Skip to main content

Lockdown checkup: PDS improves, but MGNREGA work 'missing' in many villages

By A Representative 
The second round of the Lockdown Checkup survey, conducted by members of the Right to Food Campaign Jharkhand  has found that while the public distribution system (PDS) has improved in the state, work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is still missing in many villages.
The survey took place during the 2nd and 3rd week of May 2020, and focused on the status of essential services like ration shops,  MGNREGA, dal-bhat kendras, community kitchens, banks, etc.
Based on telephonic reports of observers from 46 blocks in 22 districts (50 blocks in 19 districts for Round 1, in the first week of April), while comparing the two rounds, the survey results show that PDS and dal-bhat kendras have improved in April and in most blocks (42 out of 46), PDS cardholders received double rations in April.
In 40 out of 46 blocks, cardholders have started getting free ration in the month of May: 10 kg per person in 35 blocks and 5 kg per person in another five blocks, the survey found, adding, however, that even though all cardholders are to receive 2 kg of free dal for April-May, it has not been distributed in 35 out of the 46 blocks.
Also, in all the remaining blocks barring one, cardholders received only 1 kg dal instead of 2 kg. Also, the problem of ‘katauti’ i.e. giving less than entitled quantity continued unabated.
The survey said, the Mukhyamantri dal-bhat kendras are now active in a larger number of blocks, compared with Round 1. But the utilisation of dal-bhat kendras remains very low, because of the lockdown. Only 16 out of 45 kendras have been publicised by the local administration. Some kendras in Ranchi are delivering food to nearby slums, with good effect. But among the surveyed blocks, only 8 out of 46 have adopted mobile food delivery.
As for 'Didi kitchens', the survey said, these are running in gram panchayats (of block observers) of 43 out of 46 surveyed blocks. In most cases, however, the kitchen is not accessible to needy people from all the villages in the gram panchayat (GP): only those who reside in nearby tolas or villages are able to reach the kitchen.
In 37 out of 46 blocks, there were long queues and overcrowding outside banks. People had to queue for hours, sometimes standing in the sun
At the same time, the survey noted, unemployment is a significant problem today in rural areas and many workers are interested in MGNREGA work. Thus, only 29 out of 46 observers reported that MGNREGA work had started in their village.
In many villages, small works like TCB (trench cum bunds) have opened which hardly create adequate work for all workers. Many migrant workers do not have job cards and many others who have job cards are unable to get work because of the complexity of the application process. The system is poorly prepared for a big expansion of MGNREGA employment. For instance, many blocks do not even have programme officer at block level.
The survey further found that in 37 out of 46 blocks, there are long queues and overcrowding outside the banks. People have to queue for hours, sometimes standing in the sun. Specially abled and older people are facing many difficulties in withdrawing money.
In 41 out of 46 blocks, Pragya Kendras or Customer Service Centres are active in the neighbourhood of the observer, but at least 13 of these centres face technical problems such as: (1) Link failure, (2) Fingerprint authentication failure, (3) Lack of money.
In some blocks, people have been asked to come again the next day to get cash even after biometric verification. In such a situation, it will also be challenging for MGNREGA workers to withdraw wages from their bank account.
“Right now it is most important to ensure food and work for everyone in rural areas. Public distribution system should be universalised in rural areas. Under the MGNREGA, large labour-intensive public works should be opened in all the village and weekly cash payments should be made”, a Right to Food Campaign Jharkhand note commented.

Comments

TRENDING

A comrade in culture and controversy: Yao Wenyuan’s revolutionary legacy

By Harsh Thakor*  This year marks two important anniversaries in Chinese revolutionary history—the 20th death anniversary of Yao Wenyuan, and the 50th anniversary of his seminal essay "On the Social Basis of the Lin Biao Anti-Party Clique". These milestones invite reflection on the man whose pen ignited the first sparks of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution and whose sharp ideological interventions left an indelible imprint on the political and cultural landscape of socialist China.

1857 War of Independence... when Hindu-Muslim separatism, hatred wasn't an issue

"The Sepoy Revolt at Meerut", Illustrated London News, 1857  By Shamsul Islam* Large sections of Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs unitedly challenged the greatest imperialist power, Britain, during India’s First War of Independence which began on May 10, 1857; the day being Sunday. This extraordinary unity, naturally, unnerved the firangees and made them realize that if their rule was to continue in India, it could happen only when Hindus and Muslims, the largest two religious communities were divided on communal lines.

