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Development Alternatives

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POOREST AREAS CIVIL SOCIETY (PACS) PROGRAMME

Enabling the poor to do what they want to do

Produced as part of the Poorest Areas Civil Society (PACS) Programme in Madhya Pradesh & Chhatisgarh.

For more information, please contact: The Programme Director, PACS Programme, 111/9-Z, Kishangarh, VasantKunj, New Delhi-110070. Or call +91 +11 26890380/26134103; Fax: +91 +11 26130817; email us [email protected]; URL: www.empowerpoor.org

Madhya Pradesh & Chhatisgarh Programme Support Team Office E 4/185, Arera Colony, Bhopal-462016 (MP) India. Call us on +91 +755 2402234email: [email protected].

For Baiga tribes which walk fear-lessly for miles into dense forests ofBalaghat in search of fish, honey andrabbits for food and livelihood, theirinability to access Government schemesdesigned and earmarked for them hasonce again come to the fore with thelaunch of the National RuralEmployment Guarantee Scheme(NREGS).

The National Rural EmploymentGuarantee Scheme, which promises aguaranteed 100 days of work to ruralcommunities in some of the mostimpoverished districts of the country,should have come as a boon to theBaigas. Because even today they are

forced to migrate from Balaghat - fromAugust to November and from Januaryto March every year - to work in brickkilns and cotton fields in the adjoiningstate of Maharashtra.

Pralad Sahu, 36, of SukriPanchayat in Paraswada block ofBalaghat district says in that the last sixmonths, he has got work for only 15days. He says that for Baigas like him,this is very crucial since, as he puts itbluntly, “We need the money every day”.He says that as compared to workingwith village landlords, the landlords usu-ally pay them far more promptly thanwhat they receive under any government-aided scheme. He suggests that “Since 3

NREGA Case StudiesPACS Madhay Pradesh & Chhatisgarh

The Baiga’s Dilemma

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING: PraladSahu says he has got work for only 15 days.

NREGS is a Government scheme, weshould be paid at least once a week”.

Little wonder then that 40-year-old Hari Singh Baiga says he did notapply for work under the scheme. “Eversince I was 18, I have been going toBalarpur in Maharashtra to cut bamboofor the paper mills”, he says matter-of-factly.

Now married, Hari Singhmigrates with his wife, Parwatiya Bai,and two sons, Mangal (15) and Kamal(12), for two to three months every year,and while Mangal has long given up try-ing to study, Kamal is studying in ClassII. Hari says it takes him approximatelyRs 1200 to take the whole family toMaharashtra. There they are paid Rs 9

for every bundle of bamboo they cut,and they are able to put together almost30 to 40 bundles every day. The familyspends about Rs 2,000 on food andother provisions. “The mill providesfood, tea, sugar, rice, dal and oil and theamount is cut from the wages we earn,”he adds, which is good enough for him.

However, if it rains or there arefestivities, there is no work and some-times, if the bamboo dries up early, theylose work. The catch to the situation isthat when there is not much work avail-able in Balarpur, they are forced to waitfor their payment.

Twenty-four old ShivprasadMarawi says he does not have a job cardand did not apply for work. Marawi isvery disappointed with the system. “Forseveral years I asked for a loan to set up aprovision shop under the special schemesthat are announced for Bagias. But myeffort was in vain.” His experience withthe IAY was similar: “I should have gotRs 25,000 but was given only Rs 17,000,and even today, my house is still notcomplete”. Villagers explain that he andthe sarpanch are not able to settle theissue of the ‘No Objection Certificate’.For the father of four children, allbetween the ages of 2 to 7-years, and hiswife, Runiya, expecting their fifth child,Shivprasad is just the kind of person whowould have seen a scheme like NREGSas a boon and a lifeline to employment,wages and sustenance. But no, the has-sled youth has to migrate all the way toBhopal for periods ranging from any-thing between four to six months to earn 4


THE FRYING PAN OR THE FIRE? Hari Singh Baiga says wagespaid by landlords are more prompt than by government schemes.

a livelihood.Grameen VikasMandal (GVM)animatorJamunaexplains thatShivprasadwas not in thevillage whenthe NREGAcards werebeing made,and so he hasbeen left out.

InSundarwahi vil-

lage, 60-year-old Baiga Sukhal sits underthe shadow of a pumpkin creeper, work-

ing on his bamboo sieve. Asked aboutNREGS, he simply says that “thesarpanch got the card made and had nowtaken it to paste the photo”. But typical-ly for a man who has spent his entire livejudiciously using jungle produce to earna livelihood, he is content in the knowl-dege that the work he is doing has alwaysstood him in good stead, instead ofschemes that come and go. Says he: “Iknow people who had to take up workunder this new scheme. They told methat it was very hard work. They had towork the whole day in the sun, and thattoo nearly one and a half kilometersfrom the village.”

Apart from this, the tribals seem 5


WHAT’S ALL THE FUSS ABOUT? 60-year old Baiga Sukhal swears by his tra-ditional skills in bamboo rather than chase government schemes.

to be caught in a distorted view that theyhave seem to have unwittingly createdabout themselves: Jagantola sarpanchShiv Kumar Uikey says, “In Baihar blockseveral Baiga families were given Rs20,000 to start up piggery and goatsrearing. Many of them, by virtue of theirculture, were not able to take to businessand ended up cutting or selling the ani-mals.” He adds, there day generallybegins at 6 am and they return home by8 pm for one meal. Uikey and panchayatsecretary Bhajan Walke say that giventheir lack of understanding and the dis-sonance between what they really needand what the Government has ‘designed’for them, there is a ever-widening gulf inperceptions between the two. They pointout that the situation has come to suchthat Government officials no longer havefaith in the Baigas to give them insur-ance cover for their animals and otheractivities. He also said out of 38 Baigafamilies, 10 availed of benefits undergovernment schemes, but they were notable to utilise it.

On NREGS implementation inthe village, Uikey and Walke say that theGonds and OBCs in his village havebegun to access the scheme, but, pre-dictably, there was no response from theBaigas. Uikey says that even when theFood for Work programme was on in thedistrict, only five Baiga families camelooking for work. This, he says, despitehaving given them ample informationabout the scheme. He says: “The Baigasare very simple. If you go to meet them,they will listen to you. If you sit and eat

with them, they are extremely happy.But it is very difficult to access if theywill do what you have told or suggestedto them!” They say the main reason forthis is that the Baigas look for work on adaily basis. “They want work for the day,so that they can organise a meal in theevening.” He adds that in Godri tola(hamlet) only two Baiga families came insearch of work under the NREGA. Thepeople say ‘We want work everyday, wecannot wait for payments.’ His villagegot Rs 2-lakh for pond deepening underthe NREGA. “125 people got work for15 days at the rate of Rs 61 per day aswages.” With the little work that hascome in under the scheme this year, thepayments have been made to people as

late as 15 days to a month, which Uikeysays, is of no use to the Baigas.

Uikey, who himself has studiedtill Class X, says that this year he madethe applications for the NREGA scheme.“I want people to apply for the 100 daysof work that has been promised, but 6


SATISFACTION GUARANTEED! Dhano Bai received her jobcard without applying for it- though she had to pay for the photo!

people do not know.” He said job cardswere made on Feb 14, 2006. However,Uikey adds, the photographs came onlyin October and now he is working to getthem pasted. He is aware that even thisyear, 25 people migrated from his villageand he tried his best to convince themnot to. This task too is fraught with itsown problems. “We called a gram sabhaon October 7, but there was no quo-rum.” He says the reason why people donot come to the Gram Sabha is becauseof the inherent mistrust that all suchschemes are not meant for them. As anexample, he ads that out of 150 Gondfamilies, only 38 families have soughtwork under the NREGA. Uikey says thatthough he has often taken his problemsto the Gram Sachivalaya, he says nowa-days no work is being done in theSachivalayas.

Pralad Sahu of Sukri says thatthere is another issue. “We are not ableto put our problems in front ofGovernment officals. They see that weare poor and shoo us off. Some of themmake it a point to make us feel inferior”.

There is confusion galore at thegrassroots. Baiga Dhano bai says she gota job card even without applying. “ThePanchayat has made the cards and givethem to us.” She, however, paid Rs 25for the photograph! Dhano is upbeatabout the work site facilities, though.She affirms that water was available at hework site, and so was a doctor (who wasable to treat coughs and colds!). Also, thework site was only half a kilometeraway. However, the young widow raising

three children says: “I got the paymentonly after a month.” Her brother in-law,Surendra Kumar, says he worked for fivedays and was paid only Rs 250. He sayshis card is now with the Panchayat secre-tary, whosays that hewants to addthe photograph. Other Baigaslike BudiaBai andDraupadiSahu echothe sameproblem.While Budiasays sheworked fortwo days, she was even-tually made to sign for seven days.Draupadi says she worked for 13 daysand, till the middle of October, she hadreceived payment only for seven daysand is still waiting for the remainingmoney to tricle in.

Forty-two-year old ShambuPrasad, an OBC, says there is never anyclarity on what the Panchayat is doing.“We never get to know when an AamSabha or a Gram Sabha is going to beheld. No munadi is ever done.” He alsorues that nobody ever asks them abouttheir problems. He says everybody in thevillage filled in forms for work. Butwhen asked he was not able to say whatthe form was about. In this confusionTilak Bali Sahu gives voice to what has 7


ALL IS NOT LOST! Dhansinghsays there is no cause for despair...

been going through the minds of numer-ous fellow villagers: “We have just beenwaiting for work. I do not know who togive the application to. There are alsoissues around the ‘pay backs’ to variousdepartments... Panchayats know theyhave to give a cut to the Janpad. Thiscould be one of the reasons why thePanchayat does not want to face the peo-ple. Many panchayats feel the NREGA isa headache, especially given the fact thatalmost all the money will be going to thepublic!”

Dhansingh Shayam, panch ofWard No 6 (Photo 02325) of the Sukripanchyat in Paraswada says the panchyatis working towards ensuring 100 daysguranteed employement for the villagers.He claims that Rs. 8- lakh worth of workwas carried out in the village under theNREGS, including work on ponds,pond deepening and ‘dabra’ – dabri –personal tanks in farmers land.

