Tour Report on the visit of Sirsa(Haryana) - National Rural ...

<strong>Tour</strong> <strong>Report</strong> on the visit of Sirsa(Haryana) by a Team of Officers headed by
Shri B.K. Sinha, Secretary(RD) & Shri T. Vijay Kumar, JS(SGSY) and Shri
N.K. Sinha, JD(NREGA)
<strong>Tour</strong> <strong>Report</strong> on Mahatma Gandhi NREGA
Secretary(RD) undertook a field visit to Hisar District of Haryana on 21 st &
22 nd May, 2010 to have first hand information on the implementation of Mahatma
Gandhi NREGA in the State. Shri T. Vijay Kumar, JS(SGSY) and Shri N.K. Sinha,
Joint Director(NREGA) also accompanied Secretary(RD) to this visit. The Team
visited Kaluana and Govindpura GPs of Dabwali and Rania Blocks respectively. The
Team stayed that night in a Government Higher School at Kaluana Village. The
Kaluana GP is the highest spender (Rs.133.92 lakh) during the last year with total
persondays generation of 37747. The total households those were given
employment were 687 out of which 281 were SC households. The other GP visited
was Govindpura which utilized only Rs. 0.02 lakh being the lowest and provided
employment only to one household during the last year for ten days. The idea
behind selecting the two GPs with extreme situation was to study why it is so in two
adjacent GPs and what could be done to overcome the impediment.
2. The Team under SRD reached Sirsa at 6.00 P.M. on 21 st May 2010 where the
Deputy Commissioner Shri Yuddhvir Singh ‘Khyaliya’ explained the present status
and his understanding of Mahatma Gandhi NREGA. He also made a presentation on
how he has made blood donation in the District the household slogan and has been
doing it in a mission mode. He has been able to collect 44000 units this year which
he claimed is the highest by a district in the world and could find place in Limca
Book of Records. The presentation which he made on this subject is at Annexure.
He also admitted that the implementation of Mahatma Gandhi NREGA would need
improvement in his District with regard to systems and processes as envisaged in
the Act. Thereafter, the Team reached the Govt. Higher Secondary School at
Kaluana Village at around 9.00 P.M. in the evening where sizable number of rural
elders and MGNREGA workers were present. The worksites visited in Kaluana are
as under:-
a) Nursery at Kaluana – The overall approved cost was Rs.9 lakh in which
saplings of Neem, Arjun, Jamun, etc. were grown but it was noticed that there was
no proper care and the person responsible for taking care of nursery was also not
trained enough. The Forest Department under whose guidance it has been taken
up has not been providing adequate guidance and linkage. The Nursery also did
not have green net cover to save the saplings from present day heat. The required
net cover can be done only with the additional investment of about Rs.5000 which
is available in the market @ Rs.45 per running meter.
b) Individual
activity : Shri Chet
Ram S/O Shri Bhani
Ram(SC) – The Kinu
farming in 5 acre
plot of land owned
by Shri Chet Ram at
the cost of Rs. 4 lakh
with six month old
Kinu plants was
visited. The orchard
also has a cement concrete reservoir constructed for irrigation. As of now, a total

