IIMs. As Alan Greenspan comments in his memoirs, India’s economy
“remains heavily bureaucratic”; that the recent growth rate is from “a very low
base”; and that “India’s per capita GDP four decades ago was equal to that of
China, but is now less than half of China’s and still losing ground”.
- Is
there also a vested interest in perpetuating poverty, in disclaiming any improvements,
in giving half-rotten fish to the poor instead of teaching them how to fish? We
obviously do not believe Deng Xio Ping that “to be rich is glorious”, that “poverty
is not socialism”! Will the money spent on umpteen, overlapping, administratively
cumbersome programmes not lead to better outcomes through direct cash transfers,
and investments in rural infrastructure? But there are no votes in it or at least
that is how the political class perceives it. Interestingly, just as most people
believe that the political class is corrupt, the latter return the compliment
by bribing people through quotas, subsidies, make work programmes, “free” water,
power and TV sets.
- Under
the NREGS, only 6% of the households registered got 100 days of work; in Orissa,
out of the Rs 733 crore spent, an estimated Rs 500 crore was pocketed by officials
and middlemen (a survey by the Centre for Environment and Food Security, reported
in Mint, October 5). The record elsewhere is not much better, but the scheme is
to be extended to 660 districts. In general, no programme once started ever ends
— howsoever ineffective, in achieving objectives, it may be. There are too many
vested interests in its perpetuation.
- The
licence-permit Raj has been replaced by the quota subsidy Raj. Our political masters
clearly have learnt a lot from the British — and their divide and rule policies:
the caste- and community-based quotas (not economic criteria) and subsidies, including
the recent Rs 11,000 crore package for the followers of Islam, are clearly aimed
at perpetuating the different identities, instead of merging them in a melting
pot. No wonder we see the bizarre spectacle of the Gujjars advertising (boasting?)
their superstitions, polyandry, child marriage, etc. to “prove” their backwardness,
and qualifications for reservations.
- The
flip-flops on organised retail would be laughable in almost any other country.
Nobody seriously denies that organised retail would give better prices to both
the producer and the consumer, improve storage and transportation infrastructure,
reduce waste of agricultural produce, improve tax compliance, etc. But our leftists
are highly concerned about the livelihoods of bourgeois middlemen (but not about
the potential of new jobs in organised industry), who add little value but only
costs. The threat of an agitation or disturbance is enough for most chief ministers
to close organised retailing — as the UP chief minister recently did. Arguably,
since the retail shops had broken no laws, it was the duty of the government to
give them protection rather than succumbing to vandalism. And, Delhi’s deafening
silence suggests that our political masters have few policy convictions, and no
desire (or ability?) to propagate the “maximum good of the maximum number”.
- Judicial
backlogs keep mounting even as special courts take 14 years to give judgements,
X months to deliver them, and Y months to give copies to the accused. The CBI
is still filing charge sheets in the securities scam cases. We are now going to
have the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Bill, 2007 (I
have assured my children that they need not be worried; I would surely die before
any case I may file comes up for hearing.) No wonder people are losing faith in
the law and order machinery and are increasingly punishing the alleged culprits
themselves. Vigilantism is manifesting a worrying rise.
- The
growing spread of extreme left violence, of religious terrorism and the refusal
to face the issues squarely, let alone tackle them effectively.
- It
is also ironic that our central bank is busy encouraging the outflow of capital,
even as the Planning Commission’s best estimates suggest a huge shortfall in resources
for badly needed investment in infrastructure.
On
balance, are we getting carried away by the present numbers, blithely ignoring
basic weaknesses and problems, hoping that they will go away? Chances are they
may not. Think also of the positive side: if we can overcome some of these, where
will the growth rate go? Posted
at Business
Standard dated October 12, 2007 - - - - -
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Invisible Genocide Of The Poor By
Parshuram Rai 08 October, 2007 Countercurrents.org More
than 24,000 people die of hunger every day, nearly 78 % of them women and children.
More than 1.4 billion people in the world face chronic hunger and over 13 million
die of hunger every year. They die of hunger not because world does not have enough
food for the entire population of the world, but because of an insensitive and
callous world where profit of market seems to be the final arbiter of human destiny.
The number of people who fell prey to Hitler's insanity was 6 million and the
"silent holocaust of hunger" is killing over 13 million people every year. Every
year more than two genocides of Nazi scale. But unlike the victims of Nazi gas
chambers, the victims of hunger die unnoticed, unmourned and in the backyards
of vibrant democracies. If we believe in Gandhian dictum that poverty is the worst
form of violence, then we are still inflicting this violence on over 1.4 billion
poorest people of the world. While the U S can spend over $ 80 billion per year
in Iraq alone, the entire wealth and generosity of the world can not generate
just 13 billion dollors which is the only amount required to prevent the "invisible
genocide by hunger". More
than 340 million of Indians still go to bed without food every night. Over 10,000
Indians die of hunger every day and about 40 lakh every year. In other words,
every 18 months we are inflicting an “invisible genocide” of Nazi scale on our
poor and hungry compatriots. Every third hungry person in the world is an Indian
and every third Indian goes to bed without food. The number of hungry people in
India is always more than the number of people below official poverty line. While
around 37% of rural households were below the poverty line in 1993-94, 80% of
households suffered undernutrition. Evidence on the consumption of food, on calorie-intake
and on nutritional outcomes clearly prove that chronic hunger persists on a mass
scale in India .
Shall we still call it hunger deaths or “ invisible genocide” of poor Indians
? This scale of hunger and abject poverty is unconscionable in a fast growing
economy with rising number of dollor millionaires. What are the main reasons behind
this dehumanizing level of poverty? After 15 years of my research and activism
on the issue of hunger and poverty , I find the traditional explanation of poverty
in terms of income poverty and poor economy becoming increasingly irrelevant .
I find it difficult to disagree with Lord Meghnath Desai when he says that economic
poverty in India in inextricably linked to the poverty of politics( read bad governance
and corruption ). I
have done some back of the envelope calculations about the amount of money required
to prevent any Indian going to bed without food .The required amount is not huge.
In fact, no Indian should go to bed without food even at the current level of
budgetary allocations made under heads of various anti-poverty programmes , if
we could just ensure the leakage-proof delivery of the allocated funds to their
targeted population. There
are currently four major schemes in operation that essentially aim at fighting
hunger and food insecurity; namely,PDS(public distribution system),ICDS (integrated
child development scheme), MDM ( mid-day meal scheme) and most importantly NREGS(national
rural employment guarantee scheme).There would be very few Indians who would have
to skip meals if we could just make these four schemes corruption- free. Therefore,
now it is not the poor state of economy or lack of funds that is killing about
40 lakh Indians every year , it is the cancer of corruption that is killing and
crippling millions of our compatriots every year. The colonial character of Indian
bureaucracy is the single biggest factor behind the epidemic of poverty. The Indian
bureaucracy is virtually accountable to none , especially when it comes to the
implementation of anti-poverty programmes. PDS
and NREGS are two most important schemes to fight hunger and ensure food security.
But , what is the actual performance of these schemes on the ground ? According
to a recent report of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution
, “In the last three years, Rs 31,585.98 crore worth of wheat and rice meant for
the poorest of the poor was siphoned off from the public distribution system(PDS).
Last year alone, Rs 11,336.98 crore worth of food grain that the government is
supposed to distribute to the needy at subsidised prices found its way into the
market illegally. Every year, India's poor are cheated out of 53.3% of wheat and
39% of rice meant for them...There is largescale diversion of PDS grain across
India… Exceptions apart, the poor in India simply can’t trust the government to
deliver them food supplies. ”(Times of India, Sept. 17, 2007)
During last two months, hundreds of poor Adivasis in Rayagada,Koraput and Kalahandi
districts of Orissa have died due to “consumption of contaminated water and rotten
food” and “hunger and severe food insecurity ”.On the basis of my research in
100 villages of Orissa, I firmly believe that it is not the epidemic of cholera
but cancer of corruption that is killing hundreds of Adivasis in Orissa’s KBK(Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput)
region.
Cholera is only a symptom and by-product, the root cause is the cancer of corruption
which has colonized and crippled all the vital organs of Orissa administration.
Abject poverty and chronic hunger manufactured by corrupt bureaucracy are the
main reasons behind these tragic deaths of Adivasis. The PDS(public distribution
system) is in a shambles and ICDS(integrated child development scheme) is virtually
defunct in the KBK region. The PDS,ICDS and all other anti-poverty programmes
have been hijacked and converted into money minting machines for Orissa’s sarkari
babus.
Most of these Adivasis live a life of semi-starvation which cripples their immune
system and their bodies become vulnerable to a host of diseases .In KBK region,
for better part of the rainy season, majority of Adivasis have hardly any food
to eat and they survive on mango kernel gruel, wild leaves and vegetables. This
tragedy repeats every year. The historic anti-poverty programme NREGS(National
Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) was launched to stop precisely this kind of
tragedy. Unfortunately, sarkari babus of Orissa have converted even this historic
employment guarantee scheme into income guarantee scheme for themselves.
Delhi- based CEFS(Centre for Environment and Food Security) has carried out a
survey in 100 villages of Orissa and found that of Rs 733 crore spent under NREGS
during 2006-7, over Rs 500 crore has been siphoned off and misappropriated by
the government officials of executing agencies. Moreover, as against the claims
of Orissa Government that no needy household in 19 NREGS districts of the state
was denied wage employment and each needy household was given an average 57 days
of wage employment under NREGS, CEFS study has revealed that large number of needy
households were denied not only jobs but even job cards, and not more than 5 days
of average wage employment has been given to each needy family in these 19 NREGS
districts. We have found that more than 75 per cent of the NREGS funds spent during
last year have been siphoned off. However, we are absolutely certain that there
are thousands of villages in Orissa where scale of misappropriation is 80-90 per
cent. It is distressing to note that there has been open and participatory loot
of NREGS funds in Orissa. We have reasons to believe that the entire state administration
is party to this loot.
Is there any linkage between misappropriation of Rs 500 crore of NREGS funds and
cholera deaths of hundreds of Adivasis in Orissa? On the surface, the link is
tenuous. Scratch a little deeper and the linkage is direct. To
put Rs 500 crore of siphoned NREGS fund in perspective , this amount of money
would have given about 90 days of wage employment to about 10 lakh poor families
of Orissa. In other words, each of these 10 lakh poorest families would have got
Rs 5000 as wages. This amount of Rs 5000 in the context of these poor and hungry
families would have given 4-6 months of two subsistence meals or one meal for
the whole year. Therefore, it is not just another financial scam , callous bureaucracy
of Orissa has robbed 10 lakh hungry families of one meal for the whole year .
Who is real killer of Orissa’s Adivasis ?
Consumption of contaminated water and rotten food by the people is suspected to
have led to the epidemic,(BBC News, August 27, 2007).Life will never be the same
for Chintamani Nayak of Naugaon village( Kashipur block). His dream of becoming
a father was shattered when his pregnant wife died of diaorrhea. “I lost my pregnant
wife because of food scarcity.Now I am helpless”, laments Chintamani. Chintamani
is one of many villagers grappling with poverty, food scarcity and forced to drink
contaminated water….With starvation deaths already on the rise and now this epidemic,
the Orissa government has its task cut out.(CNN-IBN ,August 30, 2007)
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. 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 numbers 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 emaciated children.
We had also visited Panasguda(Kasipur Gram Panchayat),Gottigudda(Kasipur Gram
Panchayat) and Bilamal (Tikari Gram Panchayat) in Kasipur block of Rayagada district
.Many starvation deaths were reported from these three villages during 2001 and
the Chief Minister had personally visited these villages 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 gruel. Panasgudda and Gottigudda villages 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. More than 8 persons are reported to have died in Bilamal during last
two months. Most of these deaths are essentially hunger-deaths, but it is convenient
for bureaucrats to declare them as “cholera deaths.”
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. The
largest number of cholera deaths have been reported from Kashipur block of Rayagada
district. We had surveyed 30 villages of this block and found that there had been
proverbial open loot of NREGS funds in all the villages where this job scheme
was executed. We had found similar loot of NREGS funds in Laxmipur and Nandpur
blocks of Koraput district and Thuamulrampur block of Kalahandi district. All
these blocks are now witness to a naked dance of death scripted and choreographed
by callous and corrupt bureaucracy of Orissa. The
CEFS survey report was formally released on 17 th August 2007 in New Delhi and
all the News Papers of Orissa carried news stories about the shocking findings
of this survey, most of them on their front pages. However, the Government of
Orissa has maintained studied silence on the damning findings of the CEFS survey.
To neutralize the impact of bad publicity and to deflect public attention from
the NREGS Scam ,on 20th August 2007 , the Chief Minister called a high level meeting
and ordered survey of NREGS work in the state by Hyderabad-based NIRD( National
Institute of Rural Development). I firmly believe that the objective of the NIRD
survey is not to probe the irregularities or misappropriation of Rs 500 crore
NREGS funds, but to cover up all this. It is a pure eye wash. More
shocking is the silence of the main opposition party of Orissa - Congress. Except
Congress, all other opposition parties have demanded a special session of Orissa
Assembly to discuss Rs 500 crore NREGS scam unearthed by CEFS survey . Even the
BJP, a partner in the ruling coalition of Orissa, has said on record that there
have been serious irregularities and the NREGS in Orissa had miserably failed.
It defies all logic as how the main Opposition Party of Orissa (Congress) did
not bother to utter a single word about the NREGS scam . It is bizarre to read
in the Newspapers that the same Party is now busy counting dead bodies of Orissa’s
Adivasis. Some one rightly said that we are a country of fire fighters. We begin
digging well only after the fire has broken out. The silence about misappropriation
of Rs 500 crore NREGS funds on the part of the oldest political Party of the largest
democracy in the world is more shocking to me than Rs 500 crore NREGS scam as
such . The
author is director of Delhi-based Centre for Environment and Food Security(CEFS).
He can be reached at : parshuramray@yahoo.com Posted
at countercurrents.com
dated October 08, 2007 - - - - - - - - - - -
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Welfare’s Willing Executioners Cholera’s
not all that’s killing people in India’s hunger capital. Staggering corruption
in the Orissa NREGS has done the poor enough harm too, says PARSHURAM RAI OF
THE 1.4 billion people who face chronic hunger world over, one in three is an
Indian. Every third Indian goes to bed without food; more than 10,000 of our compatriots
die of hunger each day. So massive a scale of abject poverty is unconscionable
in a fast-growing economy with a rising number of dollar millionaires. When confronted
with such disparity, the traditional explanation of poverty in terms of low incomes
and a poor economy becomes increasingly irrelevant. It is difficult to disagree
with Lord Meghnad Desai when he says that economic poverty in India is inextricably
linked to the poverty of politics — bad governance and corruption. It is not the
poor state of the economy or the lack of funds that is killing about 40 lakh Indians
every year, it is the cancer of corruption and the colonial character of the Indian
bureaucracy. India
currently has four major schemes in operation that aim at fighting hunger and
food insecurity: the Public Distribution System (PDS), the Integrated Child Development
Scheme (ICDS), the Mid-day Meal Scheme (MDM) and, most importantly, the National
Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). Very few Indians would ever have to
go without food if we could just ensure that these schemes were corruption-free,
in particular the PDS and the NREGS. But what is their actual performance on the
ground? According to a recent report on the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food
and Public Distribution, “Last year alone, Rs 11,336.98 crore worth of food grain
that the government is supposed to distribute to the needy at subsidised prices
found its way into the market illegally. Every year, India’s poor are cheated
out of 53.3 percent of wheat and 39 percent of rice meant for them… There is largescale
diversion of PDS grain across India… Exceptions apart, the poor in India simply
can’t trust the government to deliver them food supplies.” (The Times of India,
September 17, 2007) One
of the most horrifying examples of the governing class’ brutal theft of money
meant for the poor is to be found in Orissa, which is among the poorest states
in the country. A survey I headed conducted by the Delhibased Centre for Environment
and Food Security (CEFS) across 100 Orissa villages has found that of the Rs 733
crore spent under the NREGS during 2006-07, over Rs 500 crore, or around 70 percent,
has been siphoned off and misappropriated by officials of the executing agencies.
Moreover, as against the claims of the Orissa government that no needy household
in the state’s 19 NREGS districts had been denied wage employment and that each
such household had been given an average of 57 days of wage employment under the
NREGS, the CEFS study has revealed that a large number of impoverished households
had been denied not only jobs but even job cards, and that not more than five
days’ wage employment on average had been given to any of these families in the
19 districts.
To put Rs 500 crore of siphoned NREGS funds in perspective, this amount of money
would have given about 90 days of wage employment to about 10 lakh severely impoverished
families. Each of these families would have got Rs 5,000 as wages. This amount
would have given each family two subsistence meals a day for four to six months;
it would have supplied each family one meal a day for an entire year. The scale
of this callousness takes it beyond the level of just another financial scam —
the Orissa bureaucracy has robbed 10 lakh chronically hungry families of a meal
a day for a whole year. DURING
THE last two months, hundreds of adivasis in Rayagada, Koraput and Kalahandi districts
have died due to “consumption of contaminated water and rotten food” and “hunger
and severe food insecurity”. The CEFS study, however, leads one to believe that
the cholera epidemic that is killing hundreds of adivasis in Orissa’s KBK (Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput)
region is only a ymptom and a byproduct of the corruption which has colonised
and crippled all the vital organs of the Orissa administration. When all anti-poverty
programmes in the region have been hijacked and converted into money-minting machines
for Orissa’s babus, who then is the real killer of Orissa’s adivasis?
