mgnregs-ap processes book

Processes and Best Practices

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme

Andhra Pradesh

Department of Rural DevelopmentAndhra Pradesh

Sri Dokka Manikya Varaprasada RaoMinster, Rural Development, Andhra Pradesh

I am extremely delighted that the Commissionerate, Rural Development is bringing out a book chronicling the processes followed in the implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. Andhra Pradesh Government has been a pioneer in adopting technology and participative processes to ensure transparency and efficiency in its operations. MGNREGS implementation in AP has been considered as one of the most efficient methods in the country. This book will highlight our innovative strategies and I hope this would be useful to other states in implementing MGNREGS and other development schemes. I wish all the functionaries who have contributed at various levels making MGNREGS-AP, a noteworthy model of project implementation and an effective poverty eradication scheme.

(Dokka Manikya Varaprasada Rao)

Sri R. Subramanyam,IAS Principal Secretary, Rural Development, Andhra Pradesh

MGNREGS is one of the largest rural outreach program managed by Department of Rural Development and Andhra Pradesh has been at the fore front in implementing new process and introduction of technology.As, a result the scheme is being implemented in the most transparent and efficient manner in the State and has been acknowledged time and again by the Planning CommissionTo share our learning over the years, A book explaining the processes used in implementation is being brought out, which will be useful to other states and development practitioners across the country. I extend my thanks to all the functionaries who gave their valuable inputs for the completion of the book and sincerely wish that this effort aids in better implementation of the scheme throughout the country.

(R. Subramanyam)

The implementation of the MGNREGA in Andhra Pradesh has come in for strong appreciation by Planning Commission during the Annual Plan discussions. Not only the expenditure by Andhra Pradesh has been one of the highest in the country, but the innovations in the implementation process payment of wages through offices, Rural SSR, IT driven implementation and the social audit system for public vigilance in the implementation has kept the State in the forefront at the national level in implementation of the scheme. The Planning Commission for circulation to all the other States has called for a note on the innovations brought in by Government of Andhra Pradesh in the implementation of the scheme.

Continuing with the efforts to enhance efficiency and transparency in MGNREGS implementation, continuous innovations are being carried out. Both technology integration and processes streamlining have improved the AP model of MGNREGS implementation. The Andhra Pradesh MGNREGS is an exemplary model that is sustainable and could be replicated across the country.

The entire process covered in twenty chapters focusing on the entire implementation process from identification of wage seekers and work to the Audit of implementation at all levels. Information Technology has played a crucial role in ensuring total monitoring and reduced transaction costs. CRD, Andhra Pradesh is the pioneer in adopting ICT platforms, which are extensively covered in the book.

We are hopeful that this book would enhance the understanding of MRNREGS-AP implementation and inspire similar initiatives to improve the quality of life of poor across the country.

Preface

Contents

1. Institutional Arrangement

2. Shrama Shakthi Sanghas

3. Project Mode Planning and Farmer Centric Works

4. Work Motion Studies and Rural Standard Schedule of Rates

5. Standard Payment Cycle

6. Information Technology in MGNREGS- RAGAS

7. e-FMS

8. e-MMS

9. Smart Cards

10. Muster Management

11. Pay Slips

12. Postal Accounts

13. Management Information System

14. Web Reports

15. Capacity Building

16. Persons with Disabilities

17. Grievance Redressal

18. Human Resource Management System

19. Andhra Pradesh NGO Alliance (APNA)

20. Social Audit

ChapterS.No Page No.

01 -- 04

05 -- 07

08 -- 21

22

23 -- 24

25 -- 29

30 -- 31

32 -- 33

34 -- 36

37

38

39 -- 42

43 -- 48

49 -- 60

61 -- 64

65 -- 68

69 -- 71

72 -- 74

75 -- 77

78 -- 84

MGNREGS-AP Processes and Best Practices

STATE COUNCIL

COMMISSIONER – RURAL DEVELOPMENT

PRINCIPAL SECREATARY – PANCHAYATI RAJ / RURAL DEVELOPMENT

DIRECTOR- MGNREGS

DPC

Addl. DPC, CEO-ZP Addl. DPC, PD, DRDA

3 TECHNICAL

ASSISTANTS

EGS

ENGINEER

MPDO

Addl. DPC, PO, ITDA

Addl. DPC, PD, DWMA

PROGRAMME

OFFICER

PROGRAMME

MANAGER

PANCHAYAT

SECRETARY

FIELD ASSISTANT

VILLAGE

ORGANIZATION

MANDAL

SAMAKHYA

THE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF

MGNREGS IN ANDHRA PRADESH

ZILLA

SAMAKHAYA

Institutional Arrangement

all levels of implementation must be ably supported by those higher as well as lower in hierarchy to achieve the effectiveness that is required to make a programme like MGNREGS-AP successful. Level-wise, the personnel have been grouped under village, mandal, district and the state levels.

A well-structured and properly defined system has been devised to implement Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in Andhra Pradesh. A scheme of such large outreach needs a highly competent and efficient group of individuals at all levels to fulfil its purpose. Teams at

01


The Village level team comprises of Field assistants collaborating with the local Panchayats for execution of day–to-day activities and work identification. The Act authorizes the Gram Sabha to identify, prioritise and recommend works to be taken up. The Gram Panchayat is responsible for planning, registering households, issuing job cards and monitoring the overall implementation. Field Assistants play a major role in implementation; One FA is appointed for each village who is essentially a high school Pass-out with requisite skills. There is a Technical assistant (usually a Diploma Holder in Civil Engineering) for every 5 villages for technical assistance in utilising the MGNREGS softwares at village level as well as for identification of works. Technical Assistants (TA) are usually selected through campus interviews from polytechnics and ITIs.

At the mandal level, the Mandal Parishad is the principle authority for planning and implementation. There is an engineering consultant supervising work identification, measurement and land records. For administrative assistance there is an additional program officer (APO) specifically for MGNREGA and a Programme Officer (PO).

At district level Zilla Parishad is responsible

for finalizing the district plan and overall supervision and monitoring. The District Collector manages the overall implementation in the capacity of District Program Coordinator, EGS followed by a Project Director, DWMA as Additional District Program Coordinator, EGS. There is an Additional Project Director in every district for administrative purposes assisted by Assistant Project Directors in-charge of 5 Mandals each. In addition to this, there are 3 Computer DRPs (District Resource persons) per District for technical support at the district level; out of the three, 2 DRPs are from TCS and one is from Bluefrog mobile technology. At the state level, there is a dedicated team looking at all policy related issues and provisions of requisite support at all levels.

The State team is headed by the Principal Secretary, Rural Development, Government of Andhra Pradesh (GoAP) who provides overall supervision and guidance. The Director, EGS oversees implementation of MGNREGA and is responsible for conveying all the policy decisions taken on the scheme and the processes involved. He / She provides domain knowledge on work estimates and execution and also ensures implementation support to the project at all

02

MGNREGS-AP Processes and Best Practices MGNREGS-AP Processes and Best Practices

development and support. For programming there is a team of 25 programmers from Tata Consultancy Services and 9 programmers from Bluefrog mobile technology. A separate team of 3 members has been setup to manage e-complaints. Following is the list of man power that takes care of the implementation at the State level.

stages. For administrative assistance, there is an APSEGC council. Additionally, a team of Business Representatives and Reviewers ensure implementation of viable commercial decisions.

There is a team of domain experts consisting of 6 Program Managers and 6 Joint Commissioners from GoAP for ICT

S.NO WING

Cadre wise Strength

Head of

Wing PM PE

DTP-

Ops Total

1 Implementing Authority (Director) 1 1

2 Strategic Planning Development (SPD) 1 1 2 4

3 Monitoring & Learning and Evaluation 1 1 2 4

4 Information Technology (IT) 1 1 1 3

5 Human Resource Management 1 2(1-Legal

Officer) 2 5

6 Finance and Accounts 1 4 (FMs) 3 8

7 Technical 1 2 (1 EE) 4 (AEs) 7

8 Works Quality Control 1 4 (EEs)

1(DEE)

10 (AEEs/AEs) 16

9 Vigilance and Social Audit 1 (CVO) 1 3(1 PE & 2 APE) 5

10 Communication and Documentation 1 2 2 2 7

11 Administration 1 1 (AO) 6 (3 PEs & 3

APEs)

8

12 Social Empowerment 1 3 1 5

13 Convergence 1 4 4 9

14 Capacity Building and Training 1 2 4 2 9

15 Institutional Building 1 2 2 5

Total 15 31 46 4 96

Man Power for Implementation at State Level

03


Due to well defined roles and responsibilities, team spirit prevails and there is little conflict . Introduction of well-designed ICT interventions has brought in transparency reducing scope of power centers and groups. The stress is on day- to- day communication between domain knowledge and developers through e-mails. Considerable effort is being made in maintaining proper channels of communication at all levels to ensure harmony and a dynamic and efficient work culture.

The focus is on enabling learning and trainings are designed to keep the team updated with technological and procedural innovations. In addition to the frequent training and exposure visits within the State and the Country, there is a system of planned meetings at all levels.

At the village level, there is a meeting between the FA and beneficiaries every Friday to discuss all the works and payment related issues. At the Mandal level, Staff meeting is held every Wednesday. District level meeting of all project staff takes place every fortnight followed by a monthly video conference at the State level between District teams and State Project team.

Following is the strength of the team working from district level to the village level taking care of the day to day implementation of MGNREGS works:

Position Requirement

(No.s)

Project Director (1 for

each district) 22

Additional Project

Director (1 for each

district)

22

Program Manager 30

Software Programmer 40

District Resource

Person (3 for each

district)

66

Subject Matter Expert 110

Assistant Project Officer 290

Engineering Consultant 740

Assistant Program

Officer 1,098

Technical Assistant 3,500

Field Assistant 21,000

04


Households evolved into Shrama Shakthi Sanghaas (SSS) formation at the village level. These groups were conceived to improve upon the short-comings of the FLGs in terms of better cohesiveness and coordination with Gram Panchayat and concerned departments implementing MGNREGS, primarily the Rural development department. The group size has been limited to 20 members per group. The underlying rationale behind the formation of Shrama Shakthi Sanghaas is the fact that wage seekers prefer to report to work in specific groups. Certain kinds of works or timings sought by the labour resulted in the same set of people coming together more than often. Such trends have been identified at the village level and conscious efforts have been undertaken to bring these people together to form Shrama Shakthi Sanghaas. However, the NGOs and

Background:

Recognizing the strength of collective action and the substantial changes SHG women have been able to bring to their community, it was decided that similar labour groups may be formed. This paved the way for the formation of Fixed Labour Groups (FLGs) in Andhra Pradesh. These FLGs consisted of ten to forty labourers per group and constituted members from the families of the women who were part of various Self Help groups. The purpose behind this exercise was to give the work seekers a collective voice to discuss their grievances and concerns at various platforms. The machinery of Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) and NGOs assisted these groups in taking an inventory of the natural resources available (or useful to them) and identify suitable works to be converted into sustainable income producing assets. More than 1 lakh groups were formed as FLGs consisting of about 20 lakh job card holders. This was meant to provide security to the poor about work availability and enable them to plan for their execution depending on the time available.

Shrama Shakthi Sanghaas:

This strategy for providing continuous assured employment for the poor rural

Shrama Shakti Sanghaas (SSS)

05


FAs facilitating the formation of these groups limit their role of bringing them together and assisting them with group formation, the final decision about the composition of the group lies with the community.

Any SC / ST wage seeker who has worked for a minimum of 10 days or a labourer belonging to Other Caste who has worked for 20 days under the Employment Guarantee Scheme in 2009-10, 2010-11 is eligible to be a part of an SSS. The practice is to form the groups with a minimum of 10 members and not exceeding 20 per group. The process of the SSS formation needs the members to have a name for the group and an elected Mate, a literate person who will have the responsibility of heading the group. An SSS will be recognised only after all the members of the group fill their details in the Group Formation Acceptance letter (Format-S) and the Mandal Computer Centre allots a Unique ID to the group after thorough verification has been done. Existing FLGs will also be required to go through the entire procedure. 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 a part of the same group. In order to ensure that the benefits reach the underprivileged, it is also

advised to form the uniform groups with SC / ST wage seekers wherever possible.

Benefits of Shrama Shakthi Sanghaas:

1. Safeguarding the rights of the labourers: The Shrama Shakthi Sanghaas play a major role in safeguarding the rights bestowed upon the labourers as per the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005. These groups provide a platform for opportunities involving collective action among the beneficiaries.

2. Improving the Lands of SC/ST House-holds: The Schedule Caste and Scheduled Tribe households are provided with guaranteed income by transforming their lands to cultivable lands that are suitable for agriculture. This also promises additional revenue each year to these families.

3. Recognition: Forming these groups helps the administrative officials as well as the labourers themselves to recognize the members of various groups.

4. Avoiding Mistakes in the Muster Rolls: Since it becomes an easier job to keep track of the wage seeker attendance as per the SSS, the chances of committing mistakes in the musters are reduced by a great extent. Any worker who is not present at the work site cannot have his / her name on the attendance

06


is carried on the assistance of Andhra Pradesh NGOs Association (APNA). These voluntary organisations help in bringing the work seekers together, guide them on the advantages of forming groups and initiate the entire process in the villages allotted to them. In the villages that do not come under an NGO, the responsibility of forming the groups lies with the Assistant Project Officer (APO) of the region or any of the Field assistants / Technical Assistants / Rojgaar Sewaks.

The APO will have to distribute the SSS Acceptance form (Format-S), G-1 and G-2 lists among the APNA members or the Gram Panchayats (incase the village is not assisted by APNA) on a habitation basis. After the group formation is done and the details are entered in the Mandal Computer Centre, the APO needs to bifurcate the information for each Gram Panchayat and pass it on to the concerned field assistants. The technical / field assistants are entitled to decide the time and venue for the meetings where the groups are formed and it is also their responsibility to ensure that all the group members attend. During the meetings, the names of all the labourers as per G-1 and G-2 are read out and preferences are asked about the groups in which each of them wants to be a part of.

sheet.

5. Providing Work Site facilities is made easy: Since the mate of each SSS is elected from among the members of the group itself, the tedious process of distributing work, giving measurements, verification as well as giving basic amenities to the workers becomes easier.

6. Cooperation among the group members: There is better coordination among the SSS members and the Mate because it is the group itself that makes the choice. Along with this, the fact that the mate also works along with the group goes a long way in nurturing the relationship between the mate and the members.

7. Working under the same application: As per the Format-1, the SSS members can have the opportunity of working under the same application.

8. Allotting works on the name of the SSS: Forming Shrama Shakthi Sanghaas helps in allotting works on the name of the group instead of each labourer. This results in reduced paper work and manual labour aiding the officials to concentrate on better efficiency in the implementation of the scheme.

The formation of Shrama Shakthi Sanghaas 07


A fundamental challenge to make MGNREGA a relevant social transformation tool is that requisite employment is created and the assets created under the scheme help in building rural infrastructure to facilitate rural economy even after the scheme is withdrawn. The need to act within a time limit and building quality and required infrastructure necessitates advance planning. The basic aim of the planning process is to ensure that the district is prepared well in advance to offer productive employment on demand.

