annual report 2013 14 english

Ministry of Rural DevelopmentGovernment of India

ANNUAL REPORT2013-14

Annual Report 2013-14

Ministry of Rural DevelopmentGovernment of India

www.rural.nic.in

ANNUAL REPORT2013-2014

iiiAnnual Report 2013-14

Contents

Organisation

Rural Employment

National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM)-Aajeevika

Aajeevika Skills

Rural Connectivity

Rural Housing

National Social Assistance

Provision of Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA)

District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) Administration

Rural Development Activities in Special Areas

Empowerment of Women

Development of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes

Caring for the Differently Abled

Welfare of Minorities

Autonomous Bodies Under the Ministry

Training and Capacity Building

Information, Education & Communication

Official Language

International Co-operation

Implementing E-Governance

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

3

11

23

35

44

65

73

76

78

81

90

98

102

105

107

111

125

127

129

136

Department of Rural Development

An Overview of the Ministry v

iv Annual Report 2013-14

Ministry of Rural Development

Monitoring and Evaluation

Poverty Studies

Right to Information

Strengthening of Panchayati Raj Institutions

Greening Rural Development

Department of Land Resources

Watershed Management Programmes

Initiatives Under Watershed Programme

Land Reforms

Technology Development Extension Training (TDET)

Administrative Matters

Annexures

Department of Rural Development (I to XXXVIII)

Department of Land Resources (XXXIX to LIII)

21.

22.

23.

24.

25.

26.

27.

28.

29.

30.

31.

32.

140

146

151

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159

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184

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237

vAnnual Report 2013-14

Overview

Globally, rural areas account for three in every four poor people spending less than $1 a day. Similarly, around 75% of people suffering from malnutrition reside in rural areas across the globe. India has the largest rural population in the world. Sixty-nine per cent of Indian population, i.e. 833 million people, lives in rural areas. The population of rural India is about 12% of the world population, which makes it bigger than the size of Europe. Also, rural India is vastly heterogeneous. Villages vary widely in size. As per census 2011, 32.95% villages have less than 500 people whereas 58.17% cent of the rural population lives in villages of over 2,000 people.

Most of the rural people remain engaged in farm related activities. It is difficult to eke out a living from the small & marginal farms upon which over 80 per cent of rural households depend. Even with declining share in the total GDP, agriculture continues to engage around half the countrys total workforce and over two-thirds of the rural workforce. However, over the years, households were forced to look for non-farm activities to supplement their income. Supplementing this push factor due to agrarian

distress, opportunities stemming from urban growth and rise of rural manufacturing sector proved to be a great pull factor in diverting the rural economy towards non-farm activities. With around 43% of households now relying on non-farm activities as their major source of income, it has substantially contributed to reducing rural poverty. Despite this unemployment rate in rural India has increased by 2% in rural areas. As on January 1, 2010, the number of unemployed was 9.8 million. By January 1, 2012, it has increased to 10.8 million.

In rural areas the poverty ratio remained above 50 per cent with a marginal decline until mid-1990s but declined faster thereafter. Between 1983 and 1994, rural poverty declined nearly 1 per cent annually and urban poverty declined 2.4 per cent annually. Between 1999 and 2010 the decline in the poverty ratio accelerated to 2.7 per cent annually for rural areas and 4.8 per cent annually for urban areas. The faster decline in the poverty ratio is attributable to the higher growth of the economy.

Between 1983 and 2010, the incidence of severe poverty, i.e. those living below 75 per cent of

An Overview

9th MGNREGA Day on 2nd February 2014MGNREGA Sammelan at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi

vi Annual Report 2013-14


the poverty line, also declined significantly. Between 1983 and 1997 the rate of decline was 2.6 per cent annually and between 1999 and 2010 nearly 6.2 per cent annually. The percentage of severely poor as a percentage of total poor declined from more than half in the 1980s to around one-third by 2010.

Poverty is multidimensional. Using broader measures of human development, such as education, health and standard of living indicators, it is seen that it is widespread in rural India. Studies have revealed that India is among the countries with high child malnutrition in the world. India ranked 108 out of 122 nations using Hunger Index, in 2011. A common critique has been that the food intake is deficient in key nutrients in many places. Likewise, education among the rural children remains a concern. Though, India has achieved nearly universal enrolment in lower primary education, school attendance gaps persist among socio-economic groups. As per a report, for every 100 children who enroll in Class I, about 30 drop out before reaching Class V and more than 40 before reaching Class VIII. On the health front, poor hygienic conditions cause high child mortality rate. The under-5 mortality rate in rural India was 56 per 1,000 live births in 2012 which is very high.

A marked feature of rural poverty is its growing regional concentration in States like Jharkhand, Bihar, Assam, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh where the proportion of the poor far exceeds their share of population. In 1993-94, nearly 50 per cent of Indias rural poor lived in these states. This figure rose to 63 per cent in 2009-10 and 65 per cent in 2011-12 indicating increasing concentration in these states caused mainly by reduction in the number of rural poor in other States.

However, w i th the cur ren t pace o f development, India will find it difficult to achieve the crucial UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) related to reduction in poverty, hunger and infant mortality. The poverty ratio is likely to be 26.7% by 2015 as against the target of 23.9%, while infant

mortality rate (IMR) is expected to be 43 per 1,000 live births against the milestone of bringing it down to 27, according to the Statistical Year Book 2013 released by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India. India is also required to reduce the mortality rate for children under-five years to 42 per 1,000 live births by 2015. However, the current estimates suggest that it would be around 52 when the MDG deadline lapses.

Promoting development in rural areas is a slow and complex process faced with many challenges. It requires simultaneous action in various sectors, in an environment undergoing rapid, sometimes volatile change. The change comes from internal as well as external processes. To accelerate these processes, the financial and human resources devoted to the implementation of rural development programmes need to be greatly augmented. Present level of rail, road and communication linkages need substantial up-scaling. The enhancement of productivity and income of rural communities is at the core of rural development. Due to lack of adequate options, majority of the rural population rely on agriculture and farm-related works for their livelihood. Moreover, social and economic inequality adversely affects peoples quality of life, leading to a higher incidence of poverty.

However, in tune with global scenario rural India is also undergoing a gradual but sweeping transformation. Greater exposure to outside world has raised rural aspirations for a better quality of life. Recent data shows that rural monthly per capita consumption expenditure (MPCE) grew at a rapid 5.5 per cent a year between 2009-10 and 2011-12 (NSSO 2012). While average rural MPCE remains about half of urban, the growth in rural income and expenditure is reflected in a sharp drop in rural poverty to less than 26 per cent from 34 per cent in just two years. With its growing purchasing power, the rural market is no longer a residual retail market. Products are being designed to cater specifically to rural demand. Rural India is making its presence felt.

viiAnnual Report 2013-14

Overview

Also, the larger villages are rapidly emerging as vibrant growth poles organically linked to urban centers. The key drivers are India's accelerated consumption-led growth, significant improvement in infrastructure & communication, and increased government spending on programmes for rural development. Rural incomes, which were dependent mostly on farm income, are now boosted by trading, agro-processing and ancillary industries. Rising procurement prices and increasing access to finance have also boosted rural incomes and improvement in physical growth.

Being the nodal Ministry for most of the development and welfare activities in rural areas, the Ministry of Rural Development [with its two Departments of Rural Development and Land Resources], plays a pivotal role in rural upliftment. The mission of the Ministry of Rural Development is sustainable and inclusive growth of rural India through a multi-pronged strategy for eradication of poverty by increasing livelihood opportunities, providing social safety net and developing infrastructure for growth and improvement of quality of life in rural India. The Ministry has devised different programmes to meet primary needs of rural population such as employment, infrastructural development, social assistance etc.

With the aforementioned challenges in mind, the Ministry has set for itself the following objectives:

i) Enhancement of livelihood security of households in rural areas by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to every household willing to do unskilled labour.

ii) Providing livelihood opportunities by effective implementation of NRLM.

iii) Provision of all weather connectivity to unconnected rural habitations and upgradation of existing rural roads.

iv) Providing basic housing and homestead to BPL households in rural areas.

v) Providing social assistance to the elderly, widow and disabled persons.

vi) Capacity building and training.

vii) Promoting voluntary action.

viii) Increasing transparency and accountability through social audit.

ix) Restoring lost or depleted productivity of the land. This is done through watershed development programmes and initiating effective land reform measures for providing land to the landless rural poor.

