2008-03-26 (1)
TRANSCRIPT
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, .
RS.2.JANUARY 1990G
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Indira Awas Yojana is part of the JawaharRozgar Yojana. Construction of houses for
SCs/STs and freed bonded labourers is
taken up under this Yojana.
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Vol. XXXVIII
NO.4
January 1990
Pausa-Magha 1911
H u r ' u k s h e l r a'''i.
(A Journal of Department of Rural Development)
Production Officer
R.S. Munjal
Photographs-Courtes)': Photo Divisionand Deptt. of R.D.
The views expressed by the authors donot .necessarily reflect the "iews o/the Goyernment
Asstt. Editor
Surendra Tiwary
Sub-Editor
Kamal Kant Saxena
EdUor
B.K. Dhusia
Coyer
Alka Nayyar
This Copy: Rs. 2.00
Annual Subscription:. Rs. 20.00
. Enquiries regarding Subscription,
Agencies etc.:
Business Manager, Publications Division,
Patiala House, N.ew Delhi-I 10001
Editorial Office: 464-A. Krishi Bhavan.
New Delhi-I 10001. Tele. 384888
4
)
CONTENTS~,I
\t. JAY TO USHER IN RURAL REJUVENATION Navin Chandra Joshi
JRY FOR SOCIAL SOLIDARITY
Kamala Prasad
PAGE
4
9
PEOPLE'S PARTICIPATION: AN
IMP ORTANT COM PONENT OF JR Y
Chhaya Datar
EMPLOYMENT SCHEMES HAVE TO CONTEND
WITH STRUCTURAL PROBLEMS
Bharar Dogra
PAGE
26
29
ARE PANCHAYATS PREPARED FOR JRY,! . 12
S.M. Shah
JRY-A LEAP TOWARDS POVERTY ALLEVIATION 17
Angsuman Basa
GIVE PANCHAYATS OPERATIONAL
FREEDOM UNDER JRY 21
S.P. Ranga Rao
WORKING OF GRAMODAY A SCHEME:
AN APPRAISAL
LGopalakrishnaiah
P. Mohan Reddy and
C. Sivarami Reddy
RURAL HEALTH CARE S ERVICE-A S URVEY
M. Felix Moneler and'
B. Murugesan
THEY S HOW THE WAY
31
35
42
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I
JRY to usher in rural rejuvenation
NA VI N CH AN DR A JO SH I
Reader,',Motilal Nehru College, Delhi University
I
OF 'THE CRITICAL PROBLEMS of Indianeconomy, poverty and unemployment prevalent par-ticularly in rural areas of the country needed some
effective solution on a sustained basis. As such a progres-
sive scheme, called Jawahar Rozgar Yojana, was
introduced in April 1989,which is now being implemented
and administered by the village panchayats all over the
country. Over 440 lakh families, which are below the
poverty line, are intended to benefit from this scheme.
The existing schemes, known as National Rural
Employment Programme and Rural Landless Employ-
ment Guarantee Programme, have been merged into this
new yojana (JR Y) which is to provide employmentj to
atleast one member of each poor family for 50 to 100days
in a year in the vicinity of places of their residence. Of the
total expenditure incurred, 15 per cent will be transferred
to village panchayats to be used exclusivelyfor the benefit
of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. Of the
beneficiaries under the JRY, 30 per cent will be women. .
Allotment of funds
THE VARIOUS STATES and Union Territories have
been alloltedJunds under the scheme in proportion to
the number of persons living below the poverty line in
them. The devolution of funds to districts has been deter-
mined in -terms of criteria of backwardness such as the
share of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes with total
population of the district, the share of agricultural labour
to total labour, and the level of agricultural productivity.
It has also been decided to give specific consideration tb
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I
such areas as the hills, deserts and the islands. The criteria
for the distribution of resources to village panchayats from
the districts are on the basis of population of the village-
panchaya!. If the population of a village panchayat is less
than 1000, then it is assumed 1000 for the allocation of
funds. Panchayats with a population of 3000 to 4000 would
receive funds of the order of Rs.80,OOOto RS.l,OO,OOO.
Others would get on aprb ratabasis.
As is well-known, rubl imemployment and under-
employment, particularly affecting the poorest segments
ofthe rural population, h~ve been the major contributory
factors to the high incidence of poverty in the rural' areas
notwithstanding the level of economic development that
has taken place over the plan period. The Sixth Plan had
alleviation of rural poverty as one of tlie main objectives ..
As'such, the strategy adopted aimed at redistribution of
income and consumption in favour of poorer sections of
the'population by significahtly increasing employment op-
portunities in the rural; areas. The Naiional Rural
Employment Programmd (NREP) was started in Oc-
tober, 1980to achieve this objective. It replaced the Food
For Work Programme and became a part of the Sixth Plan
from April 1,1981. .
Subsequently, another programme known as Rural
Landless Employment Guarantee Programme (RLEGP)
was launched on August 15, 1983. Its principal objective
was to improve and expartd employment opportunities
particularly for the rural landless la~our with a view to ~
providing guarantee of employment to at least one mem- .
ber of every rural landless labour household upto 100 days
in a year~ !I
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Employment & plans
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF SUCH EMPLOYMENT
programmes far mitigating rural paverty is also.
reflectecl in the Seventh Plan. It may also.be recalled that
the then Unian Finance Minister, in his budget speech far'
. 1989-90, announced a new scheme far intensive emplay-
ment ill backward districts with acute paverty and.
unemplayment to. be implemented in 120 districts far
which a pravisian af Rs.500 crores was made. The inten-
tian behind the new intensive emplayment scheme, which
was later named as Jawahar Rozgar Yajana, was that the
funds a1latted under the' new scheme wauld be an ad-
ditianality (a the existing NREP IRLEGP to.provide more
emplayment apportunities in view af their backwardness.
An annauncement was made in the budget speech that
NREP and RLEGPwauId be merged inta.Olleprogramme
and implemented as a centrally spansared scheme an thebasis af75: 25 sharing between the Centre and the States.
It was thereafter decided that NREP and' RLEGP,
alang with' the new programme annDunced by the then
Finance Minister, ShDUldbe merged into.ane single rural
emplDymentprogramme to.be named as JR Y. The expen-
diture imder JR Y is being.shared an 80:20 basis between
the Centre and the States. The Central assistance under
JR Y is released to.the districts direct. Nat less than 80 pet
cenfDfthe a1IDcatiDns'underthe pragramme, and received
by the district in respect afbath the Central assistance and
the state contributian, are required to. be given to. the
village panchayats. Thus it is hDped that distributiDn af
resaurces to.gram panchayats will result in increasing the
caverage af the pragramme to.all the rural areas. Further,
fuller and mare active participatian Df the peaple cauld
nDWbe ensured in the implementatian of emplDyment
programmes such as the JR Y.
.Objectives
B
ROADLY, THE FOL.L0WING ARE the abjectives.
af Jawahar Razgar YaJana:- . .
1Primary objectives: GeneratiDn Df additiDnal gainful
emplayment far the unemplayed and. under-emplayed
persons. both men and women in the rural areas;.
2. Secofuioryobjectives: 'Creatian Df praductive com-
munity assets far direct and continuing benefits to. the
paverty graups and far strengthening rural, ecanamic'and
social infrastructure that will lead to. rapid grawth af the
rural econamy alang with a steady rise in the incame levels
af the rural poor. The ather secondary abjective is to.bring
KURUKSHETRA January, 1990
abaut improvement in the averall quality aflife in the rural"
areas.
Biggest jobs programme
NowTHEJRY AIMS at strengthening the planning
'. process at the village !l,vel by involving ~illage
panchayats in the planning' and implementatlan Df
projects ..A-sum af Rs.2,600 crores will be spent in the
Central seCtar an JR Y. As such, ii becomes the biggest
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control mechanism has to be created within the massive
education programmes for villagers.
One serious criticism of iR Y is that some schemes or
funds for them have been shelved. They were the ongoing
schemes under NREP and RLEOP. However, this is not
a general phenomenon, blit only in rare cases such things
have happened. They need to be looked into and the
adequate funds provided for the ongoing projects.
DRDAs and ZPs have to open special accounts for JR Y
so that the Central assistance is deposited in them as also
the State assistance. The Yojana funds are not to be mixed
with other funds of the ORDAs 'and ZPs. DRDAs are
'expected to distribute the funds Within one month of the
receipt o( the money by them to all the panchayats on the
basis of population. The panchayats will open bank ac-
counts to which the released funds will be credited., They
are also to keep JR Y funds in the separate bank accounts.