Is there any connection between the misappropriation of Rs 500 crore and the hundreds
of cholera deaths among Orissa’s adivasis? On the surface, the link is tenuous.
Scratch a little deeper and it turns direct. Most of these adivasis live in semi-starvation,
which cripples their immune system, making them vulnerable to a host of diseases.
In the KBK region, for the better part of the rainy season, a majority of adivasis
have hardly any food to eat and they survive on mango kernel gruel, wild leaves
and vegetables. The
NREGS was launched precisely to end this kind of dehumanising poverty. Unfortunately,
Orissa’s babus have converted even this historic employment guarantee scheme into
nothing but an income guarantee scheme for themselves. The current level of hunger,
poverty and deprivation in the KBK region is as deep and demeaning as it has ever
been, despite its receiving the highest per capita allocation of funds under the
NREGS anywhere in the country. On the Human Development Index, many sub- Saharan
villages would fare better than most KBK villages.
In 2001, reports of starvation deaths from Panasguda, Gottigudda and Bilamal villages
in Rayagada district’s Kashipur block impelled then Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik
to visited them to offer relief. Six years later, most households in these villages
are still living on the verge of starvation. For the better part of the rainy
season, they still have to make a choice between starvation and eating mango kernel
gruel. Panasguda and Gottigudda have not even received job cards. Some households
have been given job cards in Bilamal, but even they got only two or three days
of work under the NREGS. A Bilamal family which had lost four of its members to
starvation in 2001 has not received a job card till date. At least eight people
are reported to have died in Bilamal in the last two months. Most of these deaths
are essentially hunger-deaths, but it is convenient for bureaucrats to declare
them “cholera deaths”. The
largest number of cholera deaths have been reported from Kashipur. The CEFS study
surveyed 30 villages in this block and found that there had been an open loot
of NREGS funds in all the villages where the scheme was executed. A similar loot
of NREGS funds was found in Laxmipur and Nandpur blocks of Koraput district and
in Thuamulrampur block of Kalahandi. All these blocks are now witness to a naked
dance of death scripted and choreographed by the callous and corrupt bureaucracy
of Orissa. ABJECT
POVERTY and chronic hunger manufactured by a corrupt bureaucracy are the main
reasons behind these tragic deaths. Where has the Orissa government spent the
Rs 733 crore it claimed to have spent on the NREGS? These hungry adivasis deserve
at least an answer in the 60th anniversary of India’s Independence.
The CEFS survey report was formally released on August 17, yet so far the Orissa
government has maintained a studied silence on its findings, apart from ordering
a National Institute of Rural Development survey of NREGS work. Most shocking,
however, is the silence of Orissa’s main opposition party — the Congress. That
the oldest political party of the world’s largest democracy could not be bothered
to respond to so massive a theft of public money is perhaps the most shameful
part of Orissa’s NREGS tragedy. All other opposition parties have demanded a special
session of the Assembly to discuss the scam; even the BJP, a partner in the state’s
ruling coalition, has said that the NREGS in Orissa had failed miserably. In the
speeches of the politicians, adivasis and Dalits are routinely claimed to have
the first charge on the country’s resources. In reality, that charge is owned
by the babus, who are the main beneficiaries of every anti-poverty programme this
country has ever devised. Only
a vigilant citizenry can shake up the corrupt bureaucracy by making it accountable
for its acts of omission and commission. Unless public servants are afraid of
being prosecuted, their corruption will continue to thrive, and adivasis and Dalits
will continue to die like flies, unnoticed and unmourned by a “rising India”. Posted
at Tehelka.com
dated October 06, 2007 - - - - - - - - - - -
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‘Not one entry matched’ From
the Centre for Environment and Food Security survey PALSIPADA
IS A SMALL DUSTY VILLAGE in Talbelgaon Panchayat of Bhawanipatna block, Kalahandi
district. A predominantly adivasi village, it would definitely be classed among
the poorest villages of the country — Kalahandi itself is known as India’s hunger
capital. This village should have the first charge on the jobs provided under
the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). Rupa
Majhi (job card no-OR-10- 001-031-008/14364) worked for 21 days under the NREGS
and was paid Rs 600. His job card states he had worked for 336 days; the NREGS
website (http://nrega.nic.in) says he was given 102 days of employment and paid
Rs 6,310. With only Rs 600 actually in his hands, the remaining Rs. 5,710, more
than 90 percent of the payment made in his name, has been pocketed by the NREGS
officials. Pokhari Ghat is another Kalahandi village where the NREGS has been
implemented, but more than 95 percent of the funds were pocketed by the executing
officials. Every document related to the NREGS here is fabricated. Not a single
job card entry about jobs and wages matches with actual work days and payments.
Even the job details written on the 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. Posted
at Tehelka.com
dated October 06, 2007 - - - - - - - - - - -
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NREGA and rural employment: In Orissa, corruption robs the poor PARSHURAM
RAI In
reality, the Rural Employment Scheme has made virtually no impact on the livelihood
security of Orissa’s rural poor. Unless transparency safeguards incorporated in
the NREGS are implemented in letter and spirit, the scheme may just sound radical
on paper, hijacked as it has been by petty officials. The
National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) is arguably the most progressive
legislation in post-Independent India. Implemented in letter and spirit, this
historic Act has the potential to transform Rural India. But corruption keeps
the NREGS (National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) from fulfilling its promise
as it has in Orissa. Rupa
Majhi, a poor Adivasi of Palsipada village in Kalahandi district, was actually
given 21 days of employment and paid Rs 600 as wages during 2006-07. He was given
this wage employment on a road construction project executed under the high-profile
anti-poverty programme NREGS. But, on his job card, it is falsely written that
he had worked for 336 days. The online job card of Rupa Majhi posted on NREGS
Web site has a third-version of work and payment details. As per the fake entries
on the NREGS Web site, Rupa Majhi was given 102 days of wage employment and paid
Rs 6,310 as wages. So, out of Rs 6,310, only Rs 600 actually came in the hands
of Rupa Majhi. The remaining Rs 5,710 — which is more than 90 per cent of the
total wage payment made in the name of Rupa Majhi — has been siphoned off and
misappropriated by the government officials. Chandra
Majhi of Palsipada village has not received any employment under the rural job
scheme. But, in his job card (hard copy), there is fake entry of 126 days. On
the NREGS Web site, 108 days of employment and Rs 5,940 as wages have been falsely
shown in the name of Chandra Majhi. In this case,100 per cent of the wages has
been eaten up by the government officials. The stories of Rupa Majhi and Chandra
Majhi are not isolated cases of financial bungling and misappropriation of NREGS
funds in Orissa. This is the story of about 13 lakh poor households of Orissa
who were given wage employment under the NREGS during 2006-07. One
of the poorest states with a very high percentage of rural population living in
abject poverty and chronic hunger, Orissa was allocated Rs 890 crore under NREGS.
In 2006-07, it was able to spend Rs 733 crore. The official records of the State
government state that Orissa provided 7.99 crore person-days employment to 13,94,169
households in 2006-07. In other words, every needy and demanding family in the
State was given an average 57 days of wage employment during the year. Not a single
needy household was denied wage employment in 19 NREGS districts of the State.
Orissa also claims that 1,54,118 families in the State completed 100 days of wage
employment during 2006-7. Reality
Bites A
random survey in 100 villages of Orissa reveals the hollowness of these claims.
Conducted in the State’s six poorest districts of the KBK (Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput)
region — Bolangir, Nuapada, Kalahandi, Koraput, Nabarangpur and Rayagada — the
survey by the Delhi-based Centre for Environment and Food Security (CEFS) uncovered
that of Rs 733 crore spent under NREGS, more than Rs 500 crore was unaccounted
for, probably siphoned off and misappropriated by government officials. Back-of-the-envelope
calculations suggest that, on the ground, less than 2 crore person-days employment
has been provided while more than 6 crore person-days employment has been provided
on false job cards and fabricated muster rolls. In
fact, not more than five days of average employment has been given to each of
the needy families in 19 NREGS districts of the State and large number of needy
families were denied employment.
The research team did not find a single family in the 100 sample villages who
had actually got 100 days of wage employment. Very few families got 20-40 days;
the rest mostly between five-21 days, if at all. Thirty-seven
out of 100 sample villages received no wage employment whatsoever. More than 40
villages had job and wage entries, on an average four or five times the actual
numbers. Online
job cards of most of these households, however, have false and fabricated job
and wage entries for varying periods ranging between 111 and fifty-two days. This
is the way Orissa has spent Rs 733 crore and provided about 8 crore person-days
employment.
The cost of corruption The
unaccounted NREGA funds of Rs 500 crore would have given about 90 days of wage
employment to about 10 lakh poor families of Orissa had things worked out the
way they should have. In other words, each of these 10 lakh poorest families would
have got Rs 5,000 per family as wages. In the context of poverty and hunger that
plague these families, this amount would have given four-six months of two subsistence
meals or one meal for the whole year. Ten
lakh families have been deprived even that one meal for the whole year. Small
wonder that last month hundreds of Adivasis have died in Rayagada, Koraput and
Kalahandi districts of Orissa due to ‘cholera’ ‘hunger’ ‘lack of food’ and ‘malnutrition’. Current
levels of hunger, poverty and deprivation in Orissa’s KBK region are deep, demeaning
and dehumanising despite the apparently successful implementation of the NREGS
with the highest per capita allocation of funds anywhere in the country. In reality,
the Rural Employment Scheme has made virtually no impact on the livelihood security
of Orissa’s rural poor with little let up in the level of distress migration of
Adivasis and Dalits from the regions in search of livelihood elsewhere. The
provision of Social Audit included in the NREG Act is virtually non-existent.
There has been no social audit whatsoever in any of the 100 villages visited by
the research teams. There is no accountability and/or transparency in the administration
of NREGS; in none of the 100 villages visited, did the team find a single Panchayat
office open and functioning. Villagers held that these offices open only once
or twice a month.
In reality, Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) have been completely sidelined
in the implementation of NREGS with the village-level workers calling the shots;
they get the sarpanches to sign on blank cheques and jealously guard muster rolls.
The team could not meet a single person in these 100 villages who had ever seen
muster rolls of the NREGS works in his village. Villagers who work in NREGS projects
are made to sign on blank muster rolls. Unless
transparency safeguards incorporated in the NREGS are implemented in letter and
spirit, the scheme may just sound radical on paper hijacked as it has been by
petty officials. For it to succeed, the NREGS must be handed over to the Panchayati
Raj Institutions (PRIs). This may warrant a few amendments to the current Act,
but if the scheme has to serve its purpose there may be no alternative. (The
author is director of Delhi-based Centre for Environment & Food Security. He can
be reached at: parshuramray@yahoo.com.) Posted
at The
Hindu - Bussness Line dated October 05, 2007 -
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PM admits flaws in rural job scheme DH
News Service,New Delhi: Less than a week after extending National Rural Employment
Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) in all rural districts, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
on Wednesday admitted to loopholes and leakages in the implementation of the UPA’s
flagship programme. “If
the scheme (NREGS) is implemented honestly and sincerely, it would increase the
rural income and we will be able to soften very considerably, the harsh edges
of extreme poverty…But there are leakages and administrative inadequacies,” the
Prime Minister said while addressing a meeting organised by the Indian Language
Newspapers Association (ILNA) in the Capital. The
Prime Minister said it was the duty of the media and civil society to highlight
weaknesses in the implementation of a scheme such as NREGS. The
Prime Minister’s candid admission came close on the heels of the findings of an
NGO survey last Saturday about poor execution and red-tapism in the implementation.
The survey by Delhi based NGO-Society for Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA)
has revealed that only six per cent of households registered for work under NREGS
had got 100 days of employment in the first year of the scheme’s implementation. As
per a recent report compiled by the Union Rural Development Ministry, 16 major
cases of embezzlement of funds, involving several crores of rupees have been unearthed
in 14 states. The latest one refers to the alleged misuse of Rs 400 crore NREGS
funds in Orissa. Maximum misuse of funds reported in Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand
and Orissa, and the ministry is awaiting detailed report from states ascertain
the factual position. Posted
at Deccan
Herald dated October 04, 2007
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Post-floods, Orissa's tribal districts suffer cholera outbreak
RANJAN K PANDA
...
A recent report of the Centre for Environment and Food Security (cefs), New Delhi,
also underlines the poor drinking water and sanitary facilities in the state.
“It is not the epidemic of cholera but cancer of corruption that is killing hundreds
of poor adivasis...[in Orissa],” notes cefs. Down
To Earth September 27, 2007 to
read full article please click
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Report card of NREGA in Orissa
Of the Rs 700 crore
allotted for the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in Orissa, Rs 500
crore has been siphoned off by officials, says a survey by the Centre for Environment
and Food Security (cefs), Delhi. The survey, covering 100 villages across six
districts, reported glaring lack of transparency, job cards not being issued,
and forgery. Parshuram Ray of cefs says his organisation chose Orissa because
there were several positive reports but what they discovered was quite the opposite.
Under the scheme, 40 per cent of the funds are allocated for materials and the
rest for wages. Ray alleges that the material allocation in Orissa was 80 per
cent. Another discrepancy was in the large number of road constructions that “have
supposedly been carried out”.
Down
To Earth September 27, 2007 to
read full article please click
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CAG to probe into NREGS irregularities in Orissa
The Centre has decided to send a Central team to oversee the mode of implementation
of the ongoing National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) in Orissa. Announcing
this at a press conference at the State Secretariat in Bhubaneswar on Monday,
Union rural development minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said that the Comptroller
and Auditor General (CAG) to probe into the allegations of irregularities of Rs
500 crore in different projects under the NREGS and submit a report in this connection
by October-end this year. Singh,
who reviewed the NREGS of 10 states held at the State Secretariat, maintained
that the scheme has become a success in the whole country, especially in the tribal-infested
states of Orissa, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, the scheme has come out as a blessing.
Terming
the scheme as a grand success, he said that the scheme has broken all previous
records of other Centrally-sponsored programmes in terms of creating a record
number of employment days. Referring
to the allegations on irregularities under different projects in NREGS in six
districts of the undivided KBK made by a Delhi-based NGO that has has also referred
the allegations to the state government to conduct a probe, said Singh said that
after receiving reports of the two agencies, the Centre would take appropriate
action. He
further said the ministry had also received similar allegations from 69 districts
across the country under the NREGS. All the allegations have been forwarded to
the CAG, he added. He
said that to make NREGS successful, the Centre had adopted a five-pronged strategy
such as creating awareness about the programme, putting emphasis on people's participation,
making officials more accountable, maintaining a high level of transparency and
keeping strict monitoring and vigilance of the programme. To
a question on whether he was satisfied with the implementation of the NREGS implementation
in Orissa, Singh said that it was not a question of satisfaction. The
state government had to achieve the target of providing minimum 100 days of employment
to the people in rural sector. It has yet to achieve this goal, he pointed out. He
further said the state government had to make social audit of all these schemes
under the NREGS within three months. It may be noted that the state government
had yet to start a social audit of the scheme. Singh
further said by shifting responsibilities on sarpanchs and Zilla Parishad members,
the district collector should disown their responsibilities. They
must try to enhance the capacity building of the panchayats, he said, adding that
it was a crime if people do not get remuneration after completed their jobs under
the NREGS. Stating
that 24 districts of the state had already been covered under the programme and
the remaining six districts would be covered under the NREGS in the third phase. The
Centre has already allocated Rs 8,000 crore to implement NREGS in the entire country
in 2006-07 while another Rs 8,000 crore is being released for 2007-08, he informed. Earlier
addressing a two-day performance review committee of the rural development department,
he urged the states to record significant higher achievements in implementation
of all the Centrally-sponsored schemes for rural development under operation and
particularly NREGS. Representatives
of 10 states including Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Chhattisgarh,
Jharkhand, Kerala, Jharkhand and Orissa attended the meeting. Among
others, Union ministers of state for rural development Chandra Sekhar Sahu and
Suryakanta Patil, secretary and rural development, government of India Subas Pani
were also present at the meeting. Pragativadi,
September 19, 2007. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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CAG to probe irregularities in NREG scheme
Pioneer News Service | Bhubaneswar ...
asked to submit report by next month The
Centre has referred the allegation of irregularities of Rs 500 crore in different
projects under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) to the Comptroller
and Auditor General (CAG) for inquiry, said Union Minister of Rural Development
Raghuvansh Prasad Singh here on Monday. Addressing
a press conference here at the State Secretariat, prior to his meeting with Chief
Minister Naveen Patnaik, Singh said the CAG had been asked to submit the inquiry
report by the end of October. He
further said that the Centre had received the allegations that massive irregularities
to the tune of Rs 500 crore occurred under different projects in NREG schemes
in six districts of the undivided KBK A Delhi-based NGO has made these allegations.