Financial Performance of the Ministry of Rural DevelopmentDepartment of Rural Development

The Budget allocation increased from `11437 crore in 2004-05 to `52000 crore in 2012-13.

The allocation in Revised Estimates (RE) for 2013-14 was kept as `59310 crore against which a sum of `58630.15 crore has been released by the Department in the rural development sector. In addition, a sum of `9614 crore was spent under National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) during 2013-14 which was Additional Central Assistance.

Department of Land Resources

The Budget estimates and the central releases were `3000 crore (BE) and `2986 crore (RE) respectively in 2012-13.

During 2013-14, Budget allocation was `5765 and an amount of `2487.79 crore was released upto 31st March, 2014 against `2500 crore kept at RE level.

The following major programmes are being operated by the Ministry of Rural Development in rural areas, (i) Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), (ii) National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM), (iii) Indira Awas Yojana (IAY), (iv) Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana

viii Annual Report 2013-14


(PMGSY), (v) National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP), and (vi) Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP).

MGNREGA

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is a rights-based wage employment programme aiming at enhancing livelihood security by providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. The core objectives of the Scheme are:

Providing not less than one hundred days of unskilled manual work as a guaranteed employment in a financial year to every household in rural areas as per demand, resulting in creation of productive assets of prescribed quality and durability.

Strengthening the livelihood resource base of the poor;

Proactively ensuring social inclusion and

Strengthening Panchayati Raj Institutions.

The major goals of MGNREGA are to:

Enhance livelihood security of the rural poor by generating wage employment opportunities in works that develop the infrastructure base of the area concerned.

Rejuvenate the natural resource base of the area concerned.

Create a productive rural asset base

Stimulate the local economy by providing a safety net to rural poor.

Ensure empowerment to women.

Strengthen grass-roots democratic institutions.

The key achievements of the programme are:

Since i t s incept ion in 2006, around `1,63,754.41 crores have been disbursed directly as wage payments to rural worker households.

1,657.45 crore person-days of wage employment has been generated.

An approach road under construction (MGNREGA)

ixAnnual Report 2013-14

Overview

On an average, five crore rural households have been provided with wage employment each year since 2008.

Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes participation has been 48 per cent till 31st March, 2014.

Women have accounted for 48 per cent of the total person-days generated. This is well above the mandatory 33 per cent as required under the Act.

Since the beginning of the programme, 260 lakh works have been taken up under the Act.

Average wage per person-day has gone up by 81 per cent since the inception of the programme. The notified wage today varies from a minimum of `153 in Meghalaya to `236 in Haryana.

An Electronic Fund Monitoring System (eFMS) and Electronic Muster Management System (eMMS) has been introduced to ensure quick and transparent operations. Also, Aadhaar enabled direct electronic crediting of account payments to workers provides interoperability among banks and Business Correspondents (BC).

NRLM (Aajeevika)

NRLM is the second largest program of the Ministry in terms of allocation and coverage, and it seeks to reach out to 810 crore rural poor households and organize them into SHGs and federations at village and at higher levels by 2021-22. While doing so, NRLM ensures adequate coverage of poor and vulnerable sections of the s o c i e t y i d e n t i f i e d t h r o u g h Par t ic ipatory processes and approved by Gram Sabha. A strong convergence with P.R.I s is an important feature of the program.

During the year 2013-14, Aajeevika-NRLM has focused on supporting the State Missions in transiting to NRLM by fulfilling all the requirements, setting up implementation architecture, strengthening them by providing comprehensive induction training and capacity building support. As of March, 2014, 27 States and the Union Territory of Puducherry have transited to NRLM and set up SRLMs. The Resource blocks initiated during the year 2012-13 have shown impressive results in terms of quality of community institutions and generation of social capital. NRLM has focused on creating special strategies and initiating pilots to reach out to the most marginalized and vulnerable communities Persons with Disabilities (PwDs), the elderly, Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs), bonded labour, manual scavengers, victims of human trafficking, etc. During the year emphasis was also placed on strengthening the institutional systems in terms of adopting Human Resource Manual, Financial Management manual and roll out of interest subvention program. Around 1.58 lakh youths have set up their own enterprises with the help of Aajeevika. 24.5 lakh Mahila Kisans have also been provided support.

NRLM assisted SHGs at work

x Annual Report 2013-14


Skill Development

Aajeevika Skills is the skill and placement initiative of Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India (MoRD). It is part of the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM)-Aajeevika. It evolved out of the need to diversify incomes of the rural poor and to cater to the occupational aspirations of their youth. It aims to skill rural youth who are poor and provide them with jobs having regular monthly wages at or above the minimum wages. The programmes focus is on skilling and placement in the formal sector for rural youth who are poor. During the year 2013-14 a target of 5 lakh was set against which 2,08,843 persons were trained and 1,39,076 were placed till March, 2014.

PMGSY

The Government of India, as part of poverty reduction strategy, launched the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) on 25th December 2000 as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme to assist States, though roads other than National Highways are in the State List under the Constitution. The primary objective of the programme is to provide g o o d a l l w e a t h e r connectivity to all eligible unconnected habitations in the core network with a population of 500 (Census-2001) and above. In respect of the Hill States (North-East, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Uttarkhand), Desert areas (as identified in the Desert Development Programme), and Tribal (Schedule V) Areas and Selected Tribal and Backward Districts (as identified by Ministry of Home Affairs and Planning

Commission), the objective is to connect habitations with a population of 250 (Census 2001) and above. The programme envisages single all weather connectivity. The country has now a network of about 3,99,979 km of such roads.

With a view to ensuring full farm-to-market connectivity, the programme also provides for the upgradation of the existing Through Routes and Major Rural Links to prescribed standards, though it is not central to the programme. Under PMGSY-II, 10,725 projects have been cleared out of eligible 50,000 projects. As on March 31, 2014, 97,838 habitations have been connected. New connectivity of 2,48,919 kms has been achieved.

The impact of rural roads becomes visible not so much during or immediately after construction as after a few years, when the traffic picks up and market access is fully exploited by the rural economy. Maintenance of roads plays an important role in exploiting the full potential of socio-economic development leading to poverty alleviation.

View of PMGSY Road

xiAnnual Report 2013-14

Overview

IAY

As part of a larger strategy of the Ministrys poverty eradication effort, Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY), a flagship scheme of the Ministry of Rural Development, has since inception been providing assistance to the BPL families who are either houseless or having inadequate housing facilities, for constructing a safe and durable shelter.

Ministrys commitment of shelter for all gained momentum when India became a signatory to the Istanbul Declaration on Human Settlement in June 1996 recognizing thereby the need for access to safe and healthy shelter and basic services as an essential for a persons physical, psychological, social and economic well being. The object of the habitat approach is to achieve adequate shelter for all, especially the deprived urban and rural poor through an enabling approach leading to development and improvements in access to basic facilities like infrastructure, safe drinking water, sanitation, electricity etc.

T h e C e n t r a l G o v e r n m e n t h a s b e e n

implementing IAY as part of the enabling approach to shelter for all, taking cognizance of the fact that rural housing is one of the major anti-poverty measures for the marginalized. The house is recognized not merely as a shelter and a dwelling place but also as an asset which supports livelihood, symbolizes social position and is also a cultural expression. A good home would be in harmony with the natural environment protecting the household from extreme weather conditions and it would have the required connectivity for mobility and facilities for economic activities. In the year 2013-14, 13.73 lakh houses have been constructed.

NSAP

Article 41 of the Constitution of India directs the State to provide public assistance to its citizens in cases of unemployment, old age, sickness, and disablement and also in other cases of undeserved want within the limit of its economic capacity and development. It is in accordance with these noble principles that the Government of India on 15th August 1995 included the National Social Assistance

Programme (NSAP) in the Central Budget for 1995-96.

Thi s programme was meant for providing social assistance benefit to the aged, the BPL households in the case of death of the primary breadwinner and f o r m a t e r n i t y. T h e provisions were aimed at e n s u r i n g m i n i m u m national standards in addition to the benefits that the States were then p r o v i d i n g o r w o u l d provide in future.

The NSAP now comprises Indira Gandhi National IAY House with owner family

xii Annual Report 2013-14


Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS), Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme (IGNWPS), Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme (IGNDPS), National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS) and Annapurna. In the year 2013-14, `9112.46 crore have been released under various schemes of NSAP.

