The implementation of the UPA flagship Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), the biggest social safety net for the aam aadmi, appears to be suffering from a strange inertia affecting the states.
Concerned over the fact that not even 50 per cent of the works taken up under the rural job plan are completed ever since its inception in 2006, the rural development ministry has shot off a missive asking the state governments to ensure strict compliance of act.
For instance, the total number of works completed in 2010-11 till February 20 were 3,82,257 against ongoing/suspended works numbering 67,24,602. These include works related to rural connectivity, flood control and water conservation.
Sources said corruption in the implementation of the scheme results in creation of non-durable assets, which are difficult to verify. Besides, indifference for the rural job plan among the local administration in many states, also accounts for it.
Among the various social sector schemes in the UPA government, MGNREGA has the largest expenditure budget of `40,000 crore in 2010-11. Since 2006, the government has spent over `74,000 crore on wages alone.
What adds to the ministry’s woes is that the parliamentary standing committee on rural development also took a serious note of the issue recently.
Faulty implementation of the scheme has political ramifications as the rural job plan reaches out to the key constituency of the UPA government, the poor, said sources.
Sources said feedback obtained from the states showed there were serious lapses in the implementation of the rural job plan as more than 50 per cent of the works permissible under MGNREGA remained uncompleted.
Accordingly, the ministry has asked the states to fix timelines for completion of works while obtaining technical and administrative sanctioning, constitute local vigilance and monitoring committee for each work and record reasons wherever it is not possible to complete works in the given time.