In order to improve transparency in its flagship Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), the rural development ministry is all set to involve eminent citizens in monitoring the job scheme.
The concept of eminent citizens monitoring MGNREGA was introduced after the government realised that independent and credible supervision was necessary to resolve the difficulties that arise while implementing the act.
Apart from grievances related to issuance of job cards and delay in wage payment, cases of deviation from the law have also been reported during periodical reviews of the act.
The ministry will hold an orientation programme for around 70 such persons who have been selected through a panel on May 17.
One district each will be allotted to these people, who will conduct a survey once a year.
Officials in the ministry said the visits of such persons to the field will provide a mechanism for a third party assessment of the ground situation. It will also be an important source of feedback for the government.
The ministry, which aims to broadbase the implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, will also rope in “business entrepreneurs with exemplary track record of discharge of corporate social responsibility (CSR)” in the panel of eminent citizens, who will be its eyes and ears on how the act is benefiting the targeted segments.
Those selected by the committee of eminent citizens include retired judges, ambassadors, chief secretaries, vice chancellors, officers of the armed forces, scientists, social activists and media persons as its members.
Sources said around 1,230 complaints regarding irregularities in the implementation of MGNREGA have so far been brought to the notice of the ministry since the scheme was first launched in 200 districts in 2006.