"It has also referred the allegations to the State Government to conduct a probe,"
said Singh, adding that after receiving reports of the two agencies, the Centre
would take appropriate action. He
further said the Ministry had also received similar allegations from 69 districts
across the country under the NREG scheme. "All the allegations have been forwarded
to the CAG," Singh opined. In
order to make NREG schemes successful, Singh said the Centre had adopted a five-pronged
strategy. Under the plan, the Centre has stressed on creating awareness about
the programme, putting emphasis on people's participation, making officials more
accountable, maintaining a high level of transparency and keeping strict monitoring
and vigilance of the programme. On
being asked whether he was satisfied with the implementation of the NREG programme
in Orissa, Singh tactfully avoided giving a specific answer to the question and
said it was not a question of satisfaction. "The State Government had to achieve
the target of providing minimum 100 days of employment to the people in rural
sector. It has yet to achieve this goal," Singh said. He
further said the State Government had to make social audit of all these schemes
under the NREG scheme within three months. It may be noted that the State Government
had yet to start a social audit of the scheme. Singh
further said by shifting responsibilities on sarpanches and Zilla Parishad members,
the District Collector should disown their responsibilities. "They must try to
enhance the capacity building of the panchayats," he said, adding that it was
a crime if people do not get remuneration after completed their jobs under the
NREG scheme. He
further said 24 districts of the State had already been covered under the programme
and the remaining six districts would be covered under the NREG scheme in the
third phase. The Centre has already allocated Rs 8,000 to implement NREG projects
in the entire country in 2006-07. Similarly another Rs 8,000 crore is being released
for 2007-08, he said. Earlier
addressing a two-day performance review committee of the Rural Development Department,
he urged the States to record significant higher achievements in implementation
of all the Centrally sponsored schemes for rural development under operation and
particularly NREG schemes. Representatives
of 10 States including Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Chhattisgarh,
Jharkhanda, Kerala, Jharkhand and Orissa attended the review meeting. Union Ministers
of State for Rural Development Chandra Sekhar Sahu and Suryakanta Patil, Secretary,
Rural Development, Government of India Subas Pani attended the review meeting. Pioneer,
September 18, 2007. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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Is CAG probe the real answer?
Union rural development minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh has favoured a probe
by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India to unravel the alleged pilferage
of NREGS (National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) funds. The 100-day job guarantee
scheme for the rural households is a flagship programme of the UPA Government,
which is being implemented in twenty-four districts of Orissa. The districts are
Bolangir, Bargarh, Boudh, Deogarh, Dhenkanal, Gajapati, Ganjam, Jharsuguda, Kalahandi,
Kandhamal, Keonjhar, Koraput, Malkangiri, Mayurbhanj, Nabarangpur, Nuapada, Rayagada,
Sambalpur, Sonepur, Sundargarh, Anugul, Balasore, Bhadrak and Jajpur. For Orissa’s
toiling millions, the NREGS can be the ideal panacea to earn their livelihoods
by asserting their legally guaranteed rights to demand jobs. But the NREGS has
been under a cloud because of the recent allegations made by a Delhi-based NGO.
The union RD minister put the ball in the CAG’s court, as he had to cope with
a barrage of queries on NREGS implementation in Orissa. But can the CAG findings
really bring in transparency in the implementation of the NREGS in Orissa? Many
CAG reports are already gathering dust and this may only be an addition to the
existing heap. Didn’t
the CAG report forewarn the health authorities over the water-borne diseases before?
But still cholera and other diseases like gastro-enteritis claimed more than 150
lives in the southern districts. The latest CAG report in a separate section on
Orissa s rural water supply schemes had said, "As per report of State Disease
Surveillance Cell, Directorate of Health Services, Orissa, 5.80 lakh rural population
of the state were victims of water borne diseases like severe diarrhoea (5.53
lakh) and acute jaundice (0.27 lakh) between 2002 and 2005. This indicated non-availability
of safe drinking water in the rural areas. The number of deaths caused by the
diseases was 2103 during January 2002 to December 2005". The
CAG report added saying, "These (water testing laboratories) too were being managed
by one Junior Laboratory Assistant each against the requirement of 13 staff for
each laboratory as per norms. Despite instructions issued by the GOI (Government
of India) from time to time for testing and monitoring of water quality, the position
was that out of 2.44 lakh sources in 1.41 lakh habitations, only 1.28 lakh sources
in 0.46 lakh habitations had been tested that too only once and the quality of
water of 0.40 lakh water sources in 0.28 lakh habitations was found unsafe due
to excess iron/fluoride content and other multiple quality problems. No alternative
source of safe drinking water was, however, provided as of April 2006". Ordering
a CAG probe is not enough. The authorities must act on the CAG’s findings too. Posted
at Orissatv.com
dated September 18, 2007. - - - - - - - - -
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Minister admits to rural job mistakes
Bhubaneswar, Sept. 17: Union rural development minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh
today admitted that allegations of irregularities in the implementation of National
Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme have been received almost from all states. “The
scheme is implemented at gram panchayat level. So, it’s quite natural that there
are allegations of irregularities in some panchayats or others,” Singh said here
this evening. An
inquiry is being done by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India into the
allegations of irregularities in 69 districts across the country, he added. The
Union minister, who was here to address the meeting of regional performance review
committee relating to nine states, including Orissa, Jharkhand, Bihar, Chhattisgarh
and Bengal, said he had directed the CAG to conduct a special probe into alleged
irregularities in implementation of NREGS in six backward districts of Orissa.
“We have asked the CAG to inquire into the allegations and submit the report by
the end of October,” he said. Singh
said he had written to the Orissa chief minister, Naveen Patnaik, requesting him
to find the veracity of the alleged irregularities mentioned in a survey of New
Delhi-based NGO, Centre for Environment and Food Security. The
chief minister had written back saying that the inquiry was already underway.
The
survey, which had covered 100 villages in six districts belonging to most backward
KBK region of Orissa, had alleged that wage employment was not being provided
to job seekers and payment was not being made to labourers even after work was
over.
“Non-payment of wages after the work is a crime and stringent action will be taken
against the erring officials,” said Singh. Meanwhile,
the state government has requested the Hyderabad-based National Institute of Rural
Development to conduct a survey to verify the veracity of allegation and study
the impact of implementation of the scheme. NREGS
is being implemented in 254 blocks under 24 districts across the state. Posted
at The
Telegraph dated September 18, 2007. - - -
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CAG to probe into Rs 500cr NREGS scam in Orissa
Union minister for rural development Raghuvansh Prasad Singh on Monday announced
that the Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG) will probe into the allegation
of Rs 500 crore scam in the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee
Scheme (NREGS) in Orissa. "The
six districts in Orissa, where irregularities have been reported from, would be
included within the purview of the CAG audit to the NREGS programme", Singh told
the reporters. The CAG, which is currently conducting an audit of the NREGS programme
in 69 districts of the country, is expected to submit its report in October. Following
revelation of the alleged Rs 500 crore scam in Orissa by a Delhi-based NGO, the
state government has requested the National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD)
of Hyderabad to probe into the matter. The
NREGS is being implemented in 254 blocks of 24 districts in Orissa. The
union minister, who was here on a two-day visit, reviewed the programme implementation
in the state. Singh
said there is a need for further improvement of the NREGS implementations. Admitting
that irregularities are being reported from the states, he said that actions are
also being taken against erring officials and individuals. Singh
said the Centre had released Rs 8000 in 2006-07 and has sanctioned the equal amount
this fiscal. Stating that the aim of the NREGS is to provide 100 days work to
job seekers, he said on an average 57.3 days jobs are being provided. The
minister said that the remaining six districts of Orissa will be covered under
the scheme in the third phase. Posted
at Yahoo News
dated September 18, 2007. - - - - - - - - - - - -
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OR: CAG to probe NREGS irregularities
Bhubaneswar: The Centre on Monday asked the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG)
to probe allegations of irregularities in the utilisation of the National Rural
Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) funds in Orissa's backward Kalahandi-Balangir-Koraput
(KBK) region. "We have asked CAG to submit its inquiry report with the government
by end of October," Union Minister for Rural Development Raghuvansh Prasad Singh
said in Bhubaneswar. The Centre's order came in the wake of a report by a Delhi-based
NGO which alleged, that funds of Rs 500 crore were misutilised in the KBK region.
The NGO claimed to have prepared this report after surveying 100 villages in six
districts in the region. Singh
while reviewing implementation of the Centrally sponsored rural development schemes
in Orissa, told reporters that he had asked the state government to expedite social
audit, verification of muster rolls, strict monitoring and follow up actions.
He
accused Orissa government of failing to conduct review of social auditing of the
NREGS at least thrice in a year. "The state government has infact not done a single
review of the social auditing." Describing the NREGS as a 'boon' to the tribal
people in KBK region, Singh said that the state government had been asked to intensify
execution of the scheme in order to check migration and avoid hunger problems.
(PTI) Posted
at Headline
India.com dated September 18, 2007. - - -
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CAG to probe fund misuse
BHUBANESWAR: The Centre has asked the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to
conduct a performance audit of the National Rural Employment Gurantee Programme
(NREGP) in six districts of the State following allegation of financial irregularities.
Union
Minister for Rural Development Raghuvansh Prasad Singh informed this to mediapersons
on Monday. He was here to review the performance of nine States on the implementation
of the Centrally-sponsored schemes for rural development. Responding
to queries on the action taken by his ministry on the alleged financial irregularities
in the implementation of NREGP in Orissa, the Minister said CAG is conducting
the performance audit of Centrally-sponsored programme in 69 districts covering
200 blocks following similar complaints. The
CAG is expected to submit its report by October. Let the report come and action
will follow, he added. Singh
said his ministry has asked the State Government for a report on the financial
irregularities as alleged by the Centre for Environment and Food Security (CEFS),
a New Delhi-based NGO. Review
of NREGS programme in the first quarter of the current year of the nine States,
however, indicates that the performance needs to pick up. He attributed the low
demands for works to lack of motivation in executing the programme. States
have been advised to gear up the implementing machinery, dispose of complaints
and ensure strict monitoring for bringing transparency, he said. Singh
also admitted that reports are pouring in from different areas on malpractice
in distribution of housing assistance under Indira Awas Yojana (IAY). Posted
at The New
Indian Express dated September 18, 2007. -
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CAG to probe ‘lapses’ in job scheme
BHUBANESWAR: Union Minister for Rural Development Raghuvansh Prasad Singh on Monday
said that Comptroller Auditor General of India would inquire into alleged irregularities
under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) in six districts
of Orissa. Reacting
on revelation of irregularities by a non-government organisation, Mr. Singh said
the CAG was conducting audit into irregularities in NREGS in 69 districts of the
country and it had been asked to check the veracity of allegation in Orissa’s
six districts. “We
are expected to receive the inquiry report by October. Moreover, we have asked
the State government to conduct inquiry separately. Whosever found guilty, will
be punished,” said the Union minister.
Awareness He
said the ministry was working on five-point action programme to minimise corruption
in NREGS. “We
are emphasising on awareness, people’s participation, strict vigilance and monitoring,
transparency and accountability to prevent corruption. We have also adopted zero
tolerance in our approach,” Mr. Singh said. Delhi-based
Centre for Environment and Food Security (CEFS) conducted a survey in May-June
2007 to assess and evaluate the performance of NREGA in 100 villages spread over
six districts of KBK (Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput) region -- Bolangir, Nuapada,
Kalahandi, Koraput, Nabarangpur and Rayagada. The
CEFS found that out of Rs. 733 crores spent on NREGA during 2006-07, more than
Rs. 500 crores had been siphoned and misappropriated by the government officials
of implementing agencies. Mr.
Singh came here to attend a two-day performance review committee (PRC) meeting
being held here. He
was accompanied by two Ministers of State --Chandra Sekhar Sahu and Smt Suryakanta
Patil. According
to the Ministry, in 2006-07, as against demand of 14.07 lakh families, 13.94 lakh
families were given jobs and Rs. 733.46 crores had been utilised against available
funds to the tune of Rs. 890.01 crores. Posted
at The
Hindu dated September 18, 2007. - - - - -
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Probe into funds laundering
Bhubaneswar, Sep 17 Union minister for rural development Raghuvansh Prasad Singh
on Monday announced that the Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG) will
probe into the allegation of Rs 500 crore scam in the implementation of the National
Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) in Orissa. "The
six districts in Orissa, where irregularities have been reported from, would be
included within the purview of the CAG audit to the NREGS programme", Singh told
the reporters. The CAG, which is currently conducting an audit of the NREGS programme
in 69 districts of the country, is expected to submit its report in October. Following
revelation of the alleged Rs 500 crore scam in Orissa by a Delhi-based NGO, the
state government has requested the National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD)
of Hyderabad to probe into the matter. The
NREGS is being implemented in 254 blocks of 24 districts in Orissa. The
union minister, who was here on a two-day visit, reviewed the programme implementation
in the state. Singh
said there is a need for further improvement of the NREGS implementations. Admitting
that irregularities are being reported from the states, he said that actions are
also being taken against erring officials and individuals. Singh
said the Centre had released Rs 8000 in 2006-07 and has sanctioned the equal amount
this fiscal. Stating that the aim of the NREGS is to provide 100 days work to
job seekers, he said on an average 57.3 days jobs are being provided. The
minister said that the remaining six districts of Orissa will be covered under
the scheme in the third phase. Statesman News Servic Posted
at The
Financial Express dated September 18, 2007.
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CAG to enquire NREGS Corruption
Bhubaneswar: Union minister of state for Rural Development Chandra Shekhar Sahu
has said that Comptroller & Auditot General (CAG) has been assigned the responsibility
to enquire into the alleged financial irregularity in National Rural Employment
Gurantee Scheme (NREGS) in Orissa. It is alleged that there has been financial
irregularity over Rs 500 crore in the scheme in Orissa. Meanwhile, Union Rural
Development minister Raghubansh Prasad Singh has clarified that he has not given
clean chit to anybody. Centre has received irregularity in Fund management in
NREGS in 10 states, he said. Departmental secretaries of all the state have been
asked to enquire, he added. Posted
at Orrisatv.com
dated September 18, 2007. - - - - - - - - - -
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Centre rules out NREGS irregularities in Orissa
Refuting the allegations that there has been a rampant corruption in the ongoing
National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in Orissa being implemented in 24 districts
of the state, Union minister of rural development Raghuvansh Prasad Singh on Sunday
categorically maintained that the allegations on corruption to the tune of Rs
500 crore under NREGS is nothing but a white lie. He,
however, admitted that there have been instances of corruptions of minor nature
for which the state government has already been informed to probe into these cases
of minor irregularities. Briefing
newsmen at the Biju Patnaik airport in Bhubaneswar soon after his arrival, Singh,
who is scheduled to attend a review meeting of the Centrally-sponsored programmes
in 10 states scheduled at Hotel Crown in the city, said that the state government,
acting on his letter, has already started a probe into these anomalies. Appreciating
the efficiency of the state government in successfully implementing NREGS in the
state, the Union minister said that since Orissa is a tribal-infested state like
that of the neighbouring Jharkhand, the Centre is ready to pump in more funds
to the state for the overall development of the tribals. He
said that the NREGS was initially implemented in 19 Orissa districts in the first
phase and later was extended to another five districts. Apart
from this, the Centre has decided to implement the programme in the rest six districts
of the state by this year-end. It
may be mentioned here that a Delhi-based NGO has brought this allegation against
the State Government and alleged that most of the works under the NREGS were not
satisfactory. Meanwhile,
prior to his review meeting on Monday, chief secretary Ajit Tripathy on Sunday
called a high-level review meeting of district collectors to review the NREGS.
District Collectors of 24 districts where the NREGS programme is going on, attended
the review meeting. Most
of the collectors alleged that the work under the NREGS have not progressed to
the satisfactory level due to undue interference of the Zilla Parishad members
and the callous attitude shown by the panchayat members. They
further alleged about the non-cooperation from the zilla parishad members in sanctioning
the approval of funds required to execute the programme. Similarly
in the block level, the panchayat members are not cooperating with the block level
officials for which the progress of the work under the NREGS has been hampered,
they pointed out. It
may be mentioned here that sanctions of both the panchayat and Zilla Parishad
are required to execute work under the NREGS. However,
the zilla parishad members while refuting the allegations, maintained that the
works under the NREGS had not been progressed so far due to the non-cooperation
from the bureaucrats. Posted
at Pragativadi
dated September 17, 2007. - - - - - - - - -
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Probe into funds laundering
Statesman News Service BHUBANESWAR, Sept 17: The central government has asked
the Comptroller and Auditor General of India to specifically examine allegations
of misappropriation of NREGS funds in Orissa. It will also depute officers to
probe into the charges. It
may be noted that a New Delhi based NGO Center for Environment and Food Security
had conducted a survey of NREGS in 100 villages spread across six backward districts
of Kalahandi, Bolangir, Koraput, Nuapada, Nawarangpur and Rayagada districts.
