India: Triggering a process of change

Lolín Menéndez rscj

The Indian parliament passed a notable legislation on 25th August, 2005. It assures employment for any adult who is willing to do unskilled labour for 100 days. The operation of this Act” National Rural Employment Guarantee Act” (NREGA) went into effect on February 2, 2006. In its preliminary phase, it is expected to cover 200 districts. Ranchi district, where Torpa is located, is one of them. This is indeed a generous gift for the poor of India. Coupled with the Right to Information (RTI) Act, the NREG Act offers splendid opportunities for the poor. The central government has allocated Rs.14,300/- crores* towards this programme to the budget for the fiscal year 2006-07. The programme will be extended to all 600 districts by 2009. Will it ever reach the target group, however? Will it help in breaking the vicious cycle of poverty? The experiences of the past several weeks prove the fact that the government is good in making declarations but poor at implementation.

The broad features of the Act are:

• Guaranteed provision of minimum 100 days of work in a year to any adult in a rural area.
• A national minimum wage of Rs.60/- per day to be paid for this work. Unemployment compensation of Rs.15/- per day to be paid if employment is not made available as per demand. This compensation must be paid from the state budget.
• Work must be provided within 5kms from the place of residence.
• Panchayats (local governing bodies) are the principal authority in planning and implementation of this scheme.

I would like to share with you some of my experiences while educating the poor regarding this Act.

It is already July, 2006. We are in touch with 45 villages of the Torpa block which contain approximately 50% of the total population of the Torpa block. We have a total of 116 self-help groups in these 45 villages. All of them are in the “below poverty” line. Unfortunately, there are documents showing that all of them belong to the “above poverty line”. This is one way of suppressing the poor: they are not poor according to government records. They are bypassed and marginalized even in the records.

Field investigation shows that out of 116 self-help groups, only two persons from one village have received job cards so far. All the rest were rejected for registration by the block, which said that they do not come under “below poverty” line. In actual fact, this scheme is meant for any adult who is willing to work as an unskilled labourer. But the people are misled by those who say that it is only meant for BPL (below poverty line) category. I personally went to the block to discuss the matter with the Block Officials. About 15 representatives from various villages came with me. To my horror, the BDO (Block Development Officer) had never seen or understood the Act. I brought a Xerox copy of the act and gave it to him to study so that he could take action as needed. He has to undo the orders he had received from his higher officials. This is not an easy task for him. It also has other implications.

The people are slowly getting organized in their demand for their rights. The struggle is an on-going one. Their lives have always consisted of a continuous succession of grey days and black nights. Truly, it is not easy to reach the “unreached”, those whose needs have never been met. These needs never receive the attention they deserve..

Each one of us as an Indian can also play a proactive role in the success of the programme, and can work to ensure that it not be left to the government alone. the programme is closely related to our concern about poverty and unemployment. The call to trigger a process of change for the betterment of the poor in our own surroundings….that is the call I am hearing…Are you also hearing a similar call…? Can we work together? Let us get involved… It is possible!

Sr. N.I. Sophie rscj
Centre for Women’s Development, Torpa
Province of India