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Woman Pradhan shows the way

Special Correspondent

Evolves an efficient monitoring system for National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme

JAIPUR: In a unique initiative, a young woman Pradhan of Sapotara Panchayat Samiti in Karauli district of Rajasthan has evolved an efficient monitoring system for the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) by ensuring unhindered access of the rural populace to the scheme and checking corruption in its execution.

The 25-year-old Pradhan, Shakuntala Meena, asserted her leadership ever since the NREGS began in her block and constituted a 21-member Monitoring Committee last November to assess the scheme’s progress and provide support to village panchayats. This was the first intermediate level committee, stipulated in the NREG Act, appointed in the country.

Shakuntala was helped in her efforts to extend the scheme’s benefits to the poor and disadvantaged sections by two voluntary oganisations as part of their drive for capacity building of elected representatives and strengthening the Panchayati Raj institutions. Sapotara block, inhabited mostly by the Gujjar and Meena agricultural and mine labourers, has emerged as the biggest beneficiary of the new support system.

The State representative of Participatory Research in Asia (PRIA), Anju Dwivedi, said here on Thursday that her organisation was actively engaged in Karauli district with the support of a partner group, Society for Sustainable Development (SSD), in linking the panchayat bodies with NREGS.

With inputs received from PRIA and SSD, Shakuntala exercised her power to supply application forms for NREGS to villagers and ensured their acceptance by the Panchayat Secretaries.

When she received reports that the people in Chandelipur village were being dissuaded from filing applications, she instructed the Panchayat Secretary to be present in panchayat samiti and receive applications.

As a result, 45 persons were provided employment in the village in May this year. In another village, Kanarpura, the clever tricks of bureaucrats were thwarted to give work to those submitting applications in June.

Ms. Dwivedi said the block-level Monitoring Committee had succeeded in checking corruption at several stages. In Bajna panchayat, the applications of villagers were torn following a squabble between the Sarpanch and Secretary. Besides, fake muster rolls were prepared and a machine was hired for work instead of labourers.

The NREGS guidelines specify that no machines can be brought for work and only human labour has to be used. Shakuntala followed up the matter and got the Panchayat Secretary suspended. She also appointed a six-member sub-committee of the Monitoring Committee to make an independent inquiry into the matter.

Ms. Dwivedi said Shakuntala was facing challenges on several fronts as many of her requests go unheard in the insensitive bureaucratic set-up.

She quoted Shakuntala as saying that NREGS could be implemented effectively if there were sound and active monitoring systems in place.

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