As per NREGA Act, Chapter 4 “13. (1) The Panchayats at district, intermediate and village levels shall be the principal authorities for planning and implementation of the Schemes made under this Act”. The Panchayat Raj bodies are the principal planning and implementation agencies. Gram Panchayats is responsible for work identification and forward the proposals for MGNREGS-AP projects to the Programme Officer for scrutiny and preliminary approval prior to the commencement of the financial year in which these projects are to be executed.

Each GP will have a labour budget for the financial year to meet the demand of all wage seekers who are willing to come for the MGNREGS works. Consequently, the

Programme Officer matches the demand for work for all the GPs in the Mandal with the employment opportunities arising from MGNREGS-AP projects. He/She prepares a plan for the Mandal by consolidating proposals of Gram Panchayats and Mandal Panchayats. Subsequently, The Mandal Panchayat approves and forwards the Mandal Plan to the Zilla Parishad.

At the district level, the District Programme Coordinator prepares a ‘labour budget’ by the end of December for the next financial year. This labour budget is submitted to the Zilla Parishad, which contains details of the anticipated demand for unskilled manual work in the District and the plan for engagement of labourers in MGNREGS-AP works.

The need to coordinate different levels of planning and to prepare a ‘shelf of projects’ to provide wage employment on demand requires preparation of an Annual Plan for the District. This is done before the commencement of the financial year so that the shelf in each GP is sufficient to meet the demand of wage seekers in the financial year

The Annual Plan is like a rolling plan and part of the five year District Perspective Plan giving overall direction to the objectives to be

Project Mode Planning and Farmer Centric Works

08


1. Gram Panchayat prepares an Annual Plan and forwards it to the Programme Officer. The Annual Plan clearly states the present demand for work, demand in the previous year, works taken up in the previous year, ongoing works and works proposed for the next year, and the labour budget required to meet the demand of the wage seekers. The Gram Panchayat planning goes through the following steps:

• Works are with habitation as the unit area. The Gram Sabhas are usually conducted in weaker section localities (SC/ST localities)

• Wage seekers and farmers fully involved in the process of identification of shelf of works in the Gram Sabha.

• Three teams per Mandal are formed, each consisting of the FA, TA, APD/EC/MPDO. These teams visit villages as per schedule and help /assist the Sarpanch and the Secretary of the Gram Panchayat in conducting Gram Sabhas as per EGS norms to formulate recommendations, which are forwarded to Gram Panchayats.

• Selection of works is based on the priorities given in Schedule I of the

achieved while creating employment. Since the approved shelf of projects carry over from one financial year to the next, the Annual Plan is not seen in discrete terms, but as a part of a long-term strategy for sustainable employment generation in the District. The need to integrate work priorities with a long-term development strategy is reflected in Schedule I of the Act, which states that the ‘creation of durable assets and strengthening the livelihood resource base of the rural poor shall be an important objective of the Scheme’.

While Perspective Plan provides the framework for facilitating this identification, Annual Plan is the working plan that identifies the activities to be taken up on a priority basis in a year. The two most important points to be taken into consideration are:

1. The annual planning process for the next financial is completed by December end of every year including approval of the plan by the Zilla Parishad.

2. Every year the Gram Panchayat convenes a meeting of the Gram Sabha to estimate the demand for labour and to propose the number and priority of works to be taken up in the next financial year.

The Planning process involves the following:

09


MGNREGA act.

2. TA’s prepare all the estimates and ECs look for technical feasibility and provi-sion of he estimates and accord technical approval

3. Sequentially, Programme Officer then scrutinizes the Annual Plan for its priority as per Schedule I and sufficiency to meet the employment demand. If the proposal is not within the parameters of the Act, the Programme Officer records his observations on the proposal and returns it to the Gram Panchayat for it to replace it with a valid proposal.

4. The consolidated GP proposals called the Mandal EGS Plan is approved by the Mandal Parishad and forwarded to the Additional District Programme Coordinator & PD, DWMA.

5. The Addl. District Programme Coordinator scrutinizes the Mandal EGS plan of all the Mandal Parishads, for the appropriateness and adequacy of works as well as their technical and financial feasibility. All the Mandal EGS plans are consolidated into a District EGS Plan and submitted to the ZP for its approval.

6. After approval by the ZP, the District EGS plan is sent to the District Program

Coordinator for approval

7. The Mandal EGS plans under the District plan once approved by the DPC are sent back to the APDO and PD, DWMA of respective mandals. Each GP plan is then sent back to the respective GP.

Once the Shelf of works is ready, the Program Officers issues work commencement letters to the groups of wage-seekers (SSS) who have applied for works. The entire work estimation exercise and preparation of labour budgets is carried out utilizing RAGAS software.

Under the Perspective Plan, nature of MGNREGA works relate primarily to soil and water conservation; drought proofing and afforestation; micro and minor irrigation works; rehabilitation of tanks and traditional water bodies; land leveling; bush and jungle clearance works; flood diversion drains and other works benefiting rural connectivity such as development and maintenance of roads connecting villages and village habitats.

The identification of works has been taken up by logically grouping works into projects and they execute all these projects in a logical fashion. For the last three years, projects were executed on the concept of ridge-to-valley treatment in soil conservation works.

10


on will be considered as a project and will be completed before moving onto the next land.

This will ensure that every project results in a logical conclusion benefitting a farmer making agriculture viable for him. To achieve the objective, all GPs have agreed to prioritise the ‘Shelf of Works’ where lands of SC/ST farmers are given top priority followed by other farmers. The first preference is to undertake projects on dry and fallow lands and then cultivable lands.

The entire area under GP was divided into 3 parts and each year one part the projects was carried out.

This approach facilitated better supervision and ensured implementation of works with a logical conclusion. However, due to local constraints, many small and marginal farmers could not benefit to the extent desired. To ensure that benefits reach to the poor and especially those belonging to the weaker sections of the society, from this year onwards land of each farmer to be worked

List of works to be taken up in IWMP Villages by MCCs and WCCs under MGNGREGS-AP

Enclosure to Circular No. 1192/EGS/PM(T)/2010, Dt.6.9.2010

ANNEXURE - I

Priority No. Project NameWork

No.Sl. No. Work Name

MCC/WCC/FDCC

Category as per the Act

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

1

CLDP-EGS, SC/ST Follow

lands Development

Project

I

1Juliflora Clearance with stumps

removal

MCC I

2 Boulder Removal

3 Stone Bund

4 Pebble Bunding

5 Terracing in Hill / slope areas

6 Boundary Trench cum plantation

7Trench - Cum -Bund -cum Planta-

tion

8 Farm Pond

11




MCC/WCC/FDCC


1

CLDP-EGS, SC/ST Follow

lands Development

Project

I

9 Silt application

MCC

I

10Gypsum Application in alkaline

lands

11 Compost Pit

12 Mini Percolation Tank

13 Dry land Horiticulture plantation

14 Deep Ploughing

15Cultivator ploughing

(Tillering)

16Cropping for improving soil

fertility 1st year (legume)

II 17Digging and deepening of Open

Well

III

18 Silt application 2nd year

19Cultivator ploughing (Tillering) 2nd year

WCC

20Cropping for improving soil

fertility 2nd year (legume)

21Dry land Horticulture plantation

2nd year maintenance

IV22 Silt application 3rd year


3rd year maintenance

2 I1 Pebble Bunding

MCC I2 Boundary Trench cum plantation

12




MCC/WCC/FDCC


2

CLDP-EGS, SC/ST rainfed

lands Development

Project

I

3Trench - cum - Bund - cum - Plan-

tation

MCC

I

4Terracing in hilly slopes of ITDA

areas only

5 Farm Pond

6 Silt application

7 Compost Pit


9 Dry land Horticulture plantation


(Tillering)


lands only


Well

WCCIII




IV15

Dry land Horticulture plantation 3rd year maintenance

16 Silt application 3rd year

3

CMSA -EGS,SC/ST

Land Development

I

1 Boulder Removal

I

2 Conservative furrows

3 Farm Pond

4 Silt application

5 Compost Pit

6 Deep Ploughing

13




MCC/WCC/FDCC


4

Land Development in fallow lands

of SC/ST families for sustainable agriculture

Project (LDF-SAP-SC/ST)

I


removal

MCC

I

2 Boulder Removal

3 Stone Bund

4 Pebble Bunding



7Trench - Cum -Bund -cum Planta-

tion8 Farm Pond

9 Silt application


lands11 Compost Pit



14 Deep Ploughing

15 Cultivator ploughing (Tillering)

16Cropping for improving soil fertil-

ity 1st year (legume)


Well

III


19Cultivator ploughing (Tillering)

2nd year

WCC20Cropping for improving soil fertil-

ity 2nd year (legume)



14




MCC/WCC/FDCC


IV22 Silt application 3rd year

WCC I23


5

Land Development

in rainfed lands of SC/ST

families for sustainable agriculture

Project (LDR-SAP - SC/ST)

I

1 Pebble Bunding

MCC

I



tation

4Terracing in hilly slopes of ITDA

areas only5 Farm Pond

6 Silt application

7 Compost Pit





lands only


Well

WCCIII




IV15



I


removal

MCC I2 Boulder Removal

3 Stone Bund

4 Pebble Bunding


15




MCC/WCC/FDCC


6

Land Development in fallow lands

of S&M families for sustainable

agriculture Project (LDF-

SAP - SM

I


MCC

I

7Trench - Cum - Bund - cum Plan-

tation8 Farm Pond

9 Silt application


lands11 Compost Pit



14 Deep Ploughing


(Tillering)


ity 1st year (legume)


Well

III


19Cultivator ploughing (Tillering)

2nd year

WCC


ity 2nd year (legume)



IV



3rd year maintenance

I1 Pebble Bunding

MCC I2 Boundary Trench cum plantation

16




MCC/WCC/FDCC


7

Land Development

in rainfed lands of Small & Marginal

Farmers for sustainable agriculture

Project (LDR-SAP - SM)

I


tation

MCC

I

4 Farm Pond

5 Silt application

6 Compost Pit





lands only


Well

WCCIII




IV14



8

Ground Water Recharge Project

(GWRP)

1 Recharge of dried up open well

WCC I

2 Staggered trenches

3Water Absorption trench at foot

hills4 Sunken Pit

5 Farm Pond

6 Mini percolation Tank

7 Dug out Pond

8Repairs to existing Percolation Tank

9Desilting and Deepening of exist-

ing check dams

10Desilting and Deepening of Perco-

lation Tank17




MCC/WCC/FDCC


8

Ground Water Recharge Project

(GWRP)

11 Repairs to existing Check Dams

WCC I

12 Rockfill dams

13 Percolation Tank

14Gully Control works –

Gabian structure15 Sub surface dykes

16 Check Wall

17 Check Dam

9Drainage Line

Treatment Project (DLTP)

1 Sunken pits

WCC I

2 Staggered trenches

3Water absorption trench in near

foot hills4 Mini Percolation Tank

5 Dugout Pond

6 Percolation Tank

7Loose Boulder structures in ridge

areas8 Rock fill dams in ridge areas

10

Water Harvesting

Structure for Drinking Water

1 Ooranis

MCC2 Check Dams

3 Sub-surface Dykes

11Afforestation Project (ATP)

1 Cattle proof trench

I I

2Barren Hill Afforestation Raising

Year (1st year)WCC

3 Block Plantation Raising Year

4 Back yard plantations

5 Maintenance of Tamarind trees

6 Seed dibbling

18




MCC/WCC/FDCC


11Afforestation Project (ATP)

7Barren Hill afforestation 2nd Year

Maintenance

I I8

Block Plantation 2nd Year Main-tenance

9Block Plantation 3rd Year Main-

tenance10 Bio mass village nursery FDCC

12

Fodder Development and Fodder conservation

Project

1 Raising of perennial fodder

WCC I I

2 Raising of Fodder Maize or Fodder Jowar for silage making

3 Construction of Silo Pits

4Raising of Silvipasture (Stylohama-ta/ Cenchrus celiaris/ Urochola)

with Subabul plantations5 Azolla production unit

6 Raising of APBN fodder nurseries

13

CPR-Land Development

Project( CPR - LDP)

1 Trench - cum - Bund - plantation

WCC I

2 Staggered Trench

3 Water absorption trench at foot hills

4 Cattle Proof Trench

5 Farm Pond

6 Mini percolation tank

7 Percolation Tank

8 Enrichment Plantations

9 Fire Tracing

10 Seed Dibbling

1 New Feeder Channel

MCC I I I 2 New Field Channel

3 Desilting of Existing Feeder Chan-nel

19




MCC/WCC/FDCC


14

Irrigation Drains and Irrigation Channels Project (IDICP)

4 Desilting of Existing Field Chan-nel

MCC I I I

5 Desilting of Existing Irrigation Minor Drains

6 Renovation of spring channels

7 Removal of Water Hyacinth in Canals

8 Removal of water hyacinth in drains

9 Removal of Kikkirisa in drains leading to Kolleru Lake

10 Removal of Ipomea Comea (Thooti) in drains

15

Land Development

and other works in flood affected areas

Project (LDFEAP)

1 Removal of sand cast

MCC I V

2 Removal of silt

3 Breach filling of Roads

4 Breach filling of MI tanks

16

Reclamation of Abandoned

fish/prawn tanks of SC/

ST households Project

1 Land Levelling

MCC I V2 Application of Gypsum

17

Public Institutions

Development Project(PIDP)

1 Cattle Proof Trenches around Govt. Educational Institutions

MCC VI 2 Land Leveling in Public Institu-

tions

3Land Leveling in low lying Burial

Grounds4 Institutional Plantation

18Drinking Water Tanks Project

(DWTP)

1 Desilting of Drinking Water TanksMCC V

2 Desilting of Cattle Ponds

20




MCC/WCC/FDCC


19Flood Control

Project

1 Flood Bund

MCC VII2

Improvements to existing flood bund

3Construction of drains to drain

out water from waterlogged areas connecting to Natural drain

4Filling up of Low Lying and Water

Logged Areas in INDIRAMMA Colonies MCC VII

5 Closure of abandoned open wells

20Rural

Connectivity Project(RCP)

1Formation of Approach Road to

Agriculture fields

MCC VIII2

Formation of Approach Road to Burial grounds

3Formation of Approach Road to

Public Institutions4 Breach closing of Existing roads

21


One of biggest challenges in ensuring optimal implementation of MGNREGS is to ensure that labour get proper remuneration for their work and wasteful expenditures is avoided. One of the major arguments advanced by the critics of the scheme was that the wages might be paid for token attendance and effort will not be recognised. The other major concern was about ensuring that the entire remuneration is paid to the labour in the most transparent manner.

These concerns have been adequately addressed while drafting the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. As per the provision under Schedule 1 Para 7 and 8 “When wages are directly linked with the quantity of work, the wages shall be paid according to the schedule of rates fixed by the State Government for different types of work every year, in consultation with the State Council.

The schedule of rates of wages for unskilled labourers shall be so fixed that a person working for seven hours would normally earn a wage equal to the wage rate”

In Andhra Pradesh, ESCI Engineering Staff College of India has been engaged to conduct Work, Time and Motion Studies to fix up the rates for various tasks in such a way that

labourers get adequate wage rate for 9 hours of work with one hour of rest.

Along with ESCI, the CRD undertakes work, motion studies for all kinds of proposed tasks. ESCI studies tasks under various soil conditions and group compositions to arrive at task rates. The findings of the ESCI are put before the technical committee for finalisation of task rates.