Where there are no panchayats functioning, the DRDAs, willpass on the funds to the blocks. '
Monitoring
THE WAGE COMPONENT of the programmes to be'
taken up in the panchayats as a whole should be at least
50per cent. The remaining 20 per cent of the funds will be '
left to the DRDAs' .disposal. First priority has to be given
to districts to complete the spill over works under the old
NREP and RLEOP schemes. After completion of the
spill-overworks at the district!evel, inter-village works and
programmes to benefit the community at large will be
taken up. The centre has asked th'e States that ttieyshould'
also work out monitoring and supervision arrangements of
,theschemes implemented under JRY,
Fund allocation criteria
'AS SAID EARLIER, the criteria for allocation of
resources to the Siates is backwardness, population of
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and agricultural
productivity, while at the village level it is only population,
It is suggested'thatthe criteria for allocation "frcsourcesat village panchayatlevel should be the same as it is at the
state level because poverty levels differs from one village
to another. Again"althOligh the population of Scheduled
Castes and Scheduled Tribes generally constitute the,
poorest section ofthe society yet their' condition of poverty
is no!.uniform in ali the villages. It is, therefore, necessary
to prepare some lists showing their means of livelihood,
income and such other relevant particular~ al the village
level.'On the basis of these Iisls, allocation of resourcesshould be made. ' ,
KURUKSHETRA January, 1990
Also, a larger share of resources need to be given to
village panchayats which are located in the interior areas
of the country. Their condition is more acute and the
problems more severe. More than anything else, we have
to guard against the commanding ,influence of the rural
elite in our village panchayats as otherwise the condition
ofthe rural poor may not improve the wayit should. While
there is some inbuilt cushion against such an eventuality,
it is the genuine duty ,of all concerned to see that the
beneficiaries get their due share an,dare not duped by the'
powerful elements in villages.
However, an enduring solution to the problem of un-
employment under the JR Y would be to provide goods
and services in rural homes as that will give work to
millions and millions of idle hands. For instance,
Maharashtra owes much of its rural prosperity to coopera-
tive sugar factories. Oujarat flourished because of
cooperative Amul Dairyand Punjab gained due to ancil-lary home units. As such under the'JRY we should attempt
to create as much of goods and services as may be possible
from the local natural resources. ,
Boosting cooperatives
L'ET US,REMEMBER that cboperatives have still tomake lot of progress in the country. It is through them
that we'can multiply not only goods and services but also
generate sufficient employment. A 'market-oriented sys-
tem of production has an inevitable tendency to increase
concentration of wealth and income and to divert produc-tion to meet the demands of the affluent rather than of the
pOOLSuch a system, therefore, tends to deepen poverty.
Empl'oyrnent generation, 'as an 'objective oLeconomic
growth, suffers incompetition with the use oflabour saving
machinery. This is what has actually hap;'ened in India so
far in the industrial sectoLln fact, this has also happened ,
in the agricultural sector as the ranks of landless un-
employed have,increased over tl1eyears despite the green
revolution which took place in some limited areas.
Under-employment
THERE IS ALSO NEED: FOR removing under-
employment in our agricultural economy. We have not'
taken into account the nature land magnitude of their
problem. Under-employment has been a curse as it has led
10lower productivity. More than that, it has caused waste
of our human resources. Time has not come when, in the
wake of JR Y, we should launch a drive to map out the
defect for bringing about radical improvement in our
agricultural economy. '
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The backlog of total unemployment in the country al the'
commencement of the Seventh Plan(1985) was11.98 mil-
lion. As such, the number of people seeking employment
..during the plan period (1985-86) would be 51.36 million,
thus leaving 11million people unemployed in the begin-
ning of the Eighth Plan. On the basis of rural-urban ratio
of79:21, about 39 and 11 million jobs will need to be'
provided in rural and urban areas respectively. The growthin rural labour force is 2.39per cent and that of Ihe urban
labour force is3.44 per cent. If these growth ratescontinue
to remain, the estimated size onolal labour force in rural
and urban areas will shoot up from 240.63 million and
61.71 million to 269.16 million and 73.08 million respec-
tively in 1990. In sum, the basic issue is to create job
opportunities for about 40 million in India's rural areas'
with a view to achieving the objective of full employment
in the rural sector of the economy.
Other reasonsTTISSUGGESTEDTHAT ANY SCHEME forgenera-
J.tion of full employment inrural areas should take certain
factors into consideration. For example, there is a highly
skewed distribution pattern of resource base in the form
of landholding; producti-:e assets and levels of technology
adopted in villages. Further, there are wide differences in
the pattern of incomes, saving potential, investment
capabilities, risk-taking, entrepreneurial potentials,
educational. levels and access to knowledge about im'-
proved agricultural factors. Dependency on traditional
employment sources, as in the case of agricultural labour,
is also a n importa'Dt social structural constraint.
The strategy for creating larger employment oppor-
tunities under the JRY needs to be multi-pronged. The
potential of employment in non-agricultural rural jobs'
should be fully explored in order to accommodate those
who cannot find work in the land-based occupations. The
gamut of rural employment programmes should cover the
entire economic activities in rural areas. Through forma-
tion of skiIIs relevant to rural areas, rural manpower
shoiJld be developed for taking up self-employmentprogrammes. That would n.ecessitate the development of
a well-designed and broad-based support system capable
of assisting the new class of' artisans, craftsmen, in-
dustrialists and enlrepreneurs at all crucial stages, like the
formation of projects, procurement of finance, tool kit,
machinery and equipment, of raw-materials at reasonable
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rates and marketing of finished goods.
lForestry potential
, I,
FURTHER, IT MUST BE RECOGNISED thai the
potential of forestry in generating employment is ~uch
greater than that of ariy other sector in most parts of the
country's rural areas. Forestry occupation is s,uchthat itcan involve any type of worker, semi-slcil1ed,without any
kind of intensive training. Employment in forestry is weD
dispersed and is available throughout the year, mOre par-
ticularly in the off-season for crop production. ;rhe
contribution of forestry occupation would be' in the
generation of emplo)'D1entin spheres of cultural opera-
tions, harvesting opedtions, supporting operations andindustrial operations. I ' .
,
Under the JR Y we should also establish throughout the
country agro-based ind'ustries for providing supplemen-tary part-time employment to farmers and their families..
The setting up of cottag~ and rural industries will also stop,
migration to cities. With smaIl implements many units can
come up and we shoule create apex marketing bodies
which will market their' products, provide credit, help .
research and developrnent, and otheir services. These
units have been successfuDyexperimented in Japan. They
have tremendous employment potential in India'scountryside.: .
I .
Needing responsive administrationI
ALL SAID AND DONE, providing gainful employ-
ment is the only way to remove poverty. From this
angle, ihe Jawahar Rozgar Yojana has not come a day too
soon. Its appropriateness ,cannot be questioned. What we
must now aim at is that gradually it mitigates the impact of
poverty and unemploymel't in the rural sector of Indian
society. Finally, a responsive administration becomes im- .
perative when programmes of rural development are
, initiated and pUIinlo opeiaiion. The need for an efficient
and honest administration is now no more a theoretical
slogan. The government Imeans business this time forbringing about radical social changes to usher in awelfare
State. Rural employment wbuld bring about social chang"!,
for a new awakening in the masses with regard to their
rights, duties and responsibilities towards the society in
which they live. This perhaps Would be the greatest con-
tribution of J awahar Rozgaf Yojanaior decades to come.D,, '
I ,
KURUKSHETRA January, 1990
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T
HE JAWAHAR ROZGAR YOJANA is already nine
.rnonths old. It has generated widespread discussion
about its viability conceptually, financially and organisa-
tionally. The Bihar experience points to a positive
response during a massive educational effort .undertaken
to secure expeditious launch. The State had been prepar-
ing for the transfer of work to the local bodies for quite
some time. The decision to implement the transfer implied
simply the acceleration of the process. Even,before the
funds got transferred to the panchayats,' a massive orien-
tation programme based '''fj seminars of panchayat
functionaries and Government' employees was organised
at the district headquarters andmost of the sub.divisional
headquarters. The response to the seminars was very en-
couraging. It was not that the attendance was good, but the
~nteraction demonstrated:the I(een intcrcSllhal grassroot
people's representatives and'the.Governmenl employees
were evincing in the programme. The physical output so
far demonstrates that the strategy of these prcparatory
steps had paid good dividend. There has becn no setback
in the pace of eplpl0Y"1ent offered or programmes taken
up.
Rural scene
'THE POSITIVE CHANGES IN RURAL INDIA in
. the last 40 years is undeniable. There is improvement
~nincomes and life-:styles: However, the changes arc no~
as dram,alic as pro,mised. Some of the more impc)rtant
problems that faces rural India are under-employment
'migration of landless labourers from pockets of endemic
ufj-employrnent, lack of information revolution that
awakens the rural masses to their shar,e in the development'
KURUKSHETRA January, 1990
JRY for social solidarity
t .
