Skip to main content

NREGA implementation: 'Unsatisfactory' social audit across States, Govt of India told

Counterview Desk 

The civil rights group, NREGA Sangharsh Morcha, advocating proper implementation of India’s premier rural jobs guarantee scheme, has regretted that standards of social audits for implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), which should be based on Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) directions, “are largely unsatisfactory”.
In a letter to Union rural development minister Giriraj Singh, with a copy to Nagendra Nath Sinha, secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, the Morcha said, Most Social Audit Units (SAUs) have stopped regular audits since April 2021.

Text:

NREGA Sangharsh Morcha (NSM) is a people’s campaign for right to work with dignity and social security, a collective of rural people’s organisations, women’s organisations and workers’ unions. The campaign has deep grass-roots presence and work on NREGA on a day to day basis. We observe the programme closely across different States and advocate for improved and transparent implementation of the same.
We write to you to convey our observations on the status of social audits and put forward recommendations for executing Social Audits with letter and spirit, across the nation.
The norms based on which social audits of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) must take place are clearly determined in the auditing standards of social audit, as laid down by the Comptroller General of India. However, we have observed that the standards of audits and action taken on audit findings are largely unsatisfactory across states.
Our observations are as follows:
  1. Social Audit Units (SAUs) have been set up in all states of the country. However, The SAUs, in most states, are not independent, They do not have sufficient staff and have not been allocated adequate funds. In some states (e.g: Uttar Pradesh), the officials from the Programme Implementing Agencies (PIAs) are responsible for oversight and payments of local SAU cadres.
  2. The quality of audits vary widely across the states. Also, appropriate and timely follow up action has not been taken and uploaded on the website. It has been often observed that issues are being closed by PIA without any independent oversight.
  3. Most SAUs have stopped regular audits, since April 2021. A few SAUs have taken up concurrent audits but on a smaller scale. However, the findings of these concurrent audits are placed in the public domain as the Management Information System (MIS) has not been extended to accommodate the entry of concurrent audit data.
  4. All social audit reports are not hosted in the public domain. In FY 2019-20, while audits have been done in 51 percent of GPs, the audit findings have been disclosed in the public domain only for 37 per cent of the audits. Also, Action Taken Reports (ATRs) of the department that enlist the action taken on social audit findings are not disclosed in the public domain.
  5. Several media outlets have indicated heavy misappropriation in NREGA funds as reported by different SAUs in the last four years. However, our observations are that the volume of misappropriation is much more than what is reported in audits since audits are not regularly held, in most states each gram panchayat goes through the process of audit once in three years and in some states audits do not happen at all.
The NREGA Sangharsh Morcha therefore demands:
  • The Central Government should ensure provision of adequate funds to SAUs for social audits to take place as per calendar.
  • The Central government and State governments should ensure that all directors and staff of SAUs shall be appointed as per the auditing standards of social audit to ensure independence of the unit. The programme implementing agency should have absolutely no interference in the operations of the SAUs.
  • The Ministry should intervene to ensure that SAUs upload the social audit calendars in the public domain and social audits are executed as per the same. There is a need for independent oversight in this regard.
  • The Ministry should ensure that social audit reports are uploaded in the public domain within seven days of completion of social audit public hearing. The findings of the concurrent audits should also get uploaded on the website and the Centre should make mandatory provisions on the official website for the same.
  • The Central government should instruct and ensure that the State governments fill in ATRs on social audit findings within a period of 30 days, and the same is disclosed in the public domain. The Centre should have a stringent follow-up mechanism to ensure on-time action on irregularities.
We expect a quick action from your end on these issues to ensure that independent social audits are regularized in all states, findings are put in public domain and timely actions are ensured against each irregularity.

