If you ask me what is the lasting connect between governors and governed in India, I would say it is the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, popularly known by its acronym MGNREGA. Of course, I owe an explanation. Because, it is the only scheme that gives the employment cover for those who are willing to work. Though it guarantees work up to 100 man days in a year, in effect the total employment per year works out to an average close to 40 man days or so. Perhaps, this is the only time the government gives money directly to the person as a dole and a guarantee against unemployment. In developed countries, there are regular schemes to take care of the financial, educational and health needs of the unemployed and the people dependent on them. That cast a huge expenditure on their exchequer.
The thinking in the government to downsize the scheme is borne out of the fact that there are considerable pilferage in the scheme. Fictitious names are created to corner the benefits. In several instances, there are mismanagement and corruption. The other reason is said to be thin coverage of the scheme, which makes the impact too shallow. Therefore, they want to concentrate the program to such identified areas where poverty is predominant and make the scheme exclusively tailored to poverty alleviation.
To me all these alibis to cut short the scope and range of the program is myopic. Admittedly, there will be pilferage and it is the duty of the government to plug the loopholes that are leading to mismanagement of funds. One way of doing it is to link the scheme with Aaadhar so that only one person from a household can take advantage of the scheme. Secondly, the government with its huge infrastructure at its command can undertake a survey for mapping the beneficiaries and in identifying the pockets where the mismanagement is taking place. Stirct punitive action should be taken against the people involved in complicity. This will send strong signals across the country.
About restricting the coverage of the scheme to limited number of blocks, say 2500 blocks or so, where poverty is crucial, I believe is against the tenets of justice, equity and fair play. That would mean only such clusters where there are higher incidence of poverty will be covered under the scheme. By import, a family living in abject poverty in an affluent area will be outside the purview of the scheme.
There is a lot of gainsay in the opinion that only rich in India are protected and the poor are thrown to the vagaries of nature. Credit from the banks and financial institutions flow only to the rich, whatever may be the incidence of default in repayment. Big infrastructure companies are granted something called bridge loans, which comes almost free. The nexus between politicians, businessmen and bureaucrats are known. The CAG has come out with documentary evidences how the rich and mighty have stashed funds meant for the entire nation.
The successive governments are showing leniency in protecting them. Political parties compete with each other in protecting them. The recent stand on black money revelation is a case in point. How the views of the UPA and NDA converge with each other, though they had diametrically opposite views earlier? How Finance Minister lashed out at the CAG and exhorted them not to become activists and confine to their responsibility as mere auditors? Paradoxically, he held a diametrically opposite view as the leader of the opposition in the upper house a few months back.
My limited point is that one cannot ignore the rights of the poor and underprivileged just because they do not have the perquisites of lobbying and the scant attention that they get from the media. MGNREGA is their legitimate right, which should not be encroached upon by anybody. Ofcourse, the pilferage can be plugged and nobody is against it.
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