Based on the outcome of ESCI studies, Department of Rural Development brings out a special Rural Standard Schedule of Rates for the tasks taken up under MGNREGS every year. Once the standard rate chart is prepared, these rates are added to the software for preparation of estimates and generating pay-orders. This brings in the needed transparency as the work measurements done by TA and FA have been verified and then fed to the MIS systems.

The RSSR demystifies engineering estimation and allows people to understand provision of the estimates. The Software reduces the dependency on the Engineers in preparing the estimates and reduces incidence of human error in estimations.

Work Motion Studies and RSSR

22


The fixed payment cycle begins with the opening of muster on Day-1, which is on a

Fixed Payment Cycle

Closing of Muster Roll

Opening of Muster

Measurement & Check

Measurement

Data Entry in MCC Pay Order & Preparation of

Cheques

Handing over of Cheque to BPM

Conveyance of Cheque to BPM

Disbursement of wages in post office

Mon/Thurs

Day 1

Sat/Tue

Day 6

Sat-Mon/ Tue-Thurs Day 6-8

Sat-Mon/ Tue-Thurs Day 6-8

Mon-Tues/ Thurs-Fri Day 8-9

Tue-Wed / Fri-Sat

Day 9-10

Wed-Fri/ Sat-Mon

Day 10-11

Wed-Sat/ Sat-Tue

Day 10-13

Hence, it becomes essential that these poor labourers are not only provided with work but also paid sufficiently and on time. Any mechanism used for disbursement of wages must ensure that the payments are made at the earliest without any delay. In order to cater to these needs, the MGNREGS – AP makes use of a Standard Fixed Payment Cycle for the distribution of wages. Currently two payment cycles are being operated with the

Providing guaranteed employment and income to the poor rural households is the focal aim of the MGNREGS – AP. A majority of the rural population in the state depends on agriculture for a living and hence faces an uphill struggle in the dry agriculture off season to feed itself. Lack of irrigation facilities makes these villagers turn towards the Employment Guarantee Scheme and look at it as a viable source of revenue.

Standard Payment Cycle

23


three days. The wage seekers present their Smart Cards to the BPM to establish their identity and the disbursement of wages is done.

second cycle starting on Thursday of the week. The second cycle has been introduced keeping in mind the pressure on the officers involved in the payment process.

The fixed payment cycle begins with the opening of muster on Day-1, which is on a Monday and Thursday to denote the starting of the week. Attendance of the wage seekers and the work done by them is collected by the Field Assistants (FAs) and are reported to the administrative authorities throughout the week. At the end of every week, the muster rolls are closed. The next phase in the payment cycle involves the measurements of the works with respect to the muster rolls which is done by the Technical Assistants (TAs). After the measurements are done, the Technical Assistants pass on the muster rolls to the Engineering Consultants (ECs) who check the measurements to eliminate discrepancies, if any. Once the measurements are validated completely, the muster rolls are sent to the Additional Project Officer (APO) for his/her perusal. The data is then entered into the system at the Mandal Computer Centre (MCC) by the Computer Operator (CO) and the pay orders and wage payment cheques are generated. All the cheques and in turn the funds are then transferred to the Branch Post Master (BPM) in the following

24


Any initiative at a scale as large as that of MGNREGS-AP needs to counter in transparency and accountability to ensure proper implementation and reach out to the intended beneficiaries. The state of Andhra Pradesh has always been the front runner in the use of technology for its governance. Keeping in mind the degree of error that might occur in various stages of the implementation, transparency in the execution of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme in Andhra Pradesh becomes necessary especially in the registration of wage seekers, estimation of works, disbursement of wages and maintenance of accounts. IT applications also help in the social audit process, disclosure of information as per the Right to Information Act as well as the generation of various reports, estimates and proceedings.

In this regard, Tata Consultancy Services has developed a highly comprehensive and end-to-end transaction based application that provides convenience for the field staff and makes the work of the administrative officials easier at the same time. The software

has a two tier architecture – Program Implementation System (PIS) for Field Functionaries to carry out the transactions and Program Monitoring System (PMS) - for the District and state level officials and as well as for public -for monitoring the program. The PIS consists of the following modules,

1. Wage Seeker module

2. Work Estimates module

3. Work Execution and Payment module

4. Material Management module

5. Reports

6. Finance and Accounts

RAGAS

25


of work. After identification and approval of works is completed (MDO and CEO, Zilla Parishad will coordinate with the Mandal Parishad and Zilla Parishad respectively to identify works when more than one Gram Panchayat or Mandal is involved), the field assistant or a technical assistant brings the Work proposals (technical input datasheets) of the works at Gram Panchayat and Mandal Parishad level in duly signed templates. The Computer Operator will then use that data from the Gram Panchayat, Mandal Parishad and the Zilla Parishad to generate the technical estimates. After the District EGS plan is approved at the Zilla Parishad, the DPC gives administrative sanction to all the works and forward them to the concerned PO. The PO then sends the technical estimates of the works along with the admin sanction to the concerned engineers for technical sanction. After receiving the technical and the administrative sanction numbers, a work commencement order is generated and sent to the Gram Panchayat at which point, the specific work can be started. Thereafter, the Work Estimates module also allows the user to check the status of various works on a Gram Panchayat / Village basis

3. Work Execution and Payment module: The Work Execution and Payment module

7. Analysis

8. Administration

1. Wage Seeker Module: The Wage Seeker module is primarily used for registration of households in MGNREGS program and keeps track of the number of households in a village and the number of wage seekers under each household. The process starts with the villagers applying for being registered as wage seekers under the Employment Guarantee scheme. Data from these applications and the village household registration register is entered as input to the Wage Seeker module. The module allows the user to prepare a template of the Identity card of the household with a unique household ID and a barcode. These printed job cards are later distributed to the villagers by the field assistant along with an EGS activist. The user can also view any information related to the work demand in a village, Employment Details of any particular household and various other Gram Panchayat registers.

2. Work Estimates Module: The Work Estimates or the Work Proposal module deals with the plan, technical estimates and commencement orders related to a work. Firstly, farmers in a village who seek to improve their agricultural land assist the field assistants in helping them identify the type

26


generates various payment orders to the Banks / Post Offices / Smartcards Banks/Village Organizations as per the prescribed rates on the work output basis. Inputs from the Muster roll and the M Book sheet are used to prepare the work completion report and the wage payment proceedings. In case of payment through a Village Organizations, an acquaintance roll is also generated to take the signatures of the wage seekers. Depending upon the necessity for procuring material, a supply order is generated to the concerned material supplier and the payment agency. After the field assistant confirms the delivery of the material, the operator will fill in the details of the material and generate the payment order to the supplier which needs approval of the MGNREGS Program Officer.

4. Material Management module: The Material Management module keeps a list of the material procured during the works and basic information about the material supplier and the cost for each material type. It can also be used to generate a material payment order.

5. Reports: This is a provision for the user to view various kinds of reports related to the implementation of MGNREGS-AP. Primarily, the reports are of five categories;

• R1 reports consist of MGNREGS as a whole at a glance.

• R2 are related to the reports to the Government of Andhra Pradesh. There are six reports that brief the user about the physical as well as the financial performance of Andhra Pradesh in the EGS scheme along with the wage and material expenditure in the implementation.

• The Five R3 reports give information pertaining to the performance exceptions like delayed payments or works.

27


same day. General Ledgers and reconciliation reports are available in the PIS.

7. Analysis: The Analysis module is used to scrutinize the data available and generate reports that are used for effective monitoring of the programme. Identifying undesirable trends and taking corrective action is the underlying reason for which this module has been designed for. Following are some of the details that can be evaluated using the Analysis module,

• Work Ageing: Comparison of the planned start and completion dates of the sanctioned works with actual start and completion dates helps in identifying delays in the works and take remedial actions.

• Worker Ageing: This involves comparison of a wage seeker’s date of registration or application of work with his / her first date of work. This analysis helps to avoid delays in providing employment to the villagers by finding out the problems that cause late sanctions of works.

• Household Work Days Completion: Providing a minimum of 100 days employment to as many people as possible is the primary aim of the EGS scheme. In this regard, analyzing the number of work

• R4 reports provide particulars about various financials of the EGS that include reports on Allocation and Utilization of funds in a month-wise as well as consolidated manner and a Monthly expenditure report (Sub-component wise or Abstract or Consolidated).

• R5, the special reports provide a host of other details such as status of works taken up, EGS Plan reports for each mandal, community wise employment generation, work site facilities and labour welfare, unemployment allowance which is given in case of the wage seekers not provided with timely works, grievances report and other employment related reports.

6. Finance and Accounts: The Finance and Accounts module keeps a measure of the usage of funds under the Employment generation scheme.

Fund Transfer Orders (FTOs) can be generated for all the generated pay orders through electronic Fund Management System (eFMS) inetegrated with the PIS. This module gives the facility to the Program officer to authorise the payments by uploading FTOs using secure digital key. FTOs from the central server are sent to the Nodal bank to process the payments on the

28


days for each household becomes crucial for the proper implementation of the scheme. This also helps the PCO and the administrative officials to sanction more works in case of a work day shortage in a specific village or mandal.

• Household Wage Earning: Compilation of the details of wages earned by households is done as part of this analysis. This enables the calculation of status of the wage earning capacity of the households and also helps invoke any action, if needed.

• Caste / Community and Gender Analysis: These are done to compile the details of wages earned and working days of households and then calculate the status of wage earning capacity on a Caste / Community and Gender basis. Thus, action can be taken if per day wage rate of a community or male / female falls below a certain acceptable level.

• Nature of Works: This analysis helps to keep track of the distribution of works taken up in a specific village or mandal. This enables studies related to the types of works and their adherence to the policy of developmental activity and asset creation.

• Wage and Material Distribution: A

detailed study of the works in terms of the wages and the material components is done through this analysis.

• Work Jurisdiction: This feature analyses the works taken up by a village / mandal and helps keep the distribution of works in accordance with the law that states that a Panchayat is authorized to carry out 50 percent of the works allocated to a village.

8. Administration: The final module deals with the user account information and other miscellaneous details. It allows the user to change the password and other account settings.

State Level reports can be viewed in the PMS using the url: www.nrega.ap.gov.in

29


Electronic Fund Transfer System (eFMS)

Electronic Fund Transfer system (eFMS) has been established with the objective of putting in place an efficient mechanism to generate transmission of funds through online money transfers. This system helps in avoiding the tedious task of maintaining individual books of accounts and documents at the village, mandal and the district level. By means of a central server, eFMS enables all the Mandal Computer Centres (MCCs) and the District Computer Centres (DCCs) to be networked to a Central fund in which all the MGNREGA funds are lodged. The primary use of this system is to transfer funds to the

disbursing accounts (Post Office, Smart Card, Supplier’s Account or the Individual’s wage account) for timely and accurate payment of wages. The work flow involves exchange of information between the Block offices (MPDO), MGNREGS Server, Bank server and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) server.

The process begins when the Block Office issues a Fund Transfer Order (FTO) for a wage seeker to the MGNREGS server. The MGNREGS Server in turn collects all the FTOs that have been generated from all the MPDOs and forwards them to the

30


Block

Office

E Pay Order

FTO

NREGS Server

Bank

Web Report

Individual Salary

Account

Suppliers

Account

Smart Card

Banker Account Head Post Office

Account

Sub Post Office

Branch Office

Wage Seeker

Block

Coordinator

Community

Service Provider

Wage Seeker

Bank server. The Bank server interacts with the RBI server through the Core-Banking solutions (CBS) system to establish the identity and verify the account details of each FTO. RBI server reverts back to the Bank server with the Unique Tax reference numbers of the accounts. This paves the way for the Bank server to transfer the funds to

the individual accounts as per the requests. An acknowledgement is generated and is sent back to the MGNREGS server that can be used to prepare reports regarding the use of finances.

An overall flow of funds from the bank to the wage seekers can be understood from the following process-flow.

31


work every day and sends it to the central computer. These details are immediately updated in the MGNREGS website and can be queried by anyone interested at any point of time. Verification teams are given the task of verifying randomly picked work sites to check whether the intended work is being done by the listed people. These work sites are selected by the MGNREGS server which sends automated SMSes about the location and the muster to the teams.

Electronic Muster and Measurement System (eMMS)

Transparency at various stages of implementation has always been one of the most important objectives of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. One such stage where continuous invigilation needs to be done is when the works are taken up at the village level. It is mandatory to check whether the identification and completion of these works are done in a way that would not compromise the principle of being accountable and clear.

Hence, obtaining live data from the work site on a day-to-day basis has been deemed an effective way to achieve transparency. This also has been the main reason behind the development of Electronic Muster and Measurement system (eMMS). eMMS is a highly sophisticated cell phone based technology that has been customized entirely for the MGNREGS field staff. It consists of a host of mobile applications like e-Muster, e-Measurement, e-Muster Verification and e-Check Measurement deployed on the mobile phones of the field functionaries.

Firstly, information related to all the job seekers in a village are loaded into the mobile phone of the concerned field assistant. The field assistant makes use of e-Muster to gather muster attendance for each

GPS Software used in Mobile phones developed by BLUEFROG MOBILE TECHNOLOGIES

32


After the verification has been done, each of these teams reverts back to the server with the findings. This helps in weeding out any bogus muster rolls and ensures that proper work is done for the money spent by the Government.

Technical Assistants in villages make use of eMMS to capture Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates to measure the areas where works are intended to be taken up. This is used both while identification of

similar to the muster verification process.

Thus, eMMS helps in arresting various distortions in the programme like Muster Fudging; Delays in Payments; Binami Wage Seekers; Fake Measurements and Work Duplication. This has ensured transparency in the system. In addition, it has brought synergy to the system making information management efficient and dynamic reducing errors and human effort in recording information.

works is done as well as when the works are in progress. Use of GPS coordinates in measuring work boundaries helps in minimizing the probability of wrong measurements. Once these coordinates have been sent to the MGNREGS server, verification teams are sent SMS alerts with these locations to check the measurements and filter away any errors. These teams then reply with audited information to the server

Flow of Information in Muster Management

33


Ensuring that the intended wage seekers receive the payments is a significant step towards the success of Employment Guarantee Scheme. Keeping in mind the huge amount of works taken up in the 22 rural districts of Andhra Pradesh and the vast beneficiary base involved this is, by no means an easy task. Any technology that is proposed to be used needs to consider many factors like illiteracy of the rural people and conditions of the remote areas from where they might need access to wage payments.

Another important development aspect is of financial inclusion for the poor. MGNREGS activities have been considered as an important opportunity to push the agenda of ‘financial inclusion’. This initially resulted in Government of Andhra Pradesh (GoAP) facilitating the opening of more than one crore bank accounts for the labour involved in MGNREGS-AP. Further, to address

various challenges like insufficient banking infrastructure, literacy levels posing unease for the poor people to transact with banks and high transaction costs, all the MGNREGS-AP payments in the villages are being done through a biometric identification process with the help of Smart Cards. This process

makes use of finger print technology to issue biometric smart cards to each beneficiary at the village level. Fingerprint t e c h n o l o g y uses a person’s fingerprints to identify him / her through f i n g e r p r i n t

scanning. Since every individual has a unique set of fingerprints, this technology is both foolproof as well as reliable.