Shyam adds, though, that thepond deepening work in his village alsoran into trouble because land that peopledonated for a pond could not be regis-tered. “The engineer is present only onTuesdays and Wednesdays. And we arehardly able to catch hold of him.” InBhanderi village too, the panchyat doesnot have land to dig a pond or go in forany massive public utility work. He alsoadds that when they go to encashcheques at the bank for NREGS, theconcerned bank expresses it haplessnessin encashing large denominationcheques, saying ‘bring cheques of 30,000– 40,000 only. We do not have more

money than that.’ Another issue that isworrying Shyam is that despite theCEO asking for an estimate for workthey are doing, the panchayat has notbeen able to do so because of the compli-cated process. He says that now onwards,he will try to encourage more and morepeople in his village to apply for workunder NREGS. “People should be ableto earn enough here. We would like tostop migration from our village com-pletely.”

8


How the Baiga tribe saved its for-est from the greedy forest officials is fastbecoming folklore in Chada village some80 odd kilometers from Dindori district.Senior citizens tell how the forest offi-cials had to make a hasty retreat whenthe villagers opposed cutting of trees andshowing presence of mind involved thevillage women in their protest, for thepolice cannot take action against

But the tale of struggle continueseven today with middleman taking placeof forest officials.

The drive from Dindori to Chadahas everything except roads. The asphalt-ed road exists only in bits and pieces and

by the time youare about the feelthe smooth rideits backs to therocky terrain.But if you lookout the sur-roundings takeyou to a differ-ent world withramtila sarson,a local varietyof mustard, onthe hills. Youhave entirehills covered

with the yellow crop. You feel you are onlocation of a typical Yash Chopra film ...!But that’s reel life, and this is real and sois the struggle of the people which yousee on way to Chada.

The only bus to Dindori is in themorning people and the locals rely onthe jeep or like a majority of the vil-lagers, a long walk is the only option.But they are not complaining for overthe years walking has become a habit forthe tribals.

For farmers like Shyamu and oth-ers their main worry is getting the rightprice for their produce. Though villagershave more information at hand as far asmarketing their produce is concerned,they have to sell it for pittance in 9


The Chada Story

absence of an organized marketing net-work and unity amongst farmers.“In afsar logon ne hum logan ko khoobloota. Hamari fasal ke kuch bhi damlagaye aur khoob paise kamaye. Lekin abSanstha ke logon ke karan hamen malumhai fasal ka sahi daam kya hai’’. (Thegovernment officials exploited us andmade money selling our produce. Butnow because of SHG workers we knowthe right price for our produce).

After losing their everything tothe money lenders who exploited themevery which way they can, the farmershave now become smarter. But only justfor they still have to encounter the samegreedy government officials who do notmiss any opportunity to make fastmoney. The money lenders gave loans tothe poor farmers and in return tooktwice, at times thrice, the amount ofcrop from the villagers who had no otherchoice. Almost all the villagers have losttheir precious belongings like ornaments,household goods to these people.

“In sahukar ne hamari auroton kesaare gehne, bartan le liye aur fasalbhi. In logon ke karan bahutzameen vale kisano ke paas abkuch bhi nahin bacha”, saysanother villager. (These moneylenders took ornaments, utensilsof our women and also took ourproduce. Many rich farmershave become poor because ofthese money lenders).

But things changed withthe arrival of CSO’s in the area.

The initial period for the CSO’s was notgood either as on the one hand they hadclueless and terrified villagers, and on theother were government officials whotried their best to dissuade villagers fromtaking help from these workers.

“Sarkari logon ne sanstha walon kopehle to kaam nahin karne diya aur humlogan ko kaha ki yeh acheche log nahinhain. Inko gaon mein mat ghusne do.Lekin baad main pata chala ki ye log tohamari bhalai ke liye hi kaam kar rahehain”, says Lakhia. (Initially the officialsdid not allow the SHG workers to workportraying them as bad and asked us notto allow them inside the village. But laterwe realized the workers were concernedabout us). They threatened villagers ofdire consequences if they joined handswith CSO functionaries and portrayedthe workers as Naxalities. But slowly theworkers gained confidence of the vil-lagers and told them how the forest offi-cials have been exploiting them over theyears. The villagers, after knowing thereality, took help from the workers in 10


ENDLESS WOES: Tribals narrating harassment at the hands of forestofficials.

getting their dues from the governmentand also check the exploitation of therich forest wealth.

Thanks to SHGs, farmers are nowexposed to modern methods of farming.NIWCYD functionaries, a PACS part-ner, have been diligently helping outfarmers in experimenting with newmethods like budding, preparing vermi-compost, and trying new methods ofirrigation like drip irrigation, which hasbeen completely localized.

Exposure visits have resulted infarmers trying out budding method ingrowing new varieties of mango whichwill increase their produce and and giveregular yields. The farmers use the outercovering of Lauki which is put close tothe newly planted sapling with a hole atthe base. The covering is filled withwater which continues to supply thesame to the plant for a fortnight. Thefarmers have also been using naturalmanure for their crop. Instead of usingcow dung they have now learned how tomake vermicompost which has startedshowing results.

“While some villages have turnorganic more villages are in the processof adopting this system. The farmersunderstand the benefits of such farmingwhich not only gives better produce butalso does not damage the soil”, saysNIWCYD worker Nagesh working in acluster of villages near Chada in Dindoridistrict. He recalls how the forest depart-ment officials exploited the villagers foryears and how the scene changed afterthe CSO’s arrived on the scene. The vil-

lagers have plantedsaplings of mangoand used forestwood to cover thesapling to protectit from the cattle.

Accordingto CollectorDindori ERamesh Kumar,the NIWCYDhas not done enoughwork but has the abil-ity to do more.Kumar says NIWCYD lacks convergenceof various departments and is focusedmainly on agriculture based work.Though dedicated and committed, itshould also address non-agriculturalrelated work. He says of the Rs 25-30crore income generated from the districtforest only a fraction of the amountcomes back for welfare work. “The localfarmers should find ways to approachprivate companies which require theseproducts to get a better price for theirproduce”, says Kumar. He is of the opin- 11


ENTERPRISE BEARS FRUIT:Tribal girl showing the coveringaround the new sapling.

THE NEW SAPLING WITHPROTECTIVE COVERAGAINST CATTLE &

HUMANS.

ion that programmes should be madekeeping in mind local needs, like inDindori, which has a large amount offorest produce which is in great demand.Kumar says agencies like NIWCYDshould identify forest produce and activi-ties like honey comb, which give betterreturn to farmers.

In Aloni village in Amarpur blockof Dindori district, while developmentwork has taken place under NREGA,the result would have been different ifboth officials and the people knew whatNREGA was all about. Officials initiallyhad no clue what to do with the scheme.By the time they did, they had lost pre-cious time. They approached PACSworkers in the area to come up withschemes, which they did easily becausethey enjoyed the confidence of the vil-lagers and had no difficulty in selectingworks which would help the villagers.Having lost faith in schemes, the vil-lagers agreed to work only because of theinvolvement of PACS workers in thearea.

What is interesting is how thetribal dominated villages showed keen

interest in the NREGA projects andmade the most of the opportunity. Sothere are kuccha roads and dabra dabri’s.The villagers who relish fish also took upfish ponds and are confident this yearthey will not only get good fish but goodmoney as well. Due to lack of informa-tion the officials asked to start the workfirst and get the sanction later. But thelack of interest at panchayat level camein way of implementing the NREGAscheme. The sarpanch took more interestin road construction but were not inter-ested in the irrigation and fish ponds,says Ganesh Karvale.

He recalls how when the schemewas announced the officials had no cluehow to go about it. Workers like him didall the paperwork for the officials,including preparing files and makingmaps. The officials, however, got thework approved and also helped in getting

the payments.Though a very small amount of

the total sanctioned amount was utilized,everybody has learnt something fromtheir mistakes. 12


COLOURS OF LIFE! The ramtila mustard field.

THE SCHEME BEARS FRUIT: The newly-constructed pond in thevillage.

Things have not been the samefor women of Karwahi village in Baiharblock of Balaghat district for the last fewmonths. During a review of NREGSwork in their panchayat areas, they wokeup to the fact that their payments hadbeen inordinately delayed. Many of themhad taken up work in May and even tillSeptember, there was no sign of any pay-ment forthcoming.

Says Phula Wasnik of Karwahi: “Iworked for six days in April and May,and I have still not been paid.” She waspromised Rs 58 per day. Shanti Bai saysshe worked for 11 days in April and Mayand the amount that was paid to her wasnot only not enough, it is still be be paid

to

her. As a result, her husband has had tomigrate to Gujarat in search of work. While she is very disappointed that thepanchayat is not opening more work, sheadds that even if it did happen, likemany in her village she has no idea howto file her application: who to give it to,how to fill it, who accepts it, and so on.She says: “Even if people in my villagehave filed their applications, nobody fillsin our job cards.”

In one particular case, when CSOfield workers pressurised the sarpanch forpayment to be made, women were paid– but for two working days while entrieswere made for payment made for six 13


Dharna In Balaghat

14


Some snippets...

� Shivlal Adivasi from Rewa district says that it is a shame that even after 60 years, people in the country are hav-ing to fight for their rights., there is wide-spread unemployment and illiteracy.

�In DPIP district of Rewa, benefits have been cornered by those who are close to politically well-connected peo-ple.

�In the 18 NREGS districts of the state, the Kols and the adivasis have had to migrate in search of work toneighbouring Uttar Pradesh.

�After the bifurcation of the State, only 36 per cent adivasis remain in the state. Now poverty, illiteracy andunemployment amongt Adivasis are at very high, with all this leading to food security problems; Government’swill have to face the consequences of creating such a situation – people are dying of hunger!

�Ganesh Bai from Tikamgarh has more horrifying incidents to relate: “We did not get work under NREGS andone day, when we went to demand work, we were beaten up. She also says poor people in her village do not havejob cards. Ganeshi’s experience in the six days that she worked under the NREGS have been harrowing. “Many ofus (women) had to work from 7 am to late evening and most had children with us, but no child-care facilitieswere available.”

�For Janpad member Shyma Bai, when she went looking for work, she faced caste-based abuse from people inthe panchyat. Hoping for redressal to the insults, she approached the Collector and SDM, but there was no hear-ing. “Nobody considered it important,” she says.

�Jagdeesh Yadav, who has been working in Bundlekhand and Baghalkhand regions of the State, says people weregetting only seven days of work. In Shadhol and Sidhi, the job cards were with the sarpanch or the secretary.

�In Shivpuri, work has been done without the approval of the gram sabha- government officials have plannedand supervised land and water conservation works. By linking other Union Government schemes (PMSY) to theNREGS, work has been handed out to contractors, thus depriving many poor people of work.