KAMAlA PRASAI)
Planning Ad\'iser.t~m~Develo~menlCommissi?ner, Palna
programme designed for them, their isolation .from the
programme formulation activities generating a feeling of
indifference towards the programmes implemented
resulting in indifferent benefits and, fmally, lack of a spirit
of self-reliant developmeni. As the size of rural develop-
ment programmes expanded, the .local level dependency'
tended to aggravate', Obviously, what is required is not just
a massive induction of additional funds but a change in the
orientation of the Government e~ployees and the attitude
of the target groups. Such a qualitative change in the
scenario can be brought about provided adequate commit-
ment is fostered.
Dimensions of the programmes
. . : . I
T
HE JAWAHAR ROZGAR YOJANA is the latest in
the scrics of national programmes to meet the. chal.
Iengc of unemployment and ,under-employment in rural
India. Its coverage will be the most extensive since struc-
turally each village will have to be covered with schemes
under theYojana. This will no longer be discretionary. The
designbd coverage provides a cushion that can improve theemployability and emoluments of the rural landless. The
inbuilt thrust on job diversification for those who wor\( on
land can loosen the shackles of~social stratification. The
guarantee of reasonably rel1funerative manual work wilf
improve payment of wages 'in the rural areas in general.
This standby arrangement prornises to guarantee fuller
employment to the rural landless and those who are seek-
ing to improve their incomes: Manual labour alone is no
guarantee for employment; the availabilitY of opportunity
will make'a choice of either joining public works program-
mcs or taking on so,,:,e'self - ~mployment activity. It would
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improve programme content if specific provision for the
,educated unemployed (which has dangerous portent) is
built into the Yojana. '
Creative grass root planning
THE}A WAHAR ROZGAR YOJANA clearly under-'lines the need for a positive thrust to grassroots'planning. It would imply further that the weight of depend- .
, ency syndrome iii rural planning viz., dependency on the
Government machinery, dependency on the locals
dominant power structure, dependency on external inputs
for progress must be slackened.' A revolutionary
grassroots planning has to thrash out the socio-economic
goal cif local community; to'set priorities of development
works within a time frame; to identify locally available
manpower to undertake individual schemes; to seek
Government manpower support merely to fill in gaps in
local availability; to lay down the system of social account-
ability; and to transact all business connected with
.programme formulation and implementation in open and
,without secrecy;
Land development, irrigation system construction,
school or housing construction, tree plantation should
justify themselves by completion and durability rather than
adherence to niceties of public wo'rk specifications under
Government. Results achieved should justify the means
adopted in planning and execution of the programme. It
appears that in the name of sanction of schemes attemptsare on even now to further bureaucratise the process. This
will be a factor for' failure unJess steps are devised to
transfer to the community and local institutions respon-
sibilities that they have' undertaken for private work of
their own. The lawahar.Rozgar Yojana is a means to a.
beller planning of development activities by the local com-
munities and their elected representatives. The purpose
will be lost by the extensive bureaucratic control. The role
of' centralised hierarchies requires 10 be graduaily
reduced. The arrangement for technical and professional
consultancies should be fostered, Ihe rules of audit for
Panchayat-controlled work suitably changed. The con-
fidence in planning locally important schemes will emerge
from an almost totaJ freedom from imposed complexes
and steps towards laying down targets for groWth and
. quality of life indices.
Rural delivery system
THE SEARCH FOR A MORE ENERGETIC delivery
,system has for the present ended in the attempt 10
revitalise the Panchayati Raj Instit utions. Thc rcmoval of
control regarding sectoral allocation offunds hasa poten-
10
tialto strengthen the creative grassroots planning. Unifor-
mity creates many problems;,and an approach to job that
suits the needs of Jocal landless can strengthen the
decision-making competence of local instituiions. The
Yojana. can thrive on 'extending local consu1tationin
selecting programmes. It may also be worthwhile selecting'
schemes that require low expertise and are related to landwhere expertise exists at the local level. In regard to crea-
.tion of assets the choice cah very well lie in areas that,match
the production needs and quality of life indices within the
time frame available for completing the projects. The
reliance on local manpower and other resources available
can strengthen the roots ,!f local accountability.
The choice of the delivery mechanism,has been,a dif-
ficult one. There is a group of the opinio~ that Panchayats
represent the entrenched vested interests in rural India.
The Panchayats had the principal role under planning for
NREP also but experience shows that they did not care
adequately for_building the assets for the weaker sections.
The results of project implementation has been uneven. It
is expected that therestr~cturing of the Panchayats will,
bring about a salutary change. Additional steps need also
to be considered to ensure that the promises of, the
lawahar Rozgar Yojana is fulfilled. It is a weilestablished'
axiom of good administrat'ion that the responsiveness of
the delivery system is closely related to the proximity of the
system to the people involved in development. However,
this axiom can be converted into reality if we try to follow
Gandhiji's prescription on Swaraj which is apt for' thefunctioning of the Panchayati Raj Institutions, specially in
the light of experience in a state like Bihar. Writing in
'Young India' on 29.l.i925.he stated, "Real swaraj will'
come not by the acquisition of authority by a few but by the
acquisiiion of the capacity by all to resist authority when it
is abused. Swaraj is to be obt'ained by educating the masses
to a sense of their capacity to regulate and control
authority." .
A responsive delivery mechanism has to be sustained on
the re;i1ism pronounced by Gandhiji. '
, Grassroots organisation
THE PANCHA YATJ. RAJ INSTITUTIONS will also
face the challenge of evolving appropriate grassroots
organisation for resources assessment and project im-
plementation., The devolution of funds on the Pa"cnayal
will make it compulsory for them not to stall decision. A
matching of scheme' considered relevant for -the com-
munity and funds available at the Panchayat level has the
potential for a more meaningful prioritisation of schemes
lakcn as part of the annual: plan. The Panchayat must
KURUKSHETRA January, 1990
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become a planning and guiding machinery aild the execu-
tian shauld devalve an organisatians far each individual
prajects sanctianed within the Panchayat. The autharity
devalved an small community graups willpramate massive
cammunity participatian in the warks pragramme. A
thrust on graup activities will also.reduce the chances af
misuse af funds and autharity which has been reparted
extenSivelyan niTal warks pragramme. Such devalutian
will pravide a twa fald, lest 10 . 'further refine the delivery
mechanism at the Panchayat level. It will firstly testthe:'
capability af Panchayat functianaries to. undertake the '
kind af creative plann;ng af warks and the management af '
funds entrusted to. them. It will simultaneausly test the
capability af the Panchayat members, particularly the
weaker sectians af the papulatian, to.assert themselves to.
secure what is due to. them under, the Yajana. It can be
safely assumed that the J~wahar Rajzar Yajana may be
able to. prave 'that the respansibility will make the
Panchayat and its members administratively capable.
A new philosophy
IT IS NECESSARY TO BUILD rural devilapment
strategy an a diagnasis 'af the roets af lacal frustration
and rural disenchantment. Jawahar Rezgar Yejana
premises to do.that.' "
An era afbureaucratic penetration has achieved physi-
cal gains but it has failed to.gain the leadership of rural
elitism. It isindistinguishable frem the lacal, feudal leader-
ship and is seen as a party to.explaitatian and 'appressian.
The anwilfd'march ef grassraetsbureaucreary has, there-
fare, to. be halted and a countervailing farCe is mere
permanent lecal institutiens established far sponsaring
and strengthening communitarian develapment pracess.
Rurai develapment philasaphy shauld aim at achieving
sacial salidarity.
. There has 'to. be an inbuild mechanism far handling
sacial alienatien. The iselatian af the, sexes, the an-
tagenism between castes, the discriminatian af socially
disadvantaged graups, the thwarting af the ambitians af
the yauth add to. the sense af alienatian. One autward
manifestatian af this alienatian is evident in the increasing
sacial crime and speradic eutbreak af vialence. The law
and arder enfarcement ef increasing in'tensity has made
no.,difference in the situatian: itfilrther adds to.the ema-
tienal divide between the administratien and the ,people.
The system has the tendency to. cripple the emergence af
sacial actian groups, to.bypass vocal graup administratian
and to.deal anly with individuals: There has to.be a whale-
sale change in this erientatien. The initial wastages in
effarts and finances have to.be talerated; after all we have
talerated wastages in bureaucratic management. This
march tawards a balance be~een sacially cansciaus
groups interacting with arganised bureaucracy has the
potentials to. impreve the environment af actian in rurai
dcvelopment. 0
Kurukshetra wishes its readers
I I
Yl. 9 - - f . 9 J . ! P P Y 9fW %~
KURUKSHETRA January. 1990
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Are panchayats prepared for JRY?'
