January - March 2013 - National Institute of Rural Development

Wage Employment : Impact of MGNREGS in Bardhaman, West Bengal 27appointed. This post is filled with the BDO’ssanction and Pradhan’s recommendation. Thefield supervisors, a class-ten qualified person,are chosen by the Gram Sabha. For every fiftylabourers, one field supervisor is appointed.They maintain muster rolls, and coordinatebetween the office and the stakeholders. Ourfield visits in different seasons during 2010show that Gram Panchayats have effectivelycoped with the extra workload because of thescheme after these recruitments.The actual work is managed by thesupervisors. They inform the stakeholdersabout the scheduled schemes by massannouncement and distribute the job amongthem. They upgrade job cards, notify thepayment date, and provide supportingaccessories to the workers. If and whenevernecessary, they coordinate with post officesand banks for fund disbursement.However, payment through banks andpost offices is still a source of problem. Thereare three interrelated issues with paymentthrough banks and post offices. First, there is awant of banks and post offices near the villages.Second, payment delay (3 to 5 days for banks,and 7 to 10 days for post offices) is usual. Third,lack of banking habits of the beneficiaries isstill a problem. Additionally, every GP memberin our study report that banks are not interestedin opening MGNREGS account as they a) donot find it profitable to bank with MGNREGSbeneficiaries where per capita exchange isconsiderably low but b) number of recipientsare high. Understaffing in banks and postoffices is also a serious matter of concern.Infrastructure problems like lack of vault inpost offices and cash transfer problems oftencontribute to payment delay.A change currently being proposed bythe Ministry of Rural Development,Government of India could address this issueof delays. This is to pay advance wages, forwork yet to be undertaken, to those who haveapplied for work under the scheme. Theseadvance payments are to be adjusted againstwork actually done (Economic Times,December 5, 2011). It is expected that thiswould reduce problems faced by workers whoare not paid despite completion of workbecause of delays in measurement andevaluation of work undertaken. Advancepayments could also reduce pressure on GPsto speed-up the process of evaluating andcertifying work undertaken to ensure thatpayments are made quickly. However, theexperience of states which have made suchadvance payments indicates that poor recordkeepingof advance payments leads toincreased corruption in the programme.(Upamanyu, 2008). Proper record-keeping toidentify recipients of advance payments andoversight to ensure that they undertake workwhen it is allocated would be critical toensuring that such changes improve theimplementation of the programme.DiscussionAs we speak up for MGNREGS’s potentialto mitigate poverty and allied issues,Bardhaman’s MGNREGS provides goodexample supporting such contention. It caterseffectively to the needful from backwardvillages and BPL families. However, our studysupports Chathukulam and Gireesan (2006),Chakrabarti (2007), and Bhatia and Dréze(2006) that MGNREGS poses a seriouschallenge to the local self-government. Weemphasise on the institutional issues relatedto fund and data management of MGNREGS.Bardhaman seems to cope with such troublesat initial stage by using the political-partynetwork in most places irrespective of thecolour of the party. Later, creation of additionalposts accelerated the process ofimplementation. Payment through bankingsystem, however, is a persistent problem inmost places.Journal of Rural Development, Vol. 32, No. 1, January - March : 2013JRD 2 (1)