Huge delays bog payment of wages under India's premier rural guarantee scheme floated by UPA, NREGS

By Our Representative
A report by a top data analysis site has revealed that, as per the latest government data, close to 66% of the all the wage payments made under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), a flagship programme of the former UPA government, were delayed in the year 2015-16.
Prepared by Rakesh Dubbudu, the report further reveals that close to 10 per cent of the wage payments were delayed for more than three months, and only 1.2 per cent of compensation has been paid against the delay.
Based on the annual performance report of the NREGS scheme for fiscal 2015-16, which was released recently by the NDA government, the report says, "Rs 35,062.93 crore was the total wage payments for the year 2015-16. Out of this amount, payment of 65.6 per cent or Rs 23,017.6 crore was delayed beyond the stipulated 15 days."
Pointing out that in as many as 14 States/union territories (UTs), more than 75 per cent of the wage payments in 2015-16 were delayed beyond the stipulated 15 days", the report shows that Meghalaya delayed topped the list with a delay in 99.2 per cent of payments, followed by Chhattisgarh (92 per cent) and 85.6 per cent in Punjab.
The report says, "More than 80 per cent of the wage payments were delayed in 10 different States/UTs", adding, "The percentage of wage payments delayed was more than the national average in 20 different states/UTs."
According to the report, "Manipur performed the best among states with only 16.9% wage payments delayed beyond the 15 day limit", adding, "Less than 50 per cent of the wage payments were delayed in only seven States/UTs."
In absolute numbers, the report says, "Out of the 38.6 crore wage payment transactions made in 2015-16, 24.1 crore transactions were delayed beyond the stipulated 15 days (around 62 per cent)."
It adds, "More than 90 per cent of the transactions were delayed in three States/UTs and more than 80 per cent were delayed in 12 states/UTs."
The report says, "More than 60 per cent of the transactions were delayed in 23 different States/UTs", with less than 20 of the transactions getting delayed in only two states -- Manipur and Andhra Pradesh.
In value terms, the report says, an amount of Rs 3,397.8 crore was "delayed" for payment of wages in 2015-16 "for more than three months -- which is 10 per cent of all the wage payments."
The report's analysis shows that the North-Eastern States suggested an interesting trend, with more than 70 per cent of the wage payments having been delayed for more than three months in Arunachal Pradesh, the highest for any State.
"Next in the list were Meghalaya, Nagaland and Assam", the report says, adding, however, "At the same time, Manipur and Mizoram reported less than 1 per cent of the wage payments delayed for more than three months."
The report says, "As per the new guidelines, the NREGS workers are entitled to receive delay compensation at the rate of 0.05 per cent of the unpaid wages per day for the entire duration of delay beyond the 16th day."
The report calculates, "A total of Rs 444.38 crore is the payable amount of compensation for a total of 821 crore delay days. Out of this amount, only Rs 9.6 Crore is approved (about 2.2 per cent) and only Rs 5.1 crore (about 1.2 per cent) is paid so far."
"Not a single rupee of delay compensation is approved in 19 States/UTs though Rs 127 crore of delay compensation is pending from those States."

Comments

Importance of Bangladesh for India amidst 'growing might' of China in South Asia

By Samara Ashrat* The basic key factor behind the geopolitical importance of Bangladesh is its geographical location. The country shares land borders with Myanmar and India. Due to its geographical position, Bangladesh is a natural link between South Asia and Southeast Asia. The country is also a vital geopolitical ally to India, in that it has the potential to facilitate greater integration between Northeast India and Mainland India. Not only that, due to its open access to the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh has become significant to both China and the US.

Unlike other revolutionaries, Hindutva icon wrote 5 mercy petitions to British masters

By Shamsul Islam* The Hindutva icon VD Savarkar of the RSS-BJP rulers of India submitted not one, two,or three but five mercy petitions to the British masters! Savarkarites argue: “There are no evidences to prove that Savarkar collaborated with the British for his release from jail. In fact, his appeal for release was a ruse. He was well aware of the political developments outside and wanted to be part of it. So he kept requesting for his release. But the British authorities did not trust him a bit” (YD Phadke, ‘A complex Hero’, "The Indian Expres"s, August 31, 2004)

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

'BBC film shows only tip of iceberg': Sanjiv Bhatt's daughter speaks at top US press club

By Our Representative The United States' premier journalists' organisation, the National Press Club (NPC), has come down heavily on Prime Minister Narendra Modi for recent "attacks on journalists in India." Speaking at the screening of an episode of the BBC documentary “India: The Modi Question,” banned in India, in the club premises, NPC President Eileen O’Reilly said, “Since Modi came to power we have watched with frustration and disappointment as his regime has suppressed the rights of its citizens to a free and independent news media."

Chinese pressure? Left stateless, Rohingya crisis result of Myanmar citizenship law

By Dr Shakuntala Bhabani* A 22-member team of Myanmar immigration officials visited Rohingya refugee camps in Cox's Bazar to verify more than 400 Rohingya refugees as part of a pilot repatriation project. Does it hold out any hope for the forcibly displaced people to return to their ancestral homes in the Rakhine state of Myanmar? Only time will tell.

China ties up with India, Bangladesh to repatriate Rohingyas; Myanmar unwilling

By Harunur Rasid* We now have a new hope, thanks to news reports that were published in the Bangladeshi dailies recently. Myanmar has suddenly taken initiatives to repatriate Rohingyas. As part of this initiative, diplomats from eight countries posted in Yangon were flown to Rakhine last week. Among them were diplomats from Bangladesh, India and China.

40,000 Odisha adolescent girls ask CM: Why is scheme to fight malnutrition on paper?

By Our Representative In unique a postcard campaign to combat malnutrition, aimed at providing dietary diversity, considered crucial during adolescence, especially among girls, signed by about 40,000 adolescent girls from over 10,000 villages, have reminded Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik that his government's Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG), which converged with Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman ( POSHAN ) 2.0 in 2021, is not being implemented in the State.

Natural farming: Hamirpur leads the way to 'huge improvement' in nutrition, livelihood

By Bharat Dogra* Santosh is a dedicated farmer who along with his wife Chunni Devi worked very hard in recent months to convert a small patch of unproductive land into a lush green, multi-layer vegetable garden. This has ensured year-round supply of organically grown vegetables to his family as well as fetched several thousand rupees in cash sales.

Over-stressed? As Naveen Patnaik turns frail, Odisha 'moves closer' to leadership crisis

By Sudhansu R Das Not a single leader in Odisha is visible in the horizon who can replace Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. He has ruled Odisha for nearly two and half decades. His father, Biju Patnaik, had built Odisha; he was a daring pilot who saved the life of Indonesia’s Prime Minister Sjahrir and President Sukarno when the Dutch army blocked their exit.

Counterview

Search This Blog