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October 2010

National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme — A joke worth Rs.1

By Raman Jokhakar
Tarunkumar G. Singhal
Chartered Accountants
Reading Time 1 mins
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9 National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme — A
joke worth Rs.1


 

Here’s the cruel underbelly of modern India :
Villagers in Rajasthan’s Tonk district are paid `1 per day for work under the
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), and a State
Minister justifies it as consistent with the work done.

 

The political apathy and corruption that cause such
incidents are well known. But at issue are MGNREGS’ structural weaknesses which
make rooting corruption out a tough task. Why was the work not supervised for
quantity and quality ? Perhaps because, as a recent report suggests, village
leaders in the state discourage third-party supervision of MGNREGS.

Supervision is also required at higher levels — not
even the smallest amount of work justifies a wage of `1 per day. The problem is
little political will exists to undertake the high cost of monitoring
corruption. The results are conflicting responsibilities and interests for the
administration, and a cruel joke for the poor.

(Source : Quick Edit in The Mint Newspaper,
dated
30-8-2010)

[Is the cost incurred by our nation on our
non-performing MPs and MLAs and other political representatives justified ?]

 

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