Kaluram Salvi, Sarpanch Grampanchayat Vijaypura, Rajastan Interview (Part 2) Video

NREGA 2005 is a law who is willing to to do unskilled manual labour at the statutory minimum wage is entitled to being employed allowance has to be pad. However, the work guarantee in NREGA 2005 isubject to an initial limit of "100 days per household per year"
NREGA 2005 is potential tool of empowerement for rural laborers: guaranteed employment can protect them from economic insecurity, strenghten their baragaing power & help them to organise & fight for their rights.
Potential Benfits of Empl Gur Act:
1) Protects rural house holds from poverty & hunger
2) Reduces rural-urban migrastion if work is available at village
3) Major Source of an oppotunity to crate useful assets in rural areas.
4) Creates useful assets in rural areas.
5) May change power equation in rural society & to foster a more equitable social order.
NREGA & RTI : Transparency & Accoutability:
NREGA includes various provisions for Transparency & Accountability.
Job cards are to be issued to all labourers, wages are to be paid " directly to the person concerned in presence of independent persons of the communityon pre announced dates, muster rolls available for public scrutiny.
Social Audits of all REGS( Rurual Empl Gur Scheme) by Gram Sabha. RTI is imp tool for fighting corruption & is essential success if Empl Gur Act. RTI mandates "mandatory disclosure" of public documents, stiff penalties against officers who fail to to supply information.
What we can do
Awareness Campaign:
1) Spreading awareness about NREGA ( print extracts from Act/ Primer as a poster and dispay at public places.
2) Cultural tools & activities such as songs and plays can also be used to spread the word.
3) Padyatras, cycle yatras, bus yatras can be arranged.
4) NREGA is " demand driven" project , one may
1) Organize mass registration programmes at Gram Panchayat
2) Raise NREGAR related issues at Gram Sabha & Gram Panchayat
3) Orgainize labourers in your area.
4) Encourage & help women to apply
5) Prepare proposals for works & present them for them in Gram Sabha..
B)
Monitoring of Works:
1)Get "Perspective Plan" & conduct public hearings around this.The perspective plan is supposed to be prepared in a participatory manner based on wide consultations but often tis is not the way it happens in practice.
Studying and debating the Plan is an opportunity to learn about, & to get involved in the planning process.
2) Organize a survey of NREGA worksites to check whether the provisions of Act and Operational Guidelines are being followed.
3) Monitor works, & use the transparency & accountability provisions of NREGA & RTI to fight corruption.
e.g. you could conduct social audits or just " muster roll verificatio" exercises at selected NREGA worksites.
There is also continued need for organosed pressure on the State Govt ,relating to Rural Empl Gur Scheme, unemployment allowance, pro acitive disclosure of key documents & so on
4) Organising for worker' entitlements

The best way of making NREGA work is to empower those who stand to gain from it.
i.eNREGA workers & potential workers.....
2) Once NREGA is operational in your area , a whole range of activities can be taken up ti organise labourers & help them to claim their entitlements
1) NREGA Songs @ NREGA Mela in Vijaypura Panchayat, Rajastan, 25.6.09

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdelUfYPizo

2) NREGA Mela @ Vijaypura Panchayat, Rajastan, 25.6.09

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wij2tteExb0

3)
Kaluram Salvi, Sarpanch Grampanchayat Vijaypura, Rajastan Interview (Part 2)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wij2tteExb0