Dr. s .M . SHAH
. Former Adviser, Plannina Commission
THE PRIMARY OBJECflVE OF JawaharRozgar
Yojana (1RY) is to generate additional gainful
employment for the unemployed and underemployed per,
soilS, both men and women; in the rural areas, In the
budget for 1989-90 a 'provision of Rs:500 crore has been
made for the Yojana, The JRY is extended to cover all
, gram panchayats in the country, Expenditure under the,
scheme is shared. between the Centre and the State' on
80:20 basis, It is hoped that the new programme will
provide fuller employment opportunities to atleast 'Onemember in each family living below the poverty line (as in
IRDP survey register) and who, is seeking unskilled
employment
Objectives
THE YOJANA IS THUS TARGETED to the un-. employed poor and the purpose is io add' to' their'incomes and improve their standard of living, Besides, the '
, ruralinfrastrueture itself is proposed to be improved and,
prOductive community assets of durable nature created,There will thus be, an improvement in the overall quality
of life 'of people living in the rural areas,
permitted. Also, thirty per cent of the 'employment oppor-
tu~ities arc reserved f or ~omen. .
, Furthermore, in order to monitor effectively the
'Quarterly Report of Achievement' information is called
for separately on sectoral distribution, of expenditure,
employment generation and physical assets created for
SCs/STs (item vi) as distinct from' those under total works
(iteinvii)
For the first time' specifically the "freed 'bonded
labourers" are included amongst the target group below
the poverty line. But, will this break their shackles? '
In order to ensure that the beneficiaries employed on
works belong to the target groups, the cOncerned officials
are required 'to record on the muster roll itself, at the time
of weekly payments, a certificate indicating the empioy-
ment generation for' the Scheduled' Castes, Scheduled
Tribes and others separately as also the total-employment
generated. The total number of mandays generated for the
landless labour and women labour is also required to be
indicated separakly (item iii)
THE GENERATION: OF EMPLOYMENT oppor-
tunities is through 'rural works' which result in the
-creation of durable productive community assets so as to
ensure continuing incomes to the beneficiaries. High
priority is given to works which 'are required for putting
inlO effecl the infrastructure for the implementation of
various poverty allcvialiol1 programmes such as Integrat~d
.
It is estimated that the Yojana will rea~h 440 lakh
families -living below the poverty line in all rural a~eas in
the country. It seeks to reach every single panchayal.
As focus groups, the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled
Tribes and women are the major beneficiaries. Funds' are
earmarked for them. Fifteen per cent of the annual alloca-
tion must be spent on items of works which "directly benefit
the SCs/STs. Diversion of funds meant for SCs/STs is nol
I
I,
Nature of work
12 I , '
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Rural Development Programme (IRDP), Drought Prone
Area Programme (DPAP), Oeser! Development,
Programme (DDP) and Development of Women and,
Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA):'
To'guard against wrong 'identification of beneficiaries,
the 'IRDP Survey Register' is now the basis for locatingpersons below the poverty lin~. Earlier adhocism of id~n-
tifying persons at ihe whims of villagelblock officials is ,
done away with. '
Five sectoral works are specified; viz., (A) directly
productive economic assets" (B) socio-economic com-
munity welfare assets,(C) Indira Avaas Yojana, (D)
Million Wells Scheme and (E) 'Social Forestry Schemes.'
The directly produced eCOnomicassets includejrriga-
tion wells, irrigation tanks, field channels, flood protection
works, anti-water logging, 'soil conservation and landreclamation, construction of village ponds and lanks, land
development and other works.
The Socie-EconomicCommunity Welfare Assels in-
clude provision of drinking water wells,rural roads, school
buildings, development of house sites, construction of
houses,panchayat ahars, construction of buildings, mahila
mandals, cons,truclioil of sanitary latrines and'olher works. '
Social Forestry 'Works incl~de farm forestry (tree~
planled), plantation',on forest lands, and plantation on
village community lands (area).
The IndiraAvaas Yojana refers tothe numbcr of houses
constructed for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribcs.and
the freed bonded lallourers.
The Million Welis Scheme includes the number of wells
completed and in progress. It has objective of providing
open irrigation wells free of cost to the poor small and
marginal farmers belonging to SCs/STs and the,freed
bonded labourers. .
Several States have acquired ceiling surplus land and,have allotted these to the landless. However, 'these
beneficiaries are unable to develop profitable cultivation
oothe assigned land which is generally of poor quality. The
allottees who are below the poverty line can now takcup
recovery"of costs under land developmcnt .from the
Yojana.
'Indira AvaasYojana
A DISTINCTIVE FEATURE OF JRY is the i'mpor-tance given to housi~g for the poor through Indira
Avaas Yojana (lAY) and to environmental upgradation
through 'Tree Pattas' under social forestry works.
The SCs/STs and the freed bonded labourers form the
target group under Indira Avaas Yojana. It seeks to pro-.
vi!!eshelter, Iiroof over therr head.
The plinth area under lAVis 17to 20 Sq. Mt. The house, should have a kitchen, a smokeleSs chu'llah and a sanitary
latrine unit. A sum ofRs.6000 is provided for the cllnstruc.
tion of a house, RS.I200 for sanitary latrine and smokeless
chullah and RsJOOOfor common facilities. all totallini to
Rs;lO,200 per family.
An attractive feature of lAY is that the houses have to
be 'built in clusiers on 'micro-habitat approach', 'where
land is available. This Writer has seen in Maharashtra, ,
Karoataka and Andhra Pradesh such n:ticro:habitat
clusters of about 30 to 40 houses built under the earlierFood-For'Works Programme for SCslSTs. These 'arc '
planned habitations with commonfaci1ities. ThecluSteriDg',
has also enabled the habitat to Construct a bie-gas plant
enabling cooking and light in the,houses. It has,paved the
way for new fonn of energy creation and energy use and
improved the quality of lire-in the rural areas. It is feasible
to replete this under lAY. These human settlemenu are
much more livable than their counterparts and evcJithe
better offs in village proper.
"
Treepattas
'A NOTHER ATIRACTIVE SCHEME' under the so-
.l"1cial forestry sector is the tree pattas. Planting of all
types of fruit, fodder, and fuel irees can be taken up.
Preference is on quick growing trees. Planting can be taken
up on government and community lands and on road sides,
canal embankments, along railway lines and on degraded
forestlands. This will also lead to environment protection
and itrIprovement.
An important 'feature and an incentive under the
scheme is that the benefits of social forestry ,are to accrue
directly to the'rural poor. The tree planting permit tree
patta holder to Usufruct the trees. These rights include
rights to gather dead branches, take twigs and loppings of
the branches, harVest produce such as fruits, flowers,'
seeds, leaves, tappings, etc., carry on treed : based
activities ,such as bee-keeping, silk worm rearing, lac
production, etc. The cost oC-saplings and'wages for the
labour put in tree planting' and the cost of maintenance
upto three years from tlie year of plantation are to bernet'
from the Yojana.
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Expenditure under different sectoral ,programmes,
after allowing for 5 per cent on administ~ative expenses
and 10 per cent on maintenance, is to be utilised as fol-lows:- .
Th~ 'illustrative list' includes works of a pureiy social
and community nature such as dispensaries, panchayat
ghars; community centres, creches, balwadis, anganwadis,
. etc. linder ICOS. The aganwadis at several places are
found having-no roof al)d are run in open space for want
of accommodation. The JRY should.be fully exploited for
the construction ofanganwadis.. '
., - , . . . . .
The need for having a 'central place' in every village to
run common programme like Panchayat, adult literacy,
FLAW classes on funetionalliteracy, tailoring and other
activities of artisan type is keenly felt. Many programmes
en ,like Mahila Mandals have suffered on this score. This will
help provide a strong 'infrastructure to run several ac-
tivities in the village. Even propagation of village theatre
is not ruled OU(.Such a central place can provide colourfol
charts and maps to educate the public.
1. Economically productive assets
2. Social forestry works
3. Million wells s~heme
35%
25%
15%
agricultural season. In the payment of wages; the man.
datory obligation is tliat the wages ,for a category of
employment will be same as notified for the'televant
'scheduie' of employment, under the Mininium-Wages
Act. The 'schedule' of present rates in different States is
provided to the State Government (see Jawahar Rozgar
Yojana, State Resource Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia, New
Delhi, July 1989). Wages may be paid partly in cash and
partly in kind, i'.e" foodgrams (wheat, rice). The ratio of
distribution of foodgrains shall not exceed i.5 kg. per
manday. .
Payment of wages should be made on a flied day of the
week,' preferably the local marlCet. day: The foodgrains
, compclnent of wage should, as far as possible, be given ci.n
the work site itself. Arrangements for providing facilities
like drinking water, rest sheds and craches for children of
working mothers.at work sites are required to be made outof thematerial component of the Yojana. . . .
Decisive role of village panchayats
THE DISTRICT RURAL DEVELOPMENTAGENCIES and village panchayats are the two inainactors in the field. The OROAs have gained considerable
experience in implementing a major scheme like IROP.
They, therefore, should not be found wanting on this score. "
4. Other works including roads and buildings 25%'
The JRY thus provides a balance of works of different
nature. Thereis a clear cut emphasis on bestowing on the
intended beneficiaries benefits of a long term, continuing
nature. .