Watershed Development

The Department of Land Resources of MoRD has been implementing three l o n g t e r m Wa t e r s h e d Development Programmes i.e. Integrated Wasteland Development Programme (IWDP), Drought Prone Areas Programme (DPAP) and D e s e r t D e v e l o p m e n t P r o g r a m m e ( D D P ) o n watershed basis. Each project under the programme is a

micro level effort to achieve this objective through treating the underproductive and hitherto unproductive land and taking up allied activities for the benefit of the landless. The programmes adopt a common strategy of multi-r e s o u r c e m a n a g e m e n t involving all stakeholders within the watershed, who together as a group, co-operatively identify the resource issues and concerns of the watershed as well as develop and implement a watershed plan with solutions that are environmentally, socially and economically sustainable.

Watershed Development Programme is considered and adopted as an effective tool to address

Happy to receive the pension (NSAP)

Development of wasteland through plantation and grass cultivation

xiiiAnnual Report 2013-14

Overview

problems of rainfed areas in the country. The 11th plan has stressed upon developing concerted action plans for rainfed areas in close consultation with the State Governments. The three watershed programmes of the Department of Land Resources namely DPAP, DDP and IWDP have been consolidated as a comprehensive programme named Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP). In the twelfth five year plan, the distinguishing characteristic of the new IWMP approach is its emphasis on livelihoods, especially for families without any assets. There are many government and non-government organizations in India who have done pioneering work in this regard and the Department of Land Resource (DoLR) is facilitating partnerships of each State government with selected institutions to carry this process forward with momentum.

Training/IEC

Capacity building through training of rural development functionaries, elected members of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and others concerned is a top priority of the Ministry. The Ministry has a network of training institutions namely National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD), Hyderabad, 28 State Institutes of Rural Development (SIRDs) and 89 Extension Training Centers (ETC). NIRD is an autonomous national level Training and Research Institution under the Ministry while the SIRDs and ETCs are State Government Institutions imparting training at State, District and sub-district levels.

On IEC front, an effective media-mix is being engaged to disseminate information and to generate awareness among various stakeholders of RD programmes. This includes Audio-Visual publicity, print media campaign as well as various modes of outdoor publicity. New and emerging media is being employed to reach out in every nook and corner of the country. Special campaigns are being held in LWE areas to mitigate the challenges posed by naxalites.

Services of Press Information Bureau (PIB) and Directorate of Audio Visual Publicity (DAVP) are being taken to meet IEC objectives. Deployment of PMRDFs and BNVs in challenging areas also helps for awareness generation. As on 31st March, 2014, 137 PMRDFs and 2.81 lakh BNVs are functional across the country.

International Cooperation

International Cooperation has, in recent times, gained added significance and impetus in the changed social, economic and political scenario of the world. India, the largest democracy in the world, is always in the forefront as a global partner.

Right from the beginning, India has recognized the need for cooperation among the developing and least developed countries for better appreciation of each others problems. The mandate of International Cooperation of this department is to foster mutually beneficial partnerships with other countries of the work in multilateral as well as bilateral forums exchanging knowledge and exper ience in development of rural areas. The Ministry of Rural Development is the nodal Ministry with respect to two Inter-Governmental International Organizations, namely, the African-Asian Rural Development Organization (AARDO) and the Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP). Also, this Ministry is the focal Ministry for Rural Development and Poverty Alleviation in respect of BIMSTEC, SAARC, etc.

Women Empowerment

Under the MGNREGA, the women workforce participation during the year 2013-14 was 53% against the statutory minimum requirement of 33%. All NRLM benefits are intended only for rural poor women. Mahila Kisan Shashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP) is a sub-component of NRLM to create sustainable livelihood opportunities for women in order to enhance the opportunities for their employment. Under Aajeevika Skills, it is mandatory

xiv Annual Report 2013-14


to have 33% candidates to be women. As per Indira Awaas Yojana guidelines, allotment of the IAY house shall be jointly in the name of husband and wife except in the case of a widow/unmarried/ separated person. The State may also choose to allot it solely in the name of the woman. Under NSAP, there are various schemes for assistance to widows and aged women in BPL category. Department of Rural Development has established a Gender Budget Cell to ensure planning for at least 30% of the plan resources for the benefits of women.

Efforts for SC, ST and Minorities

Equal opportunity to all, particularly to those who are from disadvantaged groups, is an essential component of any development intervention. The mandate of the Ministry of Rural Development is to alleviate poverty in the rural areas. With the objective to provide avenues of employment to most disadvantaged sections of the society including SC/STs, the Ministry is implementing various schemes / programmes through special employment generation programmes. The Ministry has made specific provisions in the guidelines in this regard. Accordingly, funds have been earmarked for Scheduled Caste Special Plan (SCSP) and Tribal Sub Plan (TSP) under IAY and NRLM.

In Aajeevika at least 50% of the beneficiaries shall be members of SC/STs and 15% from the minority communities. Further, 13 States with high concentration of rural poor including SCs and STs have been selected for intensive application of resources under National Rural Livelihoods Project (NRLP). Under SGSY, a total of about 86 lakh SC and ST members from SHGs were assisted for economic activities. As part of NRLM, 5.16 lakh predominantly SC and ST and 50,000 Minority members SHGs were promoted in the intensive blocks. Under Skill Development, 2.21 lakh SC, 1.04 lakh STs and 54136 Minority rural youth members have been imparted training.

Under Indira Awaas Yojana, a minimum of 60% for SC/STs and 15% of the funds are required to be utilized for SC/STs and Minority Communities respectively. In 2013-14, out of the total 18.66 lakh housed sanctioned, 6.89 lakh for SCs, 5.20 lakh for STs and 2.36 lakh for Minorities have been sanctioned for SCs, STs and Minority Communities respectively by utilizing 6296.52 crores for SC/STs and 1270.13 crore for Minorities from total expenditure of `10151.99 crore during 2013-14.

Under MGNREGS, out of total employment generation of 126.36 crore person days in this year, employment generated for SCs and STs was 29.65 crore person days (23%) and 19.53 crore person days (15%) respectively.

Targeted Measures for Special Areas

While the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act (1992) provides a broad legal constitutional framework for establishing Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) in rural areas, the implementation of the Act in its true spirit has varied across States. This has resulted in almost similar institutional structure, but with differential institutional capacities at the local level. This also explains to a certain extent the variations in development outcomes particularly in the areas where these institutions have been assigned key role in the delivery of public goods and services. While the objectives and operational guidelines of the Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSSs) are the same, the outcomes of their implementation have been different.

The eight special category States of North Eastern Region have been given special emphasis in all MoRD schemes. The initiative of the Central Government to stipulate earmarking of 10% of the budget (gross budgetary support) of the Central Ministries/Departments and creation of non-lapsable central pool of resources has yielded dividends in the recent years. During the year 2013-14, `2801.49 crores was released to the North Eastern States as

xvAnnual Report 2013-14

Overview

Central share under MGNREGA whereas 228.20 (RE) crores had been allocated for the year under NRLM of which `110.87 crores were released. During the year 2013-14, `353.31 crore had been released under PMGSY to the N.E. States. Under NSAP universal coverage was envisaged and the funds allocated to any State were based on the number of estimated beneficiaries.

During the year 2013-14 in the 82 Integrated Action Plan (IAP) districts 86.07 lakh households have been provided employment under MGNREGA; 4039.50 lakh person days were generated and an amount of `702196.12 lakh have been spent. Several relaxations have been allowed in the provisions of the scheme for effective implementation of scheme in Integrated Action Plan (IAP) districts. In the targeted 88 Integrated Action Plan (IAP) districts in which 56,257 habitations are targeted to be connected under PMGSY. Against this target 41,379 habitations have been sanctioned so far and 24,057 habitations (58% of sanctioned habitations) have been connected. Similarly, 82 LWE affected districts have also been categorized as difficult areas and enhanced unit rate of `75000/- is provided to the IAY beneficiaries for construction of a house. Roshni is a special initiative under Aajeevika Skills launched on 7th June, 2013 for training and placement of youth from 27 most critical LWE affected districts. NRLM has made coverage of IAP districts as one of the priorities. As on date, there is a significant overlap among IAP districts and NRLM intensive districts. Out of 88 IAP districts, 53 districts have already been covered under the intensive coverage of NRLM.

