By AJOY ASHIRWAD MAHAPRASHASTA
Interview with Jean Dreze, development economist.
JEAN DREZE is an Indian development economist and a former member of the National Developmental Council. He is a member of the support group of the Right to Food campaign, an informal network of organisations and individuals committed to the realisation of the right to food in India.
Dreze, also an Honorary Professor at the Delhi School of Economics, has been deeply involved in monitoring the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) across India. In an interview to Frontline, he talked about some aspects of the implementation of the Act and its social relevance.
The government has increased the allocation for the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) in Budget 2009-10 to Rs.39,100 crore. Obviously, it has identified the NREGS as one which would fetch electoral benefits for the Congress. What are your comments?
The increase is not as large as it has been made out to be (144 per cent, according to the Finance Minister) considering that actual expenditure on the NREGS in 2008-09 was around Rs.27,000 crore. Still, this increase is a positive step, not only as an opportunity to expand the scale of NREGS works but also as an acknowledgement of the achievements of the scheme. If anything, the tribute went a little overboard, with the Finance Minister describing the NREGS as a “magnificent success”. This is bound to sound a trifle heroic to anyone who is familiar with the ground realities. I see the current revival of interest in the NREGA as an opportunity to set a lot of things straight.
A few economists complain about the improper implementation of NREGA. What, in your opinion, is the way to go about it? What are the real problems of implementation?
Our main concern should not be with the complaints of “a few economists”, but with those of millions of workers. Their entitlements under the NREGA are routinely violated, whether it is the entitlement to work on demand or to minimum wages or to payment within 15 days, or to basic worksite facilities.
For instance, in recent months there have been massive delays in wage payments around the country, causing immense hardship to NREGS workers, but this is barely noticed in the corridors of power. Underlying this state of affairs is the breakdown of grievance redress systems. All the grievance redress provisions of the NREGA have been sidelined, including, for instance, the provisions for unemployment allowance, for penalties on errant officials, for compensation in the event of delayed wage payments or for framing of Grievance Redress Rules.
The Central and State governments don’t seem to be interested in making themselves accountable to the people.
Frontline for more