�In some areas where plantation work was taken up, upto 3 to 5 lakhs saplings were planted and tractors wereused;ninety-five percent Kharanja work was given to contractors.

�Sarpanch of village Amagoan in Seoni village, Shiv Kumar Barghot, points out that another stumbling block isthe verification process of work done under the NREGS. He says the SDM and other officials often hold up theprocess of verification, thus delaying payments to people indefinitely.

�Another interesting thing that people point out is that when officials come for verification to the village, theyfirst go to the sarpanch’s house. Often, the officials are offered liquor and other goodies...

�Perspective plans have not been made. Schemes do not reflect people’s aspirations.

�Despite demand there is no work; no long-term or even short-term work for women is available most of thetimes.

�People do not know about Government schemes and they need support from NGOs and CBOs.

�In Padakhedha, Betul district, plantation work was taken up NREGS work. The only problems says RekhaGujre, was the ancestral land of adivasis were taken up for this work! “The plans were made by officials, we didnot know until work started on our land!” is the usual outcry.

working days! Barwahi resident Shanti Uikerefused to accept the money,which led to a heated argumentwith the sarpanch, AnitaKhuamu’s husband, threateningvillagers and refusing to makefurther payments. Says she: “They were trying tomake me accept payment for fivedays when I had worked for six,and it is recorded in the musterroll.” When they did not listento her, Shanti gave them backthe money, took the muster rollfrom them and struck her nameout.

Phoolwati, who worked for12 days, was paid only for twodays, and is still waiting for the

balance to be paid to her. Sugni Bai of Balaghat says that

work in her village was carried out by acontractor. This is not all: several womencomplained they were given only two orthree days work but were asked to signthe roster for payment made for six days’work. Although the villagers continuedto work, no payments were cleared.

In the given scenario, the womenconcur that the panchayat secretarymade the most of the opportunity andthere were irregularities in the workingof the Panchayat. It was thus decided tohold a panchayat level meeting to discussthe problem. When panch SatwantiPander said she had not received hercheque, she decided to take people’s helpand bring a no-confidence motion 15


against the sarpanch,Anita Khuamu. SaysSatwanti: “AnitaKhuamu would notspeak to us properly. Oneday when we had gone toask her about pendingpayments under theFood-for-Work pro-gramme, she threatenedus saying “who are youto ask”!”

Field workersfrom CommunityDevelopment Centre(CDC) and Shri MahavirShiksha Evam JankalyanSamiti were regularly requested by theirSHG groups to help them. MayaRahagnadale of CDC, who facilitatedthe Sangini SHG, says that the KshetriyaMahila Jan Sangharsh Samiti, and afterseveral rounds of consultations withother SHGs, began meetings to decidehow to take up this issue. By now, about120 women had joined the issue.

Finding strength in numbers, thewomen took up their grievances firstwith the Janpad panchayat and then theZila Panachyat officials, and a no-confi-dence motion was passed against AnitaKhuamu.

While hopeful that things wouldchange, the women were struck byanother pitfall: the no-confidencemotion had failed to bring any improve-ment in the working of the panchayat asAnita Khuamu refused to hand over offi-cial documents. “This in turn delayed

payments to villagers who had taken upwork under NREGA,” says CDC’s PACSproject coordinator, Ameen Charles.

With no payments being made,villagers were forced to start looking forwork in nearby areas, and some foundwork at a site 5-km from the village.

Meanwhile, some workers foundout from the newly-appointed sarpanch,Satvanti Pande, and other office bearersthat the former sarpanch, Anita Kumre,had not cleared payment of labourerswho worked during April-May. However,the women were not keen to give up thefight so easily. They went to the SDM,who told them to go to the ZilaPanchayat CEO. Amen decided tolaunch a post-card campaign in supportof their demands. A total of 40 postcardswere sent to the CEO, but in vain. Therewas still no response, no assurance.

Often the women would have topay Rs 15 going to and fro from the vil- 16


lage to Baihar tehsil. Satwanti laughs asshe recalls: “When we went to complainto the CEO again on October 14, 2006,the officials told us that the tehsildar wassupposed to come look into the matteron October 7!”

Later, a meeting was convened onOctober 13, 2006, to decide the futurecourse of action. It was decided to stagea dharna to draw the attention of offi-cials towards their demands. A memo-randum listing their five demands andcarrying information about the October17 dharna was handed over to the CEOand other officials.

To make the dharna a success, adoor-to-door contact campaign was car-ried out in the village to mobilise the vil-lagers. After running out of options, andstill unable to have their grievancesaddress, in September the women finallywent to the Collector to complain thatthey had not received their money.

By now the women’s desperationwas beginning to gain attention- themovement was not only gaining momen-tum but also the empathy of otherwomen and their families who too werefaced with a similar situation in their vil-lages. Slowly, a group of 12 SHGs gottogether and it was decided that theywould hire a tractor and stage a dharna.One hundred and twenty-five womenfrom Jata, Menedeki, Bhanderi,Gogatola, Barwahi, Karwahi andBaigatola pooled in Rs 2,000 from theirrespective SHGs to hire the tractor.

At the dharna, the village womenraised their united voice in support of

their pending demands, seeking theintervention of administrative machinery. The women put forth a list of theirdemands, including release of Food-for-Work payment, removal of sarpanch,demand work under NREGS, and pay-ments to be made within 15 days ofwork, amongst others.

Today, the small movement hasgiven women a feeling of empowerment.Says Sushila Wasnik: “During the dhar-na, officials repeatedly pleaded that anyone (of the women) could come to theoffice as a representative and meet theminside.” By now, the women were totallyresolute.

On October 17, 2006, from 2 pmto 8 pm, the women shouted slogans forhours, before the CEO was forced toinvite the deputy sarpanch and otherpanchayat office bearers for talks. Butthe women refused to allow any talksand asked the CEO to come out and talkwith all of them. The women were awarethat there was something fishy in thedeal and they did not hesitate in target-ing the officials, saying: “You have givenmoney to the CEO, you have takenmoney, now you dance.’’

Following this, the CEO acceptedtheir memorandum and also agreed totake action on all their demands. Takingimmediate action, the CEO visited theformer sarpanch’s home with the tehsil-dar. However, she had fled from the vil-lage by then.

Later, a notice was sent to the for-mer sarpanch asking her to hand over allofficial documents to the new sarpanch 17


or face stringent action.The women were successful in

their struggle as the CEO agreed toensure that payments would be made thenext day at the Panchayat office. He alsoassured that the payment of new workwill be cleared within a fortnight.Satisfied, the women finally called off thedharna at 8.30 pm. Though it was darkwhen the agitation ended, it had given aray of light to village women.

The women are more confidentthese days after their October 17 protestand they are aware that if it was not forthe dharna, the Janpad officials wouldnot have accepted their demands.“We have made the SDM, CEO walk

out of their offices to come and meet us.Soon it will be the Collectors turn tocome and meet us.”

Nirmala Sonkar, 35, from PindKa Paar was paid for 29 days work at therate of Rs 61.37. Basanti Baisakhu, 36,and Sukwaro Jethulal, 40, also got theirpayment for 29 days. Jamuna Bodram,38, was also paid for her work for 20days.

Navjeevan Samaj Vikas Samiti’sUtkal Nanda says, now the women arevery happy, because this time roundwhen NREGS work was opened afterDiwali, the women got work and theywere paid the week after they completedtheir work.

18


Village Tanga, Tikamgarh:Driving through Madhya

Pradesh’s drought-hit Bundelkhandregion patches of green fields are nolonger just a relief to the eye. They tell astraight story. The green fields belong tofarmers who have access to a watersource, the remaining fields belong topeople who have not been able to tilltheir land for the last five years, people

who have been forced to migrate and yesin Bundelkhand, people who are feedingtheir children ‘Latar’ grass to satiate theirhunger.

Two days after Diwali this year,28-year-old Bhagwati Barar’s husbandPurmua Barar left for Gwalior in searchof work. Their one acre land yielded itslast crop in 2004. She says if he getswork for 15 days, he may be able tobring home Rs 300 - 400 because that isjust about all that he can earn. ‘He isvery weak’ she says by way of explana-tion.

For Bhagwati and her sonBrijendra,10, and Sangeeta ,8, dependingon others in the village even for food hasbecome a wayof life.Bhagwati says,“I am a mem-ber of GeetaSHG. I takehelp from otherwomen in thegroup for grainsand other essen-tials or moneyto buy thesame. When myhusband returnswith somemoney, Iwill repay


Living on Latar Grass !

THE MEASURE OF A NATION: Woman with handfulof latara grass flour in the village.

ISN’T ANYONE LISTENING?: Woman hold-ing a handful of latar grass flour before cooking itfor her children.

the amount.” Other members of hergroup Geeta Baskar and Sunita say thatthey help Bhagwati with grains when sheis faced with such a situation and addwhat Bhagwati is unable to talk about-

that oftennot wantingto seek help,she makesLatar grasschappatisand the fam-ily surviveson that.

Bhagwatisays her fam-ily is facedwith such adesperate sit-uation and if

there was work

in the village her hus-band would neverhave gone in search ofwork.

It is not onlyBhagwati’s family thatis faced with such des-peration. In the samevillage, Sheela Baskarand Rati Ram havetwo bigha land, how-ever, since there havebeen no rains theyhave not been able totill their land for thelast five to six years.Rati says, “I do nothave a well on my

land.” The couple, their three daughtersand son depend on Rati Ram who makeshis way to Gwalior for much neededcash to be able to buy food.

The large ungainly man, however,confesses that he manages to make onlyRs 50 a day and sometimes returns onlywith Rs 200 even after working for 15days because “people do not feel confi-dent to give me work, they think I willnot be able work”

If able bodied people are unableto find work, the situation of those withdisabilities and aliments is almost on thebrink of being wretched. Yamuna Barar,40, lost her vision a few years ago. Aftera fall from a roof her left hand has beenparalysed, today she depends on her 15-year-old son, Alam, to bring home somemoney, while her other children Badami, 20


NOT A HAPPY PICTURE: Family eating dinner from chappati’s made out oflatar grass flour.

ANYONE HOME? With men having migrat-ed, most homes wear a deserted look.

8, and Manish 5 beg their way aroundthe village for their daily subsistence.

Dayaram Baskar, too, has fourbighas of land but since he does not havea well, for the last six years he has notbeen able to sow crops. Dayaram hassince being going to Gwalior in search ofwork, “Sometimes I get regular spells ofwork, sometimes not. When I do I amable to earn Rs 60 to 70 a day.”

