Question

Discuss the significance and achievements of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). Discuss the criticisms that have been raised against the act and how far they are valid. Discuss how effective is the public distribution system (PDS) in India. Evaluate the idea of wholesale replacement of the PDS with a cash transfer system.

ANSWER IN ABOUT 2000 WORDS.

Answer 1

NREGA is the flagship program introduced by UPA Govt launched on Feb 2006 with the aim and objective of providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wages employment in financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled mannual work.

The main purpose of the program is to strengthen the rural employment and use of natural resource management through works that address causes of chronic poverty like drought, deforestation and soil erosion. Focuses on time bound employment guarantee and wage payment within 15 days.

Inclusive growth is the main purpose of NREGA it has provided particularly for the marginalized groups. The participation was 55% (SC/ST) in 2008-2009 and 53% upto July 2009.Women workforce participation has also surpassed the Satutary minimum requirements of33%

Financial Inclusion: Over 7.33 crore NREGA bank and post office accounts have been opened so far. These accounts have helped bring the rural poor under the organized banking sector. Besides the agencies for wage payment are being separated from implementing agencies through accounts-based wage payment. This will not only infuse integrity in wage payment, but also bring the most vulnerable people in rural India into formal banking and credit system. Workers under NREGA are provided medical and health cover insurance. Innovative experiments in the form of use of smart cards and biometric signatures for wage payment to NREGA workers in remote villages are being supported

Drought mitigation: NREGA has the potential to diminish the adverse impact of drought by placing purchasing power in the hands of the peoples. Advisories were issued to all 11 drought affected states to ensure that adequate funds and shelf of project have been made available to the Districts

Critisim against NREGA

Issues Related to Job Cards: To ensure that rural families likely to seek unskilled manual labour are identified & verify against reasonably reliable local data base so that nondomiciled contractor’s workers are not used on NREGA works . What is done for this problem? Job card verification is done on the spot against an existing data base and Reducing the time lag between application and issue of job cards to eliminate the possibility of rent seeking, and creating greater transparency etc. Besides ensuring that Job Cards are issued prior to employment demand and work allocation rather than being issued on work sites which could subvert the aims of NREGA

Issues related to measurement of work done: Regular measurement of work done according to a schedule of rural rates sensitive Supervision of Works by qualified technical personnel on time. Reading out muster rolls on work site during regular measurement -to prevent bogus records and payment of wages below prescribed levels

Issues related to Payments: Payment of wages through banks and post offices -to close avenues for use of contractors, short payment and corruption

PDS focuses on providing food grains to people below poverty line at the subsidized rate while cash transfer system is providing certain cash to them in buying food. As and when every system has its own benefits in case of PDS not necessary every one was getting the food and even quality was not that good, In case of cash transfer they can anything of any quantity of good quality.