Still plodding along

Beneficiaries of MGNREGS in Tamil Nadu defy criticism, work hard to create assets, promote convergence with other schemes.

Anthoniammal, a senior citizen of the Sriramapuram village panchayat in southern Dindigul district, and Sonia, a woman in her 20s of the Melanthangal village panchayat in northern Tiruvannamalai district, are strangers to each other. But they have one thing in common. Both are the proud beneficiary-workers of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), which entered its 20th year of implementation on February 2.

They also reject the criticism that the beneficiaries get paid for doing nothing under the scheme, also known as NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act), or ‘Nooru Naal Velai Thittam’ (100-day job scheme). Engaged in the construction of an earthen bund and a distributary canal in their respective worksites, the women say, “See for yourself. Do you think that these assets could have been created without our hard work?” A community water harvesting structure, of the size of 40 metres x 40 metres, near Poothamedu in the Thennamadevi panchayat of Villupuram district has been raised by a group of persons with disabilities. M. Govindan, a member of the group who is about to turn 60, explains how he and his colleagues have created the pond, which is seasonally dry.

In addition, the National Mobile Monitoring System application, or NMMS app, meant for ensuring transparency, has been in place for capturing real-time attendance of the MGNREGS workers twice a day for all projects. At 2 p.m. on February 28, in the Thiyagavalli panchayat of Kurinjipadi block in Cuddalore (where tree plantation is in progress), photos of the workers, totalling 10, were uploaded.

The MGNREGS envisages 100 days of work in a year for each rural family, especially those belonging to the weaker sections. Unskilled manual labour is the key element, though the material component is now allowed up to 40% of the total expenditure. “But the law does not state that a job has to be given only to the poor,” clarifies S.S. Kumar, Additional Director in charge of the MGNREGS at the office of the Director of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RD&PR) of the Tamil Nadu government.

However, it is another matter that this open-ended provision (Section 3(1) of the Act along with 2(a) — provision of unskilled manual work to every household with a willing adult member (having completed 18 years of age) — has become a contentious issue among land-owning agriculturists, who have been complaining for long that ‘Nooru Naal Velai Thittam’ has “caused” labour shortage. Samba Vaidyanathan, a farmer of Papanasam in Thanjavur district, holds the NREGA responsible for the “acute short supply in labour”. In addition, “high wages that are paid to the beneficiaries (₹319 per day) have led to a situation wherein people in rural areas are not willing to do farm work, even when they are unemployed,” he adds.

But this “accusation” against the scheme is not true, according to Jayanthi, a middle-aged woman of the Sevalpatti village panchayat in Sivaganga district, which is in the southern belt of the State, and Vanitha, a young resident of Kilseesamangalam in the Vandavasi block of Tiruvannamalai district. “Small and marginal landowners are also beneficiaries of the MGNREGS. They plan our activity in such a manner that they cover the work under ‘Nooru Naal Velai Thittam’ as well as the farming operations,” the two women say. The State government and the Directorate of RD&PR have issued advisories to the village panchayats to avoid taking up labour-intensive MGNREGS projects when farming operations are under way, points out Director P. Ponniah. The scheme is being taken up “without any adverse impact on agriculture as far as possible”, he says.

“In fact, it was the NREGA — panchayats and civil society included — that saved India during the COVID-19 pandemic from what would have been a terrible calamity. It was then that many realised the importance of the scheme,” says S.M. Vijayanand, an officer of the 1981 batch of the Indian Administrative Service, who had worked as Secretary in the Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj and as Kerala Chief Secretary.