INDIA: Complete failure in the implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in Uttar Pradesh

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information from its local partner the PVCHR, a human rights organisation based in Uttar Pradesh state, regarding the complete failure of the state government of Uttar Pradesh in implementing the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) in 22 districts. It is alleged that even after one year most of the rural poor who ought to be the beneficiaries of the NREGA programme are deprived of work. The benefit of being covered by the programme is guaranteed employment for 100 days per year for which job cards are issued to those who are identified as beneficiaries of the programme. It is alleged that the job cards already issued under the programme are defective, with incomplete details.

CASE DETAILS:

In 2005, the Government of India promulgated the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) to help the poor by providing them work for a minimum of 100 days per year. By providing work in government sponsored schemes at the local level it was expected that the poor will find a source of income which would reduce poverty and starvation. When the Act was passed, it was claimed as an achievement favouring the poor and the marginalised. Having passed the Act, it was decided to implement the programme in stages across the country. The first stage of implementation was to identify the poorest districts in the country and to implement the programme in those districts. In February 2006, 22 districts of Uttar Pradesh were included under this programme.

After one year since the initiation of the NREGA programme in Uttar Pradesh, a public awareness campaign in the name of “hisab do, jawab do” (give us the actual information and answer)  was organised by a group of human rights organisations under the banner of the Right to Food Campaign, Uttar Pradesh. The campaign culminated with a public conference on 2 February 2007, held in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh to share the experiences gained from the campaign. Hundreds of poor people participated in the conference and shared their experiences regarding the implementation of the programme in their district.

In the conference the dismal situation of the implementation of the programme was exposed. Most poor people are still deprived of the job cards. It was also found that many people were provided with incomplete job cards. Some of them have no photographs on their job card and some have no signature of officers on their cards. Those, who have been lucky enough to get job cards, have failed to find. Many participants, including women exhibited their empty job cards because they could not get work under the Act even for single day. Only 5% women were able to get work.

Participants expressed their agonies and hopelessness regarding the indifferent attitude of the government officials towards their concerns. It was alleged that in spite of several attempts the government officers and the village heads failed to either issue a card to the beneficiary or to find the work for them. They blamed that the state government was not sincere in implementing the programme and has thus far failed to take an initiative to meet the objective of the NREGA.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

The NREGA is in theory a law, but in practice a programme by the central government that is intended to provide employment for the poor. The programme is intended to cater the rural poor who otherwise find it impossible to make a living and suffer from various problems including starvation. The programme guarantees employment for a specific period of time spread-out through the year so that a minimum number of working days [100 days] are ensured for the poor to fetch them an earning. However, this programme is implemented only in areas that are declared to be fit for implementation of the programme. But this requires a considered approach by the administration of the particular region, first to identify the number of people suffering from poverty and then to recommend to the government to include the region and the people concerned under the scope of the programme.

The implementation of the NREGA requires a well coordinated execution of a chalked-out plan by the state government which is supplemented by the central government by its various welfare programmes. The state governments however fail in the execution of the NREGA programme since the implementation of the programme at the state level often suffers from caste prejudices and utter lack of accountability by the officers responsible.

The implementation of the programme suffers further due to its dependency upon the local self government, often village panchayats. For example several villages in rural Uttar Pradesh are still under the control of feudal landlords. These landlords exploit the unemployed rural population by employing them in conditions worse than slavery. The state government of Uttar Pradesh like many other state governments in north India has never taken an initiative to put an end to this practice of modern day slavery. Owing to this control excreted by the landlords, many village heads who are expected to cooperate with the implementation of the NREGA at the village level, either play into the hands of the landlords, or as in several cases the landlords who are also the village head, would oppose any reform that would free his labourers from servitude.

The role of the village head is pivotal from the initial phase where basic statistical survey is gathered to the final implementation of the programme. In a state like Uttar Pradesh, where people from socially ostracized communities are not even allowed to be recognised as citizens the implementation of the NREGA was bound to fail.

A state government cannot exonerate itself from the liability of the failure in the implementation of the NREGA. The administration in Uttar Pradesh state suffer from several problems ranging from nepotism, deep-rooted corruption, lack of accountability, politicisation and criminalisation of administration to a near to complete breakdown of rule of law. The complete failure in the implementation of the NREGA is yet another example of a failed state and democracy.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write letters to the concerned authorities listed below and urge them to immediately intervene in the situation. Please write to the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh in particular so that immediate attention is brought into this matter and to those families that require urgent help.

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