Another important development is customization / integration of technology for multi tasking. In the beginning, all banks and service providers used separate equipment for enrolment and making payments. Since the entire enrollment is not completed in one

Smart Cards

34


financial institution concerned conducting an enrolment camp in the village. This involves identification of the beneficiaries, collection of 6/10 fingerprints, a passport size photo and other pre-requisites requisite details. After biometric identification is done in the villages, each beneficiary is given a smart card and a bank account. The e-Pay order is generated at the MCC and passed on to the banks with the appropriate funds. Bank credits the individual accounts of the beneficiaries. After the transfer of funds has been completed, the banks arrange cash to the Customer Service Provider through a Business Correspondent (BC).

Disbursement of wages is done at the pre-designated Government premises (usually the Gram Panchayat building) by a Customer Service Provider (CSP), appointed by the bank. The CSP is equipped with a Smart Card reader networked to the bank server so that any transaction made is directly updated on the database. When the beneficiary approaches for wage payment, the smart card is inserted into the reader. Biometric authentication is done to establish the identity of the wage seeker. Depending upon the account balance of the wage seeker, payment is made to the individuals and a receipt is generated for accounting purposes.

go, very often situation has arisen wherein a service provider had to run both equipments in the village at the same time. Now, most of the service providers have integrated both functions into one device so that if a POT/POS is positioned in a village is equipped with enrolment capability also.

The process starts with the bank or the

35


mode.

Step 4: Before the start of any transaction, CSP needs to authenticate himself/herself. If the CSP authentication fails, no further transactions are permitted

Step 5: Once the CSP smart card is authenticated, the beneficiary is asked to provide his/ her smart card for authentication purposes. The authentication consists of fingerprint match using the biometric fingerprint scanner.

Step 6: In case the beneficiary is a special case (eg: disabled with no fingerprint data), the CSP manually overrides the transaction.

Step 7: CSP then completes the transaction and prints copies of transaction advice. Transaction is also simultaneously updated to the Back Office in case of online mode.

Step 8: CSP disburses cash to the beneficiary

Step 9: CSP uploads transactions to Back Office at periodic intervals (only in case

of Offline mode).

Manual acquittance is also maintained.

Steps in the Transaction Process

Step 1: The Bank receives MGNREGS-AP data from the Mandal/ Block Development Office and transforms to TSP/BC.

Step 2: BC segregates details based on villages and the Customer Service Providers (CSP) assigned to the villages.

Step 3: CSP performs preparedness check for transaction readiness. CSP downloads beneficiary details to POT in case of Offline

36


of a typical muster roll is shown below.

As depicted in the picture below, each muster roll consists of nine fields to be entered by field assistants namely, name of the mandal, name of the Gram Panchayat, habitation, measurements, name of the work, group

name, Work ID number and the date up to which the muster is recorded on the sheet. These are followed by a table where the attendance of the wage seekers is taken for a total of seven days, usually beginning from Monday or

Thursday. Other details in the table include the names of the labourers as well as the names of their parents / husbands/wives and the job card numbers. Every Mate in a village is required to fill in all the details in the muster and submit it to the Mandal Computer Centre at the end of the week. Every week, the quantity of work completed by the group is also recorded and accordingly payment order is generated.

Having demand of works from the wage seekers group, the PO pulls out works from the shelf and allocates works to the groups to the extent to 100 days per household.Since the formation of Shrama Shakthi Sanghas as groups of wage seekers, the responsibility of managing the muster has passed on to the Mate from Field Assistant.

The use of Muster Rolls begins as soon as the execution of work has begun at the work site. A muster roll is the primary way of documenting the attendance of the wage seekers at the work location in a particular week. Muster rolls for all MGNREGS-AP works are issued by the Programme Officer. Each muster roll is green in colour, has a unique identity number and a hologram to ensure authenticity. Before starting a work, the Gram Panchayat informs the Programme Officer so that the Programme Officer can issue the required muster rolls to the field assistants. An outlay

Muster Management

37


On the lines of pay slips received by Government / Private sector employees along with the salaries, individual wage slips are prepared to the wageseekers who

have reported for work and are distributed when the wage payments are done. Pay slips carry a number of important details about the number of days worked by a

given labour; total wage amount released into his / her account. Based on the pay slip information, the wage seekers can approach the Branch Post master or the Customer Service Provider and draw wages as well as they can be retained as a personal record on payment. Pay Slip system has brought a great deal of transparency to the wage payments and has resulted in gaining the trust of the beneficiaries. Since the labourers know the money they are paid in relation to the days they had worked, leakages in the payment system are minimized.

Pay Slips

38


Officers / Additional Programme Officers (POs/APOs) of the Mandals, the MPDOs and the Nodal Officers identified in the Postal Division. All these personnel are responsible for coordination among officers to ensure smooth functioning of the system. The Mandal Parishad Development Officer (MPDO) takes up the responsibility of releasing wages into the accounts of the labour directly.

Project Directors and DWMAs convene a monthly meeting at district level for reviewing implementation, identifying the problems and finding out possible solutions. These meetings are also attended by the Superintendent of Post Offices as representatives of the Postal Department. Similar review meetings happen at the mandal level convened by the POs / APOs in which Assistant Superintendent of Post Offices / Inspector (Posts) along with concerned Sub Postmasters / Branch Postmasters represent the Postal department.

Initial process involves each MPDO preparing Branch Post Office-wise list of wage seekers in each village and handing it over to the concerned Sub Post Office with the help of Branch Post Master. The list contains details of

Payment of wages to the wage seekers of MGNREGS, AP is done directly to the labour through the use of Postal Accounts to avoid the emergence of middle men as well as ensure timely payment to the poor labourers. Labour who report to work are provided with individual savings accounts in the nearest Post Office and the disbursement is done through these accounts avoiding leakage of the resources due to corruption. To make sure that women have the access to their money, they are also given separate accounts within the household. This results in financial inclusion of the MGNREGS Labourers who operate their own accounts in Post Offices and receive timely as well as proper payment of due wages and delivery of other financial services earned by them. More than one crore accounts have been opened in the state for EGS workers.

This was achieved through a special business agreement, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Postal Department. The additional business for the post offices has also resulted in revival of a number of branches of the Postal Department. Key persons in the implementation of the MoU pertaining to the wage payments are the District Programme Coordinators (DCPs) / Project Directors, DWMAs of the districts, Programme

Postal Accounts

39


Chief Post Master General

Post Master General

(BD, T&Mktg)

Principal Secretary, Rural Development

Commissioner, Rural Development

Director, NREGS

State

Level

State Government

(Rural Development Department)

Department of Posts

Andhra Pradesh Circle

PMG Reg. Nodal

Officer

Div. Head

Div. Nodal Officer

Head Post Master

PMG Regl. Level

Div. Level

Dist. HQ HPO. Level

District

Level

District Collector and DPC

PD (DWMA) and

Additional DPC

Sub Div. Head

Div. Head

Div. Nodal Officer

Sub Post Master Sub Post Office Level

Sub Div. Level

Div. Level

Mandal

Level

Programme Officers and

Asst Programme Officers

Additional Programme

Officers

Sub Postmaster

Branch Postmaster

G.P

Level

Gram Panchayat

Field Assistant /

Panchayat Secretary 40


i) Name of the village,

ii) Name of the Branch Post Office,

iii) Name of the Sub Post Office

iv) Pin Code of Sub Post Office

v) Name of the Head Post Office

vi) PIN Code of Head Post Office.

vii) Nodal Officers of the Postal

The Sub Post Master liaises with the MPDOs and ascertains the approximate number of SB accounts to be opened in the villages under the jurisdiction of the Sub Post Office and indents for sufficient number of account opening forms. The MPDOs provide necessary assistance to the labourers through Gram Panchayat Secretary in approaching the Branch Post Office located in their village and in filling up the required forms, providing specimen signatures etc. Job Cards can also be produced at the time of opening of accounts, if they have been already issued. The Branch Post Master accepts the applications for opening SB accounts without insisting for initial deposit and forwards them to the Sub Post Office. The MPDOs will arrange for an initial deposit of Rs.50/- per account through a cheque drawn in favour of the Sub Post Master of the SO concerned. The SPM immediately processes the applications by

making entries in the Long Book, Ledgers and all connected records and allotting the Account Numbers and issues Pass Books on receipt of the cheque from MPDO. These pass books are then sent to the concerned Branch Post Master which are distributed to the account holders while a copy of the list of wage seekers with their account numbers are sent to the MPDO.

Once the accounts are created for all the wage seekers, the Project Officer (PO) or the APO generates village-wise wage lists duly arranging them Branch Post Office-wise and Sub Post Office-wise. Each list will contain:

1. Name of the Labour

2. POSB Account Number

3. Amount of wages to be credited to his/her account.

Each List will have the name of the village, Branch Post Office and Sub Post Office with PIN Code and Head Post Office. PO/APO also prepares a cheque for the total wage amount in favour of the Postmaster concerned and handover the same to the Postmaster along with the wage lists. It is the responsibility of the Sub Postmaster to ensure crediting of wage-amounts to SB accounts of the individual Labourers immediately on

41


day. In case of Post Offices where there are very heavy number of withdrawals (say about 500), the same may be staggered over a period of two or three days subject to the condition that at least 200 payments are made each day. In any case, all payments will be completed within four days from the date of receipt of the wage list so as to maintain the legal time limit as prescribed in NREG Act must be adhered to. The entries relating to deposits and withdrawals are made in the pass books by the Sub/Branch Post Masters when the Labourers present their pass books for transactions.

receipt of wage lists and send intimation of credit to each of the Branch Postmasters concerned.

The amounts credited to the individual accounts will earn interest as applicable from time to time and can be withdrawn by the account holders in the same manner as prescribed for any other withdrawal from SB account by submission of withdrawal form and pass book.

Once the weekly lists are received in the Office of Payment (Sub / Branch Post Office), payment of withdrawals will be commenced and completed on the same

42


Transparency at all stages of implementation right from identification of works to social audit process has been the major pillar of MGNREGS-AP. In this regard, a lot of initiatives have been taken up to ensure anyone interested to know the details related to execution of the scheme are provided with utmost accuracy. One such initiative has been the provision of Management Information System (MIS) reports in

RAGAS that give comprehensive statistical data about MGNREGS, AP in various villages and mandals. The user can access a total of 26 reports that offer information related to employment generation, physical performance, expenditure of various types and other special reports related to work site facilities, grievances etc.

The first report R1.1 gives a glimpse of the entire data of MGNREGS, AP on a mandal

MIS Reports

43


/ district basis. The report contains information regarding the number of job cards issued, number of adult members in these job cards and the total number of Gram Panchayats and habitations involved. Apart from this, R1.1 also shows a brief numerical insight into the works sanctioned and completed and the total expenditure incurred during the time for which the information is anticipated.

The second set of reports (R2) act as an indicator of the progress done by MGNREGS, AP and serve the purpose of the Government of Andhra Pradesh to evaluate itself. R2.1 allows the user to view an overall performance of the scheme on a mandal / district basis. The report gives an overall picture of the registered households, issued job cards, number of households / individuals that demanded employment, number of households / individuals for whom employment has been provided, number of works completed etc on a Gram Panchayat basis in the mandal specified. All this

Mandal Computer Center: Manchal System developed by Tata Consultancy Services Limited

NREGS,AP at a Glance District: Ranga Reddy Mandal: Manchal

Total no of Job cards issued 11317

Total no of Adult members enrolled in Jobcards issued

32976

Total No of Grampanchayats 18

Total No of Habitations 32

Financial Year of 2010-2011

Cumulative Since Inception

Work administratively sanctioned

Number 690 2396

Value (Rs.) 255047694 592186387

Work in-progress Number 543 -

Value (Rs.) 206331218 -

Total No of works completed Number 131 745

Value (Rs.) 46383978 156897628

Total Expenditure

Wages(Rs.) 47689243 183774887

Material& Skilled Wages(Rs.) 315352 14669724

Contingency (Rs.) 1928733 7965350

Total(Rs.) 49933328 206409961

Wage employment provided

Household(Nos) 7135 9312

Individual(Nos) 15545 23255

Men(Nos) 7119 11098

Women(Nos) 8426 12157

SC Individual(Nos) 2699 4132

ST Individual(Nos) 5479 7750

Disabled(Nos) 40 63

Total No of Person days generated 435766.00 1711191.50

Average wage per day per person (Rs.) 109.44 107.40

Average No of days employment provided per Household 61.07 -

Total No of Households completed 100 days of wage employment

1269 5118

% payments generated within 3 days 98.80 -

Labour Vs Material(%) 99.34 0.66 92.61 7.39

Signature of Official

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information can also be viewed on a specific time scale using a date range.

R2.2 is an employment generation report that provides a detailed insight into the amount of works provided to the poor wage seekers in each gram panchayat. Numbers related to the total potential demand and the work days provided to the SC, ST and BC households is given.

The third report, R2.3 in this category is related to the physical performance of the programme. This involves information related

to the number of projects related to water conservation, drought proofing, irrigation canals and facilities, renovation of traditional water bodies, land development and rural connectivity that have been taken up and completed. Thus, it gives an overview about the assets created for the rural community as a result of the employment works taken up. R2.4 and R2.5 give a breakup of the wage and material expenditure incurred during the specified date range on the basis of muster and pay order respectively. The wage


Employment Generation under the NREGS,AP Act from 01/04/2010 to 19/11/2010 District: Ranga Reddy Mandal: Manchal Sr. No.

Pancahyat Name Total Potential Demand for SC Households

Person Days Gen. for SC Households

Total Potential Demand for ST Households

Person Days Gen. for ST Households

Total Potential Demand for BC Households

Person Days Gen. for BC Households

Total Potential Demand for Other Households

Person Days Gen. for Other Households

Total

1 KHANAPUR 100 1130 0 0 500 1926 0 0 3056 2 NOMULA 100 2483 0 48 1000 2414 100 112 5057 3 LINGAMPALLY 100 2096 0 25 900 3486 100 114 5721 4 THALLAPALLIGUDA 0 2589 0 50 100 5165 0 907 8711 5 TIPPAIGUDA 0 4010 0 0 0 6114 0 598 10722 6 CHITTAPUR 0 1373 0 40 300 2657 0 260 4330 7 MANCHAL 200 8173 0 17 4700 11985 300 159 20334 8 AGAPALLY 0 3885 0 65 800 6468 0 1805 12223 9 JAPAL 0 7712 0 63 300 17676 100 1085 26536 10 RANGAPUR 0 4559 0 1919 100 10046 0 427 16951 11 CHEEDED 200 2390 100 67 400 6783 0 216 9456 12 DADPALLY 0 1505 500 19655 400 7621 0 96 28877 13 BODAKONDA 0 261 1100 7848 500 65 0 165 8339

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the expected outcome during the implementation of the scheme is listed under the Performance Exception reports (R3) that form the third category of the MIS reports. Exceptions may include delays in works being started or payment of wages to the poor labourers. R3.1 reports give a detailed insight into the numbers of works that have not been started inspite of Work Commencement letters already issued in all the panchayats of the mandal. Information related to works that are ready and the amount of financial expenditure involved is

expense is also categorised into unskilled wage amount and skilled wage amount for better understanding of the costs.

