Skip to main content

NREGA: Jharkhand govt "deletes" 7 lakh job cards: 39% work demand unfulfilled

By James Herenj, Taramani Sahu* 
On one hand migration is increasing in Jharkhand, on the other hand the central and state governments are constantly undermining and weakening the constitutional guarantee for employment in rural areas. February 2, 2019 is the 13th anniversary the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) was enacted in Parliament. However, the right to work has become a mockery in today’s time. On this occasion, one would like to draw attention to government’s inaction in regard to the constant subversion of the rights of the workers.
As per the Act, each rural household can demand 100 days of work, however, in the last 3 years, in Jharkhand each household has got only 40 days of work on an average. Further, the proportion of Adivasi and Dalit households in the NREGA workforce has fallen from 50 percent to 38 percent in the same period.
In the previous financial year, the work demand in Jharkhand was 71 lakh persondays and only 43 lakh persondays of work was provided. That means about 39 percent of the work demand was unfulfilled. In the last 3 years, the state government has deleted 7 lakh job cards. Many of these belonged to households that did NREGA work and were unaware that their job card was canceled.
The government had conducted the “Yojna Banao Abhiyan” with a lot of publicity in 2015-16. The workers and Gram Panchayats had chosen about 10 lakh works to implement in their panchayats. Instead of taking these into consideration, the state government has imposed schemes of their choice on the people. Along with that they have violated the NREG Act and undermined the Panchayati Raj system by forming Adivasi and Gram Vikas samitis.
The claims made by the Jharkhand state government that 99% payments were made within 15 days are completely false. In about 50 percent of the cases, the delays are not even accounted for. Further, due to issues like incorrect entry of Aadhaar and account numbers in the MIS, wrong linking of Aadhaar to bank account, work done without muster rolls, closing of works when there was lack of funds etc many workers have not been paid. In the last 4 years, 170 crore wage payments were rejected and Rs 100 crore worth of payments are still pending to workers.
Along with this workers face severe hardships when their bank accounts are frozen due to issues in e-KYC and other reasons. While the Act mandates that if there is delay in wage payments beyond 15 days, the workers must be compensated for that. However, only 5 percent of the compensation amount is paid.
The BJP government has made tall claims about about the economic development in the state and the country but has not increased the wages of the NREGA workers even by a rupee this year. In Jharkhand the NREGA wages are Rs 71 less than the minimum wages. Working at such meager wages is akin to bonded labour. Workers’ wages have been stopped several times this year due to paucity of funds. The workers constantly suffer due to administrative bottlenecks of the government.
The attitude of the Jharkhand government is clearly reflected in the fact that the State Employment Guarantee Council, of which the Chief Minister is the head, has met only once in the last 4 years. There has been no action against the officials held responsible for violating the rights of the workers as per the social audit reports. And the position of the Lokpal is vacant in 19 districts. Further, 40 percent of the posts of NREGA personnel are vacant.
There have been at least 19 deaths due to hunger in the state in the last two years. The families of these families have not got any NREGA work in the last few years, And yet, without any investigation, the Jharkhand government sent a report to the Centre, that there was no connection of these death with NREGA. Many of these families continue to be devoid of their right to work.
The lack of political commitment to NREGA workers is not limited to the ruling party. There is not much dialogue among the opposition parties about the rights of the workers too. There has been no discussion on these issues in the current assembly session. Recently, the announcement of 'NREGA Employment Campaign' was appreciated from Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM). However, no action seems to have been taken in that regard.
The state government should take immediate action to resolve the issues stated above, with political parties should reflect the rights of NREGA workers in their manifestos, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
---
* Jharkhand NREGA Watch

Comments

TRENDING

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam*  Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

Central pollution watchdog sees red in Union ministry labelling waste to energy green

By Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran*  “Destructors”, “incinerators” and “waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration” all mean the same thing – indiscriminate burning of garbage! Having a history of about one and a half centuries, WTE incinerators have seen several reboots over the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. 

First-of-its-kind? 'Eco-friendly, low cost' sewage treatment system installed in Gujarat

Counterview Desk Following the installation of the Unconventional Decentralized Multi-Stage Reactor (UDMSR) for sewage treatment, a note on what is claimed to be the  first-of-its-kind technology said, the treated sewage from this system “can be directly utilized for agricultural purposes”, even as proving to be a “saviour in the times of water crisis.”

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Indo-Bangla border: Farmers facing 'illegal obstacles' in harvesting, transporting yields

  Counterview Desk  In a representation to the chairperson, National Human Rights Commission, human rights defender Kirity Roy, who is secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), has said that Border Security Force (BSF) personnel are creating "illegal obstacles" for farmers seeking to harvest their ripened yields and transport them to the market in village Jhaukuthi of Cooch Behar district.

Wasteland, a colonial legacy, being used to 'give away' vast tracts to Ratnagiri refinery

By Fouziya Tehzeeb* William D’Souza, a 55-year old farmer from Kuthethur, Mangalore, was busy mixing cattle feed when we arrived at his doorsteps. Around 25 km from the bustling city of Mangalore, Kuthethur is a lush green village with thick vegetation. On the way to William’s house the idyllic view gets blocked by the flares and smoke arising from the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL).

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview  story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded  reaction  in the form of a  link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

CAA disregards India's inclusive plural ethos, 'betrays' ideals of freedom struggle: PUCL

Counterview Desk    "Outraged" at the move of the Central government to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA 2019) weeks before the election, the top rights group, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), has demanded that the law be repealed. 

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".

Sections of BSF, BGB personnel 'directly or indirectly' involved in cross border smuggling

By Kirity Roy*  The Border Security Force (BSF) of India and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) of Bangladesh met for 54th Director General level meeting at Dhaka, Bangladesh, on 5th to 9th March, 2024 to discuss on minimizing killings at border area, illegal intrusion, trafficking of drugs and other narcotics, smuggling of arms and ammunitions and other crimes at bordering areas. Further, the summit had an agenda to discuss on overall development in 150 yards area at both sides of the border and design an activity plan for the same.