Opinion: MGNREGS fails tribals

The Centre’s top-down technical solutions to make the scheme effective are, in fact, becoming a hurdle in tribal areas

By A Rajeshbabu

Hyderabad: The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) guarantees 100 days of employment in every financial year to adult members of any rural household willing to do public work-related unskilled manual work. Tribals who have received land rights under the Forest Rights Act, 2006, are eligible for additional 50 days of wage employment under the scheme.

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MGNREGS, directly or indirectly, contributes to Sustainable Development Goals, ie, SDG 1 (No Poverty), SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-Being), SDG 5 (Gender Equality) and SDG 8 (Decent World and Economic Growth). Scheduled Tribes are among the most disadvantaged socio-economic groups, and MGNREGS has great potential to uplift them.

Dismal Scenario

The current scenario of MGNREGS in tribal areas is worsening despite the introduction of new technologies and initiatives. Previously, State governments had their individual software to run the MGNREGS portal, but the central government brought all MGNREGS portals under its National Informatics Centre handle. This has turned into a curse. Many tribal villages and habitations were mapped out of the NIC portal, leaving them jobless, showing that there was no such village. However, previously, people were allotted work in the same village.

There were cases when the secure login of the technical assistants was not working despite the villages being displayed in the NIC portal. Secure login is a must for allotment of work. After grama sabha takes place, a consensus is made regarding the place and type of work to be done, and the field assistants, with the help of a technical assistant, estimate the shelf days of the work. This estimation is uploaded in the secure login and then sent to the project director for approval. It is only after receiving the approval, work gets started. The amount of work done is uploaded in the secure login for the disbursement of wages.

It is also worth pointing out that earlier, wages were not credited to the person who had inactive NPCI among the group of 10-15 members. But now, the wages are not credited to the whole group of 40-50 members, even if one person has an inactive NPCI.

At least two field assistants are required for five non-tribal areas. For tribal areas, at least one field assistant is needed for every village because, in tribal areas, the average number of habitations is considerably higher and scattered in much larger and less accessible areas. The field assistant has to reach the targeted man-days of work to receive the salary. They complete the work by choosing nearby villages with connectivity to meet the target, and this is the reason why some villages are left behind.

Low Spending

As per provisions, tribals who have received land rights under the Forest Rights Act, 2006, are guaranteed 150 man-days of work, but the reality is completely different. Since their job cards have not been updated after receiving the land rights, most of the households do not achieve 100 days of work. It was also found that grama sabhas are never conducted in the villages derailing the estimation and allocation of work. If conducted, it is conducted at the block level without involving the beneficiaries.

In 2013-14, the administrative expenses across States stood at 10.63% of the total MGNREGA spending, whereas, in tribal areas, the corresponding figure is as low as 1.88%. Such low spending makes it nearly impossible for the field staff to implement the scheme properly.

These challenges can be nullified by taking the right measures with proper government administration. For instance, in 2019, a volunteer system started in Andhra Pradesh, where a volunteer in every village is allotted 50 houses for better implementation of the State’s welfare schemes.

Corrective Steps 

As tribal areas are scattered, liaisoning the volunteers with MGNREGS would bring benefit to the people. Volunteers and headmates should take responsibility for demanding work on behalf of the people. They should add the names of those who turned 18 years to the job cards.

Work should be provided in the monsoon season as well as it is often seen that during monsoon season, people in non-tribal areas work in other agricultural fields for wages. However, tribal people form a community and work in every tribal agricultural land for free. Bringing this work under MGNREGS will be a good opportunity for tribals to achieve 150 days of work. Grama Sabhas should be conducted four times a year in every village before estimating and allocating the work.

A related problem concerns social audits. Social audits empower people regarding their rights and entitlements, which is indispensable in tribal areas. There is a need to adopt special procedures for conducting audits here. This has, again, much to do with the ecological configuration of tribal areas. If it takes four hours for a social audit team to reach a given gram panchayat, this means there is very little time left for the auditing procedures. In certain cases, the social audits are conducted from the mandal headquarters without any contact with the beneficiaries, thus losing the social component of the audit. It is also worrying that social auditors are denied official documentation.

Villages that are excluded in the NIC mapping must be included at the earliest. Inaccessible secure login leads to zero achievement, and this should be resolved. Payment of wages should not be stopped to the whole group when one person does not have an active NPCI. Feedback forms would help the higher authorities know whether the work is done in true letter and spirit.

Schedule Tribes are by far the most marginalised groups in India, and they frequently reside in incredibly isolated locations with minimal economic activity. In tribal regions, MGNREGS serves as a crucial safety blanket against hunger and poverty, especially during the lean farming season. The unique ecological, social, cultural and fiscal circumstances of tribal regions must be taken into consideration.

MGNREGS accomplishes a variety of beneficial goals, including boosting economic security, enabling rural women, invigorating gram sabhas, preserving the environment, preventing forced migration, generating valuable assets and fostering social equity. The central government is handling execution issues through top-down technical solutions, such as digitisation, e-muster rolls, Aadhaar-enabled payments and geotagging. Addressing these problems is necessary but not sufficient because the ground realities are completely different, especially in tribal areas.