Under special interventions for the State of Jammu & Kashmir, an amount of `223 crore has been released and 962 road works covering 5186.66 km of length were completed. Himayat is a special scheme for skilling under Aajeevika Skills. M/o Rural Development aimed at training and placement of 1,00,000 youth from J&K in organized sectors over a

` five year period (2011-12 to 2016-17). In NRLM, under the UMEED programme, the State Government is expected to cover almost 9 lakh women in a period of 5 years, this represents 2/3rd of the rural households. This would cover 9 lakh women of all the 3292 Gram Panchayats in 143 blocks and 22 districts of the State.

Green Efforts

The Government of Indias 12th Five Year Plan has set for itself the goal of faster, sustainable and more inclusive growth. Sustainability has been mainstreamed as a core objective of Indias development strategy.

For the people in rural areas, particularly the marginalized communities, healthy ecosystems support sustainable agriculture-based livelihoods and essential services such as drinking water, sanitation and health care. Investing in natural resources also strengthens adaptation and resilience of communities towards climate change and natural disasters.

This is a paradigm shift in Ministrys rural development strategy. Tapping the potential to contribute to the goal of sustainable poverty reduction and efficient use of natural resources, the Ministry looks at:

Improving quality and carrying capacity of eco systems including water bodies & aquifers and arresting degradation of natural resources;

Enabling sustainable livelihoods, based on sustainable use of natural resources;

Strengthening ecosystem resilience to enable them to recover from extreme weather events and cope with climate change;

Reducing the ecologica l footpr int of interventions through efficient use of energy, material, natural resources and increased use of renewable materials.

xvi Annual Report 2013-14


Outlays for Ministry of Rural Development for Last Five Years till 2014-15

Ministry of Rural Development Outlays for 2014-2015

(` in crores)

(` in crores)

Details regarding the approved outlay in respect of Plan Schemes of theMinistry of Rural Development are at Annexures - I, II & III

65070

54180

68760

78998 76800

69564

76376

55000

80194

61810

82202*

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

70000

80000

90000

2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 2014-15

B.E.R.E.

78452

3750

Rural DevelopmentLand Resources

*As per interim budget

Department of Rural Development

3Annual Report 2013-14

Organisation

Background of the Ministry

In October 1974, the Department of Rural Development came into existence as a part of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture. On 18th August 1979, the Department of Rural Development was elevated to the status of a new Ministry of Rural Reconstruction. That Ministry was renamed as the Ministry of Rural Development on 23rd January 1982. In January 1985, the Ministry of Rural Development was again converted into a Department under the Ministry of Agriculture & Rural Development which was later rechristened as the Ministry of Agriculture in September 1985. On July 5, 1991 the Department was upgraded as the Ministry of Rural Development. Another Department viz. Department of Wasteland Development was created under this Ministry on 2nd July 1992. In March 1995, the Ministry was renamed as the Ministry of Rural Areas and Employment with three departments namely Department of Rural Employment and Poverty Alleviation, Department of Rural Development and Department of Wasteland Development.

Again, in 1999, the Ministry of Rural Areas and Employment was renamed as the Ministry of Rural Development.

The Ministry consisted of the following three Departments:

1. Department of Rural Development

2. Department of Land Resources

3. Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation

However, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation has been separated from the Ministry of Rural Development from 13th July, 2011 and renamed as the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation.

In 2013-14, the Ministry of Rural Development consisted of two Departments, namely, Department of Rural Development and Department of Land Resources.

The Department of Rural Development implements schemes for generation of self employment and wage employment, provision of housing and minor irrigation assets to rural poor, social assistance to the destitute and Rural Roads. Apart from this, the Department provides the support services and other quality inputs such as assistance for strengthening of DRDA Administration, Training & Research, Human Resource Development,

Organisation

Chapter - 1

Vigilance Awareness Week. Secretary (RD) administering oath to officers

4 Annual Report 2013-14


development of voluntary action etc. for the proper implementation of the programmes. The major programmes of the Department of Rural Development are Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, (PMGSY), Rural Housing (RH), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guaran tee Ac t (MGNREGA) , Swaranjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) / National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) and National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP).

The Department of Land Resources is mandated to implement all land based development programmes. It implements area development programmes on watershed basis. The three watershed development programmes of the Department i.e. Integrated Wasteland Development Programme (IWDP), Drought Prone Areas Programme (DPAP) and Desert Development Programme (DDP) have been consolidated into a single modified programme namely Integrated Watershed Management Programme.

Administration

Shri Jairam Ramesh continued to function as Minister of Rural Development during 2013-14.

Shri Pradeep Jain continued to function as Minister of State for Rural Development during 2013-14.

Shri Lalchand Kataria continued to function as Minister of State for Rural Development during 2013-14.

Shri Subrahmanyam Vijay Kumar, IAS (HP:76), Secretary (RD) retired from Government Service w.e.f. 30.9.2013 (AN) on a t ta in ing the age of superannuation.

Shri L.C. Goyal, IAS (KL:1979) has assumed the charge of Secretary w.e.f. 1.10.2013 (FN) in this Department.

Shri Bipin Bihari Srivastava, IAS (BH:78), Secretary (LR) retired from Government Service w.e.f. 30.11.2013 on attaining the age of superannuation.

Smt. Vandana Kumari Jena, IAS (OR:1979) has assumed the charge of Secretary, Department of Land Resources w.e.f. 3.12.2013.

Shri S.M. Vijayanand, IAS (KL:81) continued to function as Additional Secretary (RD) in the Department of Rural Development.

Smt. B. Bhamathi, IAS (BH:79), Special Secretary & Financial Adviser retired from Government service w.e.f. 31.8.2013 on attaining the age of superannuation.

Smt. Seema Bahuguna, IAS (RJ:1983) has assumed the charge of the post of AS & FA w.e.f. 11.09.2013 (FN) in this Ministry.

Shri Prabhudayal Meena, IAS (MP:80) continued to function as Special Secretary, Department of Land Resources.

Shri Partha Pratim Mitra, IES:1979 , Chief Economic Adviser relinquished the charge of the post of Chief Economic Adviser from this Department w.e.f. 2.12.2013 (FN) to take up his new assignment in the Ministry of Labour & Employment.

Smt. Sudha P. Rao, IES (1981) has assumed the charge of the post of Chief Economic Adviser w.e.f. 27.3.2014 (FN) in this Ministry.

Shri T. Vijaya Kumar, IAS (AP:83), Smt. Vijaya Srivastava, IAS (MP:1984) and Shri Rajesh Bhushan, IAS (BH:87) continued to function as Joint Secretaries in the Department of Rural Development.

Dr. Santhosh A. Mathew, IAS (BH:1985) has assumed the charge of the post of Joint Secretary in the Department of Rural Development w.e.f. 26.3.2013.

Shri P.K. Anand, IAS (RJ: 1983) and Shri D. K. Jain, IAS (MH:1983), relinquished the charge of the posts of Joint Secretary in the Department of Rural Development w.e.f. 25.7.2013 and 23.8.2013 respectively to take up their new assignments on their promotion in the Ministry of Agriculture and Planning Commission respectively.

Smt, Aparajita Sarangi, IAS (OR:1994 ) has assumed the charge of the post of Joint Secretary in the Department of Rural Development w.e.f. 7.8.2013.

Shri R. Subrahmanyam, IAS (AP:1985) has assumed the charge of the post of Joint Secretary in the Department of Rural Development w.e.f. 29.8.2013.

Shri Atal Dulloo, IAS (JK:1989) has assumed the charge of the post of Joint Secretary in the Department of Rural Development w.e.f. 22.11.2013.

Smt. Savita Anand, IFS (RJ: 81) was relieved from the Department of Land Resources w.e.f. 21.7.2013 after completion of her Central deputation tenure.


Organisation

Shri Prabhat Kumar Sarangi, IAS (UP:1986) has assumed the charge of the post of Joint Secretary in the Department of Land Resources w.e.f. 23.12.2013 (FN).

Shri Surendra Kumar, IFS (KL:86) was relieved from the Department of Land Resources w.e.f. 26.5.2013 after completion of his Central deputation tenure.

Shri Sandeep Dave, IAS (KN:1987) has assumed the charge of the post of Joint Secretary in the Department of Land Resources w.e.f. 28.7.2013 .

Shri Giriraj Prasad Gupta (ICAS:1983) continued to function as Chief Controller of Accounts in the Ministry of Rural Development.

