Seven years after the launch of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) during which SUV riding village headmen arrived on the political scene, the Centre is now moving to end monopoly of panchayats in implementation of the rural job flagship scheme. The Centre will now ask states for alternative means to register job demands under the MGNREGA apart from Panchayats.
In a move to revamp functioning of the MGNREGA, which was rapped by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in its recent performance report, the Centre will ask states to register job demands through one lakh computer centres across the country running in panchayat premises on its portal NaregaSof. Also, the Centre is asking states to start paying compensation in the event of delay in payment of wages, which under the MGNREGA is one fourth of the wages for the first 30 days and half the wages after a month’s delay.
“As per the 2013 guidelines, we will ask states to provide an alternative mean to register job demands on the NregaSof, which can be done through service centres. This will ensure capture of job demands in the portal following which they will be addressed by the implementing agencies,” said a senior official in the ministry of rural development. The move is aimed to cut the practice of panchayats to decline registration of job demands by the people in the rural areas.
The rural job flagship scheme, which is facing a major constraint in the form of delay in payment of wages, is also being sought to be addressed, with the Centre asking states to mandatorily pay compensation to workers. Though compensation is part of the MGNREGA, none of the states have been actually paying it, added the official.
However, the Centre’s move to go for an alternative means to register the job demands under the MGNREGA is seen as an admission of the fact that the panchayati raj institutions have not improved.