It had described the findings as “shocking , scandalous and outrageous”. More
than 75 per cent of the funds had been misappropriated. Among 100 villages, 18
had not received job cards and 37 did not have any job even after 16 months of
the launch of the scheme said the survey. Mr Singh had referred the matter to
chief minister Mr Naveen Patnaik, who in turn had assured a thorough probe. Today,
at a Press conference, he faced a volley of questions on the alleged scam and
the fact that distressed people in Koraput and Rayagada district where a cholera
epidemic had claimed hundreds of lives had alleged improper execution of NREGA.
The
central minister said he has requested the CAG to probe into the matter. As such
the CAG is undertaking an audit in 69 districts across the country and specific
reference will be made to the KBK region of Orissa. The report is expected in
October, he said. When enquired why Orissa, for instance has failed to conduct
a social audit as mandated under the Act, he acknowledged that three social audits
ought to have been completed but it had not been done. Mr Singh, however, rejected
the contention that there was a need to amend the guidelines since most district
magistrates had complained of the delay in execution due to holding up of proposals
by the zilla parishad and in some cases the sarpanchs. He
announced the remaining six districts of Orissa will be covered under NREGS in
the third phase. Mr Singh along with his ministers of state Mr CS Sahu and Mr
Suryakanta Patil are to conduct a regional performance review of different schemes
and their implementation in 10 states of AP, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka,
Kerala, Orissa , TN, WB and Pondicherry. Posted
at The Statesman dated September 17, 2007. -
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CAG inquiring into Orissa NREGS scam
KalingaTimes Correspondent Bhubaneswar, Sep 17: The Comptroller and Auditor
General of India has been asked to inquire into the alleged irregularities in
the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in six districts
in the backward KBK region of Orissa. The
six tribal-dominated districts where the NREGS implementation will be verified
by the CAG are Koraput, Rayagada, Nawarangpur, Kalahandi, Nuapada and Bolangir.
The
CAG was asked to inquire into the matter after a Delhi-based organisation Centre
for Environment and Food Security recently alleged that large-scale irregularities
were committed in the implementation of the NREGS in Orissa. The
Central Government was likely to receive the CAG findings by October, Union Rural
Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said here on Monday evening. Talking
to presspersons after attending a meeting of his Ministry's Performance Review
Committee meeting here, Singh said that Orissa government had also been asked
to inquire into the allegations independently. Union
Ministers of State for Rural Development Chandra Sekhar Sahu and Suryakanta Patil
were also present. Posted
at Kalinga
Times dated September 17, 2007. - - - - -
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Deathly inaction
PRAFULLA DAS ...
The Centre for Environment and Food Security (CEFS), a Delhi-based organisation
that had conducted a survey of 100 villages to assess the implementation of the
NREGS, said that it was not the epidemic of cholera but the cancer of corruption
that was killing hundreds of poor tribal people and crippling millions of them.
Alleging
that government officials had misappropriated Rs.500 crore of NREGS funds, the
CEFS said this amount would have given about 90 days of employment to 10 lakh
poor families in Orissa.“It is not just another financial scam. Callous officials
of Orissa have robbed 10 lakh hungry families of one meal a day for a whole year
or two meals for six months,” it said. FRONTLINE Volume
24 - Issue 18 :: Sep. 08-21, 2007 to
read full article please click
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Illusions of Change
VIDHYA DAS, PRAMOD PRADHAN ...
That these are not isolated events, con- fined to a few pockets overlooked because
of their remoteness has been underlined by a recent study by Parshuram Ray of
Centre for Environment and Food Security, Delhi. This study has uncovered that
irregularities are the norm. Some of the stark findings of the study are as follows:
Number of Villages with complete and correct job card entries: zero out of hun-
dred; Number of villages where 100 days employment has been provided: zero out
of hundred; Number of villages where workers have been able to cross-check their
muster rolles: zero out of hundred; Number of villages where no employment, and
no job cards have been given: 11 out of hundred; Number of villages where no employment
has been given: 37 out of hundred. Empowering
the Little People? But more than this non-delivery is the connivance in
corruption that appears to prevail from top to bottom. There is a complete disregard
for any form of accountability, and people's complaints and appeals are ignored
again and again. In Nuapada district, the CEFS report brings out the stark contradictions.
Here one confronts padlocked houses as one enters Mahulkot village. Several families
have migrated for work to Raipur, AP, etc. Forty children from different villages
study in a residential care centre for the children of migrant parents run by
a local NGO. The children look emaciated, and neglected, and say that their parents
have been away for more than six months. They are reluctant to talk. Payments
have been made in the month of May for a road work in the month of March. There
are no entries in any of the job cards. A note, signed by the APD on January 28,
2007 in one of the job cards says "social audit has taken place, entries in the
job cards do not match the muster rolls". This job card also does not have any
entries. In Khamtarai village, people have worked for eight days to dig a pond,
in the month of April. No payment has been made, nor are there any entries in
the job card. As the CEFS team tries to probe further, Jati Majhi erupts in anger,
"What has the government done for us? The contractor is far better, even if he
makes us work too much, and pays little, he pays regularly once a week, atleast
we are able to buy rice to eat. The government makes us run to them several times,
and then does not even bother to pay." Ray
outlined the problems they had faced in the Nandapur block, when they tried to
get information. The BDO refused to give information and shouted at them. When
his team tried to get the necessary permis- sion from the PR department, they
were advised to first get necessary orders, and then visit the block offices to
check the NREGA records. This is the treatment meted out to those who can talk
on equal terms, and are well informed about the rules and Acts. If a village youth
tries to demand wages, or tries to appeal for proper implementation, one wonders,
what she or he would have to face. According to the OREGS guidelines, the BDO
is actually the programme officer (OREGS) for grievance redressal at the block
level. His main functions are "scrutinising village plans, matching employment
opportunities with the demand for work at the block level, and supervising the
implementing agenies, safeguarding the entitlements of the OREGS workers, ensuring
that social audits are conducted by the palli sabha/gram sabha, and responding
to complaints. He is chiefly responsible to ensure that any one who applies for
work, gets employment within 15 days. He will also assist the panchayat samiti
in its functions, and will be answer- able to the district programme coordinator."
Further, the guidelines also specify that a photocopy of the muster roll will
be kept/ sent for public inspection in every gram panchayat, and in the office
of the programme officer.The OREGS guideline further emphasises that the original
muster roll will form part of the expenditure record of the executive agency,
and that key documents related to the NREGA should be proactively disclosed to
the public, without waiting for anyone to apply for them, as suggested by the
state employment guarantee council. Nobody is perhaps concerned that each and
every one of these provisions were being violated in Nandapur block, as also in
most other blocks. What are the consequences for wilfully violating the NREGA?
What did the chief minister mean, when he said in the first meeting for the NREGA,
that district collectors are punishable for violating the Act? According to Section
VI, of the National Act, whoever contravenes the provisions of this Act, shall
on conviction be liable to a fine which may extend to one thousand rupees. This
provision hardly seems to be much of a deterrent to the likes of the Nandapur
BDO. Or perhaps, that was the source of his fear, and anger. Economic
and Political Weekly August 11, 2007 to
read full article please click
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Job Scam Allegations Rock Orissa
Allegations of largescale bunging of funds in the implementation of National Rural
Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) have rocked the government. Sources said Orissa
government may hire the services of an expert body to look into the matter. The
move comes in the wake of Centre For Environment and Food Security (CEFS), a Delhi-based
NGO, alleging that more than Rs.500 crore out of Rs.733 crore spent under the
scheme in Orissa during 2006-07 was siphoned off by officials implementing the
scheme. The NGO conducted a survey in 100 villages in the six-tribal dominated
districts of KBK region which among the most backward in the country.
Conducted between May and June this year, the survey, which included villages
from Bolangir, Nuapada, Kalahandi, Koraput, Nowrangpur and Rayagada districts,
revealed the existence of ghost job cards and what the NGO described as "participatory
loot". "The
National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) 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,"
CEFS said in a release. The
survey could not find a single case where entries in the job cards were correct
and matched with the actual number of workdays given to the workers in the villages.
Out of the 100 sample villages covered for the survey, 18 villages had not received
any job card, 37 villages had not received any job under NREGS even after 16 months
of launch of the scheme, 11 villages had received neither job cards nor any job
and the job cards of 23 villages were lying with VLWs (Village Level Worker) and
JEs (Junior Engineer) for more than 6 to 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 physically verified with the workers in these
villages. There are 3 villages where no payments have been made even after 4-8
months of the work 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,"
said the NGO’s release. Mocking
Orissa government’s claim of having provided 7.99 crore persondays of employment
to 13,94,169 households spread over 19 districts of the state during 2006-7,the
CEFS said "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." The
survey could not find a single family in the 100 sample villages which had actually
got 100 days of wage employment and very few families which got 40 to 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 111 days, 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," the CEFS said in its
release. Posted
at India First
dated September 01-07, 2007. - - - - - - - -
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Loot in Orissa
PARSURAM Rai’s piece, ‘A job of looting’ (IE, August 29), on the NREGA in Orissa
was well researched but incomplete. The corruption in Orissa’s administration
preventing the genuine implementation of such a scheme is nothing new. I am from
Orissa’s Jajpur district and have personally witnessed such corruption, in the
Indira Awas Yojna, Pakki Sadak Yojna and so on. We Odiyas must wake up to the
pathetic situation in our state and try to check corruption. We should follow
the example of the Uttaranchal government, which has partnered local NGOs across
the state to spread awareness about the NREGA through street plays and public
speeches. — Pranab Kumar Aich, New Delhi editor@expressindia.com Posted
on the Indian Express on 6th Setember, 2007. - -
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In Balangir, migration is a way of life
BARGARH/BALANGIR: Large-scale irregularities in implementation of National Rural
Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) in Bargarh and Balangir districts have been
detected by New Delhi based Centre for Environment and Food Security (CEFS). The
CEFS conducted a survey to assess the impact of implementation of the scheme all
over Orissa. Although the programme was started in Bargarh district on April 1,
2006, job cards are yet to be distributed to all families below the poverty line
(BPL). Unfortunately,
those who received the cards are running from pillar to post to get the promised
employment. This has triggered migration to adjoining districts with the hope
of getting engaged in farm lands since agricultural activities are on in full
swing. Official
sources said of the 12 blocks in Bargarh district, works have been executed only
in some GPs of Sohela and Padampur blocks. In Katharpali village under Dumerpali
GP in Sohela block concrete road work was undertaken in the village at Rs 3.52
lakh. Work on the road was done for 13 days, from July 13 and 33 beneficiaries
were engaged for Rs 33,040. But
the survey found that muster roll was prepared on August 6 and only Rs 30,160
was paid to 32 labourers. Moreover, of the 34 beneficiaries who had enrolled under
the scheme, 21 are yet to receive their job cards. The
concrete road work which was also undertaken in Birjupali on July 28 was stopped
abruptly a week back after the contractor was found executing substandard work. The
situation is similar is Balangir district where many villagers were forced to
go without work contrary to the guidelines. NREGS provides guarantee of 100 days
of employment in every financial year to adult members of any rural household
willing to do unskilled manual work at the statutory minimum wage. The
CEFS found that many villagers are prepared to migrate to neighbouring states
because of unemployment. Several people have already received advance from labour
agents during the Rath Yatra to work in brick kilns and construction sites in
other States. Posted
at The New
Indian Express dated September 06, 2007. -
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PM’s intervention sought to prevent epidemic in Orissa
Special Correspondent NEW DELHI: Blaming corruption in the implementation
of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme as the main cause of cholera
deaths in Orissa, the Centre for Environment and Food Security (CEFS) has sought
the intervention of the Prime Minister in checking the disease that has now taken
an epidemic proportion. In
a letter addressed to Manmohan Singh, the Centre pointed out that it was the “cancer
of corruption” that was killing the adivasis in Orissa and not cholera. Cholera
is only a symptom and a by-product, the root cause is the corruption, which has
crippled all the vital organs of Orissa’s administration. Quoting a survey conducted
in 100 villages of Orissa where the NREGS was being implemented, the Centre alleged
that of the Rs. 733 crore spent under the programme in 2006-07, over Rs. 500 crore
had been misappropriated by the officials involved in the execution of the scheme. The
current level of hunger, poverty and deprivation in Orissa’s Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput
region is as deep, demeaning and dehumanising as ever, despite the so-called successful
implementation of the programme with the highest per capita allocation of funds.
The study suggested that the scheme had had virtually zero impact. Copies
of the letter have also been sent to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson
Sonia Gandhi, Leader of Opposition L.K.Advani and Communist Party of India (Marxist)
general secretary Prakash Karat. Posted
at The
Hindu dated September 04, 2007. - - - - -
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Centre seeks details from Orissa on NREGS fund misuse
BHUBANESWAR, Sept 3: The Centre has sought a detailed report from the Orissa Government
over alleged misappropriation of funds provided under the National Rural Employment
Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). The report is to be submitted within a fortnight. The
Centre’s directive came in the wake of the findings of the Centre for Environment
and Food Security (CEFS), an independent organisation, which said more than Rs
500 crore out of the Rs 733 crore fund provided by the Centre was either siphoned
off or misappropriated by officials during the implementation of the National
Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in 2006-7.
Following the publication of the survey report by the CEFS, the Centre asked the
state Government to inquire into the allegations made in the report. The survey
report was published a month ago but the state Government is yet to submit its
reply. Recently,
in a communique to Panchayati Raj Secretary R N Das, Joint Secretary of Rural
Development Ministry Anita Sharma said, “In view of the seriousness of the matter,
the report should be sent within a fortnight.”
The report sent should also clearly indicate the name and designation of the officers
who probed the matter, she added. Posted
at The Indian Express
dated September 04, 2007. - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - Report
on job plan funds sought
Bhubaneswar, Sept. 3: The Centre has sought a detailed report from the Orissa
government within a fortnight on the alleged misappropriation of funds provided
under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. The
Centre’s directive came in the wake of the findings by the Centre for Environment
and Food Security, an independent organisation, that more than Rs 500 crore out
of Rs 733 crore provided by the Centre was either siphoned off or misappropriated
by the government officials during the implementation of NREGS programme in 2006-07.
Following the publication of the survey report by the CEFS, the Centre has asked
the state government to inquire into specific allegations . Posted
at The
Asian Age dated September 03, 2007. - - -
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'Orissa cholera deaths a byproduct of corruption' KalingaTimes
Correspondent Bhubaneswar, Sept 3: As the tribal people continued to fall
victim to cholera epidemic in Rayagada, Koraput and Kalahandi districts of Orissa,
a Delhi based organisation on Monday said it was not the epidemic of cholera but
cancer of corruption that was killing hundreds of poor Adivasis and crippling
millions of them. "Cholera
is only a symptom and byproduct, the root cause is the cancer of corruption which
has colonised and crippled all the vital organs of Orissa administration," Centre
for Environment and Food Security (CEFS) said in a press release from Delhi.
The organisation which earlier conducted a survey in 100 villages in the State
to assess the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme
said that `abject poverty and chronic hunger manufactured by the self-serving
bureaucracy are the main reasons behind these tragic deaths of Adivasis'. "Most
of these Adivasis live a life of semi-starvation which cripples their immune system
and their bodies become vulnerable to a host of diseases. "In
KBK (Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput) region, for better part of the rainy season,
large numbers of Adivasis have hardly any food to eat and they survive on mango
kernel gruel, wild leaves and vegetables," CEFS observed. Although
NREGS programme was launched to help people fight food insecurity, the CEFS survey
uncovered that out of Rs 733 crore spent under NREGS during 2006-07, over Rs 500
crore had been siphoned off and misappropriated by the government officials of
executing agencies. The
study revealed that large numbers of needy households were denied not only jobs
but even job cards and not more than five days of average wage employment has
been given to each needy family in these 19 NREGS districts of Orissa. "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. Hunger and abject poverty are widespread in all the 100
villages of KBK region we visited. Large numbers of children in these villages
are suffering from severe malnutrition," Director of CEFS Parshuram Rai said in
the press release. Is
there any linkage between misappropriation of Rs 500 crore of NREGS funds by government
officials and cholera deaths of 500 Adivasis in Orissa? On the surface, the link
is tenuous. Scratch a little deeper and the linkage is direct, the CEFS said in
the release.
"To put Rs 500 crore of siphoned NREGS funds in perspective, this amount of money
would have given about 90 days of wage employment to about 10 lakh poor families
of Orissa. In other words, each of these 10 lakh poor families would have got
Rs 5,000 as wages. This
amount of Rs 5,000 in the context of these poor and hungry families would have
given them 4-6 months of two subsistence meals or one meal for the whole year.