However, Dayaram has beenforced to leave the work that he hadmanaged to get and has had to returnto the village after his wife Medhawas paralysed. With no other sup-port, today Dayaram spends his daylooking after her. Recently he took aloan of Rs 10,000 from the villagePatel , he has taken Medha toGulganj and Malahera and says,“For every Rs 100 that I have takenfrom the Patel I have to pay backRs 3.

For Nand Ram andRamwati and their seven children,the drought in their village has changed

their dietary intake. Finding itdifficult to support the largefamily, Ramwati says they col-lect Latar grass, wash it, poundit and remove the kernel to mixit with wheat flour to ensurethat there is sufficient food inthe house.

Since their son Umesh wasdown with chikungunya thefamily were consuming wheatatta for the last few days. Ask12-year-old Sabita about the

latar roti and she says, “I don’t like it. Itis difficult to digest and my stomachhurts. It causes constipation too.”

Her older sister Lad Kunwar whostudies in Class VI, says that they have ameals consisting of chappatis, moongdal, rice and daliya but she says that sheprefers meals if the chappati is made ofwheat flour.

Ramwati is now worried that theirsupply of latar grass will soon be

exhausted. “With consecutive


LOOKING FOR SUCCOUR: Dayaram has come back because hiswife is paralysed; he has taken a loan to subsist.

LOCKED! Homes lie locked with entire families having migrated for work.

years of drought, the grass too is nownot easily available,” she says.

Sarpanch Champa Ray’s sonBabloo Ray says “I am aware that peopleare dying of hunger. But what can I do.After the recent NREGS work, Rs4,00,000 is pending in the janpad. Whyshould I begin any work.” He adds,“My village needs 400 cards out ofwhich 200 will be Antyodaya cards, butwho is listening.”

Champa is more compassionatewhen asked how she deals with a situa-tion where a large population in the vil-lage are faced with near starvation, shesays, “We give grains to feed people whoare in need.”

In village Bamore in the same dis-trict Firan Yadav, says many people whodid not need BPL cards some years ago,today need it. Ramswaroop Ahirwal saysthere have been no rains in the last fiveyears. Ramdevi Ahirwal says of the 200

families in the village,600 people havemigrated to Delhi,Agra, Gwalior andBhopal in search ofwork.

In villageMorhapurwa, inadjoiningChhattarpur district,Shanti says there wasno water in the villagewell by earlyNovember forcingtwo people fromevery household to

move in search of work. She adds,“In another 15 days, there will benobody left in the village,” she says.

Circumstances have brought cou-ples like Ganpat, 60, and RambiAhirwar, 55, who have 5 acres of land aspart of a joint family, to wait on thefringes of the fair price shop, hoping thatif some rations are left behind, it will beissued to them.

She says: “I do not get anythingfrom the ration shop”, which Nonibaicontests, saying she has to ensure thatpeople who have cards are also giventheir quota. Says she wearily: “It is not asif I don’t know the situation in the vil-lage; I try my best... but the circum-stances are so trying that I find it verydifficult at most times”.

22


THE SCHEME BEARS FRUIT: Yamuna lost her vision a few years ago. Today, heryoung children beg on the streets of the village to eke out a living.

Sarpanch Mintram Yadav ofHeera Nagar village in Tikamgarh dis-trict, is a man with a mission.

He began work as early asJanuary, 2006, when the one year shelfof project was planned. “this planninghelped us decided what work to take upduring the various seasons – rains, sum-mers and the winters. After the micro

planning was done, it was shared in theGram Sabha and additions were madeand the work to be take up was decideby the people. He had the schemeanoounced in the village through wallpaintings, beating of drums and postersfrom the Janpad, with assistance fromSarthak, a PACS CSO based inTikamgarh district.

He is very disappointed that eventhough his village has 650 job card hold-ers and he should have been able toleverage Rs 40 lakhs worth of works, hewas given only about Rs 4-5-lakhs totake up work. In a lighter vein he says,‘Until now you heard of people migrat-ing; very soon you will hear of sarpanchsmigrating!”

Yadav says that every morningpeople come to him in search of work.“What can I do, in the first phase ofwork, I have paid close to Rs 2 lakhs tolabour. However, payments for cementand gravel remain. I can’t clear these pay-ments, and I certainly cannot start anynew work. I have starting taking theapplications to the Janpad Panchayat andrecently they told me, if you keep takingthe applications, you will have to providework (compensation)”. A worried Yadavsays the situation is such that “I fear oneday I will have to sell my property”. 23


Soon The Sarpanch’s Will AlsoHave To Migrate!

UNEASY LIES THE HEAD...: Mintram Yadav, Sarpanchof Heera Nagar, is a much troubled man.

He adds wearily: “There are onlya few months left - November to March- and how will I be able to generate theremaining of the 100 days work for peo-ple, there is no question of my panchay-at getting the remaining funds”, ques-tioning, “Where am I expected to adjustand juggle all this?”

Over the last few months, he hasbeen strongly advocating forGovernment to route money directly tothe panchyats. Till August, 2006, he wasable to generate 125 days of work for5,280 people, of whom 1,900 werewomen and 3, 380 were men. “On anaverage, 20 to 25 women were gettingwork”

His panchayat got job cards byMarch and Yadav said he registered andsigned the same and gave it back to theapplicants. He admits that some people

are yet to get the card. “Since the BPL survey was the basis forjob cards, 60-odd people who have jobcards are people with Government jobsor are influential people who do notneed work.”

The names of children who aretwo-year-old and seventy-years-old areon the job card list also. Whenever therewere more than five children in theworksite, a woman was employed to lookafter the children and she was paid Rs61. Since work has topped and we arenow not able to provide work, we arenot able to check migration, becausepeople need regular work.

Yadav also points out that peoplethink that it is better to chase Rs 100that is irregular, rather then wait for Rs61, which is rotated among villagers witheach family getting (?) how much work.“Wheat today costs Rs 12 a , what will 24


MANY HEADS ARE BETTER THAN ONE! Mintram Yadav confers with fellow villagerson the action plan to-be.

people do with Rs 61 especially if thefamilies are large.”

The last lot of work was done inAugust, and since September andOctober, there has been no work, forcingpeople to leave the villages. The situationhas further been precipitated by thefourth consecutive drought that the dis-trict is faced with.

Says Manoj Choube of Sarthak:“It is the planning for the crucial periodthat needs to be looked in the microplanning: what is the desperation thatpeople are facing”.

Given the situation in the village,Yadav tried to ensure that all people inthe village got work.

Thirty-two-year old Raju Charar,a Scheduled Caste, said when he got toknow about the scheme he applied forwork and he and his wife got six days’worth of work and wages - both got Rs61 each. He, however, pointed out thathe had the capacity to dig more khantisbut was restricted to three a day. Duringthe summer, people worked between 4am to 8 am and after 5 pm. He also sug-gested that people working would begiven grain at work.

Kalu Prajapat, applied for 14 daysof work. He has been taking his daugh-ter-in-law and three children to Delhi orGurgoan to work as construction labour-ers. “If we find work, it is regular for aonly few weeks. I will have to go back tosearch for work”.

And while Rambharose Dryath,22, says it was very hard work under theNREGA, Bagirathi asks “What will I do

with Rs 61?”. Ghajshan Dasrajak howev-er, says “We want work, for any work isbetter than no work”.

25


26


The Maharashtra EGS Experience

Mohan Hirabai Hiralal Convener, Vrikshamitra,Chandrapur/Gadchiroli

An experience sharing with 60 PoorestAreas Civil Society (PACS) programmepartners of Madhya Pradesh andChhattisgarh

“The Employment Guarantee

Scheme (EGS) has been on inMaharashtra from 1975, became an Actin 1978 and was implemented only aftera long drawn struggle in 1979. When it was launched there wasimmense optimism among people.

However, it was a task to createawareness among people that this was abasic right, because the right to employ-ment is merely an extension of the rightto live.

Thus, despite it seeming that theEGS would help people, for us it wasactually a fight for a right because therewas no work for people working in theunorganised sector.

The significance of the scheme isthat it is not to be seen as relief work, itis right by law. Thus, when the NREGAwas implemented there was a lot ofenthusiasm, which is good, because inessence this is no longer relief work andthe right to employment is now a law.This is a wonderful opportunity for theunorganised sector.

While I share the Maharashtraexperience here, I want to do so withoutcreating disappointment among civilsociety in Madhya Pradesh andChhattisgarh. We should learn fromMaharashtra’s experience so that theseStates can move ahead. If the UnionGovernment had taken into considera-tion the Maharashtra experience onEGS, other States would not have beenlosing precious time by making samemistakes in the implementation of thescheme.

Maharashtra Government hadmade provision of a EGS fund whichcan be used only for the EGS by collect-ing professional and some other taxes .To this, the Maharashtra Governmentadded matching grants. The process wasgiven support by all political parties inthe State. Today, the State has more thanRs 9,000 crore in balance for the EGS,but claims the money is not being spentbecause there is a low demand for work.

Mohan BhaiTaking Charge

27


Apart from this, since the Governmentwas providing work in 15 days' time,there was no question of paying unem-ployment allowance. Thus, with all sys-tems in place, the MaharashtraGovernment has been generating a verypositive picture which is not true.Another thing that was not going downvery well with many of us was, when youare giving guarantee for work, thereshould not be provision for unemploy-ment allowance. This is a very WesternCapitalist concept of “Dole” that therewill be phases of unemployment.

Unfortunately, people are failingto understand that the NREGA is theonly rights-based scheme, which will beable to remove poverty. At present peopleare more attracted to the NREGA'sunemployment allowance, instead ofdemanding work as right.

The reality is that even todaythere is mass rural unemployment inMaharashtra which leads to poverty andmass displacement of people. Whichmeans, even if there is a law it is notbeing used. So the question that is raisedwhy?

Our experience says, that theintricacies of legal provisions have beenthe biggest obstacle for this scheme.Nobody wants to go to court becausethey are aware of lengthy legal proce-dures. People are overwhelmed by theseries of forms that have to be filled up,keeping track of receipts. For people inthe unorganised it is a difficult situation.Also, the Maharashtra Governmentissued an oral order saying that receipts

should not be issued. If people who weredemanding work sought a receipt, theywere threatened that they would be givenwork far from their villages. To confusepeople, they were asked if they wantedwork or wanted compensation. By doingso they were being denied their right,because if they opted for the unemploy-ment allowance, they would get lesswork also and lot of harrashment.