Under the Food for WorKs Programme earlier, major
'expenditure was on c0!1.struclion arid repair of rural roads,
cutting stones or spreading mud, The benefits were short-
lived and roads washed aw'!)' after ooe rainy season, U~der
Employment Guarantee Scheme in Maharashtra percola-
tion tanks took away a bigger slice, It was 'medium andlarge farmers who benefited from the creation of these
assets. The JRY guards.against these pitfalls. '
Minimum wages to pay
To ENSURE THAT niE POOR working as unskilledlabourers derive full benefits of the programme, thewage component is kept at. 50 per cent, the rest being on
materials, adm~nistration and maintenance. In order that
vital agrjcultural operations do not suffer [.rom the non-
-availability of the requir~d_ labour) it
is recpmmcndcd thatworks should be initiated preferably during th~ Icpn
14
Village panchayats on the other hand had no field prac-
tice of this nature, The Yojanagives a central place to the
Panchayat; Raj Institutions - Zilla Parish ads, Mandals and
village panchayats, The village panchayats are to playa
crucial role in the selection of.schemes, (felt needs),
prioritisation and in execution of works, not to mention the
~onitoring of the progress.
The Manual (August 1989) lays down, "At the village
level, the programme will be implemented thrcmghthe
village panchayats, the 'lowest elected body, who will be'
responsible for planning and execution of the Yojana, The
technical supervision will be the responsibility ofthe Blockagencies/DRDAs.
The State Governments. will release centra) assistance
direct to ORDAs withi~ one month of its receipt fT~m the
Government of India. Likewise, fu.nds to village
panchayats will be distiibuted by the DRDAs/Zilla
Parishads within a. month of its receipt from the State
Government. Funds for payment from the account of vil-
lage panchayats are' required to be drawn through a
cheque signed by. the Head of the Panchayat (that is,
Pradhan) along with Secretary of the Panchayat..-
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A laudable provision is made that payment of every
amount is to be authorised in the meeting of village
panchayat and the village assembly (Gaon Sabha) which is
supposed to meet twice in a year and be informed in'the
followlngmeeting.
, What is encouraging is simplification of the prOcedure
of works. The, block samitildistrict level Panchayati Rajbody Willprepare and approve standard design ilDdcost
estimates. Village panchayats caD.execute works on the
basis of approved cost norms and designi. Contract~rs,
middlemen,; power.brokers are not permitted to be
engaged (even as sur,rogates) for the execution of these
works. The procedure obviates the need for calling tenders'
and for obtaining technical, administrative and financial
sanction for each work. '
To 'compensate and assist the village, panchayats, a
proviSionof 5 per ceni has been earmarked for adminisira-tiv,e expenses which can be used for strengthening
DRDAs/Zilla Parishads/BlockiViUage panchayats for
pro~ding technical, administrative and tniiningsupport.
A maximum of one fifth of 5 per cent provision can be
spent to lIleet the training expenses of the officials/npn-
officials involved in the implementation of the .Yojima.
Village panchayats are also allowed 10per "!Ontof annual
allocation towards maintenance of assets.
Annual plan of action
THE VILLAGE PANCHA YATS are competent under, the Yojaria to accilrd approval to the projects themsel., 'ves after these 'have been technically apprised and
approved by the Panchayats/Samiti officials. At the same
, time, panchayats are advised to take up simple small,works
which do nOt require high level of technical inputs. Nowork shall be 'taken up by the village panchayat which
caimot be completed within two years after they have been
started.
A novel feature of the Yojana, as distinct from the
hitherto rural works programme, is a requirementenjoin-
ing upon the villagepanchayats to prepare an annual plan,
of action at village Jevel. "The plans for development of
villages in the juris4iction of different village'
panchayatSlmandalsshould be discussed thoroughly in the
meetings of the village panchayat and the final decisions
arrived at $hould determine the plan of works to be takenup during'a particular year', Each village panchayat and'
bl0l'kidistrict should have complete inventory of the assetscreated under the programine giving details of the date of
the start and the date of completion of the project, costinvolved, benefits obtained, employment generated and
KURUKSHETRA January, 1990
other relevant particulars.
Monito"ring arrangements
M'ONITORING OF THE PROGRAMME is being
str-engthened at the village'level. The scheme also
provides for what is called 'sOcial audit' at the village
panchayat level. 'In order to ensure social conltol of they.ojana, meetings of village panchayats shall be held every
month at"ar o o : < ! date, time and place to conSider the iSsues
regarding the planning, eXeCution,monitoring 8nd super.,
viSionof JRY, according to the manual. '
The monthly progress reports and quarterly reports of
achievements, to be obtained from eaCh DRDAJZi\1a
Parishad,isa part of ~onitoring arrangement devised for
, the purpose. Hopeful)y, these Willbe co-ordinated iuid
processed by the Director, Administrative Intelligence, in
the Department of Rural Development, Government of
India, New Delhi. . '
,A Central Commit!ee to be set up by the Department
of Rural Development in Krishi Bhawanwill oversee the
progress and implem~ntation of the programme. Similar.
ly, there will be State Level Coordination Committee
(SLCC) which will supervise and ,obtain appropriate
returns and records from DRDAsIZilla Parishads.~ . .
,Actitique
THE FOLLOWING POINTS EMERGE on a critical'
, examination of the Jawahar 'Rozgar Yojana. ,
1
Looking atthi: design ofthe JR Y as is now available in
the form of a Manual (August 1989) it seems that the
scheme has been fOrmulated, based on experience gained
in the implementati9n of programmes like Rural Works
Programme (RWP), Food For Works (FFW), Employ-
ment Guarantee Scheme (EGS) in Maharashtra, National'. I -.
Rural Employment Programme (NREP) and Rural Land-
less Employment Gdarantee Programnie'(RLEGP} etc,, ,
, Various lessons learnt in the ev3.Iuation reports of
Programme Evaluation Organisation (PEO) ,and the
Public Accounts Cominitlee of Parliament have been in.
corporated in the guidelines. such as banning the
contractors, paymeni "fwages as per the Minimum WageSAct, payment of wages in cash-cum.kind, proVision of,
facilities at work sites like drinking water; creches for
children, etc. selection of schemes and preparation of an
annual action plan by the panchayats.
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2
Proper selection of the beneficiaries is the first require-
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JRY - a leap towards poverty alleviation
ANGSUMAN BASU
Diredor of Schoo) Edutafion, West Bengal
Objectives
THE NREP AND THE RLEGP HAD, among others,
the following common objectives:
The guidelines for implementation of the two program-
mes were with some -minor exception almost identical.
RLEGP, however, was supposed to be different from
NREP conceptually in programme contents and coverage
investments are channelised for the ultimate goal of max-
imising the direct and long term employment
.opportunities. Viewed in this perspective the new scheme
of J awah.r Rozgar Yojana (JR Y) was announced in Par-
liament last year by merging three employment generation
programmes of NREP, RLEGP and Jawahar Rozgar
Yojana (which was introduced only a few weeks ago by the
former Union Finance Minister while. presenting the
Union Budget for 1989-90).
creation of durable. and productive community
assets for direct and continuing benefits to the
poverty groups and for strengthening rural
economic and social infrastructurewhich can
lead to rapia growth in income leveis of the rural
poor; and
improvement in overall quality of life in the rural
areas.
generation and expansion of gainful employment
for the unemployed ~nd underemployed persons,
both men and women in the rural areas through;
(c)
(b)
(a)
The NREP was started in October, 1980 replacing the
Food for Work Programme and it became a major weapon
(rom April 1,1981.10 fight rural poverty as a component of
the Sixth Five Year Plan. The RLEGP was launched lateron August 15, 1983 and was accepted as a part of the Sixth
Plan strategy at creation and 'expan~ion of employmen't
opportunities, particularly for the rural landless people
with the hope to provide guaranteed employment upto 100
days in a year to at lea-st one member of every rural. landless
labour household. The role of the employment generation
programmes in reducing the incidence of rural poverty is
reflected in the Seventh Five Year Plan (1985-90) which
.has laid emphasis on food, work and productivity. The plan
also seeks to provide productive employment to everybody
in .need of the same and assign priority to ai r activities
which help in this regard. In other words, the Seventh Plan
UNEMPLOYMENT AND UNDER-EMPLOY-
MENT have been identified as the major contributory
factors for the very high incidence of poverty in the rural
areas ofthe country. It was precisely for this that the Sixth
Five Year Plan adopted a two:pronged strategy towards
eradication of poverty which aimed at redistribution of
income and consumption in favour of the poorer segments
of the rural people by significantly increasing employment
opportunities in th~ rural areas through creation of (a)
wage employment opportunities under the National Rural
Employment Programme (NREP) and the Rural Landless
Employment Guarantee Programme (RLEGP), and (b)
self employment opportunities under the Integrated Rural
Development Programme (IRDP) and some other areas
and/or skill development programmes reflected in sec-
toral plans.