Therefore, it is not just another financial scam, callous officials of Orissa
have robbed 10 lakh hungry families' one meal for the whole year or both meals
for 4-6 months. Who is real killer of Orissa's Adivasis?" CEFS
has submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh requesting him to
visit at least a couple of villages to have a first hand knowledge of the modus
operandi of the NREGA scam in Orissa, apart from finding out the real killers
of Adivasis in the state. Posted
at KalingaTimes
dated September 03, 2007. - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - A
job of looting Parshuram
Rai How the rural
employment scheme in Orissa is rendered meaningless The
National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) was enacted to enhance the security
of households in rural areas by providing at least a hundred days of guaranteed
wage employment in every financial year to every household. Orissa is one of the
poorest states with a very high percentage of rural population living in abject
poverty and chronic hunger. It is only natural to accord top priority to this
state in terms of fund allocation. Therefore Orissa was allocated Rs 890 crore
under the NREGA and the state was able to spend Rs 733 crore during 2006-7. So
far so good. Now a survey conducted in Orissa’s six poorest districts has revealed
that out of this Rs 733 crore spent under NREGA , more than Rs 500 crore has been
siphoned and misappropriated by government officials. This survey was conducted
by a centre I am associated with, the Delhi-based Centre for Environment and Food
Security. It surveyed 100 villages in the six districts of Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput
region. They were Bolangir, Nuapada, Kalahandi, Koraput, Nabarangpur and Rayagada.
The Government of Orissa claims that it provided 7.99 crore man-days of employment
to 13,94,169 households during 2006-7. Our back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest
that less than 2 crore man-days of employment has been provided on the ground
and more than 6 crore man-days of employment has been accounted for only on the
pages of false job cards and fabricated muster rolls. As per the claims of the
Orissa government, every needy and demanding family in the state was given an
average of 57 days of wage employment during 2006-7 and not a single needy and
demanding household was denied wage employment in the 19 NREGA districts of Orissa.
The CEFS survey, however, has revealed that actually not more than five days of
average employment has been given to each of the needy families in 19 NREGA districts
of the state and large number of such families were denied employment. We
found that the current level of hunger, poverty and deprivation in Orissa’s KBK
region is as deep, demeaning and dehumanising as it ever was, despite the so-called
successful implementation of NREGA. 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
managed mostly between 5 to 21 days, if at all. However, online job cards of most
of these households have false wage entries. It was in this way that Orissa was
shown to have “successfully” spent Rs.733 crore and provided about 8 crore man-days
of employment. It
is impossible to believe that this open loot can be organised without the active
connivance of the state machinery. The NREGA has various inbuilt vigilance mechanisms
and it is not possible to perpetrate this enormous fiddle unless it is participatory
and organised. Posted
at The Indian Express
dated August 29, 2007. - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - Row
over Kashipur tragedy Badal
Tah | Rayagada A
large number of people, especially tribals and Dalits, are still dying in Kashipur
block of Rayagada district in spite of the Government's tall claim of containing
the so-called gastro deaths in the area. The
year 2001, saw a controversy when more than 100 people died due to starvation,
but there was a stern denial of the fact by the district administration, which
ascribed the deaths to health problems. The vicious cycle went like this: Rainy
season -no work, no food or less food or stale or rotten food, gastro diseases,
which results to death. When
Chief Minister Naveen Pattnaik visited the area, he was greeted by angry people
throwing porridge made out of mango kernel at him. The present so-called gastro
death toll had already reached more than 100. According
to the visiting doctors (as there is a dearth of doctors in the area), the deaths
have occurred due to eating of rotten meat and fermented food kept for days together. Eyewitnesses,
however, describe this to be the same old story being repeated. The vicious cycle
referred to earlier has revisited the area. Although
the rainy season has begun yet, there is no work in spite of the much-boasted
NREGA. State Agriculture Minister's visit is said to be just cosmetic in nature.
Due to paucity of cash, people cannot buy food items and are eating mango kernel,
wild roots, tubers and leaves. The porridge stored over days just fills the belly
but leads to several gastro diseases. "Jhodia
Paraja tribals do not eat meat. Then, why this blame game," asks Dudheswar Jhodia,
ex-sarpanch of Maikanch panchayat. Nabin
Nayak, a Dalit leader from Khurigaon, says, "The reasons of deaths are exactly
the same as they were in 2001. If we have the opportunity of getting human food,
why should we revert to wild food? There is no other choice. Then, you people
once term it as hunger deaths; then the next moment you term it as gastro deaths.
We are certainly perplexed." Let
us peep into the historic problems of the area. Kashipur was part of the erstwhile
Kalahandi district known for perennial drought in spite of abundant rains as well
as for sale of children by hungry parents. Thousands
of families migrate to the nearest towns in search of work and food. One can come
across hundreds of colonised temporary huts in Rayagada town inhabited by Dalits
and tribals from Kashipur. Jhodia
tribe people still struggle for a tribal status. The International Fund for Agriculture
Development [IFAD], an offshoot of the Food and Agriculture Organisation [FAO],
dumped more than Rs 67 crore through ITDA for development of the area after a
visit by the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. There are three mega industrial
conglomerates, UAIL, L&T and HINDALCO, which have started their operations for
extractive bauxite mining. As
per the announcement of Panchayati Raj Minister Raghunath Mohanty, Rs 27 crore
has come to the district under the OREGS, out of which a major chunk has gone
to Kashipur. According to Sibaram Naik, a local social activist from Kashipur,
most of the job card holders under NREGA are yet to be given jobs. His observation
is synonymous with the findings of the Delhi-based NGO CEFS, which says that around
Rs 500 crore has been siphoned off out of Rs 733 crore sanctioned for Orissa. There
is hardly any preventive measure being taken. Every
rainy season the story will thus be repeated. Interestingly,
this time, the district administration has been quite successful in twisting the
episode from starvation deaths to gastro deaths. Posted
at The Pioneer dated August 27, 2007. - - -
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NREGS scam: Parties seek special Assembly session
BHUBANESWAR: Three Opposition political parties on Tuesday demanded that a special
Assembly session be convened and an all party House committee constituted to inquire
into the ‘large-scale corruption’ in the implementation of the National Rural
Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). In
a joint statement here, Orissa Gana Parishad president Bijay Mohapatra, CPI-M
State Secretary Janadaran Pati and CPI State Secretary Nityananda Pradhan alleged
that of the total Rs 733 crore spent in the State in 2006-07 under the scheme,
Rs 500 crore did not reach the beneficiaries. The
Opposition leaders, quoting the Centre’s survey report for Food Security (CFC)
said as against the claim of 7.99 crore man days made by the Government, only
two crore man days were created under the scheme during the year. The
CFC report, they said, was based on a detailed survey of 100 villages in the Kalahandi-
Balangir-Koraput (KBK) districts of the State. Of
the 100 villages surveyed by CFC, not a single job card was issued in 18 villages
while no work had been executed in 37 villages and in 23 villages, the job card
was kept with the village level worker (VLW) and junior engineer of the block.
In
three villages, payment was not made even eight months after the completion of
the work, they added and demanded that an all party House Committee should be
constituted to inquire into the misutilisation of NREG fund. Posted
at New India
Express dated August 22, 2007. - - - - -
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Govt to probe scam in job scheme
Bhubaneswar: The Orissa government has decided to entrust the Hyderabad-based
National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD) to study the implementation of
National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). The decision followed allegations
of funds bungling, in the name of providing wages to the eedy, from the Centre
for Environment and Food Security (CEFS), a Delhi-based NGO. TheNGO had surveyed
at least 100 villages in six tribal-dominated districts in the KBK region and
came across the alleged misappropriation, barely a year after implementation of
the programme.Parshuram Rai, director of CEFS,' said the "corruption is mind-boggling".
"We suspect the involvement of several higher-ups in the administration, without
which misappropriation of such huge quantity would not have been possible," he
said. The
survey based on the sample evidence collected from the villages estimated that
of the Rs 733 crore spent under the scheme during 2006-07, more than Rs 500 crore
had been siphoned off and misappropriated by government officials of implementing
agencies. "In other words, less than 25 per cent of the NREGS funds have reached
the targeted population," it added. The
survey was conducted between May 22 and une5 in Balangir, Nuapada, Kalahandi,
Koraput, Nabarangpur and Rayagada districts. The survey came across scores of
"ghost job cards" being issued and many job cards lying in the possession of village
sarpanches and other influential persons. "It is participatory loot, plunder and
pillage in Orissa's rural job scheme," Rai said quoting the report. The
NREGS among others guarantees wage employment for 100 days to every interested
person annually. The CEFS has also prepared a list of about 5,000 villages from
19 NREGA districts of the state. The
report indicated that there has been "massive financial bungling in more than
95 per cent of these villages". Ray said preparations are afoot to take the matter
to the Supreme Court through PIL. The survey report meanwhile has evoked share
reaction among the Opposition parties. A joint press release issued by the Orissa
Gana Parishad, CPIV and CPI has demanded convening of the Assembly session immediately
and has the scandal probe by an all-party committee. Posted
at Times of India dated August 22, 2007. -
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Opposition demands all-party House panel probe into multi scams
Bhubaneswar: The three non-Congress Opposition political parties on Monday demanded
a comprehensive House panel probe into a series of recent scandals relating to
female foeticide, fake drugs trade, manipulation of mark sheet of a minister’s
son and gross irregularities in the misuse of NREGA funds.
In a joint release, issued after the meeting by Orissa Gana Parishad, CPI and
CPM, demanded a special session of the State Assembly be summoned to discuss the
NREGA scam that was recently brought to the fore by the Centre for Environment
and Food Security a New Delhi-based NGO. The
NGO in a press briefing in New Delhi on Saturday had said that it had conducted
a survey on implementation of NREGA in Orissa and found misappropriation of funds
to the tune of at least Rs 500 crore. Referring
to the survey findings, the three Opposition parties said that the survey has
exposed the corrupt practices adopted by the state government. They also observed
that while the Opposition has been clamouring on issues of rampant corruption
in the state, now the non-political organizations have also found the same. Referring
to the findings of the survey, they said that not a single person has got 100
days work in the state under the NREGA scheme and out of the 100 villages surveyed
by the NGO, 18 had not received job cards, over 36 villages had not been provided
with any work and in 23 villages the job cards were deposited with the junior
engineer. Besides,
they also said that the report has also found instances of fake job cards and
non payment for over 4 to 8 months.
Justifying their charges, they maintained that their facts has warranted for an
immediate probe at the highest level and since the state government is involved,
an all party committee of the State Assembly should probe into these scams. They
also pointed out that the Central team currently probing into the female foeticide
issue should be followed by teams which would investigate the fake drugs trade
and the NREGA scam as well. Posted
at Pragativadi - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - Another
survey for NREGS BHUBANESWAR:
The State Government has decided to evaluate the implementation of the National
Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) by Hyderabad-based National Institute
of Rural Development (NIRD). A
decision to this effect was taken at a high level meeting presided over by Chief
Minister Naveen Patnaik here on Monday. The
State Government would launch a public awareness campaign for the programme and
also involve Forest, Rural Development, Works and Water Resources Departments
in its execution. The
decision comes in the wake of findings of a survey conducted by Delhi-based Centre
for Environment and Food Security which had detected largescale irregularities
in the implementation of the scheme. The
Chief Minister underscored the need for creation of community property through
NREGS. Officials claimed that the State Government has achieved 80 percent success
in the implementation in two phases. The
survey had, however, found that out of Rs 733 crore spent under the scheme during
the last financial year, Rs 500 crore did not reach the beneficiaries Posted
at New India
Express dated August 21, 2007. - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Opp
demands all party probe Statesman
News Service BHUBANESWAR, Aug 20: The spate of scandals relating to foeticide,
fake medicine, manipulation of mark sheet of a minister’s son and now the alleged
misuse of NREGA funds to the tune of Rs 500 crore need to be probed by an all
party committee of the assembly demanded the Opposition political parties here
today. The
Orissa Gana Parishad, CPI, CPI(M), in their joint statement demanded that a special
session of the assembly should be summoned to discuss the NREGA scam unearthed
by a Delhi based NGO. At
a press conference held a couple of days ago in Delhi, the Centre for Environment
and Food Security said it had conducted a survey on implementation of NREGA in
Orissa and found that at least Rs 500 crore had been misused. Referring
to findings of the survey, the Opposition said it exposes the corrupt practices
adopted by the Naveen Patnaik government. Till date the Opposition has been raising
issues of rampant corruption in the state but now even non-political organizations
are finding Orissa on top of the corruption list, they charged. The
survey says that not a single person has got 100 days work in the state under
the NREGA scheme and of the 100 villages surveyed by the NGO , 18 had not received
job cards, over 36 villages had not been provided with any work and in 23 villages
the job cards were deposited with the junior engineer. It has also found instances
of fake job cards and non payment for over 4 to 8 months. Such
shocking facts call for an immediate probe at the highest level and since the
government is involved an all party committee of the assembly should conduct the
inquiry said the Opposition leaders. The Opposition also pointed out that central
teams probing into the foeticide issue should be followed by teams which would
investigate the fake medicine and the NREGA scam. CM
review Chief minister Mr Naveen Patnaik reviewed the progress in National
Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) and stressed on creation of permanent
assets in rural areas. The
review, as per official sources, found that the implementation was successful
to a great extent. It also noted that the rural development ministry had commended
the efforts of the state and described it as a role-model for other states. The
review pointed out that social audit regular verification of muster rolls made
this scheme transparent and accountable.. Posted
at The
Statesman dated August 21, 2007. - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Survey
finds flaws in NREGS BHUBANESWAR:
A survey conducted in 100 villages of six districts has detected largescale irregularities
in the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). It
was found that out of Rs 733 crore spent under the scheme in the State during
the last financial year, more than 75 percent did not reach the beneficiaries.
The six districts are Balangir, Nuapada, Kalahandi, Koraput, Nabarangpur and Rayagada. The
survey conducted by the New Delhi-based Centre for Environment and Food Security
(CEFS) has exposed the fact that there was not a single case where entries in
the job cards were correct and matched with the actual number of workdays given
to the workers in the villages. Out
of the 100 villages, 18 villages did not receive any job card, 37 villages had
not got any job under the scheme even after 16 months of its launch. As many as
11 villages had received neither jobs cards nor any job while job cards of 23
villages were with the village level workers (VLWs) and junior engineers. Partial
payment of wages was made in 25 villages. Six villages were found in Kashipur
block of Rayagada district where NREGS work was being done without issue of job
cards to the villagers. Not a single family was found in the villages who have
got 100 days of assured employment under the scheme. The
State Government, however, claimed that 7.99 person days of employment was provided
to 13,94,169 households in 19 districts of the State during 2006- 07. Each of
the family was given 57 days of wage employment during the year. The
survey contested the claim of the State Government that about 26 lakh households
were issued job cards and half of them demanded employment. It was found that
more than one third households did not receive job cards. There were 39 lakh needy
households in these villages. Out
of the 799 lakh person days of employment given in the official records, only
25 percent were given to the people. The remaining 75 percent person days of employment
were in the fake muster roll registers, false job cards and forged official documents. Posted
at New
India Express dated August 20, 2007 - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Huge
NREGS funds siphoned in Orissa KalingaTimes
Correspondent Bhubaneswar:
The findings of a survey conducted in 100 villages in six districts of Orissa
have revealed that out of Rs 733 crore spent under NREGS (National Rural Employment
Guarantee Scheme) in Orissa during 2006-07, more than Rs 500 crore had been siphoned
and misappropriated by the government officials of implementing agencies. In
other words, less than 25 per cent of the NREGS funds had reached the targeted
population and more than 75 per cent had been eaten up by the Sarkari Babus. There
were thousands of villages in Orissa where more than 80-90 percent of NREGS funds
had been misappropriated by the executing officials. The
details of the survey conducted during May-June 2007 by Delhi-based Centre for
Environment and Food Security (CEFS) to assess and evaluate the performance of
NREGS in the state of Orissa was released at a press conference in New Delhi on
Friday. The
survey was carried out in 100 villages spread over six districts of the Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput
(KBK) region - Bolangir, Nuapada, Kalahandi, Koraput, Nabarangpur and Rayagada. The
full survey report has been posted on the website of CEFS - www.cefsindia.org.
The report was formally released at the press conference by eminent social scientist
Ashis Nandy. According
to Parshuram Rai, Director of CEFS, the NREGS in Orissa had 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 poor's right to guaranteed wage employment for 100 days and there is
pillage of every single norm of democratic governance and administrative accountability,"
Rai said. "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 given to the
workers in the villages. 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 physically verified with the workers in these
villages. There are 3 villages where no payments have been made even after 4-8
months of the work 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."
"The Government of Orissa claims
that it provided 7.99 crore persondays of employment to 13,94,169 households spread
over 19 districts of the state during 2006-07. 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 111 days, 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 Rs733 crore and provided about 8 crore persondays of employment," Rai said
in the statement issued to the media. "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 2006-07.
