The Times of India: Jaipur: Thursday, March 22, 2012.
Picking up from where they had left about two years ago, hundreds of MGNREGA workers across the state will once again assemble near the Statue Circle on Thursday to protest against corrupt practices under the scheme and repeated assaults on whistleblowers.
In 2010, hundreds of MGNREGA workers had gathered at the same spot for a demonstration that lasted 47 days drawing the entire nation's attention towards anomalies existing in UPA government's flagship programme. Most of the promises made by the government then remain unfulfilled.
"The special social audit that the state was supposed to ensure is not happening anymore. FIRs have not been lodged in half of the 31 cases of anomalies that the government had detected then. Also, RTI activists seeking information on MGNREGA schemes are being beaten up in the state. It is these issues that the demonstration will highlight," says Nikhil Dey of the Mazdoor Kishan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) that will spearhead the agitation.
Dey says MGNREGA is failing to meet the aspirations of people. With villagers complaining about not getting work on demand, even as officials maintain they never received applications, the scheme is going through a crisis period in the state.
"Employment figures are plummeting, wages are still too low, and corruption is rampant. The promises made to us during our last agitation of providing minimum wages have not materialized, payments are not being made on time and the state government has failed to index its minimum wages to inflation," says Dey.
The 'Samvad' dialogue between MGNREGA workers, activists and government officials that should have ideally spread to other social sector programmes and departments, has almost stopped.
"One of the best ways of ensuring effective implementation of the Act would have been effective social audit. But, it is being killed in Rajasthan, the place of its birth. As a result, none of our reforms will really work," he adds.
The issue of Dhurra Ram, an RTI activist who was beaten mercilessly in Somalsar village, Nokha, Bikaner by the son of a sarpanch will also be taken up. Dhurra Ram has been instrumental in bringing out anomalies of about Rs 4.5 crore in the Somalsar village through an RTI application.
"The panchayat there has shown an expense of Rs 4.5 crore in removing sand from a mud road under MGNREGA when he is not entitled to undertake such work under the scheme. Not just that the sand was suppose to have been removed at a time when sands least clog roads in this area. This was a sheer anomaly that Dhurra Ram was pursing when he was beaten up to such an extent that he had to suffer 10 fractures. But till date no one has been arrested," says Dey.
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