NREGA: Opportunities and Challenges - Diksha

NREGA: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGESTHE RIGHT PERSPECTIVERajasthan’s Dungarpur district like many other districts in the state adopted the District Perspective Plan prepared forthe National Food for Work programme (NFFWP), 2006-07. But the process of preparing the plan in the district iscommunity – driven thus reflects the local needs. The plan prepared by People’s Education and DevelopmentOrganisation (PEDO), an NGO, includes mapping of the resources available in the district and lists the existinginfrastructure and the needs of the people. The village level plans in the district have been derived from this plan.Majority of the works implemented on ground are in sync with the works planned in the village plan. “Thisencouraged ownership towards the assets amongst the village residents , as the process of formulating the plan wasconsultative to a large extent,” says the District collector, Neeraj K Pawan. Dungarpur’s district perspective Plan wasinstrumental in giving priority to water conservation works, says Pawan. Eighty per cent of the works implementedin the district are related to water conservation.Dungarpur’s livelihood is dependent on agriculture and majority of the works undertaken in NREGA aredirected towards addressing this need of livelihood security by building productive assets. According to the DistrictPerspective Plan, the net irrigated area in the district has increased only by 20 per cent from 122,725 hectares in 1993-94 to 123,838 hectares in 2004-05. The net cropped area increased only by a mere one per cent. Dungarpur’s DistrictPerspective Plan highlights the need to bridge this divide by increasing the cropping area from 31.38 per cent of thedistrict area to 35.88 per cent at the end of the completion of the Five Year Plan period (2005-2010). The expectedincrease in groundwater levels due to intensive water conservation works according to the District Perspective Planis estimated at an increase from 3 metres in 2005 to 2.70 metres in 2010.The Plan also highlights the associated socio -economic impacts as a result of planned soil and waterconservation works. With increased irrigated area in the district, and agriculture offering better prospects, thedistrict aims to increase household income levels from Rs 2735 per capita to Rs 3500 per capita. The Plan’s target is toreduce the out migration by 16 per cent in 2010 from 36 per cent in 2005.Source: Dungarpur’s District perspective Plan, prepared for NFFWP (2005- 2010), Government of Rajasthan.Preparing the Perspective PlanDistrict panchayat■■List all the existing employment and development orientedprogrammes in the district and other centrally and statesponsored programmes that aim at providing additionalemployment and development of infrastructure in rural areasList the funds available, employment to be generated underthem and the total under employment existing at the districtlevel after receiving the plans from the block levelBlock panchayat■■■■List to be prepared at the block level of existing and requiredinfrastructureEstimate the total resources available and the employmentthat will be generated through the resourcesEstimate the total employment to be generatedPrepare Plan after receiving village level plansVillage panchayat■■■List the existing infrastructure at the village level and identifythe missing infrastructureEstimate resources required to construct the missinginfrastructureEstimate the employment generated by creating the missinginfrastructure15