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 white lie. 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 NREGS funds in the country) has delivered on an average only
5 days of employment to every needy family. A terrific accomplishment in the 60th
year of India's Independence! "It
is impossible to believe that this kind of open loot can be organised 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 organised. "CEFS
has also prepared a list of about 5000 villages from 19 NREGA districts of Orissa
and we are absolutely certain that there has been open loot and massive financial
bungling in more than 95 per cent of these villages. "Along
with the survey report, we have also released names of 2461 villages from give
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," Rai said in the statement. Posted
at Kalinga
Times - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - Job
scheme: Rs 500 cr siphoned off in Orissa The
National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (NREGP) in Orissa is under a cloud
after allegations that largescale tampering of figures led to misappropriation
of Rs 500 crore meant for the scheme. The
allegations are being looked into by the Central Council on the NREGP in the rural
development ministry and is reported to have been taken up during a review of
the scheme by the prime minister last month. The
Centre for Environment and Food Security, a Delhi-based organisation, studied
the data for five districts that were put on the website of the NREGP by the state
government. It found the date at variance with the details of the workdays and
the wages disbursed in the villages. The
survey by the NGO in 100 villages found that the administration officials at all
levels misappropriated Rs 500 crore meant to pay wages under the programme. “We
are saying on the basis of what we found on the job cards of people in 100 of
the 2,465 villages in the five districts that Rs 500 crore has been siphoned off,”
said Parshuram Rai, the director of the Centre for Environment and Food Security. Anne
Raja, a member of the Central Council of the NREGP said they were aware of the
allegations. “It is a massive scheme involving huge amount of money. Hence, while
it can’t be expected to be perfect in its first year, the council members plan
to visit the villages to verify records and match them with the details on the
websites,” she said.
Posted
at Business
Standard dated August 17, 2007 - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CEFS
social audit finds tribals hardpressed for work in Kalahandi New
Delhi, June 10 There
are no smiles on the faces of the poverty-stricken tribals of the infamous KBK
hunger belt of Orissa. The government's ambitious National Rural Employment Guarantee
Scheme, being implement in the region, has turned out to be a mockery, largely
benefiting the implementing authorities at the expense of poor tribals, according
to a survey by Centre for Environment and Food Security (CEFS), conducted under
the Union government's social audit programme. The
erstwhile Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput (KBK) has been divided into six districts,
namely Bolangir, Nuapada, Kalahandi, Koraput, Nabrangpur and Rayagada. As the
region was known for starvation deaths, it was declared as the region for special
attention. According
to the survey, there are irregularities in entries in job cards, maintenance of
muster rolls and disbursement of payments to the intended beneficiaries. CEFS
conducted a survey of 100 villages in the six districts in the last two months.
Among
the major findings of the CEFS report social audit has not been conducted in any
of the 100 villages and the muster rolls have not been checked by the village
people. In none of the villages under survey 100-day employment was given. No
job cards are issued in 11 villages, no work was undertaken in 37 villages after
issuance of job cards and after 16 months of the launch of the scheme. Job cards
issued in 23 villages are not given to the workers, they are still in the custody
of panchayat executive officers (PEOs) and junior officers. In
25 villages under survey partial payments have been made to workers and in three
village no payments have been made even after 4 to 8 months of work. In 6 villages
in Kashipur block in Rayagada district work is being undertaken without issuance
any job cards. "Our
findings reveal a nexus between a chain of officials, from state to village levels,
responsible for implementation of the scheme. Benefits are not reaching the beneficiaries,"
CEFS director, Parashuram Ray told FE. He said the BDO of Nandur block in Koraput
district, Jyoti Rajan Mishra had instructed the PEOs not to show any muster rolls
to the visiting CEFS team. The
PEO of Raisingh gram panchayat, Nagesh Choudhary has given in writing that he
would not show any muster roll without the permission of the BDO. The next day
when the CEFS team contacted the BDO he said that the permission from the district
collector was necessary. The CEFS team even contacted the state commissioner-cum-secretary
of panchayati raj, Rabindranath Dash to resolve the issue, but failed. Ray
said despite such hindrances, the CEFS team could get some interesting accounts
from the people. In Maagaral village card no 2401 was issued to Hari Sisa for
59 day-work, but actually he was offered work for only 20 days. According
to the study, there are six enteries in the muster rolls in the name of Hari Sisa.
Similarly job card no 2335 was issued to Mini Budi Khilo for 36-day work while
he was offered work for only 8 days with three entries in the muster rolls. Balaram
Sisa was issued job card no 2397 for 30-day work, but was offered work for only
5 days. Hagu Hemendru was issued job card no 2360 for 58-day work, but was offered
work for only 6 days. Posted
at The
Financial Express dated June 11, 2007 - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Another
job scheme hijacked SAMBALPUR:
The biggest anti-poverty programme in the history of India has been hijacked by
officials responsible for implementing it. The
Centre for Environment and Food Security (CEFS) has found in a survey that there
is a participatory loot, plunder and pillage in Orissa's Rural Employment Guarantee
Scheme (OREGS). The
Delhi-based institute, which conducted the survey to evaluate and assess the performance
of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in the State, found severe anomalies. The
survey was done in 100 villages spread over six districts of KBK - Balangir, Nuapada,
Kalahandi, Koraput, Nabarangpur and Rayagada in May-June. Based on its findings,
CEFS is going to file a PIL in the Supreme Court seeking immediate intervention.
Some
of the major findings of the survey are: None of the villages had proper and correct
job card entries; none of the village has been provided with the mandatory 100
days employment; no social audit has been conducted in any of the 100 villages
covered and nowhere workers/labourers/villagers have checked up their muster rolls. The
survey revealed that beneficiaries in 25 of the villages had either received half
or partial payment and in 13 of the villages there was a huge difference in the
job days entry in the cards and actual verification with the workers. Posted
at The New
Indian Express (Orissa Edition) dated June 10, 2007 -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Lapses
in State rural job scheme alleged BHUBANESWAR:
A New Delhi-based voluntary organisation, Centre for Environment and Food Security
(CEFS) on Wednesday alleged serious irregularities in the implementation of Orissa
Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (OREGS). Terming
its preliminary findings `shocking, scandalous and outrageous,' CEFS Director
Parshuram Ray said, "our survey findings have revealed that there is participatory
loot, plunder and pillage in OREGS." The CFFS presented its survey findings at
a press conference here. Out of 100 sample villages covered under the survey,
18 villages did not receive any job card and there was no job for 37 villages
even after 16 months of launch of the scheme, he said. "We
found many villages where OREGS work is going on without any villager having received
job card. Most of the villages where employment has been given, only half or one
third of the wage payment was made and that too after four to six months of the
work," Mr. Ray said. As many as 11 villages had received neither job cards nor
any jobs, he said. "In
13 villages, we found several irregularities," he said. Posted
at The
Hindu dated June 07, 2007 - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Lapses
in State rural job scheme alleged Bhubaneswar:
A new Delhi-based voluntary organisation, Centre for Environment and Food Security
(CEFS), has alleged serious irregularities in the implementation of the Orissa
Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (OREGS). Terming its preliminary findings as
'shocking, scandalous and outrageous,' CEFS Director Parshuram Ray told a news
conference here, "Our survey revealed that there is participatory loot, plunder
and pillage in OREGS." Out of 100 sample villages covered under the survey, 18
did not receive any job card and there was no job for 37 villages even after 16
months of the launch of the scheme, he said. "We found many villages where OREGS
work is going on without any villager having received job card. Most of the villages,
where employment has been given, only half or one-third of the wage payment was
made and that too after four to six months of the work," he said, adding that
as many as 11 villages had received neither job cards nor any jobs. Published
in The Pioneer Friday, June 08, 2007 - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Ground
scenario belies govt's anti-poverty programmes BHUBANESWAR,
June 7: NREGS, the biggest ever anti-poverty programme launched in the country,
has been hijacked by contractors and those in charge of implementing it, alleged
Mr Parshuram Ray of Centre for Environment and Food Security (CEFS), a Delhi-based
organisation. A
rapid survey conducted during May and June across 100 villages spread over six
backward KBK districts was shocking and outrageous, he alleged. The CEFS had touched
upon villages in the most backward Bolangir, Nuapada, Kalahandi, Koraput, Nawarangpur
and Rayagada districts to evaluate the performance of the National Rural Employment
Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). The
preliminary findings of this rapid survey were revealed at a Press conference
held by Mr Ray and members of the Orissa Krushak Mahasangh. There is open and
participatory loot and plunder, alleged Mr Ray as the survey team could not find
a single case, where entries in the job cards were correct and match with the
actual number of workdays physically verified with the villagers. Providing highlights
of the survey findings, he said: Out of the 100 villages surveyed: EIghteen villages
have not received any job card, 37 villages have not received any job under OREGS
even after 16 months of launch of the scheme, 11 villages have neither job nor
job cards, 23 villages have the job cards with the VLWs/JEs, 25 villages have
received half/one-third payments, three villages have received no payment, six
villages of "Kashipur block" in Rayagada district, work is being done without
job cards being issued and not a single village has "100 days employment". Though
NREGS promises 100 days' guaranteed employment to every needy family of rural
India, there is not a single case of a family in these 100 villages has been given
that 100 day's employment. Social audit is completely absent, there is "zero accountability
and zero transparency". While
conducting the survey, the team wanted to see the muster rolls of Raisingh grama
panchayat under Nandapur block of Koraput district. The BDO instructed all the
VLWs not to show the muster rolls. Mr Nagesh Choudhary, the VLW, said that they
should obtain the permission of the BDO to see the muster rolls (he even gave
that statement in writing) and when contacted, the BDO said they need the permission
of the district collector to see the muster rolls. A staff of the panchayat secretary
virtually ordered the survey team to return and not to visit any villages. Despite
all efforts, the team could not have a look at the muster rolls, he stated. The
age old practice of collecting mango kernels to avoid starvation during monsoon
continues to take place in villages of Kashipur as they are yet to be covered
by NREGS. Panasguda and Gottiguda villages, notorious for the starvation deaths
in 2001, are among the six villages in the block awaiting job cards, said the
survey. CEFS is planning to file a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Supreme
Court seeking the immediate intervention of the Supreme Court, said mr Ray. Suggesting
an alternative, Mr Bibhudhendra Pratap Das, president, OKM said that all those
programmes should be scrapped and the amount may be distributed among all the
beneficiaries equitably and fix deposited in nationalised banks. The
entire budgeted amount towards farm subsidy, particularly fertiliser subsidy,
should be distributed in money terms to the farmers. It can be deposited in banks
against their accounts. Farmers should be allowed to withdraw on the interest
amount for purchasing inputs, he observed. Posted
at The Statesman dated June 08, 2007 - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Not
Hunger... This is Murder RIGHT
TO FOOD: More than 320 million Indians go to bed without food. The majority
are tribals. They are paying the price for a development model that the upper
classes have designed for themselves. Deeptiman Tiwary reports
 |
| Miles
To Go Before They Eat: it’s a long trek for water and food in
the barren forests near Udaipur |
Endemic
hunger and chronic poverty is arguably the most serious challenge facing a country
like India. More than 320 million Indians go to bed without food every night.
This is a figure for years with good rainfall, says Centre for Environment and
Food Security (CEFS). The causes of food insecurity are deep-rooted.
It is related to poverty, illiteracy, discrimination and neglect. But finally,
it is a story of failed governance — global, national and local.
The proportion of people facing food insecurity in India is higher than the proportion
defined as income-poor or below the poverty line. The worst affected in this republic
of hunger are the adivasis (tribals) — forcibly divorced from their habitat
in the name of ‘development’, and left to fend for themselves. The
Delhi-based CEFS conducted extensive research on food security in the tribal areas
of Rajasthan and Jharkhand over two years. The final report: ‘Political
Economy of Hunger in Adivasi Areas’ was released by social scientist Ashis
Nandy last week in Delhi. According to the report, a staggering 99 percent
of the families surveyed were facing chronic hunger. Over a quarter (25.2 percent)
had faced semi-starvation during the previous week of the survey while 24.1 percent
faced it for the entire month preceding the survey. This means, over 99 percent
of the adivasi households in the two states survived with one or another level
of endemic hunger and food insecurity during the entire previous year.
Out of 500 adivasi house- holds in Rajasthan, not one had secured two square meals
a day in the previous year (2004). Overall, covering both Rajasthan and Jharkhand,
a staggering 99.8 percent of adivasi households confirmed that they could not
get two square meals even for a single month last year.
 |
| | | Tribals
in India have been forced into a monetised western economy that they are just
not able to cope with. They were poor, but we have made them destitutes. It’s
time we gave them their environment back Social scientist Ashis Nandy |
There is high
dependence on jungle food in the absence of basic food, as starving adivasis are
once again compelled to turn into food gatherers in depleting forests where they
are not even allowed to enter. During the survey, 23.2 percent adivasis said that
approximately one-fourth of their diet consisted of jungle food while 8.4 percent
said that 75-100 percent of their previous year’s diet was food procured
from the jungle. Protein (pulses and animal products) consumption was
found terribly low. Less than one percent of households in Rajasthan and Jharkhand
were able to eat some pulses or animal products during the entire year of 2004
— a clear case of widespread and continuous malnutrition. A study of the
monthly break-up of protein consumption among adivasis suggests that 86.7 percent
of adivasi households in Rajasthan and Jharkhand either could not eat any pulse
or meat product, or they found basic food for hardly three months. This
means that at least 86.7 percent of adivasi households were suffering from severe
protein deficiency and were vulnerable to diseases. Severe protein deficiency
among adivasi children leads to high infant mortality rate; this has now assumed
alarming proportions in most remote, tribal areas of India. The report
slams the development policies of the government and holds its deliberate anti-people
policies responsible for the current state of organised suffering: “While
the benefits of economic growth and industrial development have substantially
gone to the rich sections of the society living in cities and towns, the ecological
price of that progress has been largely borne by vast swathes of rural India,
specially the adivasi areas,” it says. Indeed, a quick review of the major
stories on hunger in the media in the last 25 years suggests that almost all the
‘hunger hot-spots’ of India lie in the adivasi areas and almost every
second starvation victim is an adivasi.
| STARVATION
STALKS TRIBAL HEARTLAND | | • | 99
percent tribal families surveyed in Rajasthan and Jharkhand face chronic hunger |
| • | Less
than one percent are able to eat some pulses or animal products during the entire
year in 2004 | | • | 86.7
percent tribal households surveyed suffer from severe protein deficiency
making them prone to disease and death | |
The government
would like us to believe that hunger in tribal areas is because of droughts and
the collapsed public distribution system (PDS). But the defunct PDS or drought
is not even the tip of the ‘hunger iceberg’. The core of the problem
lies in the structural changes in the adivasi economy in the last six years that
have destroyed the traditional livelihoods and food systems of these communities.
Says Ashis Nandy, “Just talking about PDS will be like escaping reality.
Even the argument of destruction of livelihood is only a part of the reality.
The problem is that the tribals have been forced into a western concept of ‘monetised’
economy that they are not able to cope with. They were poor, but we have made
them destitutes. The Indian economy is slowl preparing to make them extinct. One
third of the tribal population has already scattered. It’s time we gave
them their environment back.” A staggering 90.6 percent of the
households said that their food security had weakened in comparison to what it
was two to three decades ago. Also, 54.9 percent identified decline in availability
of minor forest produce due to deforestation and degradation of forests as the
most important factor for weakening their food security support systems.
The report is categorical: “Immediately after Independence, the Nehruvian
development paradigm embarked on building “temples of modern India”.
The social and ecological costs of development, fairly well documented by now,
were largely borne by the country’s adivasi communities in terms of physical
displacement, destruction of sustenance base and gradual alienation from natural
resources... It is the same adivasis whose survival base has been sacrificed at
the altar of ‘national interest’ and ‘greater common good’…
Adds Ashis Nandy, “We have not been able to address our problems
because we are ready to overlook them in the garb of development. We no more want
to call ourselves poor. We call ourselves developing. This is a distortion of
development. Referring to sustenance, rural development etc has become fashionable.
No one refers to development directly. I hope this fashion of development dies
out soon, because the West, from where we borrow our concept, was developed much
before the concept of ‘development’ came on earth. Posted
at Tehelka
-
CRUSADE dated October 22, 2005 -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - RIGHT
TO FOOD How
many more deaths before we learn...? With
fresh reports of starvation deaths from rural Maharashtra, UP, Madhya Pradesh
and Rajasthan, the globalised myths of top heavy development are rapidly crumbling,
reports Deeptiman Tiwary
 |
| Whose
Childhood? Hunger stalks children in Nandurbar and Melghat in Maharashtra
Photos Sunil Khandare | In
a country that feeds much of its food grains to rats in its overflowing food godowns,
10,000 die of hunger every day, as a survey has claimed. Increasing poverty and
a development model totally divorced from the needs of the poor has driven the
rural mass to the brink of starvation. While the government keeps denying this,
reports after reports from India’s hinterland show an increase in the number
of starvation deaths every year. Recently, there have been a series
of reports on hunger deaths in various places, including Nandurbar (Maharashtra),
Sonebhadra (UP), Shivpuri (Madhya Pradesh), and Baran (Rajasthan), as it happened
last year. In Nandurbar, a report Maranatach He Jag Jagate was recently prepared
by Punarvasan Sangharsh Samiti (PSS). This report is based on information obtained
under the Right to Information Act, and a survey conducted by PSS in 22 villages
of the Akalkuwa Block of Nandurbar district. A huge discrepancy was
found between the situation on the ground, revealed by the PSS survey, and government
records. Of the 1,148 children surveyed by PSS in June this year, 104 were found
to be malnourished, but government records show only 17 cases of malnourishment.