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Development ata much laier stage of its implementation,confirmed most of the above lacunae. The report revealsthat: .
of larger works.' in actual practIce there is hardly any
difference between the NREP and the RLEGP,I'. .
The shortcomings
THE SHORTCOMINGS WHICH prevailed in respect
..of one programme were basically those which were
noted in the context of the other: Evaluations undertaken
by different agendes have disclosed the followhlg major
weaknesses of the two programmes:- .
(i) While each of NREP and RLEGP proVided
short-term emplbyment;none of them was effec-
tive in so far as providing long term and
continuous employment and the programmes
could not lead to any significanl increase in the
employment of the indiVidual worker o~ in his
.level of liVing,which were the declared objectivesof both the programmes;
(il) Coverage of the programmes and .allocation
under them were both insufficient.
(i)
(ii) .
(iii)
(iv)
(v)
in 8 years of implementation of the programme,
only 55 per cent vi)Iageswere covered;
I .
there was inadequate investment under the. I
programme. When the employment guarantee
scheme required Rs.8 crores per district per year,
the fund proVision.proVided was Rs3 erores per
district; .
high spending on' economically non-productive
works like buildings and roads (above 48%)
restricted the sCope for employment generation;
separate administration of. basically identical
schemes under NREP and RLEGP created
duplication of agen.ciesand unnece~sarydrainage
of money;.and : '.
I
lack of public involvement.
(iii) No systematic efforts were made to assess the
nature and extent of employment and plan the
works so that continuous employment could be
offered to the rural poor. Moreover, the long term
goal of the two programmes, namely, .the
rehabilitation of the poor in the mainstream ofthe
economy by increasing its labour absorbingcapacity through the creation of durable and
productive community assets could not als~ be
achieved. The reason behind this shortcoming
~as the lack of articulate planning at micro level
caused by an absence of popular planning bodies
at the district level and beiow.
(iv) Leakages of fund were quile substantial in each
of the programmes. The leakages were 'caused
mostly through engagement of contractors in one
-form or the other in most of the States.
(v) There was absence of adequate monitoring both
at micro and mac'ro levels.
(Vi). There was fitiIe response from the rural poor as
their involvement in the planning and execulion
of schemes under both the employment gcncra-
tion programmes was negligible.
The balance
RESULTS OF CONCURRENT EVALUATION ofNREP, introduced by the Union Department of Rural
18
Merger
INTHE CONTEXT OF THE WEAKNESSES noticed
in NREP and RLEGP as also considering the identical .
nature of programme objectives and methodology, therewas growing demand from economists, planners and the
administrators ior the merger of the two major employ-
ment generation programmes into a more comprehensive
beller knit programme. This demand was being actively
considered by the Government of India and ultimately the
two programmes converge(J with the newly intro.duced
. Jawahar Rozgar Yojana in April 1989. The new
programme, after the merger of NREP and RLEGP, has " I
come to he known as the Jawahar Rozgar Yojana after the
name of the first Prime Minister of the country. The
announcement of the new programme after the name ofi
Jawaharlal Nehru has perhaps been in the fitness of things
in the centenary year of the much respected leader of the
country.
ObjectivesI
. I
THE QUESTION MAY OBVlOUSL Y arise now as to
. what really the Jawahar Rozgar Yojana aims at achiev-
ing atid how does it differ from its predecessor
programmes. The objectives of the JRY have beendeclared to be as under:-
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(a) Primary objective
Generation of additional gainful employment for the
unemployed and underemployed persons, both men and
'!Vomen,in the rural areas.
(b) Secondary objectives(i) Creation of productive community asserts for direct
and continuing benefits to the poverty groups and for
strengthening rural economic and social infrastructure,
which will lead to rapid growth of rural economy and
steady rise in the income levels of the rural poor.
(ii) Improvement in the overall quality oflife in the rural
areas.
The Primary objective of JR Y is, without any change of
.form or even language, the same as objective No. (i) ofNREP. The other two JRY objectives in the secondary
area convey the same ideas as those ofNREP and RLEG P.
The basic difference is that the 'guarantee'element of
RLEGP has been completely dropped from the objectives
of JRY. If the lessons from the execution of RLEGP
during the past few years b.eany indicator, this omission
was perhaps called for.
The gains
W
HAT THEN THE COUNTRY may expect really to
, gain from the new programme in the period of itsexecution? The gains are expected to be many. Firstly,
merger of the three employment creation programmes will
eliminate the chances of having two or more parallel ad-
ministrative agencies at one stroke and there will be an
integrated implementation of JRY under the supervision
and control of one agency. In fact the growth of multiplicity.
of programmes and agencies since the decline of the Com-
munity Development Programme has created adminis-
trative difficulties and lack of cohesion resulting in tardy.
achievements in almost all the sectors. In this connection
it may be recalled that introduction of RLEGP in August,1983was ~Olviewed with favour since there already existed
a similar programme of NREP.
Secondly, it is certainly. in the intercst or planning that
the three programmes should havc becn mergcd. With an
enhanced outlay for a single programme, aiming at
employment generation through ,creation of productive
assets, planning at grassroots level and above will not only
become easier but also will be morc comprehensive.
Monitoring at the execution stage similarlywillbc possible
in the desired direction.
KURUKSHETRA January, 1990
Thirdly, JRY guidelines are clear with regard to timely
release of funds directly to die district level Panchayati Raj
body (the Zilla Parishad - DRDA, where Zilla Parishad
has not been constituted or is not functioning) which, as a
planning body, will, therefore, be in a better position to
decide the priority in consultation with the Gram
PanchayatslMandals or the lowest planning unit.
Fourthly, coverage of entire rural areas under JRY has
been envisaged by making.it obligatory on the part of the
Zilla ParisahdIDRDA to distribute minimum of SOper
cent resources to Gram PanchayatsIMandais.
Lastly, but not the least, the Yojana envisages resource
allocation to States/UTs on the basis of incidence of rural
poverty alone instead of 50 per cent weightage to poverty
and the rest 50 per cent weightage on combined number
of marginal farmers, agricultural labourers etc._
The changed basis of distribution of resources on pover-.
ty incidence. only is a most welcome ~nesince it is
contemplatcd in the interest of ensuring wider coverage of
the rural poor. Once the State allocations are decided on
the indcx of-poverty o.nly,the allocations to districts in a
State will, however, be guided on the baSis of backward,
ness formulated on the principle of percentage of
agricultural labourers to main workers in rural areas, per.
centage of rural SC/ST population to total rural
population anc;! inverse of agricultural productivity
defined as the value of agriculture produce out of each unit
of land for the rural areas taken on the net basis in the
weights of 20:60:20.Again, the distribution of resources to
village Panchayats from the district will be made on the
basis of population of e.achvillage Panchayat.
The norms fIXedunder JRY for village Panchayat-wise
resource distribution o n the basis of population, however,
will pose a th~eat to the concept of district planning since
the planning body will not be able to allocate more resour-
ces on one or more items/areas decided. on -priorityunder
thc JRY. For instance, construction of sehool1>uildings
.undcr the operation Black Board Programme in seJectedO.B. blocks, so long undertaken under NREP &RLEGP,
will face tremendous resource constraint under the JRY
guidclincs and planning for school building will receive a
jolt unlcss sufficienl fund from other sources can be ar-
ranged for the purpose. When, however,_larger coverage
of areas under employment generation is considered as the
major objcctive of Ihe programme, the uniformity in al-
location of resources among Gram Panchayats on
population basis has to be. accepted as sound. Indira
Awaas Yojana (lAY) will, however, nol suffer since 6
pcrccnt of earmarked JR Y fund will be operated at the
district leveL .
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The weaknesses
Fund utilization
THE YOJANA P~ESCRIBES the pattern of utiliza-tion of fund received at the district and GramPanchayatleveIs. Of the total allocation received by the
DRDNZiIla Parishad, 6 per cent is earmarked for Indira
Awaas Yojana which is to be utilised at the district levelfor buildinglA Y houses in SC;ST areas of different blocks.
After earmarking of allocation for ]AY, 80 per cent of the
remaining grants will go to the Gram Panchayats 'and
DRDASlZilla Parishads will retain balance 20 per cent.
DRDAs/Zilla Parlshads and Gram Panchayats are to
utilise their share of the funds received under JR Y asfollows:.
(i) Administrative expenditure upto 5%
(ii) Expenditure on maintenance upto 10%
Balance resources will be utilised for different sectoralprogrammes as under:.