of Rs.2.08 lakh has been spent. This has a great potential in the area and it was
suggested by SRD to the Sarpanch and the BDO to encourage people of the area to
come up for such activities as it could lead to growth in the overall income on
sustainable basis. It was also suggested to take up inter-cropping of the
compatible crops that could also increase the income level and at the same time
help grow Kinu plantation faster.
c) Village Pond (ongoing work) – Around 70 workers found to be working on the
excavation of this pond. Shri Raghuvir, the Gram Rojgar Sahayak was also found
on the worksite but he was not able to produce the muster rolls on the worksite and
also no job card was seen with any of the workers at that time. The Sarpanch and
GRS also could not inform the approved cost of this pond. SRD also made
Shrmdaan at this site for a while and interacted with women workers.
3. During the course of interaction with the village people for two hours on the
day of arrival of the team at Kaluana Higher Secondary School on 21 st May 2010 at
9.00 PM, interaction with the students of the local school and worksite visit of
Kaluana and Govindpura GPs on the next day, following facts were emerged:-
A) Positive Aspect
(a) MGNREGA has made substantial impact on the prevalent wage rate in the
area around Kaluana GP which was ranging between Rs.50 to Rs.100 prior to
MGNREGA depending upon the seasonal variation in demand of labour which has
now gone up to Rs.200 to Rs.250 in the market.
(b) There was differential wages for men and women prior to MGNREGA. The
highest paid wages in the market is for cotton collection which was Rs.2 per Kg
prior to NREGA and has reached to Rs.5-6 per Kg now. Average collection goes
up to 50 Kg per day for cotton. We could also see a person collecting 70 kg a
day. But this activity is available only for 10-15 days.
(c) Notified wages under MG NREGA is Rs.141 but the State wage rate is Rs.151.
The balance is paid from the State coffer.
(d) Sarpanch was found to be dedicated, efficient and sincere. There was no
complaint or voice of descent that could be heard against the functioning of the
local Sarpanch and no complaint about the payment was made by any one. The
MGNRGA workers were satisfied and happy.

(e) The local Sarpanch commands respect and affection from the community and
was implementing the main objective of NREGA for providing wage employment
but without following any defined processes and systems as envisaged under the
Act and Guidelines.
(f) Besides, the sarpanch has been actively involved in promotion of educational
environment in the GP and has taken villagers into confidence thereby forming
Siksha Samiti in
the village which
look after the
educational affairs
and with the local
contribution has
been raising funds
on regular basis
and based on
which have
arranged three
private science and
mathematics
teachers to
compensate bad
teaching by the
government
teachers in the
school. As a result,
the school passout percentage has gone up above 90% from negligible level
three years back. The students especially the girls were very happy and felt
obliged to the Sarpach for his outstanding efforts towards promotion of
educational environment especially for them. He has also hired the services of
an institute which trains in English speaking for the school children at the local
school.
(g) The three NREGA workers Shri Bhup Singh, Shri Atma Ram and Shri Lilu Ram
reported that they have worked for 100 days during 2009-10 and got the full
amount of wages. All 20-25 workers present during this interaction in the night
of 21 st May 2010 seemed to be satisfied at Kaluana GP.
(h) The most noticeable fact that emerged out from the worker Shri Lilu Ram
who was Scheduled Caste revealed that for the last 40 years prior to NREGA, he
was almost doing the bonded labour(Sirkati) working from 4.00 AM in the
morning till 9.00 PM in the evening serving the local rural elite. His father also
passed his life under these circumstances. He could only free himself for the
last three years when MGNREGA came into being and he is able to live a
respectable life now. He could also repay his debt with the help of the wages he
earned from Mahatma Gandhi NREGA.
(i) Since works are decided by the BDO and the Sarpanch, they have ensured
that MGNREGA works are taken up only during the lean agriculture season to
provide employment when the workers need it most.
(j) The women workers explained how they are able to buy cloths now for their
children and pay school fees with the earnings from MGNREGA.

