From Poverty to Power Green, Oxfam 2008 - weman

FROM POVERTY TO POWERCASE STUDYtwo left-wing parties that had achieved unprecedented success,marked a watershed for the proposal. Electoral successreinforced the political arguments for action in the minds ofCongress leaders. Taken by surprise at its own victory, theparty’s leadership needed to rapidly cobble together a policyprogramme. The employment guarantee policy was not onlyready to go, but the presence of the left-wing parties would inany case have made it difficult to remove from the programme.A newly formed National Advisory Council, chaired by SoniaGandhi and including influential figures closely associated withthe NREGA, such as professor and activist Jean Drèze, activistAruna Roy, and Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, drew up a draftact based on the civil society draft from Rajasthan.By the time the National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill wassubmitted to Parliament in December 2004, however, theMinistry of Finance had introduced a number of clauses to limitthe government’s potential financial liability, sparking a row withactivists and left-wing leaders.A determined campaign, involving a 50-day march across thecountry’s poorest districts to spread awareness of the concept ofthe right to employment, sit-in protests, direct contacts withpoliticians, and public hearings – all of which won substantialmedia coverage – increased risks for politicians who openlysupported the Ministry of Finance restrictions, because theywould be seen as ‘anti-poor’.Before the bill was re-submitted to Parliament, Sonia Gandhiintervened to remove two of the Ministry of Finance’s demands:that the guarantee of employment could be terminated byadministrative decree; and that employment would be restrictedto applicants holding Below Poverty Line cards. She was alsosuccessful in ensuring that the scheme would be implementedmainly through the panchayats (elected village governments)rather than by national bureaucracies, an option preferred by theMinistry of Rural Development.At the last moment, a ‘corruption clause’ was inserted, permittingsuspension of the scheme should corruption be detected.Activists feared that this would create an incentive not to exposecorruption. In addition, despite attempts by activists to securestate minimum wages under the scheme, an amendment218