(a) Economically productive assets 35%
(b) Social forestry works 25%
(c) Individual beneficiaries schemes for SC/ST
including Million Well Scheme 15%
(d) Other works including dads and buildings 25%
Wage and' non.wage components on the, works under
the JR Y willnormally be 50:50but under no circumstances
wage component should be less than 50 per cent as wasthe
case under NREP & RLEGP. The wages to be paid wili
be also not less than those enVisagedunder the Minimum
Wages Act of the respective States as was the practiceunder NREP &RLEGP. '
A,ction plans
THE DRDAs/ZILLA PARISHADs will have to
, p'repare sheIf of projects which will form thc Annual
Action Plan of the district. Ther,e is nothing new in this as
similar provisions existed in the guidelines for NREP andRLEGP. But the Plans of Action for development of
villages in the jurisdiction of Gram Panchayats need dis-
cussion thoroughly in the meetings of gram panchayat and
the final decisions arrived at should determine the plan of
works to be taken up during a particular year. The
guidelines prescribe thai while preparing the plan of
works, care should be taken to safeguard the interests of
the weaker sections in the .villageand highest priority
should be givento the works benefiting the SC/ST, Women
and the oth'er weaker sections of the village society. Again,
20
the Gram Sabha (village assembly) has to be apprised of
the progress of implementation of the programme at least
twice a year. Thus, the JR Y pins hope in the people and
docs not propose withholding of information from the
people. This is a very welcome aspect of JR Y and here the
JRY wins a victory over its predecessor programmes.
As regards the investment component of works to be
undertaken at village level under the Yojana, no ceiling has
been imposed on the cost, but it has been direcied that only
such works should generally be taken up whose size, cost
and nature are such that may be implemented at the local
level and do not involvehigh level of technical inputs, etc.
lt has been further directed that large and costly works
should not be taken up nor works in which there is a large
,component o(skilled wages or material purchase should
normally be taken up. This leads one to doubt if the very
small amount of project-wise investment will lead ul-timately to creation of productive community assets for
direct and continuing benefits to the rural poor as also for
strengthening rural economiC and social infrastructure.,
I
CONCEPTUALLY THE JRY IS certainly an im-proved employment programme. and is much betterconeeiv,ed than the earlier' programmes of NREP and
RLEGP: But it also suffers from various weaknesses.
Some of them emanate from the fact that although the
implementing agencies at the GramlMandai Panchayats
have been asked to formulate and execute economically
productive ,schemes, none the less they have not been
provided any technical support/staff. Again, though the
physical and financial audit of the'works implemented by
the gram panchayat have been made, compulsory, the
authority which should undertake the job has not been
specified. Moreover, the staff pattern of the grassroots
level panchayats does not, in most cases, have the com-
petence of accounts keeping involving lakhs of rupees.
Besides, though the manual of JR Y forbids employment
of contractors or middlemen in one form or other forexecuting works under the Yojana, it is apprehended that
even under the Panchayati Raj bodies the middle men will
continue to have their shares in the same way in which they
enjoyed the benefits under NREP & RLEGP (both of
which also banned employme~t of contractors).
The programme has been !launched with high hopes
with total proposed expenditure of Rs.2,625 crores of
(Contd. on page 25)
KURUKSHETRA January, 1990
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Give pancbayats '.operationalifreedom
iunder.JRY:.
PROF. s.P. RANGA. RAO
Osmailia University, Hyderabad
FORTYTWO YEARS AFTER 1NDEPENDENCE
and implementation of seven' Five Year Plans, indc-
pendent India is still faced with the stupenduous task of
providing a livelihood for its 440 lakhs rural families living
below the poverty line. Thanks to the Green Revolution of
the sixties and later industrial progress, India could
develop a self-reliant economyinspite of several hand-
icaps. However, the fruits of development were cornered
largely by the rich in rural areas thereby further widening
the gap between the rich and the poor. The task of provid-
ing gainful and productive employinent to the rural poor
remains unfulfilled inspite of repeated attempts to do so
under different centnilly sponsored programmes.
Earlier employment schemes ..
STARTING WITH THE RURAL MANPOWERProgramme, schemes such as the crash programme forrural employment, Pilot Intensive Rural Employmcnt
programmes,.Food for Worlq; Programme, National Rural'
Employment Programme' (NREP) and Rural Landless
Employment Guarantee Programme (RLEGP) wcrc un-dertaken by the various-States at the instance of the
Government of India with a view to p",vidinggainfu! wage
employment to the rural poor.Ofthese the Food for Work
, Programme, started with effect from the lSI April, 1977 as
a non-plan scheme, may be described as a milestone in the
wage employment anti-poverty programmes. It was aimed
at generating additional employment to the poor while
irrigation works, soil conservation, land'reclamation, af.
forestation, construction of school buildings, etc. were
permitted to be taken up undet the. scheme. The
programme was undertaken on :50:50 financial cOntribu-
tion by the Centre and the States. In addition to cash
contribution the Centre was also providing foodgrains as
grant-in-aid to the States. In practice more than 60 per cent
of the man days of work generated under the scheme per- .
tained to the repair of village roads. As perthe guidelines
of Ihi: Government of India, preference to ~o'di:s benefit-I ...
ing .backward areas and members of SCs and S:rs Were
given under the programme. Thoughthe scheme b,*"me
popular, its slow progress was attributed to orgamsatiodal
bottlCnecks, absence of proper planning and failure to
choosc appropriate project mix,1
A numoerof other draw-.'backs were also detected in tlie.working of NREP. For
instance, the employment provided was for a very shorl
period of time. There were irregularities in.the-_seleetio~
of thc beneficiaries and consequently to the poorest of the'
. poor, for whom the programme was really. intended, were
oflen ignored.2
The works undertaken benefited the con-
tractors more than anyone else~
I
L.Pandey, K.C. Rural Developme~lin Modem India; New/Delhi,1986,p. 128;
2.. Annuai Report, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development,
Government of India, 1986~7, p.23.
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Exactly two years after NREP was launched the
Government of India announced the establishment of
RLEGP to provide gainful employment to at least one
person in every poor family living in rural India. The
objective of the new programme was to provide employ-
ment of atleast 100 days in a year for one member of every
landless family. Unlike for the sister scheme here theGovernment of India provided 100 percent financial assis-
tance. The objective of the programme was to create
durable assets for the strengthening of the infrastructure
for the rapid ll':0wth of rural economy and for. improving
the quality oflife in rural areas.3 However ,inpractice many
drawbacks were noticed in the implementation of the
programme. For instance, more importance was attached
to creating permanent assets and generating employment
potential among the poor which was .considered secon-
dary. Along with some landless, others also could manage
to get the benefit of the scheme. The NREP and the
RLEGP were administered through the .Panchayati Raj
Institutions like the Zilla Parish ads and the Panchayat
Samithis. Inefficient management, limited finances
coupled with increase in population wcrc identified as
major limitations for successful functioning of these
programmes of rural development. It is said that over a
period of seven years these two programmes could reach
only 55 fer 'cent of the village panchayats around the
country.
Jawahar Rozgar Yojana
WITH EFFECf FROM THE 1st April, 1989, the
Government of India decided to merge the NREP
and RLEGP into. a new scheme known as the Jawahar
Rozgar Yojana (JR Y) with an outlay of Rs.2100 crores for
the year 1989-90 (the amount has since been enhanced by
Rs.5oo crores). The scheme which aims at reachi~g all the
Panchayats in the country has several distinct features
compared to the earlier schemes. In the first place, money
is made available directly to the Sarpanchas of the gram
panehayats. Since the emphasis is an elimination of paver.
ty; funds arc distributed to the districts on the basis of theproportion to the size of the population which falls below
the poverty line. The other criteria prescribed for back-
wardness arc the share of thc SCs and STs to the total
population, proportion of -agricultural labour 10 tolal
labour and level of agricultural pr.oductivily. An average
village with three to four thousand population is to get
.Rs.80,OOOto one lakh per year under the programme. The
3. Instructions for the lmplem
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should be considered as thousand. The formula for dis-
tribution is said to provide a raw deal to tribal villages.
Thus thi: district as a whole may obtain more fund~ be-
cause of the large tnoal population but the invariably small
tribal villages would get1imited funds compared to the
larger non-tnoal viIIagesobf the district. The expenditure
targets presenOed may, prove to be another'major hurdle ..
for the panchayats. The Union Government prescribedexpenditure targets of 10 percent, 20 percent, 25 percent
and 35 per cent for the four quarterS of the year and any
shortfall in a quarter would result in proportionate reduc-
, lion in the release" of next instalment; It is almost
impossible for the panchayats with their several limitations
to stick to the schedule and maintain eXpenditure targets
on works. Consequently they would stand to lose the
benefit of the fullgrant. '
Sectoral. allocations prescribed for ihe Yojana to be.
strictly"followed may prove to be another major impedi-
ment in the efficient utilisation of funds ..Out of the total
allocation for the di,trict, six percent is meant ror the
IndiraAwaas Yojana and out ofthe balancea'mount 80
percent is distributed among .the Panchayats 'and 20 per-
cent is retained by the Zilla Pa.rishad.Out of the funds
retained by the Zilla Parishad, five percent and ten percent'
are set apart for administrative eXpenditure and main-
\te.;ance respectively. The balance amOliili is to be utilised
'for i\ifferent sectoral works. Out of L"e total works 35
perCe'!.t is earmarked for economically productive assets,
25 'percent for social forestry, fifteen percent for SC/ST
b'ene~ciari~ (includingjeewan dhara
scheme) .aDd 25 per-'cent for o!her works including roads and buildings. The,
same eXpenditure pattern has to be followed by the Gram
Panchayats', also which is described by many as an her-
culean task.