Shri C.R.K. Nair, ISS, Adviser (Stats) relinquished the charge of the post of Adviser (Stats) w.e.f. 2.12.2013 (FN) to take up his new assignment in the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare on promotion.

Shri P.K. Mukhopadhyay, ISS has assumed the charge of the post of Adviser (Stats) w.e.f. 23.1.2014 (FN) in this Ministry.

Dr. N.K. Sahu, IES continued to function as Economic Adviser in this Department.

Autonomous Bodies under Ministry of Rural Development

The Ministry of Rural Development has the following five Autonomous Organizations under its administrative control.

1. National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD), Rajendranagar, Hyderabad 500 030

2. Council for Advancement of People's Action and Rural Technology (CAPART), India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road, New Delhi 110 003.

3. National Rural Roads Development Agency (NRRDA), 5th Floor, 15-NBBC Tower, Bhikaji Cama Place, New Delhi-110 066.

4. Bharat Rural Livelihoods Foundation, India Habitat Centre, Lodi Road, New Delhi.

5. National Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society (NRLPS), Hotel Samrat, Chanakya Puri, Kautilya Marg, New Delhi-110021.

1. NIRD, Hyderabad

Dr. M.V. Rao, IAS (WB:88), continued to function as DG, NIRD in additional to his normal duties.

2. CAPART, New Delhi

As the restructuring / revamping of CAPART is under consideration, it was decided not to fill up the regular post of Director Genaral, CAPART. Accordingly, the charge of the post of DG, CAPART has been assigned to Smt. Vijaya Srivastava, Joint Secretary (In charge), CAPART of this Department in addition to her own normal duties.

Shri Rajesh Bhushan, Joint Secretary (RC) & CVO of this Ministry has been assigned the charge of Chief Vigilance Officer, CAPART in addition to his own normal duties.

3. NRRDA, New Delhi

Shri Rajesh Bhushan, Joint Secretary has been given the charge of Rural Connectivity w.e.f. 26.7.2013. He also functions as ex-officio, Director General, NRRDA, New Delhi since then.

4. Bharat Rural Livelihoods Foundation

The Union Cabinet in its meeting held on 3rd September 2013 had decided to set up an independent registered society to be called as Bharat Rural Livelihoods Foundation (B.R.L.F). The Foundation is constituted as a partnership between Government on the one hand and the private sector philanthropies, private and public sector undertakings (under Corporate Social Responsibility) on the other hand.

5. National Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society (NRLPS)

National Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society (NRLPS) has been set up in July 2013 as an autonomous and independent body. NRLPS serves as the core/lead technical support agency for NRLM at various levels. The main objective of the Society is to continuously build capacities of the State Rural Livel ihoods Missions (SRLMs) in planning ,



implementing and monitoring the programme. It also acts as a knowledge resource centre for the SRLMs.

O&M Activity in the Ministry

Organisation and Method Unit of the Department of Rural Development oversees all aspects concerning Organization and Methods, administrative reforms and records management so as to bring in systematic improvement to enhance efficiency.

Emphasis was laid on sound Records Management to ensure optimum utilization of scarce space available and quick retrieval of records. Further, an Annual Action Plan was drawn up for O&M Inspections of Sections, review of periodical reports and returns and consolidation of orders.

Action is in progress to update the handbook on Organization and Functions.

Vigilance Desk

Vigilance Desk handles vigilance related work in the Department of Rural Development and co-ordinates for it with Department of Land Resource and Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation along with autonomous institutions namely CAPART, NIRD and NRRDA including matters and reports concerning CVC, DoPT and CBI etc.

Besides handling complaints including those received on-line through CPGRAMS, the vigilance desk also furnishes Vigilance Clearance and NOCs in respects of personnel working in the Ministry.

Completion of PARs / APARs in respect of personnel is also being taken care of by this Section.

To ensure transparency and Accountability emphasis is accorded to following aspects:-

(a) Conduct of vigilance investigation in respect of irregularities.

(b) Close monitoring and disposal of disciplinary cases in the Department and

(c) Pursuance of Rotation of Staff posted in sensitive posts.

On the recommendation of CVC a Joint Secretary in the Ministry has been appointed as part time CVO, who acts on behalf of CVC in respect of personnel working in the Ministry in the matter of disciplinary cases. Vigilance/Disciplinary cases are reviewed by CVO as well as Secretary (RD) regularly.

In accordance with the CVC's instructions, various vigilance related activities such as Vigilance Awareness Week are also observed.


Organisation

Government of India (Allocation of Business Rules, 1961)Ministry of Rural Development

A. Department of Rural Development1. Public cooperation, including all matters relating to voluntary agencies for Rural Development, Council of

Advancement of People's Action and Rural Technology (CAPART) and National Fund for Rural Development, other than aspects which fall within the purview of Drinking Water Supply.

2. Cooperatives relatable to the items in this list.3. Road works financed in whole or in part by the Central Government in tribal areas of Assam specified in Part I and

Part II of the Table appended to paragraph 20 of the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution.4. All matter relating to cooperation with the Centre for Integrated Rural Development for Asia and Pacific (CIRDAP)

and the Afro-Asia Rural Reconstruction Organisation (AARDO).5. (a) All matters pertaining to rural employment or unemployment such as working out of strategies and

programmes for rural employment including special works, wage or income generation and training related thereto.

(b) Implementation of the specific programmes of rural employment evolved from time to time.(c) Micro level planning related to rural employment or unemployment and administrative infrastructure thereof.

6. Integrated Rural Development including small farmers development agency, marginal farmers and agricultural labourers, etc.

7. Rural housing including Rural Housing Policy and all matters germane and incidental thereto under country or rural planning, in so far as it relates to rural areas.

8. All matters relating to rural connectivity including the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.B. Department of Land Resources1. Land reforms, land tenures, land records, consolidation of holding and other related matters.2. Administration of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 (1 of 1894) and matters relating to acquisition of land for purposes

of the Union.3. Recovery of claims in a State in respect of taxes and other public demands, including arrears of land revenue and

sums recoverable as such arrears, arising outside that State.4. Land, that is to say, collection of rents, transfer and alienation of land, land improvement and agricultural loans

excluding acquisition of non-agricultural land or buildings, town planning improvements.5. Land revenue, including the assessment and collection of revenue, survey of revenue purposes, alienation of

revenues.6. Duties in respect of succession to agricultural land.7. National Wastelands Development Board.8. National Land Use and Wasteland Development Council.9. Promotion of rural employment through Wastelands Development.10. Promotion of production of fuelwood, fodder and timber on non-forest lands, including private wastelands.11. Research of production of appropriate low cost technologies for increasing productivity of wastelands in sustainable

ways.12. Inter-departmental and inter-disciplinary coordination in programme planning and implementation of the Wastelands

Department Progrramme including training.13. Promotion of people's participation and public cooperation and coordination of efforts of Panchayats and voluntary

and non-Government agencies for Wastelands Development.14. Drought Prone area Programmes.15. Desert Development Programmes.16. The Registration Act, 1908 ( 16 of 1908).17. (i) National Mission on Bio-fuels;

(ii) bio-fuel plant production, propagation and commercial plantation of bio-fuel plants under various schemes of the Ministry of Rural Development in consultation with the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Panchayati Raj; and

(iii) identification of non-forest land an wastelands in consultation with State Government, the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Panchayati Raj for bio-fuel plant production.



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Rural Employment

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is a rights based wage employment programme implemented in rural areas of the country. This programme aims at enhancing livelihood security by providing not less than one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in a financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. In the first phase, MGNREGA was implemented in 200 most backward districts with effect from February 2, 2006 and was extended subsequently to additional 113 and 17 districts with effect from April 1st 2007 and May 15th 2007, respectively. The remaining districts were included under the Act with effect from April 1, 2008. Thus, the Act now covers all the rural districts (644) of the country.

II Objectives

The core objectives of the Scheme are:

Providing not less than one hundred days of

unskilled manual work as a guaranteed employment in a financial year to every household in rural areas as per demand, resulting in creation of productive assets of prescribed quality and durability.

Strengthening the livelihood resource base of the poor;

Proactively ensuring social inclusion and

Strengthening Panchayati Raj Institutions

III Key Achievements since inception

The key achievements of the programme in the last eight years of its implementation are:

Since i t s incept ion in 2006, around `1,63,754.41 crores has been disbursed directly as wage payments to rural worker households.

