Double NREGA workdays: 100,000 signatures to Finance Minister

28 February 2008, New Delhi: By budget day (Feb 29) 100,000 signatures on postcards from poverty-stricken villages in 10 states will have reached the Finance Minister’s office calling for an increase in paid work under NREGA from 100 to 200 days per household.

The campaign initiated by anti-poverty group ActionAid along with partner organisations, has mobilised villagers across 42 districts where NREGA is in operation. It comes as the government embarks on expansion of the employment guarantee scheme.

“The voice of the poorest should ring loud and clear in the corridors of power: NREGA has to some extent reduced distress migration so it is welcome news that all districts in all states will now be covered,” says Umi Daniel of ActionAid’s food and livelihoods team.

“The next step towards ensuring self sufficiency in rural India must be to double the number of workdays available. Two hundred days would mean more budget allocation for NREGA, more work for the poor, and more funds to plan rural development and create productive assets,” he adds.

Shortfall in rural employment means many families migrate for work, often accepting dangerous conditions for less than the minimum wage.

“A promise of 100 days under NREGA does not provide sufficient security for poor families. In Orissa for example we are still seeing families from Kalahandi, Bolangir and Koraput migrating to the brick kilns of Andhra Pradesh. This is despite the introduction of NREGA in their districts, and many having vowed “never again”,” says Daniel.

Mahabir Parahaiya who belongs to a ‘Primitive Tribal Group’ in Palamau district, Bihar, is one of those calling for NREGA workdays to be increased:

“I cannot cultivate my small field because rainfall is not reliable. If I could get more work under the NREGA, it would mean I can continue to work in my village rather than going to other states in search of work in the lean months,” he says.

Official figures show that on average, employment per household in 2007 fell far short of the 100 days promised. Not a reason to throw baby out with the bathwater say campaigners:

“NREGA is just two years old. The gaps are not in intent but at the level of implementation. Administrative and technical capacity at Block, Panchayat and village levels must be strengthened to enable proper community planning,” says Daniel.

“Getting the whole community involved not only helps to create useful work but to ensure people are paid the full amount, on time, and that unemployment allowance is administered where due,” he adds.

Only two states so far, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh, have issued unemployment allowance when work could not be made available on demand – one of the NREGA stipulations.

“We have to fight for our rights or else we are exploited. But first, we have to know what our rights are,” says Aita Madhi, part of a group of tribal women and men from Malkangiri district, Orissa, who successfully claimed unemployment allowance after collective action in August 2007.

ENDS.

Notes to editor:

Official figures show an all-India average of 33 days of work provided to 25.5 million households under NREGA in 2007.

The ‘200 days’ postcard campaign was launched by ActionAid and partners on 15 February 2008. By 25 February 23,000 postcards with multiple signatures had been dispatched to the FM’s office from the following states: Jharkhand, Bihar, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, West Bengal and Gujarat.

Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India, recognised ActionAid as a resource agency to conduct NREGA social audits in two states – Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

ActionAid is an international anti-poverty agency working in over 40 countries, taking sides with poor people to end poverty and injustice together. In India, ActionAid works with communities in 24 states and two Union Territories.