Financial Work Performance report (R2.6) evaluates the works taken up under the scheme as a measure of the financial expenditure incurred. Information about the amount spent on various asset creation works like water conservation and land development is listed for each of the gram panchayats of the mandal.

Any instance that is a deviation from


Financial Work Performance from 01/04/2010 to 19/11/2010 District: Ranga Reddy Mandal: Manchal Sr. No.

Pancahyat Name Water Conservation (Rs.)

Drought Proofing (Rs.)

Irrigation Canals (Rs.)

Provision of Irrigation Facilities (Rs.)

Renovation of traditional water bodies (Rs.)

Land Development (Rs.)

Rural Connectivity (Rs.)

Total Amount (Rs.)

1 KHANAPUR 9000 0 0 290333 0 72354 0 371687 2 NOMULA 152014 0 0 454287 0 0 0 606301 3 LINGAMPALLY 63746 0 0 241370 0 363866 0 668982 4 THALLAPALLIGUDA 516050 0 0 359632 0 215135 0 1090817 5 TIPPAIGUDA 305565 0 0 928491 0 20029 0 1254085 6 CHITTAPUR 16300 0 0 113840 0 301469 0 431609 7 MANCHAL 1089402 0 0 564881 0 638508 0 2292791 8 AGAPALLY 207752 0 0 1027014 0 250535 0 1485301 9 JAPAL 134400 0 0 2958759 0 0 180890 3274049 10 RANGAPUR 65577 0 0 1050521 0 919621 0 2035719 11 CHEEDED 222472 0 0 858901 0 0 0 1081373 12 DADPALLY 1264119 0 0 702735 0 733788 56018 2756660 13 BODAKONDA 347515 0 0 294340 0 278383 0 920238

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also provided. The next two reports R3.2 and R3.3 are related to delays in payments of wages in normal and suspended payments respectively. Each report gives an analysis of the works affected due to the delayed payments under each habitation, the number of wage seekers involved in the works and the timeline in which the labour has been paid. The timeline is shown in terms of the percentage of the workers paid within three days, four to seven days eight to fifteen days, sixteen to thirty and more than a month from the actual date on which the payment must have been made. Works Grounding Delay report (R3.4) gives data related to the number of works that have been stranded and the number of days in which this has been done. This report also provides information related to the works for which progress has not been reported or those that have been started

Expenditure Report (Consolidated) – ME1

Mandal Level For the month of : November Year : 2010

Report Generation Date : 19/11/2010 District: Ranga Reddy Mandal: Manchal Sl.No. Expenditure

Head Current Month Expenditure (to date)

Previous month Expenditure

Cumulative Expenditure upto the previous month

% of expenditure to Works Cost

% of expenditure to Total Cost

Increase/Decrease over previous month

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 I Works Cost 0/- 0/- 0/- - - - II Unemployment

Allowance 0/- 0/- 0/- - - -

III Service Charges to Post Offices

0/- 0/- 0/- - - -

IV Administrative Expenses

0/- 0/- 0/- - - -

V Awareness, Campaign & Communication Expenses

0/- 0/- 0/- - - -

VI Social Audit, facilitating expenditure by VOs and Others

0/- 0/- 0/- - - -

VII Medical Expenses and Ex-Gratia Payments

0/- 0/- 0/- - - -

VIII Other Expenditure

0/- 0/- 0/- - - -

IX Total Cost (I to VIII)

0/- 0/- 0/- - 100 -

X Advances outstanding

0/- 0/- 0/- - - -

XI Total Payments (IX & X)

0/- 0/- 0/- - 100 -

XII Total Funds Received

0/- 0/- 0/- -

XIII Balance Available as per books (XII – XI)

8,14,720/- 8,14,720/- 8,14,720/- 0%

XIV Bank available 1,56,55,467/- 1,71,68,760/- -9%

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expenditure head is broken down into individual components to showcase a more transparent spending mechanism. The last two reports R4.4 and R4.5 give details about allocation and utilization of funds on a consolidated and monthly-wise manner respectively. While the consolidated report gives thorough insights into the particulars under which the resources have been used along with percentage change of the funds used in respect to the previous months, the monthly wise report shows a summary of the financials.

Special Reports (R5) serve the purpose of providing a statistical analysis of the perfor-mance of MGNREGS, AP. A total of nine re-ports give information related to the Works status, Mandal Employment Guarantee Scheme report, Community wise employ-ment, employment and financial perfor-mance, Work site facilities and labour welfare, unemployment allowance and grievances of the wage seekers. These reports also provide details related to the types of works available to the labourers.

before the planned date.

The fourth category of reports contains those related to the monthly expenditure and funds allocation and utilization of the scheme. These reports act as a measure of accountability and transparency that is highly needed for a people’s programme like MGNREGS, AP. R4.1 and R4.2 are consolidated and abstract monthly expenditure reports respectively. These reports provide information regarding the amount of financial resources spent on various heads like unemployment allowance, service charges to post offices, administrative expenses, social audits etc. The consolidated report also gives a detailed analysis into the amount spent in the present month in relation to the previous month’s expenditure and a total cumulative expenditure incurred in the financial year. Comparisons between the expenditure and works cost or total cost are also done to give a brief understanding of the costs to the user. The abstract monthly expenditure report, on the other hand offers a bird’s eye view of the expenses during all the months under works, administration and other needs. R4.3, the sub-component wise monthly expenditure report gives a more detailed look into the information provided by the consolidated report. Each

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Web Reports are MIS reports available on the MGNREGS-AP portal for anyone to see. These reports provide detailed information under various sections and subsections covering all aspects of MGNREGS activities. There are daily reports, weekly reports, monthly reports, yearly reports and details of performance since inception giving a comparative overview of MGNREGS performance.

The first two types of reports namely R1 and R2 are the Employment Guarantee Scheme reports and Reports to the Government of

India. These are similar to the MIS reports in the RAGAS tool in providing information about the whole MGNREGS programme at a glance as well as reports on the physical performance, employment generation, wage and financial work performance, wages delay payment, implementation status and monthly progress.

Performance Exception Reports:

Any instance that is a deviation from the expected outcome during the implementation of the scheme are listed

Web Reports

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• R3.5.2. Material Exception Report

• R3.5.3. Medical Exception Report

• R3.5.3.1 Medical Incentives Exception Report

• R3.5.3.2 Ex-Gratia Payments Exception Report

• R3.5.3.3 Daily Allowance to injured workers Exception Report

• R3.5.4. Publicity & Awareness Exception Report

• R3.5.5. Social Audit Exception Report

• R3.5.6. Outstanding Advance Exception Report

• R3.5.7. Administration Exception Report

• R3.5.7.1 Vehicle hire charges Exception Report

• R3.5.7.2 Travel & Conveyance Exception Report

• R3.5.7.3 Printing & Stationary Expenditure Exception Report

• R3.5.7.4 Computer Peripherals Expenditure Exception Report

• R3.5.7.5 Review meetings Expenditure Exception Report

• R3.5.7.6 Photocopying Expenditure Exception Report

under the Performance Exception reports (R3) that form the third category of the MIS reports. Exceptions may include delays in works being started or payment of wages to the poor labourers. R3.1 reports give a detailed Labour wise Pay order generation report listing out details of all Pay-Orders generated on each date labour wise. The next two reports R3.2 and R3.3 are related to delays in payments of wages in normal and suspended payments respectively. Each report gives an analysis of the works affected due to the delayed payments under each habitation, the number of wage seekers involved in the works and the timeline in which the labour has been paid. R 3.3 provides district wise details of money in labour suspense accounts, due to discrepancies and number of suspense accounts that are less than 15 days old, more than 15 days and less than 30 days old, more than 30 days and less than 3 months old, and those more than 3 months old.

R3.4 provides performance overview details. In R 3.4.1 and 3.4.2, all districts are ranked on performance.

R 3.5 has a number of expenditure exception reports where there are some discrepancies. The various subheadings are:

• R3.5.1. Overall Exception Report50


• R3.5.7.7 Admin Others Expenditure Exception Report

Social Audit Reports: R4

These give details at district level, mandal and GP level of audit undertaken for

1. Verification of works identified, completed and in progress

2. Verification of names on muster rolls and attendance records on a periodic basis

3. Verification whether requisite information is being displayed at public places and missing details

4. Verification of all material requirements

5. Verification of all material purchases

6. Verification of all material estimates and material purchased against it

7. Verification of recordings in the measurement book

8. Compilation and verification of list of all works being undertaken

ITDA Reports:

R5, ITDA Reports are ITDA specific details of MGNREGS works taken up in 9 districts under their supervision focusing on the needs of tribal people. These are special focus area for CRD to ensure the benefits accrue to marginalized tribal and separate ITDAs

function in nine districts with sizable tribal population. There are seven reports similar to the MIS reports generated otherwise and have

I. Performance reports similar to R1

II. Reports to Government of India similar to R2

III. Performance Exception reports similar to R3

IV. Consolidated MI Tank reports on works undertaken and expenditure

V. Horticulture reports similar to those of DCC reports(R 9.5)

VI. Land development work details similar to R 13.3

Special Reports:

Special Reports (R6) serve the purpose of providing a statistical analysis of the performance of MGNREGS, AP. Twenty-eight reports give information related to:

• R6.1Work Related reports giving status of Bio Diesel and MI tank progress.

• R6.2 provides Horticulture progress in terms of plantations, NHM convergence, farmer wise, maintenance works, and crop and fruits specific reports.

• R6.3 provides reports on FTO wise

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cumulatively. This is of prime importance to determine the benefits accruing to the marginalized section of the society

• R6.10 provides, district, mandal and village wise details of various works taken under NPM using preparation of farm ponds, compost pits, vermi compost, and desilting works

• R6.11 provides details of estimated and completed works under various types of works being taken up under NRESGS-AP

• R6.12 gives a district wise details of works distribution between SCs , STs and other castes to exhibit the benefits to the marginalized section of the society

• R6.13 provides district wise details of payment timelines and number of delays

• R6.14 provides district wise details of feasible works, works pending and available works at a point of time

• R6.15 provides list of HHs Completed 50 Days of work

• R6.16 provides details of district wise number of job cards issued to households with ration cards and without them

• R6,17-R 6.19 were reports pertaining to FLG status being replaced by Shrama Shakthi Sanghas

Airtel payment for mobile service

• R6.4 provides viewership details of MGNREGA program on MANA TV channel. Its gives mandal wise viewership data along with number of mandals who have watched the program, not watched, not uploaded along with number of FAs, TAs, COs, APOs, ECs and MPDOs attending the program.

• R6.5 Gives details of works available at a point of time for labour under both project mode planning and those outside it.

• R6.6 lists down all works being undertaken during the financial year

• R6.7 lists down all Administrative expenditures incurred for the year under various heads

• R6.8 shows the progress of S.P.S.Nellore District Yanadi’s program in terms of work completed and households receiving work and payments This is a special project focusing on Yanadi group of people in Nellore district

• R6.9 depicts the quantum of SC/ST beneficiaries under MGNREGS-AP program in terms of number of such households getting work, average number of days of employment, in the year and

52


• R6.20 gives weekly status reports for labour reported, work, and those getting work district wise, mandal wise and village wise.

• R6.21 provides details of the shelf of works where the labour working on it is 50% or more consisting of SC/ST farmers

• R6.22 gives daily expenditure details on wages, material and contingency at DCC and MCC level for any specific date

• R6.23 provides district wise status report of Rozgar Sevak Selection

• R6.24 provides details of payments made for mud work in districts here such need is there

• R6.25 provides district wise details on number of works with unique Id and their share in total works in percentage basis

• R6.26 provides works wise status since inception on works identified, completed and pending for all works undertaken including maintenance works

• R6.27 gives details of all works with unique IDs

• R6.28 provides information on number of Households worked for more than 85

days

Fund Reports:

These reports provide details of all advances received, expenses accounted for and outstanding advances available at District, Mandal and GP level. However, with eFMS under implementation, the need for such a report is negated.

Chenchu Reports:

To bring the marginalized tribal population under the ambit of MGNREGS project, a special project has been focusing on the indigenous Chenchu tribe. R8 exclusively focuses on works taken for the Chenchu people.

R8.1 reports offer a quick look at the performance of the Employment Guarantee Scheme in the districts that have been classified under the Chenchu Special Project. Information related to the number of works that have been administratively sanctioned, those that are still in progress, completed works is specified both in cumulative terms (since inception of the scheme) as well as in financial year basis. Value of these works in lakh rupees is also given to help understand the distribution of finances. Other details provided by this report include advances given to the

53


and workers who have reported to work, number of days of employment provided to each household and the costs for wage payment, material, and contingencies are given.

A summary report on the number of job cards and individuals registered with the village organizations, wage employment provided, expenditure on various heads and the number of employment days in the four districts of Guntur, Kurnool, Mahabubnagar and Prakasam is provided under the R8.4 MGNREGS-AP Abstract report.

R8.5 is the Chenchu Work status report. It gives the number and value of works that have been administrative sanction, shelf of works, those that are in progress and the completed works. The MGNREGS-AP Expenditure Status report presents the user with a consolidated view of the expenditure incurred on wage, material and administration in Guntur, Kurnool, Mahabubnagar and Prakasam. R8.7, the Advance settlement report serves the purpose of providing information about the advances released to the village organizations; amount paid to the wage seekers, advances settled and the balance amount left with the VOs. Other details in this report include the number of groups, and workers, registered groups and

village organizations, wage employment and number of person days provided to the poor labourers with individual break up for household, individual, men, women, SC / ST individuals and the disabled, total expenditure incurred during the financial year, average number of employment days provided per household, total number of households that completed 100 days of wage employment and a percentage division of the labour and material expense incurred.

The Chenchu Project Mode Planning report (R8.2) gives an estimate on the performance of the various projects taken up in the Chenchu lands. Expenses incurred for material, skilled and unskilled labour are given in lakh rupees at various stages of implementation (Estimates, In Progress, and Completed). Projects considered include Afforestation, drainage line treatment, drains and channels, drinking water tanks, EGS Land development, forest protection, horticulture and plantation, irrigation facilities, minor irrigation restoration, public institutions development and rural connectivity.

R8.3 is an MGNREGS-AP progress report in the districts in which the Chenchu strategy has been adopted. Details regarding number of groups and workers registered groups

54


workers that have reported to work on a year-year as well as cumulative basis.

The final report under the Chenchu reports is the MGNREGS-AP review report in the districts where the Chenchu Special project has been taken up. All the information related

to the job cards, registered labour, overall financials (wage expenditure, material and contingency expenses), adjustments made in the payments, employment and the value of works is provided.

District Computer Centre (DCC) Reports:

There are six line departments collaborating with CRD for MGNREGA-AP implementation. R9 lists down status of works being done with each department.

The first set of the DCC reports (R9.1) concerns with the Panchayat Raj Engineering department. There are five reports that offer information about the status of various works

including rural connectivity and GP building works. R9.1.1 is the work status report that gives details related to the position of works in all the 22 rural districts. All works which have been given Administrative and technical sanctions, works that are ready

for startup, those that are in progress and completed works are measured in terms of number of works and financial estimates. R9.1.2 and R9.1.3 are concerned with the Rural Connectivity project. Works such as formation of approach and internal roads, and CD works on roads are detailed with their present status, road length and habitations covered (incase administrative sanction is provided or the work is in progress or completed) and the expenses incurred. The GP buildings work status report (R9.1.5) is similar to other reports and gives work position information.