This led to the pertinent issuethat if the poorest person was to benefitfrom the scheme, then their capacity tounderstand legalese would have to beincreased. This task can be taken up onlyby civil society, because the Governmentwill not/ does not want to do it. Thus,the challenge ahead of us was can civilsocieties take up this task of strengthen-ing capacities of poor people to under-stand the procedures and demand theirrights?

This led to exploring the possibili-ty of using the Right to Information toempower civil society to work with peo-ple to make them take the benefits tothis scheme. With this rose questions, ifcivil society organisations (CSOs) werenot empowered, how could their capaci-ties be built? It is fact that even today,people look to CSOs and Governmentfor their existence. Then there is thequestion of disseminating the informa-tion so that people could use that infor-mation.. CSOs will have to work withthe people to disseminate informationbecause of the years of conditioningamong people that they are capable ofdoing only manual labour

28

Thus, there was an urgent need to con-vert information to knowledge for peo-ple. People had to be told which formsthey had to fill, that they should takereceipts with sign, date and stamp ofofficials, fill up relevant sections aboutwhen they wanted work etc.

In Wadasa tehasil of Gadchirolidistrict of Maharashtra it took us a yearto empower people through an educa-tional process named as “We Find OurWays Our-self ” which leads the unor-ganized workers towards “organizationthrough education” to take the advan-tages of employment guarantee schemeas right.

In 1981 in villages - Kurud,Visora and Shankarpur of districtGadchirihi 1,000 –1500 labourers hadgone to submit an application demand-ing work to the patwari. The patwariinstructed them that if he took eachapplication, one by one, it would taketoo much time, so why didn’t the peoplecollect all the applications and handthem over to him.

However, at the next level, theSDO refused to accept the applicationssaying they were not submitted accord-ing to the rules – that each person had tosubmit only one application. This wasonly a move to systemically diffuse peo-ple’s rights.

The issue was taken up to theNagpur High Court by their tradeunion-“Bandhakam Va Lakud KamgarSanghatana”. The challenge faced wasgetting a good lawyer who would takeup the work without taking money.

Legal activist from Nagpur advocateSubodh ghting Dharmadhikari took upthe case and fighting from 1981 at nocost.

In what can only be termed atwist in the tale, when the High Courtdeclared that the SDO`s decision wasincorrect, the court also returned the caseto the same SDO.

The SDO took up the issue andtried to make people see reason as towhy they were fighting for Rs 50? Meanwhile, in the 23 years that this casehas dragged, of the seven labourers whohad registered a case, one had alreadydied and six were given notice.

By now, many of the people whowere associated with the movementreplied that they were now fighting notfor the money but for the rights of theirchildren. Annoyed that people were notwilling to listen to him and take hisorders, the SDO told these people toproduce their receipts. Stunned, thelabourers told him that the receipts werewith the court and he should take itfrom there. The SDO let things lie, andafter a while when there was pressure onthe SDO to respond on the progress ofthe case, he simply said the labourers hadbeen given sufficient time and they hadnot submitted their receipts as proof fornot getting employment within fifteendays as per law so he was rejecting theclaim.

The people again go to the HighCourt. Court admitted the case which isrunning. How many years it will take toget justice , don’t know. This was the


29


story of experiences of the old EGS inMaharshtra.

Now let us see the recent one afterNREGP in 2006 . On February 2, 2006when the NREGS was launched, inMaharashtra the NREGS has beenmerged with the EGS in selected 12 dis-tricts giving new name MREGS. During this period we visited villages, wefound that the Gram Panchayat wasusing this opportunity to collect arrearsof house tax. People were being told ifyou paid your arrears you would be reg-istered under MREGS and get a job cardotherwise not. A question was raised.

How influential rich people arenot asked pay up their taxes and unem-ployed people who were in need of workwere asked to pay their taxes for the jobcard!

It was also brought to our noticethat if the poor person finally managedto file an application for a job, he wasasked to leave the space for the date.Filling this date in the form of applica-tion for the demand of work is very nec-essary to count the period. In short peo-ple were just being tricked.A NGO working in the area educate theGram Panchayat and the poor unem-ployed workers and fill the dates in theform.

So coming to the situation inMadhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh,CSOs have a very crucial role to playhere because the Government cannotcover the scope of the scheme. They willhave to help the people to convert infor-mation into knowledge, work with the

people, and be able to answer their ques-tions.

To ensure that the poorest personcan take the benefit of the scheme therehas to be a sustained effort to increasethe capacity of people to understand theimportance of legal procedures. This isvital because, once again I stress, this isno longer relief work – it is a right work.

Only if there is a demand in thevillages, then in the block, then in thedistrict will the State Government takeup the need. This has to be done withthe help of political leaders and in thecurrent Indian scenario, civil societyorganisations will have to play a veryimportant role mainly because the onlyrepresentative Government cannot do iton its own without a active participationof a unit of a real Govt. as “VillageCommunity”in the process.

Only if these issues are taken upthere will be a feedback from the grass-roots to the policymakers and back. Thisis the gap that CSOs will have to fill-converting information into knowledgefor people in Madhya Pradesh andChhattisgarh. The procedure for theCSOs is very clear. They should beequipped with the instruments of educa-tional process like “We Find Our WaysOur-self ” to change information toknowledge and use it effectively withconfidence. They will have to changetheir roles, use tools of knowledge andalong with increased capacities be able toanswer people’s questions.

This is a programme in which weare participating and the situation needs

30


to change for people. The CSO interven-tion will have to be a continuous processof learning from experience – from thevillage, to the cluster, to the block, to thedistrict, and the State and back, becauseknowledge is power.

This process, is a capacity build-ing exercise for all stakeholders and allsections of society should join. CSOs,media and intelligentsia should cometogether once a month to share theirexperiences and learnings and thus con-tribute to a continuous capacity buildingof all stakeholders.

A forum has to emerge which willbe able to question government. Citizenswill have to be empowered to question.After all there is a power in asking theirrepresentative Govt. as a right as citizen.And the very obvious question-“why areyou not giving work as a right?” will beraised.

The representative Governmentshave their own weaknesses and CSOswill have to step forward. All the work will have to backed withparticipatory studies and action researchgroups.

During our struggle inMaharashtra we learnt that people haveequal capacity to think and continue theknowledge process themselves and after acertain level they are not depended.If we look back into the country’s histo-ry, JP Naryana had appealed for a limit-ed representation in Parliamentarydemocracy. From the theoretical stand,Mahatma Gandhi and Vinobha Bhavewere for people’s consensus. While most

of the situations are still utopia- there isa possibility that people can take theredecisions in village community levelmeetings with consensus.

For Madhya Pradesh andChhattisgarh- water and forest manage-ment are major issues. There have to bestructures of village community belowthe Gram Panchayat, at the hamlet level.This is necessary because the GramPanchayat is not sufficient to bring inthe benefits.

I end by saying the EGS inMaharashtra has benefited the develop-ment of villages, and more speciallywomen and has brought down caste dif-ferences. It has brought relief to peopleespecially the down trodden, but peopleare yet to get their rights. Relief was notthe objective of scheme, it was toempower people towards their rights anderadicate poverty. This is yet to happen.We must accept this challenge as a civilsociety

”.

31


Village: Goplingchua

District: RajnandgaonPredominantly tribal villagewith 95% people are tribal.Comes under PESA village

Total households: 70

Work carried out underCGREGA: Road develop-ment between villagesKalkasa and Kaudikasa.

Phiratram Kunjam,Chhaganlal Sinha, Joharsingh Kunjam,Rohitram Sahu and Korbahraram Sinha,all residents of village Goplingchua indistrict Rajnandgaon in the state ofChhatisgarh were fed up with the lies.They knew that people were being takenfor a ride when they were told that theywould be paid official rates for manuallabour, but were in fact, never paid so.They knew that people were shown get-ting work and receiving payment - forwork they had never even done in theirlives. All in all, lies and more lies.

Villagers began to talk amongstthemselves and realised the extent offoul play by officials engaged in provid-

ing employment under NREGA in their

Kunjam Goes To The Police!Finds Disparities in CGREGS

RELENTLESS WATCH: Phitaram Kunjam tookrecourse to law and set a precedent in the villageagainst fraud in NREGA implementation.

UNITY OF ACTION: Kunjam indiscussion with village fellow-men.

32


district. Phiratramsays that the junior engineer had oncetaken their log books for checking andupon return, there were entries of workcarried out under the road developmentproject for 14 days. In fact, it was alsoentred into the book that those who haddone labour on the road constructionproject had actually been paid the gov-ernment rate of Rs.706 per person.

" We had never expected anyfoulplay by the engineer. However just a

casual look at one job card revealed themischief made in the book. Then Itook the lead in checking all the jobcards that were taken from us by theengineer (allegedly for checking), andwe detected what the extent of thefraud that had been carried out onus by misusing these job cards," headds. This infuriated the villagers. Theywent to the Sarpanch to get thematter checked. Upon verificationby the village head, the com-plaint was found to be true.

"We then decided to takeup the matter at the GramSabha. The meeting wasattended by a large number ofvillagers, and the Sarpanchand panchayat secretariespleaded that they had noknowledge as to what theengineer had done with thecards. And then we decidedto take up the matter withthe administration,"

Korbahraram Sinha, anothervillager says.

The villagers, along with theSarpanch, Puranlal Juresia, then went tothe police station and lodged a case forfraud and forgery. As per police records,cases under section 409/420/467/468and 471 of IPC were lodged against theJunior Engineer (Mr. Kulhara) on Sept07, 2006. The assistant sub-inspector ofpolice at Kaudikasa, Gajanand Sahu, saidinitial investigations indicate forgery inthe documents by the officials con-

33


THE DOCUMENT THAT SHOOK THE VILLAGE: Copy ofcomplaint submitted to police against erring NREGA officials.

34


cerned. Looking atthis the police islooking into allthe aspects to pre-pare a air-tightcase against theculprits”.

The docu-ments have beensent to theforensic labora-tory for verifica-tion of hand-

writing andother clues. Theerring officials

were called to the police station and theirversion of the story recorded, but Sahusays that the documents say anotherstory altogether. “It is only a matter oftime before we issue and arrest warrantagainst the officials. We want to be surein our investigation, that is why we arebeing absolutely thorough and movingcarefully”, he adds.