1,657.45 crore person-days of wage employment has been generated.

On an average, five crore rural households have been provided with wage employment each year since 2008.

Rural Employment

Chapter - 2

Construction of a Pond (MGNREGA)



Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes participation has been 48 per cent till 31st March, 2014.

Women have accounted for 48 per cent of the total person-days generated. This is well above the mandatory 33 per cent as required under the Act.

Since the beginning of the programme, 260 lakh works have been taken up under the Act.

Average wage per person-day in the FY 2013-14 was `132.59 which is double the average wage rate paid in FY 2006-07. The notified wage today varies from a minimum of `153 in Meghalaya to `236 in Haryana.

IV Outcomes during the Financial Year 2013-14

The outcomes of programme implementation in the financial year 2013-14 are as follows:

Employment Generated: In 2013-14, 4.76 crore households were provided employment and 217.66 crore person-days of employment were generated.

Increasing Outreach to the poor and marginalized: Self targeting in nature, the programme had high work participation from marginalized groups like SC/ST (40%), Women (53%).

Strengthening Natural Resource Base: In 2013-14, 138.49 lakh works were undertaken, of which 37% were for water conservation, 12% were for the provision of irrigation facilities on land owned by SC/ST/BPL and IAY beneficiaries, 11% were for rural connectivity and 5% were for land development.

Financial Inclusion of the Poor: With a view to universalising the system of wage payments through institutional accounts, it has been recommended to all States to disburse wages through Post Office or Bank Accounts. Around 9.38 crore bank and post office accounts of workers have been reported on MGNREGAsoft for disbursement of wages.

Physical & Financial Outcome for 2012-13 & 2013-14 are at Annexure-IV to VII.

V Findings from the field, independent studies and MIS data

The main findings from the field, independent studies and MIS data, on the impact of MGNREGA are:

i. MGNREGA provides work when there are limited alternate employment opportunities available: Reports indicate that when MGNREGA work is taken up by beneficiaries, there are very few Alternate Employment Opportunities (AEO). In other words, MGNREGA has added to the employment opportunities available and not substituted other forms of employment including , agriculture employment. An NSSO panel survey found that in some of the high demand MGNREGA states, there were few AEOs available outside MGNREGA; only around 6%, 14% and 2% of the MGNREGA workers in Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, had other forms of employment available during the time they performed MGNREGA works. Importantly, MGNREGA also provided more number of work days at a higher average per day wage rate than any other type of work available at the same time.

MGNREGA works have led to rise in ground water, improvement in soil quality and reduction in vulnerability of production system to climate variability


Rural Employment

ii. Increase in agriculture wage and gender parity in wages: The fact that MGNREGA has reversed the stagnation of agricultural wages of the early 2000s is well established by data and research. An analysis by Shri Jean Drze observes that the pre-MGNREGA (200001 to 2005-06) growth rate of real agricultural wages was around 0.1 per cent per year for men and negative for women. After the implementation of MGNREGA (2005-06 to 2010-11), the growth rate for agricultural wages for men increased to 2.7 % per year and for women to 3.7 % per year.

MGNREGA has also reduced traditional gender discrimination in wages. As per NSSO 66th round, the average wage for labour in MGNREGA was `90.9 per day for men, and for women it was `87 per day. The wage difference was larger for labour in other public works; `98.3 per day for men and `86.1 per day for women.

iii. Increase in choice of work and participation rate of marginalized: Preference for unskilled manual labour by surplus labour or by small, marginal or daily wage farmers in debt or bondage under MGNREGA, is reflective of an active choice in favour of non-exploitative and decent work. As per a recent Performance Audit conducted by the C&AG, around 90 % of the beneficiaries were either casual labourers or Small and Marginal Farmers (SMF). MGNREGA is also an important source of income for

families who undertake distress migration due to limited work opportunities.

Evidence also supports the fact that MGNREGA is succeeding in effectively targeting Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs).

iv. High work participation of women in MGNREGA: With an average annual participation rate of 45-50% , evidence suggests that women are participating in the Scheme more actively than in other works. Research also indicates that MGNREGA is an important work opportunity for women who would have o the rw i se r ema ined unemp loyed o r underemployed.

v. Increase in agriculture production & productivity: MGNREGA with its focus on agriculture related works can play a significant role in supporting agriculture and raising farm productivity. Several micro-level studies support this claim; a study conducted in Sidhi in Madhya Pradesh found that around 55% of the 240 respondents together reported an increase of 372 acres under crops. And around 56 % of the respondents reported diversification of crops over previous years. Crops like Jowar, Bajra, Kodo, Makka and Arhar were replaced by wheat, gram and vegetables due to increased availability of irrigation water.

vi. Water related works: Since the programmes inception around 50% of the total works taken up have been water related works. In addition to this around 13% of the works have been on land development. Micro-level field studies suggest that these works have led to a rise in availability of water for irrigation, improvement in soil quality etc. This has further led to an increase in area under cultivation. For instance, studies in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh have shown an increase in Net Sown Area and Gross Cropped Area.

VI Challenges

M a j o r c h a l l e n g e s e x p e r i e n c e d i n implementation of MGNREGA are as under:Maintenance of retaining wall



Low Awareness about the Programme and Public Participation

Capacity Building of functionaries

Quality, durability and usefulness of assets

Delays in wage payment

Shortage of staff

Improper Planning and Fund Constraints

Lack of Outcome-based Monitoring

Inadequate coverage of Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) and women (in some states)

Non-compliance with Transparency & Accountability Provisions (Social Audit)

Lack of ICT Infrastructure

VII Recent Initiatives to Strengthen MGNREGA

Over the last few years, based on reports from the field and research inputs on implementation issues and challenges, the Ministry has taken initiatives to strengthen the program implementation at grass root level.

Some new initiatives taken under MGNREGA are:

A. Revision of Schedules: Ministry of Rural Development has substantially revised the Schedules I and II of the Act and notified them on 3rd January 2014. The major provisions of the revised schedules notified on 3rd January 2014 are:

1. Greater focus on provisions to improve the quality of works and make them more productive to the community and to the beneficiaries.

2. More provisions to promote agricultural growth and thereby boost the rural economy by adding the following works in the approved list:

i. Community Storage facilities for agricultural produce.

ii. Creation of Farmnet roads that link rural production centres with PMGSY roads,

iii. Works for preparation of organic fertilisers to make available affordable and organic fertilisers in the village itself.

iv. Comprehensive watershed-based treatment of undulating lands to make them productive irrespective of the size of the landholding.

Nursery Plantation, Assam


Rural Employment

v. Provision for maintenance of irrigation tanks/canals/drains to keep them in good shape at all times.

3. The list of works has been expanded and classified into 4 categories:

a. Category A: are public assets which have high capacity to create employment. At least one work in this category shall be kept running all the time to address the requirement to provide work as per demand.

b. Category B: Works which build the individual assets for rural poor and vulnerable categories.

c. Category C: Works which align with the livelihood plans of women Self Help Groups for sustainable livelihoods.

d. Category D: Works for rural infrastructure including:

i. Construction of houses for the poor

ii. Rural sanitation either independently or in convergence to achieve open defecation free status in all villages. Under this, individual toilets can be taken up at a cost of Rs. 10,000 by any job card holder.

iii. Maintenance of assets created under the Act

iv. Works for disaster preparedness or restoration of public infrastructure after a disaster.

v. Buildings for SHG federations and centres for manufacturing building materials in the villages.

4. Collection of demand at least once a month in every Ward through Rozgar Diwas.

5. Provisions for automatic calculation of compensation for delayed payments @ 0.05% per day of delay beyond the 15th day from the date of closure of muster roll.

6. Greater focus on the provisions for transparency and accountability by:

a. Making the estimates more people-friendly and the data more accessible to general public.

b. Proactive disclosure of various aspects of implementation through website, wall-writing and other means.

c. All material for the works to be procured only by transparent tender process which shall be open for scrutiny.

d. Strengthening the provisions of social audit, along with provisions for follow-up action on the reports.

e. Introduction of concurrent social audit with the active youth in every village.

B. Capacity Building:

To acquaint the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA functionaries with the provisions of Mahatma Gandhi NREGA Operational Guidelines, 2013, Ministry in coordination with NIRD conducted Training of Trainers (TOTs) programme for MGNREGA functionaries. The prime objectives of the TOTs were as under:

To develop a cadre of identified trainers/ experts in the subject matter of Mahatma Gandhi NREGA implementation in respective States at State level (State Resource Teams), District level (District Resource Teams) and Block level (Block Resource Teams).