Almost 75 percent of the women surveyed were seriously underweight. The report
proves the cycle of undernutrition, which gets transmitted from weak mothers to
undernourished children. Chirauji Devi of Sonebhadra, Uttar Pradesh,
died of starvation as nothing had been cooked in her home for 14 days. Looking
after a sick husband, a handicapped son and his wife and four grandchildren, Chirauji
Devi worked under the Food For Work programme. But her wages were never paid.
This and other cases of starvation deaths in UP were heard at the Indian People’s
Tribunal (ipt) meeting held in Varanasi on September 30, 2005.
 |
| Do
We Deserve This? Mother and child in a Maharashtra village |
| | | In
August this year, 48 deaths were reported from 40 villages in Baran district in
Rajasthan. Half the victims were children. Causes of these deaths: chronic undernutrition,
absence of healthcare and poor hygiene |
A
recent report by historian Uma Chakravarti of Delhi University presents a grim
account of the predicament of 160 Sahariya families in Majhera village, Shivpuri
district, in Madhya Pradesh. Adult men in Majhera work in hazardous stone quarries,
and there is high prevalence of tuberculosis in the village. Recently, the quarries
were shut on the grounds that they destroy the environment. This forced the Sahariyas
to retreat to the depleted forests for survival. Deaths were reported from eating
poisonous herbs and leaves. The village has a large number of widows who are forced
to resort to the liquor trade for a living. No widow pensions or maternity benefits
were available to these women. The fair price shop has been distributing rice
to the Antyodaya Anna Yojana cardholders at twice the stipulated price (Rs. 6
per kg). A six-member team from the Institute of Development Studies,
(IDSJ) Jaipur, and Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti (BGVS), recently visited Baran district
in Rajasthan to investigate deaths reported in the local press due to hunger,
undernutrition and illness. In August this year, 48 deaths were reported from
40 villages. Half of the victims were children. The team visited six villages
and investigated various causes of these deaths: chronic undernutrition, inadequate
vaccination, absence of emergency healthcare and poor hygiene, among others. The
team, however, found some signs of positive change since last year. For instance,
the pds was functional and employment programmes have protected some families
from hunger. But chronic energy deficiency and lack of a balanced diet remain
widespread. As renowned political scientist Prof C. Douglas Lummis put
it during his lecture in Delhi recently, at the unveiling of a report on the state
of food security in adivasi areas of India by Centre for Environment and Food
Security (CEFS), the main reason behind increasing number of starvation deaths
and the miserable state of food security among the poor is our skewed understanding
of development. “The problem is we depend too much on this word called ‘development’
without understanding what it is. It is a very deceptive word. It is just a metaphor.
It makes facts like poverty, starvation and forced labour forgettable.
“They say with development the poor will catch up. My question is when will
this catching up begin. The gap between the rich and the poor is only getting
wider and wider. Actual development is the non-violative progress of people where
the one going through the process of development is grateful to have developed,”
he said. He also critcised the Western outlook towards ‘underdeveloped’
countries and the policies of ‘liberalisation’ and ‘globalisation’.
He said, “Another myth about development is that where there is poverty,
people are underdeveloped and through the process of development it can be done
away with. This is exactly what you call ‘Modernisation of Poverty’.”
Posted
at Tehelka
-
CRUSADE dated November 05, 2005 - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - No
food? chew your ration cards By
Deeptiman Tiwary
 |
| RIGHT
TO FOOD | Adivasis
constitute eight percent (83,580,63 in Census 2001) of India’s population.
There is a big tribal population in the interiors of Rajasthan and Jharkhand in
particular, where, in 1911, 60 percent of the population constituted adivasis.
This, however, reduced to 27.67 percent in 1991 as non-tribals increasingly dominated
the forests and land of the indigenous people. Consequently, adivasis have been
reduced to the margins. Their land has been snatched away, their access to forests
has been obstructed and their villages have been displaced to make way for mega
development projects. According to the Centre for Environment and Food
Security (CEFS), over 10 million adivasis, since Independence, have been displaced
to make way for various development projects such as dams, mining, industries,
roads etc. Though most of the dams (over 3,000) are located in adivasi areas,
only 19.9 percent of adivasi land holdings are irrigated as compared to 45.9 percent
of all holdings of the general population — a clear sign of them paying
a heavy price for ‘development’. Now, with liberalisation and the
domination of free market, hunger stalks the tribal areas with the collapse of
the public distribution system (PDS). In a survey report on ‘Food
Security in Adivasi Areas in India’, recently released by cesf in Delhi,
inaccessibility to the PDS was cited as one of the reasons behind chronic hunger
among adivasis in Rajasthan and Jharkhand. While the two states had a combined
proportion of 74 percent of sample households who possessed ration cards, a staggering
45.8 percent of Jharkhand adivasi households did not possess any ration card.
Out of the total number of families holding bpl (below poverty line) cards, only
9.2 percent households said they were getting the regular quota of ration. The
remaining 90.8 percent households either had an erratic access to ration shops,
or no access at all. Adivasis were denied the full quota of ration from
PDS shops. Besides, in the recent past, their purchasing power has become so low
that even if rice or kerosene is available, they simply can’t afford it.
An overwhelming 80.9 percent of adivasi households were deeply dissatisfied with
the functioning of PDS shops and the behaviour of PDS dealers, the survey reported.
With 99 percent adivasis facing chronic hunger, the deliberate dismantling of
the PDS has created a vicious circle which they just can’t escape; finally,
this is the process that leads to destitution, hunger and starvation deaths. Posted
at Tehelka
-
CRUSADE dated November 12, 2005 - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - RIGHT
TO FOOD Minds
and intestines Even
during the severest drought in Rajasthan, people have not asked for a dole. They
have asked for work, writes Aruna Roy I
Have titled this lecture, The Capital of Labour and the Cost of Deprivation. I
don’t know if it sounds a bit vague to people today. But what I really wanted
to say is that there is tremendous potential strength, energy and richness in
the people whom we consider poor and deprived and on the margin. And the people
whom we think are rich today are rich in what? Perhaps, it is a philosophical
question. But it is something which we have to think of. This lecture
is also a response to the economists who have arrogated to themselves the burden
of carrying the universe on their figures. Whenever you begin a debate, their
figures decimate you. You might have logic on your side, justice on your side,
but some figures are always brought in to kill us. Especially when it comes to
the poor. If everything in a democracy is for people, then why are they
still hungry? Why are they still on the margins? And why today, in 2005, are we
still talking about freedom from hunger? Why are we exporting foodgrains? Why
don’t we have the space to store food? Even today if you look at the Food
Corporation of India’s (FCI) godowns, you will find foodgrains lying outside.
They are rotting and rats are eating them. Two of the major legislations
that have been borne out of this massive campaign that has been going on in Rajasthan
and in other parts of India are the Employment Guarantee Act and the Right to
Information Act. So long as human beings are deprived of food, there will be a
storm on this earth. We have said it over and over again that hunger, deprivation,
poverty and unemployment are terrible things. And whenever I come to Delhi and
talk to people, it is always the cost of ‘employment programme’ that
is cited: “How can we give you 2 percent of the gdp, this is too much.”
Whenever we talk about anything related to the poor, corruption becomes a big
issue. Okay, so let us talk about corruption and let us find out why there is
corruption. But let us not dismiss things because there might be corruption.
The Employment Guarantee Bill was one of the most discussed Bills in recent
times. It was talked about in the newspapers, there were public discussions outside
Parliament and inside Parliament. In states, there have been signature campaigns.
Some people asked me, “Do you think the Finance Commission’s recommendations
will not be implemented for civil servants if there is the Employment Guarantee
Act?” Whenever there is an issue of money, even a small amount of money,
or 2 percent of gdp going to the poor people, we get into a state of great unrest.
Do we realise that in a democracy majority of the people who elect the government
to power are not middle class people or the rich, but poor people? And when there
is commitment by politicians accidentally or intentionally, they will have to
keep their commitment. They might like it or not, there will have to be employment
guarantee for the poor people of India. There is huge amount of foodgrains
lying in our godowns and yet nothing comes to the poor. So we have another slogan,
“Deprived stomachs, godowns full of foodgrain, it is unjust and offensive.”
It is a crime to have FCI godowns full of foodgrain when people are dying of hunger
in Baran (Rajasthan) and Orissa. Foodgrain is not reaching the ration shops, so
what is the meaning of democracy? What are we a free country for? And why do we
have central and state governments? No, they will have to reformulate their policies
and channels of procuring grains. What stops the government from giving
food to the people? Are we still slaves? Is there any division or demarcation
between citizens and subjects in India? As former Vice Chancellor of Delhi University
Prof. Upendra Baxi is fond of saying, there is one India which is full of citizens
and one Bharat which is full of slaves. So what are we as members of the civil
society doing? The civil society is not one big map. If you want to enter a five
star hotel, and if you are not properly dressed, you won’t be allowed to
enter the premises. Empty stomachs and stockpiled godowns: this is a
big rallying slogan for people all over the country. In Rajasthan it began with
the five-year drought and we had no food. Every time we approached the state government
and asked for food and employment, they said they had no money. We told them,
forget about money, release foodgrains. They replied that they don’t have
food stocks. We counter-questioned, how can they say this and so openly? At that
time there was 60 million tonnes of foodgrains in FCI godowns. We questioned,
“What about the FCI godowns which are bursting?” The panchayat
will say there is no employment. The panchayat samiti will say there are no sanctions.
And the district collector or district magistrate will say there is no money.
You go to the state capital and they will say, “We don’t have the
money to buy foodgrains from Delhi”, or, “We belong to two different
political parties (in the state and the Centre) and so we are not getting foodgrains”.
Then we have to go to Delhi to lobby. But for the poor this is great democratic
education: the micro and the macro are not divided. To get your micro benefits
you have to be interested in macro issues. And for purchasing these grains
you need money many times over. I remember, in the first severe drought in 1987,
before the birth of Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sanghatan (MKSS), Prof Hanumantha Rao,
from the Planning Commission, came with a team of experts to visit Rajasthan.
Around 400 people gathered to meet him on the highway. He asked them, what do
you want? The half-starved people in people in India have great dignity and I
felt so proud when they all said, “We don’t want your dole. We want
to work. We want work because we want to live with dignity. We want to earn money
and buy our own food.” Even today, even during the severest drought
in Rajasthan, people have not asked for a dole. They have asked for employment
and work. They have asked for food for work. Because women want food. Or else,
money is spent on intoxication; but foodgrain comes home and is used by the women
to sustain the family. So this takes me to the third slogan that we have coined,
“We demand our birthright, we are not begging for alms.”
In Rajasthan the scene has now changed where the villagers demand, “We want
our rights and we are not begging for anything. We want our rights and this is
an independent country with a secular fabric. So why can’t the establishment
assure us employment, a livelihood with dignity?”
Excerpted from a lecture organised by Centre for Environment and Food Security,
New Delhi
Posted
at Tehelka
-
CRUSADE dated December 10, 2005 -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - RIGHT
TO FOOD State-sponsored
suicides Suicides
are the most ghastly manifestation of farmers’ desperation, but this should
not distract us from hunger deaths all over India, says Jayati Ghosh The
unprecedented agrarian crisis in India has now been affecting farmers across the
country for nearly a decade. Yet the public and media reactions, as well as the
policy responses, have been so intermittent that even now, comprehensive measures
to address the systemic problems are yet to be taken. In the previous two years,
the desperate condition of farmers in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka was evident
in the spate of farmers’ suicides that dramatically highlighted the severity
of the crisis. But the crisis was not, and still is not, local in scope or origin,
but unfortunately national. The current travails of farmers in the Vidarbha region
of Maharashtra are now finding some mention in the more enlightened press, as
did the decline in viability of cultivation in parts of Kerala. But the desperation
of farmers in the North — say in Punjab and Rajasthan, or the increasing
difficulties in the eastern region, are still not recognised adequately by the
government or other agencies. While suicides are the most dramatic and
ghastly expression of the desperation among the cultivating community, these should
not distract from the other manifestations of what has become a deep rural depression.
There have been growing reports of hunger deaths in many parts of India, and there
is also evidence of very large-scale mass temporary migrations in search of work,
on an unprecedented scale in rural India. The point is that all this has not simply
happened on its own, or because of some inexorable workings of fate in the form
of the working of global markets, but because of policies pursued in the past
decade and more that have denied cultivators basic protection and exposed them
to unfair competition as well as enhanced exploitation by private companies and
traders in different ways. Further, these processes and policies are
not specific to any particular area (although the crisis has been most intense
in states where the state governments have most actively pursued neo-liberal economic
agendas) but are common to a significant extent across all the regions. The only
good news in this is that since policies have largely created this mess, it can
be hoped that different policies can also help to solve the problems to a substantial
extent. Last year, in response to the apparent crisis in cultivation
and the political upheaval it had generated, the then newly elected government
of ap appointed a Commission on Farmers’ Welfare to investigate the causes
and suggest policies that could stop the deterioration in farmers’ conditions
and reverse the situation. It started work in September and submitted its report
in December, exactly a year ago. Since I was involved in that Commission, I will
base some of my remarks on that experience and analysis, which I believe has important
resonances for the country. To begin with, however, let us consider
the macroeconomic context and national level policies that have mattered. The
policies of the Central government since the beginning of the 1990s have had direct
and indirect effects on farmers’ welfare that have been generally adverse.
The economic reforms did not include any specific package exclusively designed
for agriculture. Rather, the presumption was that freeing agricultural markets
and liberalising external trade in agricultural commodities would provide price
incentives leading to enhanced investment and output in that sector, while broader
trade liberalisation would shift inter-sectoral terms of trade in favour of agriculture.
However, there were changes in patterns of government spending and financial measures
which also necessarily affected the conditions of cultivation. In particular,
fiscal policies of reducing expenditure on certain areas especially rural spending,
trade liberalisation, financial liberalisation and privatisation of important
areas of economic activity and service provision had adverse impact on cultivation
and rural living conditions. The neo-liberal economic reform strategy
involved the following measures which affected the rural areas: •
Actual declines in Central government revenue expenditure on rural development,
cuts in particular subsidies such as on fertiliser in real terms, and overall
decline in per capita government expenditure on rural areas. •
Reduction in public investment in agriculture, in research and extension.
• Very substantial declines in public infrastructure
and energy investments that affect the rural areas, including in irrigation.
• Reduced spread and rising prices of the public distribution
system for food. This had an adverse effect on rural household food consumption
in most parts of the country. • Financial liberalisation
measures, including redefining priority sector lending by banks, which effectively
reduced the availability of rural credit, and thus made farm investment more expensive
and more difficult, especially for smaller farmers. •
Liberalisation and removal of restrictions on internal trade in agricultural commodities,
across states within India. • Liberalisation
of external trade, first through lifting restrictions on exports of agricultural
goods, and then by shifting from quantitative restrictions to tariffs on imports
of agricultural commodities. A range of primary imports was decanalised and thrown
open to private agents. Import tariffs were substantially lowered over the decade.
Exports of important cultivated items, including wheat and rice, were freed from
controls and subsequent measures were directed towards promoting the exports of
raw and processed agricultural goods. In terms of fiscal policies, the
reduced spending of the Central and state governments was the most significant
feature. Due to tax reforms, the tax/gdp ratio declined at the Central level.
Central transfers to state governments also declined. State governments were forced
to borrow in the market and other (often international) sources at high interest
rates. As a result, the levels of debt and debt servicing increased in most states.
To be continued ....
The writer is Professor, Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, JNU.
Excerpted from the sixth Freedom from Hunger Lecture organised by Centre
for Environment and Food Security, Delhi Posted
at Tehelka
-
CRUSADE dated December 31, 2005 -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Minister
refutes famine charge Special
Correspondent NGO
claims that tribals in Rajasthan are facing food shortage
- The
NGO report had said that out of the 500 tribal households surveyed not a single
had secured two square meals a day for the whole of the previous year
-
No situation of chronic hunger was prevailing in any part of the State, Govt.
regularly supplying nutritious food, says Tribal developemnt Minister Kanakmal
Katara
JAIPUR:
The Rajasthan Minister for Tribal Area Development, Kanakmal Katara, has strongly
refuted the claim made by a New Delhi-based non-Government organisation that 99
per cent of the Adivasi households in southern parts of the State were facing
chronic hunger. Mr. Katara said the claim, made on the basis of a purported survey,
was "false and misleading''. The
Centre for Environment and Food Security (CEFS) had reported in its survey research
-- the report of which was released by the noted social scientist, Ashis Nandy,
on October 14 -- that 99 per cent of the tribal households in Udaipur and Dungarpur
districts were facing one or another level of hunger and food insecurity. Out
of the 500 sample Adivasi households surveyed in the two districts, not a single
had secured two square meals for the whole previous year. Mr.
Katara disputed the findings of the survey during his visit to Sagwara town in
Dungarpur district over the week-end and affirmed that no situation of chronic
hunger was prevailing in any part of the State with the Department of Women and
Child Development regularly supplying nutritious food to the targeted population. "Regular
distribution of nutritious diet in all districts across the State is continuing
and there is no question of hunger or starvation prevailing anywhere,'' said Mr.
