SOIL Report 2008 - ACCESS Development Services

Chapter Vthan ever. For the first time in many decades he had his winter crop besides the bumper monsooncrop. His vegetable garden has also ensured a year-long supply of vegetables.During January-February 2007 Singh got his abandoned well renovated under NREGA. Twentyfivepeople from the village including Singh’s own family members worked on it for three monthsearning Rs 2,000 each. The works stopped them from migrating while creating a water source forhis irrigation requirements. Due to the assured water source his winter crop has added Rs 10,000more to his earning: he now cultivates wheat, an unheard of proposition in the parched district. Andhe estimates that the kitchen garden saved him around Rs 1,000 as he stopped buying vegetablesfrom markets.Siddhi has invested heavily in digging and renovating wells under NREGA. The district has 8,000wells beingtaken up in the last two years while 4,000 have already been completed and used. Out ofthe district’s expenditure last year of Rs 65 crore under NREGA, Rs. 35 crore was spent on waterconservation, mostly in digging and renovating wells. The Act allows development and creation ofassets in private lands of SC/STs.However the district has a problem of plenty. The new wells and check dams built under NREGAneed regular maintenance. But there is hardly any money left with the panchayats to do that.2. Nagapattinam district in Tamil Nadu – NREGA a boon for farmers in tsunami-ravagedareasIn Nagapattinam district around 0.2 million hectares of agricultural land has been rendered unproductivedue to inundation by seawater. NREGA has come as a boon for the displaced farmers.According to an official of a Hyderabad-based NGO involved in tsunami relief and rehabilitation,due to the introduction of NREGA, there has been an increase in agricultural wages in the region− the daily agricultural wage has gone up from Rs 80 to Rs 100. In many villages, most familieshave work for 100 days. Using NREGA as an opportunity, the district - in a desperate fight to bringnormalcy back into agricultural professions - has taken up 1,172 works relating to desilting of tanks,ponds and channels. The district has already spent close to Rs 40 crore on these desilting works torevive the water-holding capacity of the tanks, ponds and channels.3. Muzaffarpur district, Bihar – Migration unaffected, they don’t need NREGADespite the implementation of NREGA, why do people still migrate out of Bihar’s Muzaffarpurdistrict? A study of the district’s five panchayats shows that NREGA has not been able to replacethe job demands of casual agricultural labourers.NREGA guarantees 100 days of works but that, too, is irregular. Under NREGA, the district hasinitiated several small works such as road repair or building of water harvesting structures in astaggered manner. On the other hand, most of the casual workers get around 300 to 325 days ofregular work in urban areas. Under NREGA, a worker gets Rs 115, Rs 100 and Rs 75 a day forskilled, semi-skilled and unskilled works, respectively. In private construction work in urban areas, askilled labourer gets Rs 150 a day. So, migration continues and demand for work under NREGA hasdipped. Panchayats hardly get any skilled workers for works like construction of roads and concretedams. This, in turn, forces them to take up works that only require unskilled workers.4. Hardoi district, UP – Land alienation for NREGAGokul Punia, a marginal farmer with less than one hectare of cultivable land in Padri village, Hardoidistrict is cursing the NREGA programme. Driven by the nexus of local state government officialsand contractors, Hardoi’s district authorities decided to construct only roads under NREGA — in110