During FY 2013-14, ten TOTs have been conducted- seven at NIRD, Hyderabad and three at NERC, NIRD, Guwahati for State Resource Teams (SRTs). These SRTs in turn will train district officials and create District Resource teams (DRTs). The DRTs in turn will

MGNREGA has raised the socio-economic status of the women



train Block functionaries and create Block Resource Teams (BRTs).

C. Delay in payment of wages: To reduce delay in payment of wages, Ministry has initiated:

Electronic Fund management System (e-FMS) that captures real time transactions and eliminates delays in wage payments and leakages.

e-FMS with Post Offices (Sanchaya Post) were attempted to ensure real time fund flow to the workers post office accounts.

16 States have made substantial progress in implementing the e-FMS.

D. e-Muster Roll : To overcome the problem of fake muster rolls and ghost workers, Ministry has introduced Electronic Muster Roll (e-MR). e-MRs are pre-printed muster rolls digitally populated with the names of the workers who demand works under MGNREGA. e-MRs are generated through NREGA Soft. Besides reducing processing time for payment of wages, e-MRs help in eliminating fake muster rolls, reducing ghost workers and improving data entry into NREGA Soft.

E. Convergence: To improve the quality and productivity of assets and to bring in synergy to holistically address the multiple dimensions of poverty in a sustainable manner, the States have been instructed to take concrete steps to ach ieve e f fec t i ve in te r- depar tmenta l convergence till the last mile implementation level of the works under the scheme with other Government schemes/programmes.

Keeping in view the significance of Convergence under MGNREGA in enhancing the quality of Assets in rural areas, the Ministry has requested all the States/UTs to conduct State Convergence Workshops with all the Programme Stakeholders and to draw up convergence plans. Till now, State Convergence Workshops have been held in 24 States/UTs. Seven States namely Assam, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Sikkim, Tripura and West Bengal have also finalized the State Convergence Plans.

The Ministry has also undertaken a number of initiatives with other Ministries/Departments for effective implementation of Mahatma Gandhi NREGA. Some of the major convergence/ collaborations are:

Construction of Individual Household Latrines (IHHL) under Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan of M/o Drinking Water and Sanitation.

Construction of Anganwadi Centres as a convergence project with the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) Scheme of M/o of Women and Child Development.

Registration of work demand of MGNREGA workers through Anganwadi Sahayikas.

Convergence with Dept. of Sports and Youth Affairs Panchayat Yuva Krida Aur Khel Abhiyan (PYKKA) scheme for construction of village playfield.

Convergence with Integrated Watershed Management Programme of Dept. of Land Resources.

Discussions are being held with Department of Electronics and Information Technology to expedite internet connectivity at GP level.

Regular review meetings are held with officials of UIDAI for seeding of ADHAAR numbers of MGNREGA workers in NREGA Soft.

F. Social Inclusion: To achieve social inclusion of the marginalized and vulnerable groups,

MGNREGA - Women renovating a Pond, Kerala


Rural Employment

Ministry has taken the following steps:

To increase women participation in the Scheme, major initiatives are being suggested including, opening individual bank/post office accounts for all women workers, identifying and providing Job Cards of distinct colour to widowed, deserted and destitute women, who qualify as a household under the Act.

In order to access the entitlements under MGNREGA, the wage seekers need to be made aware of various provisions of the Scheme. Thus, during FY 2013-14, the States have been asked to organize MGNREGA workers into labour groups. This would provide the workers a platform for articulating a collective voice and facilitating registration of wage demand in rural areas.

Since disabled and other vulnerable persons have specific needs, the States have been advised to create an enabling environment for their inclusion in MGNREGA activities. The States are to conduct a Work and Time Motion Study and prepare a separate Schedule of Rates (SoR) for physically challenged and other vulnerable sections of the society.

G. Programme Advisory Group : A Programme Advisory Group (PAG) on MGNREGA has been constituted to (a) assist in operationalizing the revised MGNREGA Operational Guidelines 2013 (b) analyze the policy planning and

implementation issues (c) provide support to State Governments for effective implementation of the programme. The PAG identifies policy and implementation issues related to Mahatma Gandhi NREGA at the local, state and national level for focusing entitlements and livelihoods, covering processes and procedures, systems and institutions, techniques and technologies.

For the PAG to have greater impact at the State level, where support is most needed, it has been decided to set up State Advisory Groups (SAGs) in priority States with high poverty and low employment provision viz. Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and North Eastern States.

H. Grievance Redressal Mechanism:

Standard Operating Procedures has been formulated to effectively address issues of concern on implementation of MGNREGA. The new mechanism delineates procedures and timelines for managing various types of complaints including financial and procedural irregularities.

States have been advised for the appointment of Ombudsman at the District-level. The Ombudsmen are independent of the jurisdiction of the Central or State Government. The Ombudsman has the powers, inter alia to receive complaints from MGNREGA workers and facilitates their disposal in accordance with law; issue direction for conducting spot investigation; lodge FIRs against the erring parties; initiate proceedings; report his findings to the Chief Secretary of the State and the Secretary, State Nodal Department for appropriate legal action against erring persons.

I. IEC: The Ministry of Rural Development formulated a comprehensive Information Education and Communication (IEC) Strategy exclusively for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), during May 2013. The strategy aims to create awareness among rural people and other stake holders with special focus on MGNREGA MGNREGA - Stone bunding



workers about various aspects of MGNREGA. The strategy also aims at faci l i tat ing dissemination of right based provisions of the Act to ensure that the workers know their right to demand wage employment and exercise their right by applying for such employment as per their need. For this, various key messages were also identified for dissemination.

The IEC strategy thus developed enumerates the approaches on how the MoRD, the States, the districts, the intermediate panchayats, gram panchayats and the grass root level functionaries should implement the IEC activities and Behaviour Change Communication (BCC) activities in specific geographical areas. The strategy would facilitate in managing IEC activities, maintaining uniformity in messages, producing high quality, cost effective, target specific IEC/BCC products based on the key messages and thereby ensuring better uptake of the provisions offered by the Act.

The strategy also takes a detour from the conventional mass media driven approach of various government programmes in message dissemination, and focus on mid media and interpersonal media initiatives to ensure that the messages reach the target group in an effective and sustainable way.

As a subset of this strategy, the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India prepared an Annual Action Plan and its Quarterly Implementation Plan for IEC for the FY 2013-14 and has requested all

the States to prepare IEC annual action plans and quarterly deliverables for the FY 13-14 in respect of MGNREGA. Most of the States submitted their IEC plans which are being examined by the Ministry.

J. Enabling faster beneficiary payments through Aadhaar based DBT:

The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) has decided to implement Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS) for MGNREGS and NSAP under Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) programme of Government of India. The Ministry has identified 252 focus districts for implementation of Aadhaar enabled DBT where the Aadhaar enrolment has crossed 50% of total population. The key steps being undertaken by the Ministry towards enabling wage and pension payments through DBT are as below.

1. Targeted Aadhaar enrolment of beneficiaries of MGNREGS and NSAP beneficiaries: Every MGNREG and NSAP beneficiary shall have access to enroll for Aadhaar. In this regard, the Ministry and State Rural Development Departments are trying to ensure the following:

a. Identify MGNREG and NSAP beneficiaries village-wise who missed out enrolment.

b. Call a meeting of all the Aadhaar enrolment agencies and prepare action plan to reach the enrolment kits to each location within 60 days.

c. Make District level officers in-charge of each area for the enrolment.

2. Seeding of Aadhaar numbers in NREGA Soft for beneficiaries of MGNREGS/ NSAP The Ministry has identified 252 focus districts where Aadhaar enrolment has crossed 50%.Periodic video conference sessions are held with District Collectors of these focus districts to monitor progress of seeding in these districts. MoRD has also laid down a simple process which BDO / POs and GRS can follow for Aadhaar seeding:

a. Print the list of beneficiaries in the GP which is already available in the NREGASoft

b. Ensure that Gram Rozgar Sahayaks go door-to-MGNREGA - Digging a well


Rural Employment

door for collecting Aadhaar numbers of wage seekers.

c. Enter the collected Aadhaar numbers using PO / GP login

d. Monitor progress daily through SMS sent by central NIC team.

