With a quarter of the wages paid last year under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) falling under the category of delayed wages, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday sought concurrent audit of rural development programmes to address such issues.
The database of the ministry of rural development shows of the Rs 24,872 crore paid in wages in 2011-12 under the scheme, nearly 23.98 per cent reached workers much after the work was done. In fact, the delays have become chronic, with delayed payments reported by some states ranging from 15 per cent of the total wages paid to 56 per cent, as in the case of West Bengal.
Terming MGNREGS as a "story worth telling" and the most popular and successful flagship scheme of the government, the prime minister said the sooner the problem was tackled the better. While addressing a programme here to mark the release of 'MGNREGA Sameeksha', an anthology of research studies on the United Progressive Alliance government’s flagship scheme, Prime Minister Singh called for a replication of the Andhra Pradesh model of wage payment.
| DEFERRED PAYMENTS | ||
| Year | Delayed wages (%) | Total wages paid |
| 2012 | 10 | Rs 7,230 cr* |
| 2011-12 | 24 | Rs 24,872 cr |
| 2010-11 | 22 | Rs 22,174 cr |
| Fastest paying states (%) | ||
| 2010-11 | 2011-12 | |
| Tamil Nadu | 0.3 | 0.213 |
| Manipur | 8.4 | 3 |
| Tripura | 0.3 | 2 |
| Andhra Pradesh | 11 | 11 |
| Odisha | 13 | 13 |
| Uttarakhand | 12 | 15 |
| Uttar Pradesh | 13 | 17 |
| Slowest paying states (%) | ||
| 2010-11 | 2011-12 | |
| Bengal | 56 | 56 |
| Rajasthan | 19 | 41 |
| Himachal | 52 | 36 |
| Madhya Pradesh | 37 | 41 |
| Maharashtra | 33 | 45 |
| * Figure from March to June 2012 Source: Ministry of rural development | ||
He said it was encouraging to know that in Andhra Pradesh, data entry was in realtime and pay orders for wage payments were generated online. "This (practice) directly addresses the issue of delayed payments and should be replicated elsewhere."
However, many states have performed better than Andhra Pradesh in the matter of timely payment of wages last year, including Tamil Nadu and the Northeastern states. The worst delays have been reported in West Bengal, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
The prime minister expressed surprise that concurrent evaluation processes were not in good shape and said he would request (Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia “to apply his mind to making good this deficiency as well". Both rural development minister Jairam Ramesh and Ahluwalia were present at the programme.
Singh said the Panchayati Raj institutions had to gear themselves to play a central role assigned to them under the scheme and stressed the need to provide the resources to help panchayats to perform the function effectively. "If these local bodies can rise to the challenge, MGNREGA can very well become a silver bullet for India's rural renewal."