THE YOJANA. PRESCRIBES that the followingschemes/works may betaken up by theparishadslpanchayats: social forestry, construction of ir-
rigation wells, tanks, field channels, drains, ponds,
-drinking water wens, water resources, rural roads,_panchayat ghars, buildings, mahila' mandals, sanitary
latrines, houses and the. development of house sites. Ac-
cording to the guidelines no work which could not be
completed within tWo years should be taken up. Most of
the works listed out need amounts of money and hence~
the smaller panchayats would find it very difficult to stick
to the sectoral allocations. Further the grain panchayats
have to strike a balance between the wage and non-wage
coD?-ponents,undertake planning, execution an d monitor.
iog of wor~s, maintairi the muster rolls of workers
KURUKSHETRA January, 1990
employed and records of assets created while managing
the maintenance of assets created and providing training
for personnel. Evidently, in most cases it would be beyond
the comprehension of the sarpanchas to meaningfully un-
dertake any of these functions. .
Earlier, the Zilla Parishads were utilising the funds by
undertaking sufficiently large works at considerable cost
in select panchayats. The practice provided considerable
patronage for the Parishads which was utilised by influen: .
tial surpanchas usually belonging to bigger panchayats.
With the discontinuation of the NREP and RLEGP, the
Parishads tOday .are faced with the problem of rmding
money for the half-finished works such as construction of
school buildings, irrigation wells and operation black-
board. Under the JRYthe Parishads are permitted to
spend only twenty percent of the funds allotted to them for
spill over'works, whiCh are said to be grossly inadequate ..
For instance, the twenty percent works out to Rs.30 crores
in Andhra Pradesh whereas the spill over works requireRS.70 crores. Now it has'become the reSponsibility of the
State government to provide funds for the completion of
the unfinished works, failing which they have to be aban-
. doned. .
The Panchayat SamithislMandal Praja Parishads are
the worst affected under the new scheme. Earlier they
were associated with the management of NREP /RLEGP
. works while they stand completely alienated under the
JRY. In Andhra Pradesh several Presidents ofMPPs have
commented that it pays more to be a Sarpanch that to be
a President cif MPP.
There are about 19540 .gram panchayats in Andhra
Pradesh of which 18372 are lpinor panchayats with less
than 5000 population and an annual income of less than
Rs.40,OOO. There are a few thousand panchayats which.
have practically no income worth the name. It is these
small panchayats which are .benefited most linder the
Yojana. Of the total Panchayats in the State, 46 per cent
of the Sarpanchas owe allegiance to the TOP while 44 per
cent are Congressmen, the rest being independents and
others. For the year 1989-90, ihe Government ofIndia have.provided RS.l48.44 crores while the State Government
have contributed RS.37.11 crores. .
Recently, a survey was conducted by News Time, a
popular English daily published from Hyderabad, to elicit
th~ opinion of the functionaries of Panchayati Raj in the
State on JR Y. The survey covered several districts of the
State from which hundreds of Sarpanchas and a few Presi-
dents/Chairmen of MPPslZPPs were interviewed. The
survey revealed that almost all sarpanchas, irrespective of
their party affiliatiOli, have expressed their appreciation on
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the Yojana, under which, for the fIrst time in their long
existence, the panchayats have received large amount of
money (according to their standards) even without asking.
for the same. The comments of a President of a MPP
belonging to TOP appears to rellect the popular feeling in
the State about JRY. He thinks that, "Before voicing any
protest against the bill and the Yojana the mood of the
people sbould be read." Further, he feels thilt. there is"tremendous enthusiasm among the rural masses about.the
Yojana" and apprehends that "anybody who opposes the
aspirations and genuine demands of the people in the gram
Panchayats would be written ofr. The funds available for
undertaking development works by providing employment
to the poor albeit on a limited scale would help the
Panchayats for theflfsttime to meet certain pressing needs
oUhe .villagers. The Sarpanchas feel that certain basic
needs such as protected drinking water, construction of
side drains, link roads, repair of dilapidated school build-
ings, provision of streetlights have totally neglected so farwhich could be taken up under the scheme:
A tribal MPPpresident when asked by the News Time
survey team as to how the not-well-educated surpanchas
without training would be alile to implement the JRY,
makes a cryptic remark that "the British also used to say
that the Indians who were illiterate wlluld not be able to
handle swaraj". He feels, "the testimony is all before us to
see how Indians have strengthened democracy". Another
Sarpanch belonging to CPI(M) described how, after "a lot
of bodding" and "intense lobbying" with the President of
the MPP, he could get a borewell and a few street lig)Jts
for his village. As he could not secure money for fIxingthe.
bulbs, he had to borrow some amount "from a 10c3JfInan-
cer". It is unfortunate that at alime when the Government
allover the country are trying to rescue poor citizens from
the clutches of money-lenders, an elected Panchayat had
to borrow money for a public cause from a private party.
Yet another Sarpanch says that the JR Y "should havebeen
implemented some forty yearsago".
The apprehensions
THERE ARE A LARGE NUMBER of people whofeel that there may be gross misuse of fu.nds by the. Sarpanchas. But it should be remembered that unlike the
higher levels of local government the village is too small a
place for the sarpanch to do anything without the public
. noticing it. When asked about :the probable misuse of
funds, one Sarpaitch remarked: "If we swallow the public
24
money which is coming to the village after ages we Would
have to digest it only in heaven". On the other haitd today
the Sarpanchas are under tremendous pressure to take np
works to meet the competing demands of local gr011JlS.
Inter-group rivalries, more factionalism and even violence
are going to surface in several villages in the utilisation of
JR Y funds. i
Though funds are provide4 by the Union Governinent,
it is the Panehayat legislation which is the source of
authority for the GramPanchayats to act. Infad, the large
number of obligatory and perrissive funCtions mentioned
in the Panchayat laws all over the countIy havebeaime
meaningful and operational for the fIrst time because of
JR Y funds. The Sarpanchas .are of course aCcountable to.
the State authorities only. They sbould send the details of
works undertak~n and the money spent. on each item to
the concerned State offIcers from time to time. The com-
missioner of Panchayati Raj, Andhra Pradesb has alreadyI - - cautioned that "action would be taken as per the Panchayat
Act in case of irregularities". For instance, action against
a Sarpanchwho purchased a horse with the JRY'fundsunder the pretext that he h~s to inspect a few hamlets
under his jurisdiction has already been initiated by the
State authorities. The Union Government has no Qpera-tional control over the funds provided by them. They could
only reduce or withdraw the grant if they so desire. The
Government of India ~ave of course gained considerable
political clout for providing funds to the villages directly.
An over-view
THERE IS BITTER CRITICISM that the Union. Government have ignored the State Governments inproviding funds to the Gram Panchayats directly. Even
earlier they were providing funds to the DRDA directly.
But the present move has gained political signifIcance in
the context of the political climate and the strained Centre-
State relations. The Union Government mentioned two
reasons for the c;lireetfunding of Panchayats. Flfstly, the
funds provided for the NREPIRLEGP are either not fuIIy
utilised or diverted for/other purposes. For instance, .the
former Union Minister of State for Rural Development
revealed that in Andhra Pradesh funds provided for both
. the schemes remained partly unspent to the extenl shown
. in the followingtable:5 i. I
I
5. News Time, Hyderabad, dt. 25.9.1989
,
KURUKSHETRAJanuary, 1990
,
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RLEGP (Amount In crores 01 Rupees)
Year Funds released Funds utilised
19l16-81 74.86 70.80
1987018 "79.41 6Z.31
1988-89 93.50 63.8Z
NREP
1986-87 116.86 88.53
1987018 74.44 58.92
198U9 102.89 67.55
Though the Panchayati Raj Institutions at the district
and the block levels are unhappy, th.~Gram Panchaya~
feel extremely happy about the unexpected gift "fromthe
heaven" which would permit them to meet some of the
longstanding needs of the villages. However, the Sar.parichas have to face several hardships in spending the
money made available to them. The guidelines are so
. complicated that in theabsenee of asSistance from offi.
cials, the'Sarpanchas may not w.derstl!"d ~em. Majorityof the Pil.nchayats in the country do 'not have qualified
executive assistance. Even where officials are .available
..they may, instead ofdemystifyipg the guidelines, bring in.
more bureaucratic complications