Comments

TRENDING

History, culture and literature of Fatehpur, UP, from where Maulana Hasrat Mohani hailed

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*  Maulana Hasrat Mohani was a member of the Constituent Assembly and an extremely important leader of our freedom movement. Born in Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh, Hasrat Mohani's relationship with nearby district of Fatehpur is interesting and not explored much by biographers and historians. Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri has written a book on Maulana Hasrat Mohani and Fatehpur. The book is in Urdu.  He has just come out with another important book, 'Hindi kee Pratham Rachna: Chandayan' authored by Mulla Daud Dalmai.' During my recent visit to Fatehpur town, I had an opportunity to meet Dr Mohammad Ismail Azad Fatehpuri and recorded a conversation with him on issues of history, culture and literature of Fatehpur. Sharing this conversation here with you. Kindly click this link. --- *Human rights defender. Facebook https://www.facebook.com/vbrawat , X @freetohumanity, Skype @vbrawat

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

Uttarakhand tunnel disaster: 'Question mark' on rescue plan, appraisal, construction

By Bhim Singh Rawat*  As many as 40 workers were trapped inside Barkot-Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi after a portion of the 4.5 km long, supposedly completed portion of the tunnel, collapsed early morning on Sunday, Nov 12, 2023. The incident has once again raised several questions over negligence in planning, appraisal and construction, absence of emergency rescue plan, violations of labour laws and environmental norms resulting in this avoidable accident.

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.

Civil society groups unite to oppose Rajasthan anti-conversion Bill, urge Governor to withhold assent

By A Representative   A coalition of civil society organisations, rights groups and faith-based associations has strongly condemned the passage of the “Rajasthan Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion Bill, 2025” in the State Assembly on September 9, calling it draconian, unconstitutional and a direct attack on the fundamental rights of minorities. The statement was released at a press conference held at Vinoba Gyan Mandir, Jaipur, where representatives of more than a dozen organisations declared that they would actively lobby against the bill and urged the Governor not to grant assent, but instead refer it to the President of India under Article 200 of the Constitution.

India's health workers have no legal right for their protection, regrets NGO network

Counterview Desk In a letter to Union labour and employment minister Santosh Gangwar, the civil rights group Occupational and Environmental Health Network of India (OEHNI), writing against the backdrop of strike by Bhabha hospital heath care workers, has insisted that they should be given “clear legal right for their protection”.

Job opportunities decreasing, wages remain low: Delhi construction workers' plight

By Bharat Dogra*   It was about 32 years back that a hut colony in posh Prashant Vihar area of Delhi was demolished. It was after a great struggle that the people evicted from here could get alternative plots that were not too far away from their earlier colony. Nirmana, an organization of construction workers, played an important role in helping the evicted people to get this alternative land. At that time it was a big relief to get this alternative land, even though the plots given to them were very small ones of 10X8 feet size. The people worked hard to construct new houses, often constructing two floors so that the family could be accommodated in the small plots. However a recent visit revealed that people are rather disheartened now by a number of adverse factors. They have not been given the proper allotment papers yet. There is still no sewer system here. They have to use public toilets constructed some distance away which can sometimes be quite messy. There is still no...

Supreme Court: Outsourcing jobs in public institutions cannot be used as a tool for exploitation

By Raj Kumar Sinha*  Ahead of the Assembly elections in Bihar, the issue of contract workers has heated up. A few days ago in Patna, around 9,000 land survey contract workers arrived at the BJP office demanding their jobs be made permanent and for the payment of outstanding salaries. These contract workers, who are involved in land measurement, were then subjected to a police baton charge. The protest had been going on for a month at the Gardanibagh strike site in Patna, Bihar. According to the contract workers, they have been working in various government offices, including the Revenue and Land Reforms Department, for years but do not receive the same rights and benefits as permanent employees. Their main demands are "equal pay for equal work" and guaranteed service until the age of 60.

Ongoing hunger strike in Ladakh draws fresh attention during PM’s Arunachal visit

By A Representative   Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Arunachal Pradesh recently for two days. During his speech, a student from Keladha Adi District displayed a banner that read, “Stop the hunger strike, give Ladakh their rights,” in support of Ladakh climate activist and innovator Sonam Wangchuk. The student was later detained by the police. The incident drew attention to the ongoing hunger strike in Ladakh.