Civil Society Organisations Governance and administrative structure

ESS-49-eng 2015nov13.docx 29 CSOs are central to the organisation of Information and Education Campaigns and for the organisations of social audits in particular in States where there is no dedicated social audit structure. They are pivotal in raising awareness about the Act, its provisions and the opportunities entailed. They also support workers in claiming their rights were these have been denied. One way, in which the contribution of CSOs to the implementation of MGNREGS is recognised, is through an award by the MoRD, which annually gives awards for the best contribution to MGNREGS performance in a number of categories. One of these awards is reserved for CSOs, acknowledging the contribution they make. In sum, administration and governance of the MGNREGA shows that some of the progressive provisions, in particular in the field of citizen-centred planning, are not yet realised. A representative of the MoRD himself described the problem in the following words Our problem today is really that the planning at the grass roots is either not there or is ad hoc or is insufficiently based on ground reality which is why we are in the peculiar situation of having all our indices showing that there is acute poverty and need for employment and yet we are in a position where most States are paying no unemployment allowances and the MGNREGA Wage Bill is more or less static. So, in our view, we certainly need to do a lot of homework to ensure that the demand generation takes place. It is largely an education process, it is a capacity development process and if I might suggest, there is a huge political process involved in generating awareness about a major programme of this nature. SCRD, 2013: 66 The provisions of Recommendation No. 202 about administration and governance are again largely met in spirit, but they have serious shortcomings in implementation.

4.2. Monitoring

The MGNREG calls for the creation of multiple new monitoring and evaluation bodies at various levels. Despite the many different potential forms and levels of monitoring, the supervision over the scheme is found to be insufficient SCRD, 2013. On the national level the scheme should be monitored by the Central Employment Guarantee Council CEGC and the MoRD itself. The CEGC is given the task to set up a central evaluation and monitoring system, advise the Government of India GoI on the implementation of the Act, make recommendations for improvements, and to prepare regular reports for the GoI and the Parliament Art. 11. But neither is a central monitoring system in place in the 8 th year after the inception of the Act, nor have there been regular evaluation reports. Where the members of the council did point to malpractices – exposed through field visits – there was insufficient follow-up to their reports by the MoRD CAG, 2013: 105ff. Another form of monitoring by the central government are National Level Monitors NLMs, mostly experienced often retired government officials, academics and NGOs, that are deployed by the Ministry to monitor effective implementation of rural development programmes in a transparent manner and according to programme guidelines. Between 2005 and 2012, 1 910 visits of NLMs for the monitoring of rural development programmes have taken place. They enquired into 404 complaints of a serious nature SCRD, 2013: 51f . They investigated cases involving “job cards not provided, misappropriation of funds, engagement of contractors, forgery of muster roll, manipulation in job cards, under payment of wages, non-payment of wages, corruption and other irregularities, use of machinery, delay in payments” SCRD, 2013: 54. The centre refers these reports to the 30 India’s Mahatma Gandi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme State level for them to take appropriate action, including investigations, as per law. However, it has been found that the follow-up to the NLM reports are insufficient. Many of them are pending for months and years after the reports CAG, 2013: 106ff. Monitoring on the national level also takes place through an IT-based Monitoring and Information System MIS. Since the financial year 2010-11, all States have been ordered