According to Phiratram, they hada pretty good idea about the concept ofRojgar Guaranttee scheme, before theNREGA actually come into being,thanks to the stream of inputs given byJagriti Seva Sansthan (JSS). " We reallyappreciated the efforts of K.P. Sinha (ofJSS) and his team in providing us infor-mation about the Rojgar Guarantteescheme and other nitty-grities, like appli-cation writing for work, how to selectwork and whom to approach, etc.Thishelped us in ensuring complete job cardpreparation for all people above 18-years-

of-age and approaching the panchayatfor opening works soon after the schemewas operational in the state," PhiratramKunjam said.

And who suggested them to go tothe police station? "Our Sarpanch is anEngineering graduate and we are educat-ed. Besides, we knew the processes to befollowed in the scheme. All this helpedus in verifying the various work beingcarried out under the scheme, and alsoensure our participation in these,"Phiratram, the senior but most activeperson of the village, with a wistfulgleam in his eyes.

TAKING A STAND! Gajanand Sahu says thepolice has a virtual air-tight case against theaccused.

35


Village:Babarti, some30 kilometersfrom districtheadquar-ters, Kanker.

Population: 4500, Tribal dominated vil-lage with 600-odd households.

District: Kanker

CSO: Parivartan Samajsevi Sansthan

Issue: NREGA work

Main profession: Agriculture

Education: Education facilities are avail-able; some are graduate-level educated.

This is the village where peopleactually went to the district collector to

Making Opinions Heard!Women Take Up Cudgels in CGREGS

36


change the existing work structure to suittheir capability.

It so happened that the openingof road development work co-incidedwith the CGREGA coming into effect.As people applied for - and were allotedwork - all work was automatically andvery conveniently described as workgiven under the (NREGA) scheme.

The villagers had an idea aboutapplying for work under the CGREGAscheme, which they did. However, theyalso had no problems in getting theirnames registered for the road develop-ment work either, automatically includedunder the NREGA scheme. Everyonefrom the village who applied for workgot work.

When we visited the village andspoke randomly to about 20-25 persons,we realised that all those who hadapplied for work had indeed receivedwork, and also had been paid as per thenorm (see inset photo on page 35).

However, the issue arose whenthose who were allocated digging work(khantis) were not able to finish theirdaily quota of work because they foundit very tiring: only two persons wereallowed to work on a single khanti,instead of the normal four they wereused to. This was why they were repeat-edly pulled up for lagging behind theirquota of work everyday - the 'two personGodi'system. As per prevalent labour sys-tem in these tribal areas, earth work isusually carried out under the Godi sys-tem, in which one male and one femaleare assigned work of digging, collecting

and dumping the soil, especially whendigging for road construction or wells.Upon completion of that particularwork, they are paid their dues according-ly.

In this village, the women protest-ed against the two person Godi system.According to them, they are not physi-cally powerful enough to carry the soil tothe road while male members were dig-ging the land. Keeping this in view, theydemanded that another male/female beincluded in each Godi so that he/shecould compliment the effort of thewomen carrying the soil to the road.

37


Both the vil-lageSarpanchand thesub-engi-neer in-charge ofthe roadcon-

structionwork were

approached, but both of themdismissed the demand as being too out-rageous and outof the purview of thescheme, and thus rejected it.

Says Subhia Bai: "Ours was a gen-uine demand as women find it tough tocarry soil to where the road is beingmade. Keeping this in view, we decidedto demand a third person in a Godi."Subhia Bai has been working on the roaddevelopment work for some three weeks.Others, like Ashwati, Janki and SudhaYadav also echo her sentiments.

However, theadamant attitude ofthe local officialsin-charge of thework spurred thevillagers to move tothe collectorate.

One finemorning, a largeposse of peoplefrom the village,riding on whatevermode of travelavailable to them,reached the districtcollectorate and

demanded to meet the collector. After alot of heckling, they managed to get anaudience. They explained their point ofview to the collector and asked for hisintervention in seeing their demandthrough.

Following their representation, thecollector asked the sub-engineer to com-plete the work as per the demands of thepeople, with a minor difference thatinstead of four persons - as has been tra-ditionally done- only three would beallowed to work in a Godi.

And who gave them the idea toapproach the collector ? According to Sakun, who has studied till High School,it was the Sarpanch and sub-engineerthemselves!

As Uttara Kuldeep and Kamla Baisay, everyone agrees that a lot has beenachieved by the villagers by musteringthe courage to speak to the district col-lector.

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Consider this...

� Heera Khageger has 24 days entered in his NREGS job card says - he got work only for three days.

� Bhagwan Das has 72 days - says he got work only for three ...

� Sukha Khuswaha has 48 days - says he got work for only 7 ...

� Babulal Khuswah has 72 days - says he got work only for four...

� Puntu Adivasi has 24 days - says he got work for only six...

� Ram Charan Khuswaha has 72 days - says he got work only for nine....

� Raju Khangare has 36 days - says he got work only for five ...

� Guby Khangare has 48 days - sayshe got work only for seven ...

� Janaki Khuswah has 60 days - sayshe got work only for four ...

� Ramkuwar has 24 days - she says her husband went for work for five days and she went for a day.

� Rajkumar Khangri has 12 days - he says he got work only for two days

Just 11 people you might say, buta small and fair representation of dozens

“Today I Feel Cheated!No Money In The Panchayat

39


like them in thevillage ofGopalpurabhatain the drought-hit district ofTikamgarh inMadhyaPradesh.

They all have thesame things in common: while their jobcards under the National RuralEmployment Guarantee Scheme(NREGS) show them having done 24 to72 days of manual labour, they all con-test the entries as wrong.

Guby Adivasi of the village sayswhen he heard about the scheme, “I was

very excited that I would be gettingwork at home, and I kept waiting forwork to begin.” Work did begin, andwith raised expectations, Guby did notmigrate to Delhi in search of work.

In return, he says, he got work forseven days, which was barely sufficientfor him to manage his affairs, leavinghim in a bind. But what has distressednot only Guby but a whole lot of peoplein his village is that Guby’s NREGS jobcard shows an entry of 48 days work.“Today I feel cheated,” he says.

When the issue is raised with peo-ple in the village, there is divided opin-ion about who got how much work,they however are unanimous that thejob cards are kept with the sarpanch.

Whenever people inquire abouttheir cards, they are told that they arebeing updated in the janpad office. Sarpanch Purashuram Khuswaha, whostays in the same Gopalpurakhas, deniesallegations being made by the people,saying that the job cards were with theJanpad so they could be updated, andinsists that the amount that is marked onthe job is the correct number of daysthat people have worked.

To the people’s complaints thatwhen they approach sarpanch, he saysthere is no money in the panchayat andthat is why he cannot give work,Khuswaha accepts the allegation, saying“I have not been able to offer any worksince August 15, 2006, because there isno money in the Janpad.”

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The desperation in people’s livesin the Bundelkhand region of MadhyaPradesh is beginning to manifest itself indifferent ways.

While wall paintings acrossChhattarpur and Tikamgarh districtsscreech out the launch of the NationalRural Employment Guarantee Scheme(NREGS), extreme anxiety in thesedrought-hit districts hits you not onlyfrom the poorest households, but nowfrom families that have traditionally beenaffluent and have been able to supportmarginalized farmers and labour.

In vil-lageBamohiAbada thesame dis-trict, peo-ple’s dis-satisfac-tion ispalpable.After aseries ofattemptsto getworkunder

the NREGS people in this village areparticularly unhappy with the sarpanch.

Raja Yadav, Yasoda Yadav, RamlaliYadav, Manoj K Rajak Suresh K NamdeoSheela Devi Yadav, are among a largenumber of people who say that despiterequesting work they received noresponse from the panchayat and theywere either abused or told to returnanother day. When this continued for along time, with the help of a local CSOParhit, people filed their applications inthe Janpad and marked a copy toCollector.

Following Parhit’s awareness cam-paign on the NREGS in July, all these

“Today I Feel Cheated!No Money In The Panchayat

CLUTCHING AT STRAWS: Village women of village BhamoriAbda who have not got any loans.

41


people had expected some work to cometheir way. Raja Yadav, remembers get-ting work only on November 6 and 7.Pointing out to her parched land Rajasays, “There is no drinking water in thevillage, and left with nowhere to go, 90per cent of the villagers have left insearch of work.”

Even today, people in the villageare still waiting for work. “The sarpanchhas been giving work only to people whoare close to him,” says Manoj K Rajak,leading to a debate and squabbleamongst villagers.

In an extremely feudal regionParhit’s animator Anita Namdeo saysthat people in the villages do not dare totalk to the landlords, thus even if theyare forced to desperation there is noquestion of demanding something fromthe Thakurs. Since the sarpanch is a

Thakur “Nobody has the courage to goand face the sarpanch.”

Amidst the utter chaos that thebabble on NREGS raises amongst thepeople we spoke to, tribal women likeDavasi, Kashi Bai, Dasrath, Bhagwantihave bewilderment writ large on theirfaces, but they still manage to raise theirvoice to demand their job cards. Whenasked why they do not have job cards,they say, “The poor are left out.’ Anitaexplains, “There are at least 15 poorfamilies in the village who desperatelyneed to be enlisted.” VillagerSukanydoya says that atleast 50 morecards are needed.

When the women are asked ifthey know what benefits the card willgive them, there is a resounding “NO”.

In the same district, in villageTanga, sarpanch Champa Ray’s sonBabloo Ray says his panchayat was given

HOPE TURNS TO DUST: Women looking at landthat has turned parched because of the drought.

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workworth Rs 17-lakhs under the NREGS

to build two wells, stop dams, and two

cement-concrete roads. “I was ableto provide work to 150 people at atime.”

Elaborating on the people’swait for work and the ensuing alle-gations and counter allegations, hesays after the first round to workunder the NREGS, Rs 4,00,000 ispending in the janpad and he toohas been waiting for two monthsfor budgets to come from theJanpad.

Apparently caught in a verytight spot, Babloo says, “I wantanybody who wants to come andwork in this village to come and doso. It is not necessary that the workis routed through the panchayat.” He then says his panchayat hadgiven a proposal for a Rs 25-lakhstop dam under the NREGS andtill date, he has not heard from theengineers. “They do not give

importance to proposals fromthe sarpanchs,” says Babloo,hinting possibly to the realitythat to get the engineers clearproposals is not without tra-vails- and possibly, cuts. Infact, some people allege thatwork under the NREGS hasnot been cleared because theengineers are demanding acut.