R9.2 reports about the forest department.

State

Wage Expenditure

Material Expenditure

Contingency Expenditure

Total Expenditure

Payment to Labour

Adjusted Amount

Unadjusted Amount

No of Labour Worked

Person Days

1 Guntur 1440 2899 0.81 0 1.05 1.86 0 0 0 0 02 Kurnool 1576 3252 0 0 1.41 1.41 0 0 0 0 03 Mahabubnagar 2790 5402 0 0 4.78 4.78 0 0 0 0 04 Prakasam 2826 6171 0.01 0 1.77 1.77 0 0 0 0 0

TOTAL 8632 17724 0.82 0 9.01 9.83 0 0 0 0 0

R8.8 Chenchu-ITDA : NREGS-AP Review ReportAndhra Pradesh

Financials (In Lakhs) Adjustments (In Lakhs) Employment

S.No. District

No of Jobcards Reg. with VOs

No of Labour Reg. with VOs

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sanctioned and above, Shelf, sanctioned start up works, works in progress and completed). Number of works, the estimated costs, wage and material expenses are provided for the eight districts of Adilabad, East Godavari, Khammam, Srikakulam, Vishakapatnam, Vizinagaram, Warangal and West Godavari. R9.4.2 is similar to R9.4.1 but gives a work wise status report in terms of Administrative sanction, technical sanction and work commencement order being given. R9.4.3 is the ITDA GP building work status report and provides information about the works for six additional districts of Guntur, Kurnool, Mahbubnagar, Nalgonda, Prakasam and Ranga Reddy.

The final category (R9.5) under the DCC reports pertains to the Horticulture department and consists of six individual reports. R9.5.1 gives a glimpse of the status of works in all the rural districts of the state. Number of works, financial estimates and number of acres are explicitly given. R9.5.2 gives a farmer wise breakup of the number of works provided to the SC / ST / BC / others wage seekers. Status of the works, number of farmers involved and the area covered is provided. R9.5.3 is a combination of nine sub-reports, each of them relating to a specific crop (Mango, Sweet Orange, Acid

Three reports under this category (R9.2.1, R9.2.2 and R9.2.3) provide information about the status of works and the expenditure incurred on a cumulative and year basis. Along with the number of forest divisions, details about the works for which sanctions have been given, works in progress and completed works is provided. The third set of reports (R9.3) report on the convergence with Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP). R9.3.1 provides information on the work status and expenses estimates in similar lines to the earlier reports. R9.3.2 is a labour wise pay order generation report that gives a brief picture of the timely payments made during the month and the financial year. Delay percentage in handing out the wages is also reported with the setback expressed in terms of days. RFSA Works status report (R9.3.3) gives information about works like conservative furrows, trenches, farm ponds, digging of pits for fruit plants, protective watering of plants, vegetable mini kits and supply of fruit seeds. An analysis on the number of farmers involved, number of acres and the amount of expenses is given.

ITDA reports (R9.4) brings up the performance of the various Integrated Tribal Development Agencies in the state. R9.4.1 reports about the status of works (Technically

56


lime, Guava, Cashew, Sapota, Custard Apple, Oil Palm and Jamun). Each report gives information about the number of mandals in which the works has been taken up, works for which the commencement orders have been given, area in which pitting and planting has been done and the corresponding value of the work and the total amount of works.

The Horticulture Estimate wise report gives information regarding area and value of the works under various heads such as EGS + MIP, EGS + SHM + MIP and Dry land horticulture. Status of work commencement orders issued, pit digging and planting done is also given in the report. R9.5.5 gives information about the number of work commencement orders issued for the micro irrigation installations on a district basis. Other details include the number of farmers and the area involved, information about trench cutting and the amount released to the Project directors for the MI installations. The last report under the horticulture category discusses the raising of horticulture orchards. Land covered under pit digging, planting and basin preparation is expressed in terms of area and value. Financial estimates are provided along with the number of farmers involved.

eFMS Reports:

The first set of reports under the eFMS reports is the seven MCC reports (R10.1.1). The rejected Fund Transfer Order (FTOs) report gives details about the number of processed FTOs and those that were rejected. Amounts related to the processed and rejected orders are also given. R10.1.1.3 gives an overall picture of the FTOs monitoring. All the fund transfer orders that have been uploaded at each MCC, those that need to be sent to the Bank, FTOs that have been paid and those that are pending for CRD approval, stopped on request, under processing or payment rejected are summarized in terms of numbers and monetary value for each district. R10.1.1.4 provides the same information as R10.1.1.3 albeit the information is classified as per each bank (Andhra Bank, Axis Bank and State Bank of Hyderabad). The next report gives a list of the top 20 rejected FTO amounts in the various mandals of the state. All the records are sorted based on FTO amount and details about the number of FTOs rejected, name of the mandal and district are provided.

Exception Report – FTO Upload Lagging Mandals (R10.1.2.2) provides information about all the mandals who have delayed the upload of FTO information. Mandal and

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Bank wise FTOs abstract gives details of FTO information for each processing bank. Reconciliation reports (R10.4) consist of five reports that provide day wise / month wise information about FTO comparison, bank transactions etc. R 10.5 consists of State-wise report; the first sub-report under this category is the FTO Reconciliation certificate. The next one gives the number of rejected FTOs. The last report consists of the overall status regarding FTOs.

eMMS Reports:

The eMMS reports are a set of eight categories; e-Muster, e-Measurement, e-Muster verification, e-Check measurement, e-pay order, citizen’s request, exceptions report and e-gramasabha. e-Muster consists of two sub-reports namely the Attendance and Not Submitted reports. For any specific day, the attendance report lists done the number of wage seekers who have reported to work along with the number of musters and works on a mandal basis for each district. In case of any details not being furnished, these are reported under the Not Submitted report. The Check muster attendance (R11.3a) is similar to the Attendance report and gives the labourer attendance records in the various mandals.

district name along with the actual upload date and the number of elapsed days is given. The last of the eFMS-MCC report gives a list of mandals that have the maximum FTO amounts in the state on the present day. 20 mandals are listed in the descending order of these amounts with details of the district and number of FTOs. The second set of eFMS reports are DCC reports that are completely similar to the MCC reports except for the difference that the DCC reports operate at a district level using cluster information in place of mandals.

The DAP eFMS reports are a set of four reports; Monthly FTO Reconciliation certificate, rejected FTOs report, FTOs status monitoring report and bank wise FTOs abstract. The rejected FTO details (DAP) report gives details about the number of processed FTOs and those that were rejected at the state level. As a part of the FTOs status monitoring, all the fund transfer orders that have been uploaded at each DAP, those that need to be sent to the Bank, FTOs that have been paid and those that are pending for CRD approval, stopped on request, under processing or payment rejected are summarized in terms of numbers and monetary value at the state.

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Shrama Shakthi Sanghas Reports:

Formation of SSSs is for most priority to impart work to the beneficiaries. This report tracks the progress regarding formation and monitoring of Shrama Shakthi Sanghas.

The first report under this category (R12.1) offers a glimpse of the status of SSS registration on a district basis in the state. Information about total number of groups registered as well as a split-up of eligible members covered / not covered in the groups is given on basis of SC / ST / BC / Minority / OC / Male / Female and disabled basis. The second report provides information about the elected Mates. The number of mates elected so far is split into SC, ST, BC, minority and other caste and are divided based on gender.

Works Reports:

First, of the three works reports is the Project-wise works report that provides details about the estimates generated, administrative sanctions as well as expenditure for in-progress and completed works on a state level. Each of these details is further sub-divided into number of works, unskilled, skilled and material expense components. Works covered in this report include various land development, water harvesting, ground

water recharge, drainage line treatment, Afforestation, fodder development, drains and channels, drinking water and rural connectivity projects. Each of the projects has a hyperlink that provides access to the status of the work on a district basis. The RoFR abstract report provides information on the number of RoFR farmers and the extent of RoFR land identified as well as the status of works in terms of estimated works, works in shelf, startup works, in-progress and completed works. For each district in the state, number of works taken up, the extent of area covered and the value of the works is explicitly mentioned. R13.3a is Land Development report for the SCs and the STs. On the basis of each district, this report lists down the number of farmers, number of works, and the extent of land (fallow, cultivable) that is brought under development in these works. Estimated amount of financial expenditure for both fallow and cultivable lands is also provided. R13.3b, R13.3c and R13.3d are also Land development reports and give information pertaining to SCs, STs and S&M (Small and Medium) farmers respectively.

Smart Card Reports:

The Smart Card Analysis report (R14.1) gives a bird’s eye view of the payments made

59


(Upto the previous month, those made during the present month and total payments made) through the smart cards in all the districts of Andhra Pradesh. Details about the number of registered and not accounted beneficiaries as well as the amount that has been transacted are given for each record. The next report (R14.2) offers a bank wise smart card analysis report. Information about the number of wage seekers and the payments made to them are given for each bank in a district. The Suspended Wage seekers Smart card details report (R14.3) gives an excel sheet consisting of a list of the number of labourers who have been denied their transactions and the amount to be paid with the name of the bank and the district in which the failed transaction has occurred.

The Disbursement data report provides data about the wage distribution pattern along with the name of the paying agency and the district. Wage disbursement is shown in a range of 4 days, 5 – 7 days, 8 – 14 days, 15 – 30 days and more than 30 days along with the amounts grouped into modes of payment namely; Carded payments, Non-carded payments and Carded Manual payments. Any suspended payments are grouped into the fifth report (R14.5) that displays the

number of mandals where payments are pending in each district along with number of wage seekers and the amount involved. Pending payments are grouped as less than 30 days, thirty to sixty days, sixty to ninety days and more than 90 days. The e-Pay order details report (R14.6) gives the status of the pay orders on the basis of each paying agency of a district. These pay orders are classified as; Received, Sent to Bank, Ready to Send to Bank, Disbursed and Pending. The last report under the Smart card category is Smart Card Person Clearance report. Along with the name of the payment agency and the district, details about the number of wage seekers cleared as on that date are provided with the time-span in which the clearance is done.

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Capacity Building is a crucial component of MGNREGA-AP and a continuous process enabling functionaries to enhance their knowledge and skills and develop the concept orientation and perspectives thereby be coming more effective in performing their roles & responsibilities.

Objectives of Capacity Building

1. Understand and accept the new facilitation role in relation to the communities particulars the poor.

2. Identify their individual competencies technical, Social & behavioral and their institutional strengths & weakness is relation to their roles.

3. Acquire the resumed competencies and affect the necessary structural & system charges.

4. Agree performance indication for new roles & objectives to meet them.

Key components of capacity building Strategy are:

1. Dedicated and decentralized institutional support and delivery mechanism

2. Annual Action plan for capacity building.

3. Pool of Resource Person

4. Well prepared training modules & reading materials

5. Organization of regional conferences seminars and workshops, study fours (Exposure) and information sharing.

6. providing technical knowledge inputs and expertise

7. Impact assessment studies, research & Documentation of success stories

Institutionalization of Capacity Building

AMR – APARD – Nodal Agency: The Andhra Pradesh Academy of Rural Development (APARD), an apex state level training institution for Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Department, is the nodal agency for nurturing and strengthening District and Cluster level Livelihood Resource Centres. The responsibilities of APARD include preparation of modules and material, capacity building of course directors, training the pool of resource persons, working with the consortium etc., APARD provides the necessary professional support and direction to the Project’s agenda of Capacity Building.

Consortium

A state level consortium of 24 resource organizations, representing NGO’s line departments, universities and research organizations, has been promoted to support

Capacity Building

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the efforts of APARD to institutionalize capacity building through District and Cluster Livelihood Resource Centres. A core team has been formed from the consortium for monitoring.

The members of the consortium contribute to the overall capacity building strategy, the action planning process and the monitoring and review process. The consortium helps to create a favourable policy to support the capacity building strategy. It provides advice on the selection of organizations and individuals. It also helps to share experiences and knowledge and comments on training modules.

Members also use their own professional expertise to develop resource material, train resource persons and give them professional support.

MYRADA, VELUGU, APMAS, BAIF, AME, ICRISAT, CRIDA, ANGRAU, CSA, SRTRI, CARE, MART, BASIX, WOTR, RDT, MARI, OUTREACH, WASSAN, SMILDA & DHAN FOUNDATION are some of the members of the consortium.

At District level District Livelihood Resource Centres and Cluster Livelihood Resource Centres are set up to build the capacities of the secondary and primary stake holders of

various RD Programmes.

District Livelihood Resource Centres (DLRC) are to become multi-stakeholder organizations providing need-based livelihood services. DLRCs act as a knowledge centre with a library, computer and internet facilities resource material and residential facilities for conducting training programmes. A district level pool of resource persons provides training. These persons are empanelled and have been trained by the state level resource organizations. The centre acts as a documentation and dissemination centre and is also responsible for developing specific training modules and material based on emerging needs.

The Cluster Livelihood Resource Centres also carry out participatory monitoring, process review and data collection and management.

Objective of perspective / Action plan for Capacity Building:

To optimize and operationalise trainings to be conducted in an year to various functionaries of Rural Development based on training needs assessment (TNA).

Compulsory Trainings:

• Induction training of development

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functionaries at all levels.

• Refresher trainings annually for critical

employees

Important steps/Stages.

• Training needs Assessment

• Designing of training modules based on TNA

• Preparation of training materials

• Conducting of trainings

• Evaluation of trainings

Refresher trainings are conducted every year to the field functionaries so that they remain aware with the latest developments in various RD programmes and be able to implement the same at villages for sustained Development

For imparting different types of trainings to the participants of various levels, raining

modules are developed for each type of training, so that the message percolated by different sources persons at different levels may remain same.

Activities in Capacity Building:

• Primary: Training

• Secondary: Research / Studies, TNA

• Tertiary: Publications, Materials

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Sl. No. Some TOTs which can be planned State

level District

Level 1 TOT for conducting TNA 2 TOT for Module development 3 TOT for RTI & Social Audit 4 TOT for Training Input assessment

5 Development of technical issues relating to construction of various structures

6 TOT related to NREGS 7 TOT related to watersheds 8 TOTs related to training impact assessment

Sl. No. Activity Time frame

1 Strategy preparation By April end 2 Strategy approval First week of May 3 Workshop with consortium First week of May 4 Workshop with APDs of capacity building Second week of May

5 Identification of pool of resource person (Data base to be maintained at state level)

Third week of May

6 Workshop for material and module preparation Last week of May

7 Regular monitoring of the progress (Periodical review workshop at state & District level)

Monthly at District level

8 Documentation best practices and process for replication Quarterly

9 TOTs to identified resource persons based on needs Regularly as and when need arises.

10 External trainings on various aspects to the identified stakeholders from all the categories

Once/twice in a year

Calendar of Activities

Important TOTs to be planned

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Social Equity is one of the tenets on which the NREGA Act stands, there have been several initiatives taken to bring in the marginalized people under the ambit of MGNREGS-AP. To ensure benefits of the scheme reach out the persons with disability, special provisions have been made. PWDs will be assured 150 days of work every year under the scheme. Several other facilities are being extended to facilitate better work conditions and equitable benefits to Persons with Disabilities.