N-power plant at Mithi Virdi: CRZ nod is arbitrary, without jurisdiction

By Krishnakant* A case-appeal has been filed against the order of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and others granting CRZ clearance for establishment of intake and outfall facility for proposed 6000 MWe Nuclear Power Plant at Mithi Virdi, District Bhavnagar, Gujarat by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) vide order in F 11-23 /2014-IA- III dated March 3, 2015. The case-appeal in the National Green Tribunal at Western Bench at Pune is filed by Shaktisinh Gohil, Sarpanch of Jasapara; Hajabhai Dihora of Mithi Virdi; Jagrutiben Gohil of Jasapara; Krishnakant and Rohit Prajapati activist of the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has issued a notice to the MoEF&CC, Gujarat Pollution Control Board, Gujarat Coastal Zone Management Authority, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and case is kept for hearing on August 20, 2015. Appeal No. 23 of 2015 (WZ) is filed, a...

Spirit of leadership vs bondage: Of empowered chairman of 100-acre social forestry coop

By Gagan Sethi*  This is about Khoda Sava, a young Dalit belonging to the Vankar sub-caste, who worked as a bonded labourer in a village near Vadgam in Banskantha district of North Gujarat. The year was 1982. Khoda had taken a loan of Rs 7,000 from the village sarpanch, a powerful landlord doing money-lending as his side business. Khoda, who had taken the loan for marriage, was landless. Normally, villagers would mortgage their land if they took loan from the sarpanch. But Khoda had no land. He had no option but to enter into a bondage agreement with the sarpanch in order to repay the loan. Working in bondage on the sarpanch’s field meant that he would be paid Rs 1,200 per annum, from which his loan amount with interest would be deducted. He was also obliged not to leave the sarpanch’s field and work as daily wager somewhere else. At the same time, Khoda was offered meal once a day, and his wife job as agricultural worker on a “priority basis”. That year, I was working as secretary...

Two more "aadhaar-linked" Jharkhand deaths: 17 die of starvation since Sept 2017

Kaleshwar's sons Santosh and Mantosh Counterview Desk A fact-finding team of the Right to Feed Campaign, pointing towards the death of two more persons due to starvation in Jharkhand, has said that this has happened because of the absence of aadhaar, leading to “persistent lack of food at home and unavailability of any means of earning.” It has disputed the state government claims that these deaths are due to reasons other than starvation, adding, the authorities have “done nothing” to reduce the alarming state of food insecurity in the state.

Proposed Modi yatra from Jharkhand an 'insult' of Adivasi hero Birsa Munda: JMM

Counterview Desk  The civil rights network, Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha (JMM), which claims to have 30 grassroots groups under its wings, has decided to launch Save Democracy campaign to oppose Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Vikasit Bharat Sankalp Yatra to be launched on November 15 from the village of legendary 19th century tribal independence leader Birsa Munda from Ulihatu (Khunti district).

Fate of Yamuna floodplain still hangs in "balance" despite National Green Tribunal rap on Sri Sri event

By Ashok Shrimali* While the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Thursday reportedly pulled up the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for granting permission to hold spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's World Culture Festival on the banks of Yamuna, the chief petitioners against the high-profile event Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan has declared, the “fate of the floodplain still hangs in balance.”

Ground reality: Israel would a remain Jewish state, attempt to overthrow it will be futile

By NS Venkataraman*  Now that truce has been arrived at between Israel and Hamas for a period of four days and with release of a few hostages from both sides, there is hope that truce would be further extended and the intensity of war would become significantly less. This likely “truce period” gives an opportunity for the sworn supporters and bitter opponents of Hamas as well as Israel and the observers around the world to introspect on the happenings and whether this war could have been avoided. There is prolonged debate for the last several decades as to whom the present region that has been provided to Jews after the World War II belong. View of some people is that Jews have been occupants earlier and therefore, the region should belong to Jews only. However, Christians and those belonging to Islam have also lived in this regions for long period. While Christians make no claim, the dispute is between Jews and those who claim themselves to be Palestinians. In any case...

Epic war against caste system is constitutional responsibility of elected government

Edited by well-known Gujarat Dalit rights leader Martin Macwan, the book, “Bhed-Bharat: An Account of Injustice and Atrocities on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-18)” (available in English and Gujarati*) is a selection of news articles on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-2018) published by Dalit Shakti Prakashan, Ahmedabad. Preface to the book, in which Macwan seeks to answer key questions on why the book is needed today: *** The thought of compiling a book on atrocities on Dalits and thus present an overall Indian picture had occurred to me a long time ago. Absence of such a comprehensive picture is a major reason for a weak social and political consciousness among Dalits as well as non-Dalits. But gradually the idea took a different form. I found that lay readers don’t understand numbers and don’t like to read well-researched articles. The best way to reach out to them was storytelling. As I started writing in Gujarati and sharing the idea of the book with my friends, it occurred to me that while...