Babloo also points out thathis panchayat has a ceiling onthe quantum of work they

can take up - upto Rs 4.99- lakhs only.He says he has 900 job cards in the vil-

SHOULDER TO SHOULDER! Paan Bai (centre, ingreen sari), and below, with women from her village.

43


lage, but points out that like theAntodaya cards, many have been madein the name many well do families and ,he insists, attendance is being taken onthe muster roll and on the day the pay-ment is made.

A sad reality that is affecting theprogramme is people’s indifference andsuspicion. Mahila Samiti’s field workerRam Rati in Morhapurwa says, “Peopledo not believe that a woman will be paidfull rates just for feeding and lookingafter other people’s children.”

In this village, there is confusionabout the work that has come to the vil-lage.While Nonibai, who is a member ofAsha SHG, says that she supervised workdigging khantis (for roads) and workedfor five days at Rs 100 a day, another res-ident, Ajoda Prasad Ahirwal, says he hasno knowledge about any NREGS workbeing undertaken in his village!

Ten kilometers away fromChhattarpur in her village Morhapurwa,Nonibai says while she worked for fivedays under the NREGS, many people inthe village have not sought work underscheme mainly because they are able toearn up to Rs 80 if they go to the city.“That work is more regular and paysmore,” says Raja Ram Ahirwal. In villageBrijpura of Chhattarpur district, PaanBai Ahirwar, who belongs to the IndraSHG, says that the sarpanch gave the vil-lagers job cards in July, but without anyphotos. She says when work on the vil-lage road began in the village, she got 13days work at the rate of Rs 50 and waspaid 15 days later. She says she did not

have to apply for the work. However, she points out that

although she is illiterate, she knows thatwhile the muster roll has Rs 60 againsther name, she was paid only Rs 50.

Another villager, Afsar says, “Thesarpanch and secretary, MahadevRichariya, are not sure how to carry outthis new scheme. First, they kept all thejob cards with themselves. Now theyhave given them back it to people”.

People point out that BhoomandiMishra, the husband of womansarpanch, Kishori Bai Mishra, looks afterall the panchayat related work.

Paan Bai says she got all the infor-mation from Mahila Samiti field worker,Usha Tamkar during the NREGS weekcampaign which carried out from July 3to July 9, 2006, by all teh PACS partnersworking in NREGA distrcits of the twostates of Madhya pradesh & Chhtisgarh.The campaign was part of the endeavourto create awareness to help the poorest ofthe poor access the scheme by thePoorest Areas Civil Society (PACS) pro-gramme across all the NREGS districtsthat it is operational in the six states.

Phula Bai says she and her hus-band, Ramlal Ahirwal, worked for amonth on the village road. While he waspaid Rs 60, she was paid Rs 50. Did shesign on any document after the day’swork and when she was paid: “No. Oneday, the sarpanch’s brother sent for usand paid us off,” she explains. Benni BaiAhirwar, too, agrees that no entry ismade on their job cards when they arepaid.

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MohanpuraIf villagers of Mohanpura under

Mamon Gram Panchayat in Tikamgarhdistrict no longer trust the NREGS, theblame lies on the Janpad Panchayatwhich has failed to give jobs to the vil-lagers.

All the 50 families in this tribalvillage are depend on labour jobs. Theworkers interested in getting work hadsubmitted 50 proposals in July. They alsosubmitted a proposal for CC road to theJanpad Panchayat secretary on July 27.But they were not given any work nei-ther a receipt of the applications.

The situation of the job cardholders is no different. Since there wasno work in the Gram Panchayat theywere asked to work in LakhoraPanchayat to build a stop dam. Theyworked for 20 days but entry for 132days was made in the job cards. Similarlythere were irregularities in the paymentwhich is to be done through Panchayataccounts.

According to Sarpanch GoribaiChadar the Janpad Panchayat does notsanction projects citing lack of funds.Though the tribals wanted to work theydid not get any. The villagers due todrought have been searching for work.The administration has reportedly given

instructions not to accept any applica-tion for work.

According to Panch Bhagirath andMindiya earlier they used to get workelsewhere but not anymore as the work-ers from the local Panchayat are beinggiven work. Mamon Gram Sabha panchMunna Ahirwar says no work is availableand this was a big challenge before thegovernment.

Maadhumar, GopalpuraTikamgarh

Commissions are never out offashion in our country. But for the SelfHelp Groups in Tikamgarh JanpadPanchayat, it was a first when they hadshell out money to get their dues. What’smore they were given only a part of thesum and even today they are runningaround to get their payment in contrastto another SHG which has been giventhe funds for the next financial year also!

The Tikamgarh Janpad Panchayatallegedly collected commission between10 to 15 per cent from the SHG’s to givethem work and clearing first installmentof funds.

Take, for instance, the aforestationwork in 5 hectare given to Dashrath SelfHelp Group in Gopalpura GramPanchayat. Even before giving the job

Caselets From The FieldIs Anyone Listening?

45


Tikamgarh Janpad Panchayat took Rs3,000 and sanctioned the Rs 4.10 lakhproject. However, only Rs 49,000 wassanctioned as first installment. What’smore Janpad took Rs 5,000 to withdrawthis first installment. Even the Patwaritook Rs 1,500 to mark the area selectedfor the job.

But even after making payment ofRs 9,500 the SHG has been workingunder pressure. Not all SHG’s arecomplaining though. Like MaaGayatri Self Help Group which hasbeen sanctioned Rs 2 lakh for planta-tion along the road. That the funds areto be utilized till the next financialyear is another story and even one yearis not complete. Of the 103 groups,35 have been formed recently for thisjob only.

A majority of the groups weregiven Rs 50,000 initially. The groupstook loan hoping to get the next install-ment of funds. But when the funds werenot sanctioned they took loans to makepayment to the workers as a result thefinancial position of the SHG’s has fur-ther weakened. Some of the SHG work-ers have gone underground because ofthe loan.

This shows how the money isbeing distributed under the NREGS.Even the trees planted were dying a slowdeath for want of water as there are nofunds to pay the workers to water thesaplings. The story of irregularities doesnot end here as in the job card a workerhas been shown working at two places,on a single day.

Hazurinagar, TikamgarhAlmost all the Gram Panchayat in

Tikamgarh block are not getting theirfunds on time. Almost half of the fundsis yet to be received. It’s because of thisreason most of the work is incompleteand the workers are not getting work asthere is no budget.

According to Janpad secretariesloans have been taken to make paymentto workers while payment for materialwas not yet cleared. Lack of funds hasaffected work on Hazurinagar, Mammonstop dam. Though there is shortage ofwater gates have not been installed atstop dams due to shortage of funds.With nothing to stop the water flowwhatever little water has been collectedtoo will flow away.

TikamgarhUnder NREGS, there is a provi-

sion to form vigilance committees at theGram Panchayat level to keep a check onvarious works being carried out under

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the scheme. But Panchayats have formedthis committee just for formality’s sake –the villagers have no idea who the mem-bers are of the committee and what theirrole is. Not only this, even members arenot aware they are members of such acommittee! None of the Panchayats haveasked for work completion certificatesnor do panchayat representatives haveaccess to the muster roll of work done bythe Gram Sabha.

This actually beats the whole pur-pose of the NREGS, which lays empha-sis on villagers taking a collective deci-sion on taking up works in a village on apriority basis.

The scheme also gives them thepower to keep a check on the quality ofthe works, on the expenses and strength-en local resources to enable permanentemployment to local villagers. ButJanpad Panchayats are deciding whatjobs the panchayat will take up andaccordingly, funds are distributed.

The Janpad panchayat also has asay in accepting applications for job.This shows that the provisions ofNREGS are not being followed.

Village Khargaon Village: Khargaon, some 80-kilometersfrom district headquarter, Kanker.

Tehsil/Block: Keshkal

District: Kanker

CSO: Parivartan (Ekta Parishad)

Population: Approximately 2000; voters:1500; households: 200 +.

Population composition: Tribal

Main livelihood: Agriculture, daily manuallabour and minor forest produce collection.

School: Middle level school in the village;for higher studies, students go to the nearbyHigh School, some 12-kilometers away.

As the Chhattisgarh RojgarEmployment Guarantee Scheme(CGREGS) did not allow any workunder the scheme to start between June15-Oct 15, 2006, people of this villagecould not find enough time after thescheme came into effect to apply forwork.

However, given the fact that jobcards were ready by then, all the job-work done by these people under variousgovernment schemes was counted aswork allotted under CGREGA. This wasthe reason why job cards of most peoplecarried a mention of seven-days’ work inplantation activities.

According to Ramesh Markam,they worked for teak/Koha plantationwork for seven-days, and were paid atthe rate of Rs.58 a day. However, headded, only four days’ payment has sofar been made. To this, the Sarpanch,Chedilal Markam, resident of Amadih, anearby village, and a highly qualifiedperson who had completed his MA inPolitical Science, says that the rest of thepayment will be released “soon”.

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Lachhuram of the same villagecomplained that half the people are yetto get their job cards and thus may face aproblem in getting work soon after theirseasonal agriculture-related activities areover.

On enquiry, Chedial said theprocess was stopped due to the mon-soons and as and when works under thescheme will open again from Oct 15, jobcards for the rest will be completed.

Meanwhile, the people of the vil-lage have made up their mind on whatworks they will carry out when theCGREGA will become operational again(on October 15).

According to Budhram andMayaram, it was decided during the vil-lage meeting itself to create a demand forwork on development of connectingroads from Khargaon to other nearby vil-lages, as well as for an Anganwadi build-ing and a school building, so that higherclasses can also begin in the school.

When informed that the schemepromotes earth and manual work, thevillagers said they have decided to take acollective decision at the Gram Sabhaand then ask the Sarpanch to get neces-sary funding for construction material,and only then start work on the schoolbuilding.

The Sarpanch has assured that hewill take necessary action in this regard.

Village Dhora BhattaVillage: Dhora Bhatta

Tehsil/ Block: Keshkal, Dist: Kanker

Population: 41


Livelihood: agriculture, daily labor andcollection of minor forest produce.

Job cards prepared for 15 people so far.

According to the villagers, neitherdo they have any information aboutCGREGS nor has anyone informedthem about the scheme. No work hasbeen carried out so far, nor has any entrybeen made in their job cards.

However, the villagers have decid-ed to attend the Gram Sabha this timeand ask the Sarpanch to open worksunder the scheme.