The first step is identification of PWDs, all persons who are having 40% and more disability will be identified as persons with disabilities as per reference cited 5th and 6th in accordance with Equal Opportunities, Full participation and Protection of rights of 1995 persons with Disabilities Act. Persons with disabilities who are wage seekers and aged 18 years or beyond and Labour families with Persons with Disabilities in the villages have been identified. If the person doesn’t have disability certificate, such persons are certified and enrolled either by Programme Officer or Additional Programme Officer.

Every adult person with disability asking for work is as single person family, a separate

job card is issued under MGNREGA, and 150 days of work is provided to every person with disabilities who got the job card and is ready to work. Families enrolled under families with persons with disability are entitled to 150 days of work and all such families are provided with 150 days of work. If the single adult persons with disability

are living in a joint family along with other family members,and if such families already have the job card, name of the person with disability is deleted from the job card of such families, and a separate job card is issued to person with disability.

If there is any person with disability in the family and there is a person with disability who is not in a condition to do any kind of work living in a family with person with disabilities (including children), names of

Persons with Disabilites (PwDs)

65


such persons with disabilities (including children) is in the job card issued to those families. Such families with disabilities are provided with 150 days of work. When both the spouses are persons with disabilities are in wedlock, a single job card for the family is issued.

The Panchayat Secretary certifies the names of the persons with disability and sends all the details to the office of the MPDO for the issue of job cards. The MPDO sends the list of names to the office of Project Director, DWMA asking for the issue of new job cards.

Separate “Shrama Shakti” Groups of workers with disabilities are formed in every village with all the workers with disabilities who are capable of working under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. Each Group contains no less than two and not more than twenty members. The Group is registered as “Shrama Shakti” Groups of persons with disabilities in the computer.

As part of this process, it has been decided that all the persons with disabilities who are capable of working will be identified and made members of the “Shrama Shakti” Groups of persons with disabilities. The DPOs working for the empowerment of

persons with disabilities form the “Shrama Shakti” Groups with workers with disabilities as members and provide work for the persons with disabilities.

The workers with disabilities can work as part of the “Shrama Shakti” Groups of persons with disabilities or they can also work with the ordinary “Shrama Shakti” Groups. However, irrespective of whichever Group they might be members of and work with, the 150 days of work is applicable to these families.

Once the identified workers with disabilities have been formed into “Shrama Shakti” Group, the details of this information is filled out in the Consent Form (Format – SD) and the signatures of all the members shall be taken on it.

Persons with disabilities are given the first preference for the selection of Mate for all the “Shrama Shakti” Groups in the village. Even if the persons with disabilities do not have any work experience, working as part of the Employment Guarantee Scheme, they are selected as Mate. However, they must compulsorily belong to and be a member of a family of workers/laborers. The persons with disabilities in the village who have good mobility and are educated are selected to

66


work as Mate for the “Shrama Shakti” Groups of persons with disabilities.

To ensure better work conditions, several facilities are provided at the Work Place. An NREGA Children’s Center is made accessible for parents of children with high support needs such as children with intellectual disabilities, Cerebral Palsy, Autism, multiple disabilities and severe disabilities, when they go for the Employment Guarantee work. A woman with disability is appointed as Ayah at this Children’s Centre for the care and protection of the children. Once this woman with disability completes her requisite number of 150 days of work, another woman with disability is appointed for the same position. Women with disabilities are appointed for providing clean drinking water for the workers at the work place.

To factor the possibility of lower productivity compared to able-bodied wage seekers and still ensure wages at par, additional provisions are made. As has been stated in Para 6 of the vide reference 2nd cited, if all the workers with disabilities are members of the same “Shrama Shakti” Groups of persons with disabilities, then the work rate for their work (for works not requiring skills) shall be 30 percent more than the rate of the Rural SSR.

This means that the persons with disabilities need to do only 70 percent of the work that non-disabled workers accomplish. They will be paid the wages that non-disabled workers get. This concession of 30 percent is applicable to the workers with disabilities who are members of the other general “Shrama Shakti” Groups and for those who are working as Mates. The 30 percent concession is applicable only to the workers with disabilities who are disabled, are members of the “Shrama Shakti” Groups of persons with disabilities and whose job cards clearly mention “Disability” in the relevant slot.

The “Shrama Shakti” Groups of persons with disabilities are allocated the works from the shelf of works already identified and which the workers with disabilities have selected and which they requested for. All the nursery raising centres that are being run under the MGNREGS is allocated to the members of the “Shrama Shakti” Groups of persons with disabilities alone.

Preference is given to persons with disabilities and the “Shrama Shakti” Groups of persons with disabilities while allocating the Vermicompost manure preparation centres under the MGNREGS.

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The workers with disabilities are provided with all the requisite training in the skills required for taking up the various works compulsorily on a regular basis and are provided with the necessary and accessible work implements/equipment in order for them to work efficiently as part of the Employment Guarantee Scheme. In case a person with disability brings her/his own work implement, and then a reasonable price is decided and paid.

Some additional benefits extended for transportation are:

a) When the persons with disabilities and the members of the “Shrama Shakti” Groups of persons with disabilities go for the Employment Guarantee work, irrespective of the distance, each worker with disability are paid an additional `10 per day towards travel expenses up to a distance of 5 Kilometers.

b) If the work place is more than 5 Kilometers away, then the workers with disabilities are paid an additional Rs.20/- per person per day, along with their wages.

These programs are implemented under the supervision/coordination of the Project Director, DWMA and Project Director, DRDA. A District Project Manager is

specifically appointed to facilitate the process of providing 150 days of work for workers with disabilities. He /she works under the Project Director, DRDA and coordinates with the Project Director, DWMA to ensure that the workers with disabilities in the district avail work that they seek according to the Employment Guarantee Scheme and specifically work on the problems that they might face while accessing this Scheme.

The District Program Coordinator holds a monthly meeting to review the implementation of 150 days of work and other facilities for workers with disabilities being provided under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, with the Mandal and District level officials.

The authorities take proper measures to ensure an environment at the work place so that the members of the “Shrama Shakti” Groups of persons with disabilities are not be ill treated/looked down upon or face any form of discrimination (using abusive language, calling them with their disability name, use denigrating language, insulting them, hurting their feelings).

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Having a proper feedback loop is a necessary condition for any development initiative to be effective. An efficient and transparent grievance redressal mechanism goes a long way in making any intervention truly participative and accommodative of the community concerns.

Apart from several steps taken to ensure timely, efficient and transparent implementation of NREGS-AP, a well-oiled grievance redressal mechanism has been introduced to ensure any complaint or shortcoming under the implementation are addressed. Any petition, complaint or allegation pertaining to shortcomings in the implementation of MGNREGA, referred directly, indirectly to the Programme Officer submitted in writing or orally is deemed a “grievance. Any reported violation of the Act is synonymous to a grievance and is to be resolved.

The casualty himself (herself) or any person, in public interest can file a complaint relating to the violation or non-compliance of the provisions of the Act. APNA plays a crucial role in ensuring complaints are registered with the concerned officials.

There are proper procedures set and officials authorized to resolve complaints

at each level. The Programme Officer is the Grievance Redressal Officer at mandal level. The Project Director is the Grievance Redressal Officer at the District level and the Director, EGS is the Grievance Redressal Officer at the State level.

Any grievance is enquired and action initiated within seven days by the Panchayat Secretary at the Village Level, Programme Officer at the Mandal level and District Program Coordinator at the district level. Details of all the grievances received and disposed at each level is maintained in the Grievance Register .

There are adequate channels to report a grievance. The complaint can be made orally to Additional Programme Officer or Programme Officer. Written complaints can be submitted at each level to the concerned authority. Complaints received are entered into the Grievance Redressal online portal on the same day of receipt of grievance.

The Rural Development Dept of Andhra Pradesh has established an RD call centre with a toll free number to receive public grievance for all the programmes including the MGNREGS. The call centre is run by eGramIT which is a rural BPO company. So capturing of all the complaints is digitised

Grievance Redressal

69


and is efficiently done by a third party. The complainant is given an ID called Beneficiary Problem ID (BPID) using which the complaint and its status can be traced down. An SMS alert is also given to the concerned authority

The aggrieved can call the Rural Development Toll Free Number (155321) and register the grievance with the Rural Development Call center. Complainant calls up this number and the Call centre receives the calls and

digitizes them as per the relevant category

The Call centre then,assigns the complaints digitally- to the corresponding Authority (MPDO, PD, Director EGS). The corresponding government officer investigates the issue, clears it in stipulated time (3-7days depending on the TYPE of complaint) taking necessary actions, and enters the solution in the e-complaint software.

The software automatically generates a

Home Page of the RD Call Centre

70


letter containing the solution/ explanation from the concerned authority, addressed to the complainant which the concerned authority sends to the complainant by post. The complaint is CLOSED by the next higher level authority. If the complainant is dissatisfied, he/she can approach the appellate authority (higher authority), by revoking the complaint through call centre.

If the officer fails to redress the complaint within stipulated time period, it gets escalated automatically to the higher official with an SMS alert. In this way the complaint can get escalated through Four Levels, finally to the Director EGS.

For the disposal of complaints, all complaints are personally enquired and disposed off within the stipulated period as specified by the corresponding Public Grievance.

The Public Grievance Officer conducts all the enquiries through spot verification, inspection and takes necessary actions within the stipulated period.

Grievance Redressal Online Portal http://www.rdcallcentre.ap.gov.in records data on all complaints, number of pending complaints, details of officials complained about, complaints status level wise. The portal carries reports on:

R1: Pending Complaints Abstract

R2: Pending Complaints Level wise

R3: All schemes complaints status

R4: Officer wise pending complaints

R5: Login Access Details

R6: SMS log report

R7: Closer report level wise

R8: Reply Dispatch Status

R9: Escalation details days wise

R10: Ngo Wise Pending

Every Complaint is being accounted for and necessary action is taken against miscreants once the fault is established.

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An effective system to manage Human Re-sources is of crucial importance to ensure quality implementation of MGNREGS-AP. Apart from the well laid out Institutional Ar-rangement at Village, Mandal, District and State Level, there is a HR policy in place. The HR policy complements the institutional ar-rangement and safeguard employee interests for all those working with CRD.

Important features of the HR Policy are mentioned below:

1. Recruitment Policy: Recruitment from sourcing to selection is carried out through a Standard Recruitment Pro-cedure which contains- advertisement for the post by giving the criteria for se-lection, giving fair opportunity to right candidates to apply, conducting test and interviews and recruiting talent in a transparent manner. Rule of Reservation apply in selection process. Every recruit-ment is covered by a fixed tenure agree-ment and CDS –APARD is the HR ser-vice provider.

2. Remuneration System: A rationalized re-muneration system is worked out with a structure to,

• Fit the existing positions into various levels, grades and scales and

• Provide clear idea on the pay scales be-ing offered for potential future Fixed Tenure Employee (FTE).

3. Career Advancement Policy: Annual in-crements are available for every con-tract employee on completion of at least 2 years of service. Consequently, they move horizontally in a given scale. Movement from one scale to another is covered under the career advancement policy. The criteria for taking employees from one level to the next higher level is based on both eligibility and suitability. The eligibility criteria are laid down in the HR Manual while Suitability is test-ed by means of performance appraisal scores, skill tests, interviews etc.

4. Contract Issuance & reissuance process: A Contractual agreement is signed be-tween CDS-APARD as HR service pro-vider and Fixed Tenure Employee (FTE) along with DWMA PD.

5. Induction & Training Policy: All FTEs undergo Induction training Programme, which includes a systematic immersion Programme. During this process, the FTE is expected to maintain work diary and submit immersion report. CRD also takes up mapping and skill up gradation

HRMS

72


The FTE is eligible for Full Additional Charge Allowances only if he/she holds full charge of an equal or higher position against an order issued by the competent authority.

8. Leave Policy:

• Casual leaves: The FTE is entitled for 30 days of consolidated leave per an-num.

• Maternity Leave: The women FTEs are governed under the Maternity Act,

of FTEs from time to time.

6. Transfer Policy: FTEs who are transferred purely on the Organization’s interest are eligible for Transfer allowances/benefits against an issue of transfer order from the competent authority and without affect-ing his/her level, scale and grade (unless specified). Against transfer, the FTE is el-igible for the allowances/benefits as per the Transfer policy.

7. Additional charge allowances Policy:

HRMS Website of Department of Rural Development, Goverment of Andhra Pradesh

73


1961 (as per the latest amendments in the Act). The maternity leave applies for two live deliveries only.

• Paternity Leave: The paternity leave policy enables the married male FTEs to take paid leave of 15 days for their new born babies. This leave is provid-ed for the male FTEs for two surviv-ing children only.

• These leaves are besides the weekly offs and holidays that are announced from time to time.

9. Tour Policy: This policy applies to all FTEs who are not entitled for any Fixed Traveling Allowances. Such employee are paid TA/DA during their tours as per the prescribed scale.

10. Fixed Traveling Allowances: For the posi-tions, which demand travel for more than 15 days in a month and not provided with an Office vehicle, they are entitled for a certain Fixed Travel Allowances (FTA).For the positions with FTA, the tour pol-icy is applicable if FTEs take up official tours outside their jurisdiction.

11. Insurance Policy: This policy covers in-surance for all the FTEs for

• Accidental deaths and or disabilities

under Personal Accidental Insurance (PAI)

• Treatment for critical sickness (in case of hospitalization) under Mediclaim policy for the family of four (spouse and two children).

12. Reimbursement Policy: FTE are reim-bursed cell phone charges and local trans-portation as per the eligibility mentioned in detail in the Reimbursement Policy.

13. Grievance Handling: A Grievance Han-dling system has been put in place in the shape of Human Resource Cell in each DWMA, in the office of the CRD and in the CDS-APARD to register and redress grievances filed by FTE.

14. Exit Policy: CRD follows Exit Policy to ensure smooth exist of FTE. The process includes written acceptance of resigna-tion, taking over records and registers, settlement of dues and issues of service certificate. Exit interviews are conduct-ed wherever necessary.

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AP NGOs Alliance (APNA)Department of Rural Development, while implementing the MGNREGS program strives to ensure that the tenets of equitable implementation and transparency are fol-lowed to the highest level. There have been several steps taken which are pioneering in nature like ICT implementation, Social Au-dit and Shrama Shakthi Sanghas etc.

Historically, Andhra Pradesh has had a vi-brant presence and partnership with NGOs for development of the poor. These organi-sations, small or large have always advocat-ed the need for providing continued work to the poor for their welfare and improved livelihood. With this like-minded approach, these organisations have strived to bring improvements to the im-plementation of NREGA through formal or informal interactions with the administration. The Civil Society Organizations have played a constructive role in assisting citi-zens in various capacities ranging from advocacy, human develop-ment to livelihood support. Rec-ognizing the importance of these organizations and their relevance as an independent entity working for the betterment of the masses, the GoAP conceives a vibrant partner-

ship with Non Governmental Organizations in the area of capacity building and advocacy while implementing MGNREGS.

To ensure that there is transparency and a grievance redressal system in place where the NGOs could play an active role in safe-guarding the citizen interests; AP NGO Al-liance (APNA) has been formed with about 351 NGOs. The primary objective is to guar-antee the promise of the NREGA Act and give suitable place for rights-based NGOs to organise the rural poor to demand their rights under the Act.

