A guarantee to work?
NITIN JUGRAN BAHUGUNA
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The National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill has been passed by Parliament.
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PHOTO: MOHAMMED YOUSUF
Ensure that they have work: Will an Act of Parliament be enough?
EVEN as the controversial National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill (NREGB) has been passed by Parliament with substantial changes, a people's movement is gaining momentum across the country to press for a full-fledged Employment Guarantee Act with assured payment of minimum wages, equal participation of women and national coverage.
A movement of concerned citizens under the banner of "People's Action for Employment Guarantee" was conceived shortly after various organisations came down heavily on what they described as the Bill's basic weaknesses when it was first tabled in Parliament on December 21, 2004.
Basic prerequisites
The legislation in its present form is seen as a dilution of the promises made by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) in its Common Minimum Programme (CMP) and, in particular, the "reversibility" of the guarantee for employment has been strongly criticised.
What kind of employment guarantee is ensured if it can be switched on and off at the government's whims, asks Ms. Kiran Bhati, a Delhi-based independent researcher who has been involved in the movement from its inception.
In her opinion, the basic prerequisites for an effective Employment Guarantee Act are universal entitlement making any adult eligible to apply for work, irreversibility in that the government cannot "switch off' the guarantee, no restriction on the number of days of employment, national coverage in a time-bound manner and assured payment of minimum wages for men and women equally.
Laudable recommendations
But, the Standing Committee on the NREGB had made several laudable recommendations including those mentioned by Ms. Bhati barring the demand for unlimited guarantee or no restriction on the number of days of employment.
Also, Congress President Sonia Gandhi had stressed that the Bill should incorporate universal eligibility and it should extend to individuals and not just be restricted to one individual per household as this could be disadvantageous to joint families.
She also said that the full cost should be met by the Central Government and that Panchayati Raj Institutions should be the implementing agencies.
Welcoming Ms. Gandhi's remarks, economist Jean Dreze, however, points out that the Congress President was silent on two main demands of the people's movement — time-bound extension of the Bill to the whole country and assured payment of minimum wages.
Dreze presented initial findings of a recent survey of the National Food-For-Work Programme in six States, which points to massive corruption and irregularities at a recent "Jan Manch" (People's Platform) in the capital.
Referring to the government's notion that this programme is an "experiment" undertaken in anticipation of the Employment Guarantee Act, he argued that the credibility of this experiment depends on it being carried out in good faith, with full political backing and with the safeguards that are required for such a programme to work.
People's movements
"This we found lacking everywhere we went. The Government is making no serious effort to enforce its own guidelines," he observed.
However, he also noted that the programme was doing relatively well in Rajasthan, where the right to information movement had fostered a culture of public vigilance.
"Where it works, the programme is a lifeline for the people," Dreze said, arguing that this could be done not only in Rajasthan but also elsewhere.
The Jan Manch was the culmination of a 50-day bus yatra undertaken by members of the movement comprising about 150 organisations who travelled through 10 States of north India. The Yatris included students, women, dalit/adivasis and workers.
A series of activities including public meetings, state conventions, puppet shows and street plays were organised along the route and people came out in large numbers to complain about the lack of basic amenities such as drinking water, primary schools and basic health care.
The Jan Manch also witnessed people's testimonies from States like Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.
Shanti Lal from Dungarpur village in Rajasthan said that perpetual drought conditions in his area for eight years had forced villagers to migrate to survive. This hampers education and availability of food in the household, which is why employment guarantee is essential for Rajasthan, he urged.
Ganga Bhai from Chhatisgarh alleged that the Food-For-Work programme in Surguja district was highly politicised in terms of financial allocations and the choice of worksites.
Charging that muster rolls are systematically fudged to the extent that there are names of small children also in the muster rolls, he felt that people would continue to live in abject poverty unless an effective Employment Guarantee Act is introduced in his district.
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