Village: Baijanpuri Village: Baijanpuri, some 100 Kilometersfrom district headquarters, Kanker.

Tehsil/ Block: Keshkal

District: Kanker


Like other villagers in the area,job cards for half the population havebeen completed, whereas the rest are yetto be made. According to the large num-ber of residents we spoke to, includingDaimati, Faguni, Devati, Brindabai,Ramdayal, Kansiram, Tiharuram, Shivlal,Gandarai, Soni and Ram, SarpanchPhulobai is not doing enough for their

48


development. They allege that not a single work

under CGREGS has been opened so far,even though people have repeatedlyasked her to take the initiative.According to them, the village had neverhad a successful Gram Sabha so far andthus, they have not been able to zero inon the works they would demand forunder the Rojgar Guarantee scheme.Besides, it was the poor showing of theSarpanch and the Panchayat secretarythat half the people are yet to get theirjob cards.

Meanwhile, the villagers have nowresolved to take up the issue themselvesand take the initiative in getting jobcards as well as jobs under the schemesoon after completing their agriculture-related work on their lands.

Sarpanch Phulodevi was not avail-able for comment.

Village BahritolaVillage: Bahritola, (PACS village; comesunder PESA)

District: Rajnandgaon

The village with about 160 habi-tations and 750-odd population wasamongst the few villages in the districtwhich had effectively used NREGA forthe benefit of the village. Coming underthe PACS programme area, the villagerswere well aware about the scheme evenbefore the actual Act came into force!

According to Kaushalya Bai,Kaveri Bai, Kunti Bai, Devnath, Devki,Phool Kumar and Kedar Nath (a Panch)they had applied to the block for workbut never specified it. The opening ofroad concreting work in the villageabsorbed all those who had applied forwork, and entries were made in their jobcards that were specially prepared forNREGA work.

However, the villagers have nocomplaint. They are now getting readyto apply for work soon after the agricul-ture season is over. And what are theworks they would be seeking? Accordingto Nath, the villagers will now demandwork to deepen the village pond as wellas for construction of a new road.Besides, the villagers have also plannedto develop a new cricket field in thecoming days.

The sarpanch, Iswariram Sonwani(telephone: 07747-276497) was notavailable for comment.

Village Metapar-GhordaVillage: Metapar-Ghorda, underGoplingchua Panchayat District: Rajnandgaon (PACS village;comes under PESA]Total habitation: 100 plus; over 60 percentpeople belong to the Halva tribe. Sarpanch: Rusauram BhuriaSecretary: Hemraj Sarva

According to Bhagat Ram Bhurre,Chaman Singh Bhurre and ManiramBhurre all residents of this predomi-nantly tribal village, they got work under

49


NREGA for pond deepening in villageGhorda. They admitted that though theywere aware about the scheme, they hadnever applied for any work.

However, the opening of ponddeepening in Ghorda offered work to allthose who went there. There were norestrictions. And on completion it wasnoted in their job cards. “We have got28 days’ work in the project as the workwas completed by that time”, saysChaman Singh Bhurre. Did they get theright payment ? All of them say they did.

The villagers also admitted thatthere was no rush for work at that timesince every one was engaged on theirown lands for the seasonal agriculturalwork.

The villagers have so far notchalked out any plan for the type ofwork they want next under the NREGA.They are, however, thinking of apply forroad development and watershed workunder the scheme once the crops aresafely in.

Neither the Sarpanch nor the sec-retary were present to give their com-ment.

Village PiparkharVillage: Piparkhar, Panchayat: Piparkhar District: Rajnandgaon (PACS village ;comes under PESA)Sarpanch: Nar SinghPanch: Dukaluram

Sidar and Gond tribal-dominatedvillage with about 160 habitations and700-odd voters.

According to Dukaluram (apanch), the villagers had applied forwork but not under NREGA. However,when work for Samarbandha Road wasopened, villagers got work and it wasincluded in the NREGA job cards. Alarge number of villagers like ChandraKanwar, Mahavati, Parvati, Sukhia,Phuleshwar, Santosh and others admittedgetting work at the road developmentsite.

They also admitted that they haveheard of the NREGA but have so far notgone into the details of the scheme. Infact, farm-related activities during therainy season and the ChhattisgarhGovernment’s policy on non-implemen-tation pf the NREGA scheme betweenJune15-Oct 15 have also played a crucialrole in not allowing them access thescheme.

The villagers are now planning toapply for another road developmentwork, pond deepening and sports fieldwork under the NREGA once they com-plete their farm activities. The villagershave also admitted that they were paid inaccordance with NREGA provisions.

EXPERIENCES OF NONPACS DISTRICTS in

CHHATISGARH

CASE: 1District: KabirdhamBlocks: Bodla – 14 Panchayats & Pandaria– 4 Panchayats

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Declaration of Scheme: 5th February, 2006Work Started: 5th May, 2006Type of Work: Road Construction, Ponddigging & Pond rennovationWork Implemented by: Panchayat

The Gramodaya Kendra,Kavardha, says that the communities ofboth blocks face the following problems:

1. There are irregularities in wagepayments. Till date, the Panchayat hasnot made the payment.

2. Malpractices:

Ø Less Payment: In KukrapaniPanchayat ,Rs. 58/- per day is paidagainst Rs. 58.83 mentioned in jobcards.

Ø False signatures in job cards:There are false signatures made bythe panchayat in village Raali, and thewage amount has been siphoned off bythe panchayat.

Ø No T.A. and extra amount: It isclearly mentioned in the Act that ifthe concerned department can not pro-vide work within a 5-km. radius, theapplicant is entitled to be paid T.A. andextra amount for workers who are work-ing outside the 5-km radius. It is seen inKukrapani Panchayat that the distance ofthe working area is more than 5-km butthe workers are not being given anymonetary compensation as given underthe Act.

3. No wage payments have beenmade within 15 days of completion ofwork, which against the Act.

4. Shortcomings in the implementa-tion of the programme:

Ø Many people are not aware of theprogramme since the concerneddepartment/agency has not organizedawareness programmes at the villageor panchayat level.

Ø No officials are appointed to lookafter NREGP eg. District ProgrammeOfficer, Block Programme Officer, etc.

Ø Delay in job card distribution andobtaining jobs.

Ø The minimum wage is mentionedRs. 60/- per day in the job card butmembers are getting less than the men-tioned amount.

Ø Working sites facilities: It isobserved that drinking water is provided in the working area but otherfacilities such as first aid, shade, crècheetc. are ignored.

Ø It is also seen that persons bothbelow the age of 14-years of age andabove the age of 60 -years are engaged inmanual work, which the Act does notallow.

Ø The responsible agency at the

51


block level has ignored collecting appli-cations for work from villagers; similarly,sarpanches at the pachayat level do notsee the importance of the application formanual employment.

CASE: 2District: Bilaspur, Panchayat:KalaVillage: TakhatpurNos. of families: 07Job Card Issued: 0Type of Work: Fencing by Panchayat

Bharatlal Suryavanshi, s/oChaitram Suryavanshi did not get a jobcardbut got work under the NREGAscheme. However, at completion of task,he was paid five days’ wages as against11 days work.

According to him, the Sarpanchfirst conducted a survey of thevillage to provide job cards. After com-pletion of the survey, Bharatlalapproached the Sarpanch and submittedan application for a job card. But he didnot get one. Despite this, he got 11 dayswork carrying out fencing work.

Upon completion of work,Bharatlal received wages for 5 days workand the rest of the amount still remainswith the sarpanch!

Now Bharatlal has appealed to offi-cials concerned at the block for issuanceof a job card to him as well as release ofhis remaining wages.

CASE: 3District: Kabirdham, Block: Bodla,Panchayat: PiparkhuntaNos. of families: 223Job cards issued: unknownWork Started: May 2006

Type of Work: Renovation of 2 ponds by thePanchayat

According to Sawailal, s/o ShriDharam Singh, he, alongwith his wife,worked at the two pond renovation worksites under the National RuralEmployment Guarantee Scheme. Bothworked for 20 days (40 man-days) in themonth of May and June, 2006. In themonth of August, Sawailal was paidRs.1006/- only and the rest of theamount - Rs. 1347.20/- - was not paidto him.

At the next payment date on 19thOctober 2006, his request for paymentof the balance amount did not yield anyresult from the village head and thePanchayat Secretary. Sawailal further saysthat the Pradhan and Secretary deniedhaving to pay him at all, saying that allhis dues had already been paid.

Now Sawailal is appealing againstthe officials at the block for:Ø Payment of his balance amount aswell as to ensure that every bit of workhe does is written clearly on the jobcard, so that people like the Sarpanchand the Panchayat secretary do notmanipulate the figures.

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CASE: 4District: Kabirdham, Block: Bodla,Pachayat: MurghunsariNos. of families: 282Job cards issued: 247Work Started: May 2006

Type of Work: Pond Rennovation byPanchayat

Jagdish Markam, alleges that hewas not paid for manual labour duringpond renovation work in the panchayat.

According to him, he worked foreight days in the aforesaid work, andbefore he began work, he remembersthat the sarpanch had declaredthat the wages would be Rs. 58.83/- perday as fixed under NREGA.

Jagdish says that on 17th July,2006, the Sarpanch paid him Rs. 398.64at the rate of Rs. 49.83/- per day. Uponenquiry, the Sarpanch reasoned that thelower payment was due to negative eval-uation of the work.

Now Jagdish is appealing againstblock officials to ensure that he is paidhis justified wages on the ground thatlabourers are not responsible for negativeevaluation.

CASE: 5District: Kabirdham, Block: Bodla,Panchayat: KesmardaNos. of families: 306Job Card Issued: 0Work Started: May 2006Type of Work: Pond renovation in Baki vil-

lage by Panchayat

Ramkishore , s/o Dhodha workedfor 18 days during the pond renovationwork in Baki village, but at the end hewas paid wages for only 6 days. Till date,his wages have not been paid.

Besides, it is alleged that all thejob cards in the village are with theSarpanch. Whenever villagers ask fortheir job cards, the Sarpanch reportedlythreatens them, saying he will return thejob cards to the government.

It is now also feared that theSarpanch might even make false entriesin the cards.

Ramkishore is now demandingthat:

Ø The Sarpanch and Secretary mustpay him his remaining 12 days of wagesdue to him.

Ø The Sarpanch should distributejob cards to the applicants/villagersimmediately..

p a c s (pacs) p - welcome to community …cdcmp.org.in/pressmedia/nrega booklet.pdfa livelihood....

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