(k) Wage payments are made through Bank accounts.
(l) Both the GPs visited were having Gram Rojgar Sahayaks
B) Negative Aspects
(a) There was no system of holding Gram Sabha where selection and approval of
works was followed. The BDO and Sarpanch decided the activities to be taken
up.
(b)Social tension was noticed at high level. There was clear divide between
haves and have-nots. The Sarpanch has been the balancing factor between the
two who commands respect, and affection from both sides since his sincere
efforts have been benefitting both the sections.
(c) All MGNREGA activities are Sarpanch centric. If the Sarpanch is good he is
able to present a satisfactory picture like the Kaluana GP of Dabwali block where
locals and the workers are satisfied and happy but if the Sarpanch is not good
than nothing is taking shape like that is happening in Gobindpura GP of Rania
block where Shri Jarnail Singh(Sarpanch) could not even issue the jobcards to
the wage seeking households where entire worker community registered their
dissatisfaction over the manner in which Sarpanch and the BDO was negatively
handling the issue. The four jobcards viz. Govind Ram(No.31067), Shimli
Bai(No.31012), Meera Devi(No.31013) and Maya Devi(No. 31067) got
employment ranging 24 days to 41 days in two years during 2006-07 and 2007-
08. But no employment was provided during 2008-09 and 2009-10 as per
entries made in these jobcards despite raising demand by workers which is a
serious matter. It was also informed by some of the jobseekers in Govindpura
GP that the Sarpanch is reluctant to discharge his legal commitment that once
the workers starts getting wage employment and exercise their rights under
MGNREGA, there would be dearth of workers in the fields of local elites. Such
apprehensions would only increase social tensions on the one hand if left
unattended for long and defeats the very objectives of MGNREGA on the other.
(d)Lack of motivation for MGNREGA among the officials was noticed. They are
not even aware of the basic provisions of the Act which is rendering poor
jobseekers at their mercy.
(e) No records like job cards, muster rolls could be seen at the worksite nor the
Citizen Information Boards were found at any of the four worksites visited in
Kaluana. The other records prescribed to be kept at the GP level especially the
prescribed registers and the muster rolls were also not shown whereby the
payment or other details could be cross-verified.
(f) Nowhere worksite facilities were noticed.
4. Recommendations
(a) There is immediate need to review GP-wise the status of implementation at
the DPC and State level and ensure that all households who want to work under
NREGA are issued job cards immediately and it should be done in a campaign
mode.

(b) All GPs where no work is going on, a new work especially the water
harvesting structure after a proper survey of topography should be opened to
provide immediate employment to the poor households.
(c) Thereafter, thorough survey may be carried out to explore the possibilities of
individual activities which has great potential in this area that may be taken up
in the lands of SCs/STs on priority basis on the lines that has been taken up on
Chetram’s field in Kaluana Village. Only such activities will provide poor families
with sustainable income that would pull them out of poverty trap without
injecting subsidy every year.
(d) While promoting individual activities in particular and common agricultural
practice in general, the concept of organic farming as promoted by Shri Subhash
Palekar which has established high yield as compared to traditional practices,
should be taken care of. The DPC and the State Government should
immediately motivate and identify interested farmers to be associated with this
concept who may practice this concept in the farming on a pilot basis. A
workshop of such farmers may be organized in which the promoter of the
concept Shri Subhash Palekar may be invited that would bring in paradigm shift
in agricultural concepts and practices. SRD also presented a set of four books
authored by Shri Palekar to the DPC for developing his insight on the subject.
(e) Since the DPC has done commendable job in motivation of the community for
donating blood on regular intervals and already has a team of dedicated
motivators and Camp organizers which has effected blood donation as a mass
movement in the district thereby setting a world record and so has a ready-built
infrastructure and the human capital which only requires a small ignition to be
associated with Mahatma Gandhi NREGA as well. The motivators and the camp
organizers may be given basic motivational training at the local level itself with
regard to basics of MGNREGA. The faculty members of Haryana Institute of
Rural Development may be asked to visit Sirsa and impart such trainings for
which they already have training modules.
(f) The training has to be provided at the door steps and would include basics as
how to hold the Gram Sabha that must discuss the potential demand for
employment and the number & types of works that would need to be taken up
which are of their economic and social interest through which demand for
employment could be satisfied during the year(planning process), how the Gram
Sabha would periodically monitor the implementation and progress of the
Scheme(M&VC), basic yardsticks of measurement, how to hold social audit,
what are the basic documents to be maintained at the GP level, role of GRS in
this, periodicity of wage payment etc.
(g)It should also be ensured that the workers are able to get their wages not
over a cycle of 15 days. A facilitator who would assist the workers in filling up
the withdrawal forms should be explored. The DPC was suggested to make the
cycle of the muster rolls of seven days in order to ensure completion of the
wage payment formalities within 15 days.
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