People's Democracy

NREGA Implementation In FM’s Constituency

The following is the text of a letter written by Brinda Karat to P. Chidambaram, Finance minister on July 20, 2007 after visiting the villages which fall in his constituency in Tamilnadu.

I would like to share with you the information gathered from four NREGA worksites in your constituency, Sivaganga. I had recently been to the villages of Padamattur, Kollangudi, Nariyangudi and Kandaramanikam along with my colleagues from the State and the district. This was part of my Party’s nationwide campaign for implementation of the NREGA. I had also met the Collector of the district whom I found to be sympathetic and committed to the implementation of NREGA.

It is striking that on all the four worksites in the villages of Padamattur, Kollangudi, Nariyangudi and Kandaramanikam, 90 per cent of the workers were women. The overwhelming response of the women was to welcome the provision of work that has directly benefited them. Since the district is a drought prone area the number of workdays in agriculture had experienced a decline forcing them to look for work in neighbouring talukas. Now they are enabled to find work through the NREGA in places near to their residence. They were earning more on the REGA worksite than the unequal wage of around 40 to 45 rupees that they got previously for agricultural work. In fact their demand was that the availability of work should be increased from the present limit of 100 days.

Number of Workdays and related problems: On examination of the job cards I found that the average number of workdays this year is around 35 to 40 days. There are around 400 worksites in the district at present. It appears that even though the demand for work is high, work is not being offered. I was told by officials that the immediate availability of funds is a problem. Since the month of March, the level of expenditure per week is around Rs. 1.35 crore to Rs. 1.45 crore. The process of fund disbursal from district to the panchayats takes around 20 to 30 days. It is estimated that at least Rs 4.5 crore is required in the system at any given time to ensure adequate work in keeping with the demand. However there is no backup fund with the district administration for meeting the demand because of the present methods of allocations by the central government. These need to be reconsidered as they are proving to be a roadblock in the implementation of the NREGA, especially the provision of making work available within 15 days of its demand.

Non-payment of Unemployment Allowance: A related issue is that of the non-payment of unemployment allowance. This seems to be a problem in most states. In Sivaganga also, as in other parts of the country, no one had been given unemployment allowance even though they had not been given work within 15 days of the job application. In the case of Nariyangudi village the work on a tank had to be closed down because of collection of water but no alternative work had been given even a month later. Those women are entitled to unemployment allowance but had not got either the allowance or work.

Minimum Wage and Work Norms: The minimum daily wage under NREGA in Tamilnadu is Rs. 80 for a specific measurable level of work. The majority of the women at the worksites had worked on three or four worksites. Almost all of them had received between Rs. 78 to 80 per day on the first worksite in February. However on the subsequent worksites in June-July most of them had received far less than the minimum wage, in the range of Rs. 60. The payments recorded on some of the job-cards I saw in Kolangudi village were as low as Rs. 40 to 54. One reason for such under-payment could be the faulty measurement of work, but I could not verify this allegation made by some of the workers. The technical assistant (TA) who along with village level officials is responsible for the measurement of work, mentioned to me that since TAs like him had to take responsibility for worksites in ten panchayats there were delays in both measurement and therefore payment of wages. But the major issue in non-payment of minimum wages is the totally unrealistic, impossible-to-achieve work norms even though it is according to the Collector calculated for hard soil rates. I enclose the most recent work norms issued in the district on July 2. At present the soil is extremely hard because of the absence of rains. The implements used by the women are not sharp enough to break the ground. They require pick-axes which are more expensive. To soften the soil women carry buckets of water from quite a distance, pour it into the ground and wait for the soil to soften. Apart from the difficult nature of the work this further cuts into the time for digging which is the labour process measured for the wage. It is essential to further revise the work norms in the Sivaganga district. In spite of the most arduous form of labour being performed, which can be easily seen from the terribly blistered hands of most of the women on the worksite, they are being denied the minimum wage. A related issue is the added expense for sharper implements. The implements required for cutting the hard soil should be provided as part of the NREGA.

Water, Crèche and First Aid facilities: We were surprised to find that there were no water or crèche facilities at the worksites. On three of the sites we were informed that if water were to be provided then the wage of the water carrier would be cut from that of the workers. This is clearly illegal. Although there were children at the sites, there were no crèche facilities. The law stipulates that a woman should be paid a daily wage to take care of the children. We came across two cases of accidents on the worksite where compensation had still not been paid. Also, there are no first aid boxes at the worksites. When these issues were brought to the notice of the Collector he assured us that these problems would be dealt with.

In sum, the following problems need to be addressed: (i) easier availability of funds through a backup amount at the district level (ii) revision of work norms to ensure a minimum wage particularly since it is fixed on the assumption that men are doing the earth digging process when in the case of Sivaganga it is mainly women (iii) provision of implements (iv) provision of water and employment of water carrier on each site as part of waged work under NREGA (v) provision of crèche facilities and employment of a child carer under NREGA (vi) employment of more technical assistants with better service conditions.

Your intervention to find a solution to these issues is crucial. I request you to take a personal interest in the matter. Any further details could be had from the district secretary of the CPI (M) in Sivaganga, Arjunam.