3. Re-verification and freezing of Aadhaar numbers (by PO) for those records which fail demographic authentication check run by MoRD centrally After the records are seeded in NREGASoft and NSAP portal, the Ministry is verifying the entered data with UIDAI using AUA-ASA service. The records rejected by the UIDAI will be made available in PO login for re-verification. The DCs are then required to instruct POs to carry out verification of entered Aadhaar numbers, correct the wrongly entered Aadhaar numbers and freeze the records once verified.

4. Aadhaar seeding in beneficiary bank account Once Aadhaar data is authenticated by AUA/ ASA, it is shared with respective beneficiary banks for seeding in bank CBS and NPCI mapper.

5. Deployment of business correspondents by banks and equipping them with AEPS enabled micro-ATM MoRD has been liaising with its 18 sponsor Banks to take stock of the number of Business Correspondents deployed by them

under the Financial Inclusion plan of RBI. It has also requested that each BC have an Aadhaar-enabled Micro-ATM so that MGNREG and NSAP payments are made at the village level itself after Aadhaar identification.

K. Cluster Facilitation Teams (CFTs): During the FY-2013-14, the CFTs were formed under MGNREGSNRLM convergence project for 250 Blocks. These 250 Blocks are from Ten States namely, Gujarat, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The 250 Blocks were identified by the State Governments as per following criteria;

a. Poor Human Development Indicators

b. Tribal areas

c. High population of SCs

d. Poor connectivity

e. Having active presence of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) or Community Based Organization.

Major responsibilities of CFT

1. Preparation of an integrated watershed plan for the whole GP through community participation.

2. Capacity building of all MGNREGA and NRLM functionaries and PRIs through training programmes

3. Ensure payment of wages on time in MGNREGA - a Fishery pond

Banana Plantation under MGNREGA



Organizing Shrama Shakthi Sanghaas (Fixed Labour Groups): Case Study under MGNREGA in Andhra Pradesh

The strength of collective action and the substantial impact of the Women SHG movement on the community is well realized in the state of Andhra Pradesh. This resulted in the Govt of Andhra Pradesh to bring about such similar labour groups under MGNREGS. This paved the way for the formation of Fixed Labour Groups (FLGs) called Shrama Shakti Sanghas in Andhra Pradesh. These FLGs consisted of ten to forty labourers per group. The purpose behind this exercise was to give the wage seekers a collective voice to discuss their grievances and concerns and effectively access the rights and entitlements given in the Act. Providing guaranteed employment of 100 days to all the demanding poor rural households is one of the important objectives of Shrama Shakthi Sanghaas (SSS). The guidelines for the formation of the Shrama Shakthi Sanghaas require all the members under a job card or belonging to the same habitation to be part of the same group. In order to ensure that the benefits reach the underprivileged, it is also advised to form uniform groups with SC / ST wage seekers wherever possible. The benefits of organizing SSS include safeguarding the rights of the labourers, improving the lands of SC / ST Households, proper recognition, avoiding mistakes in the Muster Rolls, provision of work site facilities, enhancing cooperation among the group members, monitoring of allotment of works, providing employment through MIS report and implementation of Work Employment Plan (WEP). This project is an ambitious project aimed towards the development of SC/ST as well as a means for organizing workers under one umbrella.

Summary of Audit Report - 2013Report No. 6 of 2013 Performance Audit of

Mahatma Gandhi National and Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.

MNREGA guarantees 100 days of wage employment to every rural household willing to take up manual labour. Performance audit revealed that the intended beneficiaries had not been able to fully exercise their rights.

In the gram panchayats audited, several deficiencies regarding registration of workers and delays or non-issue of job cards were noticed. Also, it was seen that obtaining a job card does not automatically translate into employment when demanded by the beneficiary. In the test checked gram panchayats, it was noticed that in over 47,687 cases, the beneficiaries were neither provided employment on demand nor received unemployment allowance.

coordination with the State Government.

L. Welfare Measures: The welfare measures for the workers at work places are:

free medical treatment to a person in case of personal injury arising out of and in course of his/ her employment.

hospitalization of the injured worker including accommodation, treatment, medicines and payment of daily allowance which is not less than half of the wage rate.

ex-gratia as per entitlements under Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana or as may be notified by Central Government to a person if he / she while employed under the Scheme dies or becomes permanently disabled.

free medical facility/ ex-gratia to an injured child accompanying a person who is employed under the Scheme.

Chekdam under construction


Rural Employment

Further, even after receiving employment, widespread instances of non-payment and delayed payment of wages were observed in 23 states. These cases demonstrate that considerable efforts were needed to provide adequate livelihood security. The scale of inadequacies in providing livelihood security could not be fully ascertained in view of the pervasive and extensive deficiencies in record maintenance at all levels. Non-maintenance or incorrect maintenance of basic records was noticed in 18 to 54 per cent of the test checked GPs. In such a situation the legal guarantee of 100 days of employment on demand and other aspects of the implementation of the Scheme were not fully verifiable.

Irregularities were also noticed in the works undertaken under MGNREGS. Instances of works abandoned midway or not completed for a significant period were noticed. Works of 2,252.43 crore which were undertaken under the scheme were not permissible. It was seen that 7,69,575 works amounting to 4,070.76 crore were incomplete even after one to five years. It was also noted that expenditure on works amounting 6,547.35 crore did not result in creation of durable assets. Cases of diversion of funds for other uses were also seen in a large number of states.

The larger issue, in relation to the works, was the non-adherence to the statutory 60:40 wage- material- ratio. The Ministry, in contravention of the Act, which stipulates that this ratio has to be maintained for each work, relaxed this provision. The Operational Guidelines issued by the Ministry stated that this ratio was to be maintained Preferably at the gram panchayat, block and district level. In a limited quantification exercise in 12 states and one U.T., it was seen that the non-adherence to this ratio led to short generation of 15.03 crore person days during the audit period.

The Act makes the Ministry legally responsible for monitoring the Scheme and giving such directions to the states as necessary for i ts proper implementation. In fact, the Act requires the ministry to set-up a Central Employment Guarantee Council that was to be responsible itself for monitoring the

Scheme and suggesting improvements. The Council worked under the Charirmanship of the Minister of Rural Development and included other stakeholders. However, it was seen that the Council had done little in terms of monitoring of the Scheme. In the six years of its existence, a few Council members conducted just 13 field visits and the Council had not put in place an effective system of monitoring and evaluation, as required under the Act.

The monitoring mechanisms of the Ministry, as envisaged in the Operational Guidelines, also included the system of National Quality Monitors, for verification and quality audits and an online MIS-NREGASoft. It was seen that the Ministry was yet to operationalize the system of National Quality Monitors. Also, poor internal controls and lack of any cross-verification had seriously eroded the reliability and credibility of the data in the MIS. Instances of data manipulations which are seemingly without any basis, were noted in audit.

The Act and the Operational Guidelines require the states and the Panchayati Raj institutions to monitor the implementation of the Scheme in a variety of ways. Gaps in the envisaged monitoring mechanisms were noticed in a large number of states. There were significant shortages in verification of works by state officials. Quality Monitors and Vigilance and Monitoring Committees had not been appointed in several states. Social audit remained ineffective to a large extent as social audit units had not been established. Shortfalls in social audit were noted in a number of states.

There were deficiencies in the approval and release of funds by the Ministry. Numerous instances were noticed in which the Ministry released grants in excess of demand and in breach of its own conditionalities. In fact, in 2010-11, the Ministry relaxed all conditionalities (except furnishing utilization certificate) associated with the release of funds. No basis for this decision was provided by the Ministry. As a result, 1,960.45 crore were released in the month of March 2011 alone, without exercising proper financial controls.

The Ministry needs to take decisive steps to



ensure proper implementation of the Scheme. It needs to focus on developing intensive monitoring and evaluation systems.

An analysis of the data provided by the Central Employment Guarantee Council disclosed some adverse trends. The expenditure incurred under the scheme had been stagnant for the last three years and actually showed a marginal decline in 2011-12. We noted that the decline in expenditure would have an aggravated effect on employment generation in view of the progressive increase in wages over the years. Employment generated declined from 283.59 crore

person days in 2009-10 to 216.34 crore person days in 2011-12. The completion of works also saw a significant decline in 2011-12.

An analysis of releases made to states for the period under review and poverty data