Transparency is much more than merely complying with regulations around manda-

Director (MGNREGS-AP) flanked by the honorary delegates address-ing the representatives from NGOs at the APNA meeting

75


tory disclosure stipulated under the act; it is about engaging with key stakeholders to un-derstand their needs and responding to these needs in the best way. While several NGOs on their own undertake advocacy activities and play a crucial role in identifying gaps in delivery and deficiencies of the system, of-ten they have not been effective due to lack of a proper channel and skewed power equa-tions at the grass root level.

The first and foremost need is to institution-alize the role of NGOs and to channelize the work done by several NGOs at individual level into a strong collective voice and nur-

ture a partnership where they would act as a check on any deficiency and misappropriate practice while implementing MGNREGS. To achieve this, a state wide alliance has been formed.

To fulfill these objectives, NGOs are given the tasks of organizing the poor into Shrama Shakthi Sanghas, training them, overseeing implementation of the programme, observ-ing the social audit system etc. They report any discrepancy that they come across in the area they work and undertake fact-finding missions in areas where there are complaints in execution. Nearly 626 Mandals out of

1098 Mandals are brought under this system. The whole alliance is voluntary in nature and no payment is provided to the NGOs for participa-tion, but their cost in attend-ing meetings or in mounting fact-finding missions is de-frayed.

The feedback system works from the village level up-wards. The NGO tries to re-solve any issue they have with the Gram Panchayat. Howev-er, if there is no resolution the Representatives of various NGOs at the APNA Meeting, Hyderabad

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issue is brought up at the Mandal debriefing session organized at the Mandal level on the 3rd Wednesday every month. During this meeting, all NGOs working in that particu-lar Mandal attend the session with their que-ries and complaints. The session is conduct-ed by the MPDO and attended by Mandal level officials. To ensure that the issues are resolved and the NGOs are empowered to raise doubts at the highest level, there is a cascading debriefing sessions with the APNA members at District level on 3rd Friday eve-ry month followed at State level on last Sat-urday every month.

The District level session is conducted by the DPC and other functionaries. The State level session is conducted by the Principal Secretary, Rural Development along with Commissioner Rural Development, Direc-tor, EGS and State level Special Officers. These sessions have an open discussion fol-lowed by one to one interactions for conflict resolution. Immediate instructions are re-layed through video conference with district and mandal officials.

Focus on NGO s grievances through RD call centre:

To enhance active participation of the APNA members and provide an alternate mecha-nism for grievance redressal, an exclusive

space for the members has been created in the rural development call centre portal. Using a secure authentication id and a pass-word, these NGOs can register and bring the issues related to misappropriation, misuse, delays and other corruption practices to the notice of concerned authorities. Apart from bringing irregularities into notice, NGOs are encouraged to make suggestions from their observations which helps in streamlining the processes and improving the over-all imple-mentation of NREGS-AP. This technology-based intervention helps the members and the administrative management to take stern action on the concerned authorities within a short duration of time.

The APNA sessions also have training ses-sions for APNA members to ensure that they are aware of the latest interventions in the implementation of MGNREGS and better prepared to scrutinize the works happening. This ensures that the principle of transparen-cy and accountability remain an integral part of the implementation of MGNREGS-AP. It eliminates discretion and brings consistency in the apportionment of responsibility and the consequent recovery and disciplinary action in the instances where deviations are noticed in the execution of the works.

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Since independence, the Government of India has taken up a vast number of initiatives towards poverty alleviation. However, despite huge sums of money spent on these measures, the expected progress was not to be seen for various reasons. In order to ensure that Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme would not go down the same lane but become a powerful tool in the hands of poor, the administrative officials decided to come up with an answer to the shortcomings. It was learnt that the major reason behind the ineffectiveness is primarily lack of peoples’ participation and sufficient monitoring. The poor are required to realize their rights and have the ability to speak up and demand in case of non-realization of their benefits. They need to be instilled with the confidence to question the authorities when they deviate from the rules. Inspired by the model of public accountability like ‘Jan Sunwai’s established in Rajasthan by Mazdoor Kisaan Shakti Sangathan, GoAP requested them to give training in Social Audit. With this in mind, Social Audits were included through Section-17 as a part of the MGNREG Act, 2005 with the welfare of labour as the key aim. Social Audits help in creating opportunities that provide the poor with a

platform where they can be self-sufficient, raise their voice and be heard.

Social Audits involve both the people as well as the administrative officers who come together to verify the processes under the scheme right from planning to implementation. Any programme under the scheme can be taken up for audit by the wage seekers and the related expenses and details can be examined. The performance of the village can be analyzed and the concerned authorities and Gram Panchayats can be made accountable. The main objectives of Social Audits are to

1. Ensure that the implementation of the Employment Guarantee Scheme is beneficial to the poor

2. Increase accountability

3. Increase Community Participation

4. Enable the poor to exercise their rights

5. Implement the EGS efficiently

6. Remove irregularities and take up corrective action

Requirements to conduct a Social Audit:

• All the official papers, budget documents, fund release papers, expenses and payment receipts of a particular scheme have to be collected before it is taken up

Social Audit

78


involved

• Present the good aspects as well as shortcomings of the programme in Public Hearing before the administrative officials so that proper decisions can be made to find solutions

1. The first step in a SA is to gather information regarding the scheme. This is done by applying for information in the NREGS invoking the spirit of RTI as has been instructed by the MoRD in its NREGS guidelines - Information is to be provided without fail to any applicant within seven days. Bearing in mind the suo-moto disclosures clause in the RTI the department of rural development GoAP has taken on the responsibility of providing information directly to the SA teams. To facilitate the process and ensure that the administration is provided with ample time to prepare for the SA an action plan for every month is drawn up by SSAAT and sent to Commissioner-RD’s Office. Based on which intimation letters are issued by the Commissioner –Rural Development to the district and Mandal administration. As per the NREGS-AP, all the following information related to the programme is to be collected

• Gramsabha resolution (identification of works)

for the audit.

• Presence of trained persons with a thorough understanding of the Social Audit process and trainers is mandatory.

• An environment in which all the labourers related to the programme can participate fearlessly in the audit process needs to be created.

• Orders need to be issued by the Government to ensure that the officials have trust and knowledge about the audit process to guarantee smooth execution.

• Proper team work between the officials and the auditors is needed for successful audits.

It is the responsibility of the administrative bureaucrats as well as the audit personnel to conduct the audit process at village and mandal level and make sure of the community involvement and submit the realities of the programme execution.

Social Audit – Process:

• Gather information about the programme for which audit is to be done

• Village Social Auditors selection and training

• Analyze the information comprehensively

• Explain the information to everyone 79


• Administration & Financial Sanction

• Shelf of works

• Technical Estimates

• Technical Approval

• Work Commencement letter

• Muster roll

• Bills and vouchers

• Wage pay order

• Muster & MB issue register

• Household details

• Payment order

• Measurement book

• List of Works

• At a glanced account details

• Q.C reports(detailed MB)

• Community wise jobcard issue details

• Suspen

• Utilization Certificate

• Smart card & post office aquittance

• Financial wage performance(pay ordr wise)

• Location wise list of works

• Tractor watch book, Beneficiaries list (Only photocopies will be given to the auditors)

2. Need for Village Social Auditors: Selecting educated youth from the families of wage seekers is an important aspect of the Social audit process. Encouraging active participation of these youth and enhancing their knowledge about the significance of the audit process and the impact it has on the livelihoods of their families is a major task for the social audit team. This provides wage seekers the ability and confidence to question the authorities and get their rightful benefits.

Selection Process for Village Social Auditors (VSA): Youths from the families of the labourers are invited to participate. A total of four to five VSAs for each Gram Panchayat need to be selected as per the following criteria

a. Candidate must be impartial as well as excited about the prospect of being a VSA

b. It is mandatory that the candidate is non-political or not from the families of the administrative officials / Gram Sarpanch / Upa Sarpanch

c. Candidates must not be working as contractors, Mesthris or in any way related to the implementing agency

d. Candidate should have worked for at least 10 days in this scheme as a labourer

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field for conducting audits. Hence, they are given a thorough understanding about the NREGS-AP and its purpose, all the programmes that are under implementation, the non-negotiables, rights and benefits of the poor and the implementing agencies.

6. Briefing about the Right to Information Act.

7. Social Audit training: VSAs are given in depth training in SA process. All the aspects right from RTI to accessing and consolidating records, scrutinizing musters thoroughly, door to door verification, work site measurement, report writing and presentation of the report are taught by the District Resource persons. Videos made on Social audit and information rights made by Mazdoor Kisaan Shakthi Sanghatan and Andhra Pradesh Government are shown to the VSAs to enhance their understanding.

8. Division into groups: The VSAs are divided into groups consisting of 4 to 5 members and are sent to villages for audits along with 1 or 2 district resource personnel for each group. It is made sure that no VSA goes to his / her own Gram Panchayat. The number of VSAs in a group is not fixed and can vary as per

e. Priority is given to those youths who belong to SC/ST families

Social Audit – Training Programme:

All the Village Social auditors selected from the various Gram Panchayats are given training at the Mandal level on the process of social audits. The programme involves a two-day training at the Mandal followed by four-six day stint in the villages when the audit is done. The seventh day has an open discussion at the mandal level which is known as Public Hearing. The two-day programme at the mandals has the following agenda

1. Introduction of all the VSAs who have attended the training programme and registration of the candidates.

2. Explain the importance of the training to all the VSAs.

3. Enlighten the trainees about the rules and regulations to be followed during the course of training

4. MGNREGA training: This involves briefing the VSAs about the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, its purpose and the works involved in the entire scheme.

5. NREGS-AP training: It is essential that the VSAs are well versed with the NREGS-AP before they are disbursed into the

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the number of works or habitations in a gram Panchayat.

Non-negotiables:

• There must be no political interference or individual bias in the Social Audit process.

• All records and documents related to a programme must be made available to the team before the audit process begins.

• Any shortcomings in the implementation of the scheme must be explicitly mentioned.

• Interaction with labour and other people related to the programme under audit is necessary to make a decision.

• Everyone is equal under the social audit process. No discrimination based on caste, religion, ethnicity or occupation shall be shown.

• Social audit team must not collude with any section of villagers. Impartiality must be maintained.

• Teams must stay only at the Gram Panchayat / Government buildings while the audit takes place.

• Releasing any press statements or giving press conferences during the audit process is strictly banned during the

audit process.

Conducting Social Audits in Villages:

To ensure that the audit process in the villages is a smooth affair, all the audit team members must be given their tasks well before hand and sufficient planning must be done. Following are some of the tasks that need to be done during a social audit

1. The audit team needs to go through the muster rolls, pay order, job cards of the individual wage seekers, pay slips and postal account books and other relevant records and verify whether the payments are done as per the muster and the pay order.

2. The team must personally visit the work sites and take measurements of the works done in the presence of FA & TA and check for any deviations from the measurement sheet.

3. Check whether the implementing personnel are working as specified and in accordance with the law.

4. Enlighten the labourers and beneficiaries about their rights and benefits in the scheme personally or through ward sabhaas.

The next step in the social audit process

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Hearing begins with the SRP’s handing out the DTF to the Presiding Officer i.e., Project Director, DWMA. Audit teams from various villages in the mandal read out the SA report & disclose the findings. All the details from a village are read out without any partiality. After each team have finished reading their reports, the labourers respond to the performance of the administrative officials. This involves acceptance from the wage seekers who were allowed the reap the benefits of the scheme and complaints from those who were deprived. The implementing agency’s staff also get a fair chance to respond against the allegations made on them. Facilitators and the Presiding Officer have an important role to play in ensuring that the discussions do not turn violent and all the questions are properly answered by the concerned authorities. All the discussions and the corresponding decisions made during the meeting are recorded and immediate recovery actions are taken, wherever possible. A report is prepared with the follow up actions and is distributed to the concerned officials.

Follow Up:

During the Public Hearing the Presiding Officer records his decisions in Decision Taken Report(DTR) . Post the Social

involves preparing the report based on the facts and experiences of the labour. It is important to note that the report must be clear and meaningful. Complete information including the Name of the work, Identification number, muster, pay order number, name of the labourer, job card number, wages received, pass book, payments and the names of field assistant, technical assistant as well as the post master and CSP must be mentioned in detail. Once the report is made, all the social auditors return to the mandal office and make a list of all the findings in the villages. Important issues and results are be sorted and detailed SA report is written. Based on the report Decision Taken Format(DTF) is prepared by the DRPs.

Public Hearing:

All the issues and shortcomings found during the audit are brought under scanner during the Public Hearing. This gathering acts as a platform for the wage seekers to voice their opinion and air their grievance. In order to ensure active participation from the community, facilitators explain the need and importance of social audits. Motivational songs are also played so that the labourers understand and realize that it is of their own benefit to take part in the meeting. Public

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Audit the DTF is handed over to the Chief Vigilance Officer by the social audit resource person. CVO directs the concerned district officials to initiate action within 72 hours of the Public Hearing.

Village Social Auditor – Responsibilities:

1. The Village Social Auditor should have a complete understanding of the Employment Guarantee Scheme and create awareness of the scheme among people.

2. He / She should go to the villages and get familiar with the issues to be raised and must have complete knowledge regarding the implementation of the scheme in that village.

3. Awareness about the social audit process must be created among the villagers and the VSAs must ensure their active participation.

4. Implementation of the scheme in accordance to the entitlements and the spirit of the Act must be examined.

5. Statements and information disclosed by of the wage seekers and the people must be taken in writing.

6. A report consisting of the people’s views as well personal findings must be

prepared.

7. VSAs should be able to do concurrent social audit.

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Abbreviations

AMR-APARD Alimenti Madhava Reddy- Andhra Pradesh

Academy of Rural Development

APNA Andhra Pradesh NGO Alliance

APD Assistant Project Director

APO Additional Programme Officer

CB Capacity Building

CBO Community Based Organisation

CEO Chief Executive Officer

CRD Commissionerate Rural Development

DPC District Program Coordinator

DRDA District Rural Development Agency

DWMA District Water Management Agency

EAS Employment Assurance Scheme

EC Engineering Consultant

EGS Employment Guarantee Scheme

e-FMS Electronic Management System

e-MMS Electronic Muster Management System

FA Field Assistant

FD Fixed Deposit

FTO Fund Transfer Order

GoI Government of India

GoAP Government of Andhra Pradesh

GP Gram Panchayat

MGNREGS Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme

MI Minor-Irrigation

MIS Information Management System

MPDO Mandal Project Development Officer

MS Mandal Samakhaya

NGO Non-Governmental Organisation

NPM Non Pesticidal Management

NRM Natural Resource Management

PIS Program Implementation System

PMS Program Monitoring System

PRI Panchayati Raj Institutions

RBI Reserve Bank of India

RAGAS Rashtriya Grameenabhivruddhi Samacharam

RSSR Rural Standard Schedule of Rates

SERP Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty

SHG Self Help Group

SSS Shrama Shakthi Sangha

TA Technical Assistant

VO Village Organisation

WTMS Work time Motion Studies

ZS Zilla Samakhaya

Department of Rural DevelopmentSecond floor, Hermitage Office Complex,

Hill Fort Road, Nampally, Hyderabad.

mgnregs-ap processes book

Documents

driven implementation

better implementation

subramanyamthe implementation

andhra pradesh mgnregs

rural ssr

andhra pradesh government

government of andhra

andhra pradeshmgnregs