Neeraj Thakur
New Delhi: The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), appears to be failing
in its mission with every passing year.
Data available with the Planning Commission for the period between April 2007 and July 2009 shows that fund utilisation by states in providing jobs has been on a decline. While the Centre has increased fund allocation year-on-year under NREGA, utilisation of funds has seen a drastic drop.
NREGA, enacted in 2005, is all about job guarantee. It provides a legal guarantee for 100 days of employment in every financial year to adult members of any rural household willing to do unskilled manual work at the minimum wage of Rs 100 per day.
According to the Planning Commission report, total funds available for states in 2007-08 were Rs 19,317.4 crore. The states could utilise 82% of the funds at Rs 15,856.88 crore. In the southern region, Andhra Pradesh was one of the most successful states, utilising 90% of the funds made available to it.
Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka had a fund utilisation rate of 73%, 83% and 54%, respectively. In the Northeast, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura had a utilisation rate of 97%, 91%, 95% and 95%, respectively.
In 2008-09, while funds available went up by 19% at Rs 37,483.93 crore, utilisation went down to 72%. While the Northeast performed well in 2008-09, the utilisation rate of North Indian states showed a decline. While Haryana could use only 67% of available funds, Bihar and Orissa utilised only 60% and 53%.
DNA Money could not get comments from Planning Commission member Mihir Shah on the report. Shah is the nodal person at the panel for rural schemes.
In the evaluation of the current financial year till July 31, the utilisation of funds by the states has come down to an abysmal 41% at Rs 10,409.49 crore against the Rs 25,116.26 crore made available.
The government has allocated Rs 39,100 crore for the whole of the current financial year. The Northeastern states have seen a drastic decline in their utilisation, with Manipur leading the list of laggards at 18% fund utilisation, followed by Tripura at 20%, Mizoram at 27%, Sikkim at 29%, Meghalaya at 29%, Arunachal Pradesh at 32% andNagaland at 37%.
Orissa is the worst performer among the bigger states with fund utilisation rate of 17%.
A recent statement by the National Consortium of Civil Society Organisation on NREGA observed that "There is no social audit process taking place in any location, nor is there any system in place to do so."