Katara. He termed the survey baseless and pointed out that the purported finding
of not a single Adivasi household having secured two square meals during the previous
year could not be justified by any measure. The
Minister said the tribal population in southern Rajasthan had faced no scarcity
of food during the past few years with the good monsoon rains and the State Government
launching regular drought relief works for them. "I spend at least a fortnight
every month in the tribal-dominated areas and have never come across with the
situation of chronic hunger,'' he said. While
the CEFS had carried out the field survey in Udaipur and Dungarpur during March
to June 2004, nearly 48 persons had died of hunger and disease in 40 villages
in Baran district during mid-July to mid-September this year. The Director of
CEFS, Parshuram Rai, stated that 99 per cent of the Adivasi households had lived
with one or another level of endemic hunger and food insecurity during the whole
previous year. The
survey findings conformed to another recent investigation that had attributed
the death of tribals in Baran district to the chronic energy deficiency leading
to weakness of the body constitution and decline in the immunity levels of the
local population. The probe was carried out by a team led by the State Advisor
to the Commissioners appointed by the Supreme Court in right to food matter. According
to the survey research, an overwhelming 90.6 per cent of the tribal households
felt that their food security had weakened during last 25 years. Besides,
54.9 per cent of the respondents identified decline in availability of minor forest
produce due to deforestation and degradation of forests as the biggest reason
for weakening of their food security. Posted
at The
Hindu dated October 24, 2005 - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Hunger
pangs in Adivasi houses
Survey reveals 99.8 p.c. households could not get two square meals even for
one month JAIPUR:
A survey research on the situation of hunger in the tribal-dominated areas of
Rajasthan has revealed that a shocking 99 per cent of the Adivasi households were
facing chronic hunger. While the field survey was carried out in Udaipur and Dungarpur
districts, nearly 48 persons had died of hunger and disease in 40 villages in
Baran district during mid-July to mid-September this year. The
New Delhi-based Centre for Environment and Food Security (CEFS) carried out the
survey on "Hunger in Adivasi areas of Rajasthan and Jharkhand'' and its report
was formally released in the national capital by noted social scientist, Ashis
Nandy, on October 14. The
Director of CEFS, Parshuram Rai, said on Tuesday that while about 99 per cent
of the Adivasi households had lived with one or another level of endemic hunger
and food insecurity throughout 2004, at least 25.2 per cent of tribal households
had faced semi-starvation during the previous week of survey and 24.1 per cent
throughout the previous month. The
researchers surveyed 500 households in the two districts to find that only two
respondents had eaten two square meals the previous day. Five per cent of the
surveyed Adivasis could eat only jungle food to survive and 76.6 per cent tribal
households said they had not eaten any pulse or animal product. Mr.
Rai said the survey data had suggested that 28.3 per cent of the sample Adivasi
households had survived for the whole or significant part of the previous week
by eating just one distress meal-a-day or one poor or partial meal-a-day. In other
words, 28.3 per cent of sample households lived in semi-starvation condition. The
survey findings conform to another recent investigation that had attributed the
death of tribals in Baran district to the chronic energy deficiency leading to
weakness of the body constitution and decline in immunity levels of the local
population. The probe was carried out by a team led by the State Advisor to the
Commissioners appointed by the Supreme Court in right to food matter. Mr.
Rai pointed out that a staggering 99.8 per cent of Adivasi households had said
that they could not get two square meals even for one month of the previous year.
Therefore, it was clear that over 99 per cent of the surveyed households were
facing one or another level of hunger and food insecurity throughout last year.
Moreover, out of the 500 sample Adivasi households surveyed in the State, not
a single one had secured two square meals for the whole previous year. The
survey report also revealed that 10 per cent of the sample tribal households had
to survive only on distress food for 3 to 11 months of the previous year and 22.6
per cent only on one poor or partial meal for 4 to 12 months. In other words,
32.6 per cent of the sample Adivasi households had lived in semi-starvation condition
throughout the previous year. An
overwhelming 90.6 per cent of the tribal households said their food security had
weakened during last 25 years. The field survey, carried out during March to June
in 2004, covered 10 villages each in Udaipur and Dungarpur districts. From every
sample village, 25 Adivasi households were purposely selected for the household
survey. Posted
at The
Hindu dated October 19, 2005 - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ‘99%
of Rajasthan’s tribal farmers are at starvation point’ ASHOK
B SHARMA NEW
DELHI, OCT 12: A recent study has found that about 99% of tribals in Rajasthan
and Jharkhand don’t get enough food and are at a point of starvation. The situation
has worsened for the last 25 years. The
main reasons for this state of affairs are the non-availability of adequate minor
forest produces (MFPs) due to fast depletion of forest cover and the inefficient
functioning of the public distribution system (PDS). The
study entitled, ‘The Political Economy of Hunger in Adivasi Areas of Rajasthan
and Jharkhand’ was conducted by the Delhi-based Centre for Environment and Food
Security (CEFS). “The study is slated to be formally released on October 14, this
year,” said CEFS director Parshuram Rai. The
study found that out of the total 1000 sample of tribal households in 40 villages
in Rajasthan and Jharkhand, 99% were facing chronic hunger. The study also found
that 25.2% tribal households faced semi-starvation a week before the date of the
survey. About 24.1% of tribal households were in semi-starvation throughout the
previous month of the survey and over 99% of the tribal households lived in endemic
hunger and food insecurity in the previous year. The survey was conducted in the
period of March-June, 2004. The
study records inadequate food stocks in the homes of the tribals. Rajasthan seemed
to have performed better than Jharkhand in issuing ration cards to tribals. In
Rajasthan only 6.2% of tribal households did not have ration cards, in Jharkhand
it was higher at 45.8%. Posted
at The
Financial Express dated October 13, 2005 -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ‘Give
productive assets to the poor’
To overcome poverty, people need assets like land, livestock
and capital NEW
DELHI, JUNE 12: Policymakers in the country believe that the cause of hunger is
poverty and poverty persists because poor have little productive assets. Marginal
benefits have reached the poor through the existing bureaucratic welfare schemes. The
Planning Commission member, Dr Kirit S Parikh said to abolish hunger the poor
need more than just food. Hunger amid poor is abundant not just in India, but
all over the world. To overcome poverty, people need assets like land, livestock,
capital and to enlarge their share in the common property resources. There is
also a need to create demand for their assets. “If
we create an economic environment where demand for their assets like labour goes
up, poor get higher wages and better income. We also need to increase productivity
of their assets like land or common property resource. We can transfer resources
to them too,” Mr Parikh said. Dr
Parikh was delivering the “Third Freedom from Hunger” lecture in New Delhi organised
by the Centre for Environment and Food Security. He
said “many solutions have been suggested to deal with hunger and poverty. But
they do not seem to work. Because they rely on the market but poor are outside
the market. And non-market solutions also have not worked well because of failure
of governance at various levels. The world food system is resilient system for
the rich but stubborn to the starving. No matter what you do, the burden of shocks
to the world food system is always transferred to the poor and they always bear
the shock.” Outlining
the solutions to overcome poverty and hunger in a sustainable manner, Dr Parikh
said that skills, assets and opportunities for remunerative jobs and livelihoods
can abolish poverty and hunger in a more sustainable way. But the most important
thing is to create alternative job opportunities where more income are available
and are sustainable. So, a well thought-out plan to eradicate poverty and thereby
abolish hunger, can push economic growth in a way and direction where a lot of
productive and not artificial jobs are created. He
alleged that the jobs created by the anti-poverty programmes are palliatives for
short-term. But in the long run, we must provide remunerative jobs, and for that
we must develop skills and abilities of the poor and create an economic environment
where these abilities could be used effectively. Dr
Parikh said that according to the latest assessment Planning Commission assessments,
the Targetted Public Distribution System (TPDS) has worked no better than earlier
versions. The
level of leakages is high even in TDPS. He also revealed that recent evaluations
of Planning Commission and National Sample Survey (NSS) data have corroborated
late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s intuitive observation that out of every one
rupee spent on anti-poverty programmes by government, only 15 paise reaches to
the poor. Elaborating
on the comparative cost-inefficiency of reaching various anti-poverty schemes,
Dr Parikh said that to reach out worth Re 1 of PDS, govt spends Rs 5.37 as its
delivery cost, for every rupee of rice given under Andhra Rice Scheme delivery
cost was Rs 6.377, for every single rupee given under Jawahar Rojgar Yojana (JRY)
delivery cost was Rs 2.28, for Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS) in Maharashtra
delivery cost is Re 1.85 and that for Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS)
is Re 1.8. Posted
at The
Financial Express dated June 13, 2005 - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - JNU
economist Patnaik debunks Centre’s estimates of hunger A
leading economist in the country has challenged the official estimates of hunger
in India.
Prof Utsa Patnaik of Jawaharlal Nehru University has alleged that “the majority
of academics and government officials, as well as the Planning Commission today
make two claims, which I believe to be factually incorrect. These are claims which
are underpinned by a wholly fallacious theoretical understanding of the current
situation. They claim first, that there is oversupply of food grains relative
to demand, (which they assume to be growing normally) and so food grains production
should be cut back in favour of diversification.” Delivering
the second ’Freedom from Hunger Lecture’ in the capital organised jointly by the
Centre for Environment and Food Security and India International Centre, she said
that the second fallacy is that poverty is declining in India in the era of reforms
and has declined in the last decade. “My contention as regards both propositions
is that they are incorrect, and that the correct position on theoretical and factual
grounds is precisely the opposite.” Dr
Patnaik further said: “first, there is no oversupply of foodgrains, but a drastic
decline of effective demand for food grains especially in rural India, owing to
an abnormally fast loss of purchasing power during the last six years. So, far
from cutting back the foodgrains output, the correct policy is to raise purchasing
power and restore effective demand as well as restore access to affordable food
grains through a combination of a universal, and not targeted, employment guarantee
scheme and through reverting to a universal, not targeted public distribution
system.” She
further said: “far from the percentage of population in poverty declining as claimed,
the factually correct position on the basis of current data is that poverty is
very high, affecting at least three-quarters of rural and over two-fifths of the
urban population. Moreover, data show that the depth of poverty has increased
considerably during the fifteen years of reforms, with more people being pushed
down into a poorer nutritional status than before in most of the Indian states
and at the All-India level. The reason that many academics and the Planning Commission
reach the conclusion that poverty is declining, is that they use an estimation
procedure which has no basis in logic and is indefensible on academic grounds.” Posted
at The
Financial Express dated April 18, 2005 - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Lecture
on "Freedom from Hunger'' Bringing
issues of hunger and chronic poverty into mainstream intellectual discourse, the
Centre for Environment and Food Security is hosting a bi-monthly public lecture
series on "Freedom from Hunger'' on Tuesday at the India International Centre
here. The
lecture would be delivered by well-known economist, Utsa Patnaik on "Theorising
Food Security and Poverty in the era of Economic Reforms''. The session would
be chaired by the former Commerce Secretary, S.P. Shukla. The
bi-monthly lecture is part of the "Freedom from Hunger'' campaign launched by
CEFS to work towards banishing hunger and poverty. Statistics reveal that millions
of Indians go to bed without food while thousands die of hunger everyday. The
first bi-monthly lecture was delivered by social activist Aruna Roy. Posted
at The
Hindu dated April 11, 2005 - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Campaign
to eradicate hunger launched
NEW DELHI, FEB 20: The Centre for Environment and Food Security (CEFS) has launched
a nationwide freedom from hunger campaign to mitigate the suffering of 340 million
people in the country. It
has decided to observe year 2005 as the year of campaign for freedom from hunger.
The CEFS has roped in celebrities like the Magasay award winner and activist Aruna
Roy and Dr Susan George, the author of the landmark book on hunger - How the Other
Half Dies. Outlining
the reason for launching the campaign Parashuram Ray, director, CEFS, told FE,
“More than 24,000 people die of hunger every day and nearly 78% of them are women
and children. More than 1.4 billion people in the world face chronic hunger and
over 13 million die of hunger every year. They die of hungry not because the world
does not have enough food for them, but due to an insensitive and callous world
where profit of market economy seems to be the final arbitrator of human destiny.”
The
number of people who fell prey to Adolf Hitler’s insanity was six million, while
today the silent holoucast of hunger is killing over 13 million people every year,
he said. Mr
Ray alleged, “Poverty is the worst form of violence inflicting pain over 1.4 billion
people. While US can spend over $80 billion per year for satisfying their adventure
in Iraq, the developed countries think that the so-called generous contribution
of $13 billion can prevent the hidden genocide of hunger.” He said that even UNDP
feels that $13 billion is enough to fight against global hunger. Speaking
about the level of hunger in India, Mr Ray said: “More than than 340 million people
still go to bed without food every night and over 10,000 die of hunger every day.
Every
third hungry person in the world is an Indian and every third Indian goes to bed
without food. The number of hungry people in India is always more than the official
estimate of people living below the poverty line.” He
said that while around 37% of rural households were below the poverty line in
1993-94, 80% of households suffered from undernutrition. Data
on the food consumption and calorie intake clearly prove that chronic hunger still
persists on a mass scale in India. He said that the campaign will initiate a debate
not for the sake of a debate, but for facilitating enabling legislation and public
action to banish hunger. Dr
Susn George said: “The entire effort to introduce genetically modified (GM) crops
in agriculture is driven by the greed of the multinational companies to reap more
profits rather than to feed the hungry. The
problems associated with GM crops are not limited only to its debilitating impact
on human health and environment, but with a calibrated design to displace small
farmers and gain ultimate corporate control over agriculture.” Posted
at The
Financial Express dated February 21, 2005 -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Aiming
at one meal a day for every Indian By
Our Staff Reporter NEW
DELHI, FEB. 12. With the objective to fight the two "most serious challenges"
facing our country today -- poverty and hunger -- the Centre for Environment and
Food Security recently launched a freedom from hunger campaign here in the Capital.
As part of the campaign, the Centre will hold lectures, workshops, seminars, conferences
and public hearings all over India. Apart from research and advocacy for a hunger-free
India, the Centre will also bring out a series of "Citizens' Reports", especially
from "hunger hot-spots" of the country. This campaign will conclude on 15th August
2007 to coincide with the platinum jubilee celebrations of our Independence. To
mark the launch of this campaign, Magsaysay awardee and social activist, Aruna
Roy delivered the first "Freedom from Hunger" lecture in the Capital this past
Thursday. Organised in collaboration with India International Centre, the lecture
was the first in a series of bi-monthly lectures that have been planned. According
to director of the Centre, Parshuram Ray, all over the world, more than 24,000
people die of hunger everyday, nearly 78 per cent of them are women and children.
He also added that more than 1.4 billion people in the world face chronic hunger
and over 13 million die of hunger every year. Explaining the main aims and objectives
of Freedom from Hunger Campaign, Mr. Ray said, "The Freedom from Hunger Campaign
is a humble initiative to create awareness and understanding and to kick off a
national debate on the political economy of hunger. Debate not for the sake of
debate but to facilitate enabling legislation and public action to banish the
scourge of hunger from our motherland. This campaign is a tiny effort to bring
back the issue of hunger and poverty in mainstream intellectual discourse, at
the centre of public policy and on the conscience radar of the nation. Such hunger
is essentially a political condition, the key to banish hunger is to change the
politics of hunger. And to change the politics of hunger, we need to bring the
issue of hunger in mainstream electoral politics. Freedom from Hunger Campaign
is a very modest attempt to politicise hunger in India." He added that the aim
of the campaign was to ensure that every Indian should get at least one meal in
a day. Posted
at The
Hindu dated February 13, 2005 - - - - - -
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ‘Ecology
shouldn’t suffer for Economic Progress’ Experts
have pointed out the urgent need to preserve ecological balance in coastal areas
with a view to prevent tsunami-like disasters in future. They
said the economic or industrial development should not be at the cost of ecology
which is necessary to sustain life and livelihood of the millions. The deliberate
destruction of mangroves in the coastal areas for facilitating the growth of industrial
aquaculture is one of the prime reasons for failing to mitigate the tsunami disaster,
they said. Initiating the discussion on the issue - ‘can economic growth and ecological
security go together,’ director of Centre for Environment and Food Security (CEFS)
Parshuram Ray said, “More than 65% of the country’s population still depend on
natural resources for their livelihood. Any economic process that undermines the
health of natural resources is bound to affect the livelihood of the dependent
people. Therefore, economic growth at the cost of destruction of ecological wealth
would be suicidal.” Mr Ray said that mainstream economists unfortunately measures
the wealth of a country by gross national product (GNP). GNP is the total value
of all goods and services produced in the country. It does not take into account
the “natural capital,” whose erosion can cause colossal loss, he said. Citing
an example he said that forest is regarded as having no value by the mainstream
economists until the trees are felled and sold out, he said. Noted economist Dr
Ashok Desai said that the issue of farmers’ suicide is blown out of proportion
by activists and media. “There is nothing unusual about farmers’ suicide.” Posted
at The Financial Express dated
January 12, 2005 |