Chapter 2 - Kerala Govt Logo

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Chapter 2Policy, Legislation and RegulationIn Kerala, Local Governments have been given a central place in the planning andimplementation of NREGA. Compared to the earlier wage employment programmes there havebeen significant achievements under NREGS. They are:(i)A combination of transparent processes and procedures, local action and constantvigilance and totally corruption free implementation The contributing factors being:A clear policy decision to implement the scheme strictly according to the letter andspirit of the Act involving the Panchayats.The firm rejection of the opinion for implementing the scheme merely for publicworks and as an asset focused programmeIgnoring the arguments that the demand for unskilled labour is very limited inKerala and as the wages are much higher than the statutory minimum wages inmore than 90% of the StateOrganization of work through the Kudumbasree system and the poor have a stake inthe work right at the beginningMaking the technocratic power to accord Technical Sanction, measure works andrecommend payments more spread out and accountable through the Committeesystem and in case of difference of opinion the appellate systemMotivating a lot of social activists to keep constant vigil as a kind of continuousconcurrent social auditGiving special emphasis to the rights of workers and their awareness ofentitlements. In a state where workers are fairly well organized this has resulted intheir jealous guarding of their privileges.Ensuring all the payments only through individual bank accounts of workers(ii)Implementation of NREGA has contributed to very high levels of women empowerment,particularly in the following aspects.The gender perspective gets built in automatically, as the work is organized bywomen‟s groupsNearly 80% of the workers have been women, as they are comfortable working alongwith their neighborsEqual wages, for the first time, are paid which boosted the earnings of women.As the wages are paid into Bank accounts the habit of thrift, already inculcatedthrough the Kudumbasree activities, has been strengthened significantlyThe intra-household status of the woman has improved commensurately as shecontrols substantial cash resources and withdrawal from the increasing Bankdeposits on her own decision(iii)NREGS has given rise to a new work culture. Hitherto workers were controlled bycontractors and their middlemen who knew how to extract work. When NREGS beganthe out-turn was very poor as the workers could not be supervised properly. But soonthe workers themselves realized that they would be losing collectively and a newinternal dynamics evolved with peer pressure forcing workers to put in their maximumeffort. At the same time a kind of social responsibility also became evident as more
Environmental Assessment ReportKerala Local Government Strengthening Projectcapable workers became more than willing to put in extra effort to make up for thosewho genuinely could not do hard work beyond a point, like the women and the elderly.(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)Public works have gained respectability. Hitherto they were seen as highjacked eitherby a contractor or a local leader. Now the workers see it as their right. They tend todistinguish between wages provided by a contractor and wages directly given by thePanchayat. The latter is almost equated with a salary. This has motivated a largesection of people who were hitherto unwilling to work and join the work force.NREGS has suddenly increased purchasing power of the poor and there is visible localeconomic development. This is particularly true of Wayanad which was ridden withfarmer suicides. The peasants have managed to get substantial relief from NREGS bygetting over their inhibition in working as labourers in richer farmer‟s lands by movingon to the now-respectable public works.NREGA has a niche for people who are willing to do physical labour and for whom anadditional annual income of Rs.12,500/- obtained from the Scheme would be asubstantial boost in income and purchasing power. Therefore right at the beginning apolicy decision was taken to target the eligible families, visualizing NREGS as thenucleus of a concerted and convergent anti-poverty initiative.Experience of the last three years of NREGA implementation reveal that in a State likeKerala with proven track record in participatory planning and with strong PanchayatiRaj Institution, NREGA could dramatically increase levels of empowerment. The visibleresults include:With trained facilitators to assist Grama Sabha, there has been a perceptibleimprovement in the quality of deliberations of Grama Sabha. NREGA has alsostrengthened the sub Grama Sabha fora of workers Grama Sabha and NeighborhoodGroups (NHG) of women as they have been given clear role and responsibilities inLabour Budget preparation.The planning capacity of Panchayats has increased in response to the challenge ofplanning for NREGA as it has multiple dimensions of space and time in relation tohuman and financial resources.Panchayats are moving on to more complex areas of planning related to naturalresource management.NREGA has improved the capacities of panchayats for organizing works without amiddleman and keeping a well designed set of records.Panchayats have been able to forge a closer relationship with the working poor.Natural Resource Management has been given policy priority. This has brought thePanchayat into closer interaction with the small and marginal farmers. Now with theaccent on watershed management and food security, this relationship is expected tostrengthen further.Successful Village Panchayats have shown that they can bring about local economicdevelopment as well as provide social security through NREGA.46
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Chapter 2 - Kerala Govt Logo

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