Fake entry is the buzzword at Dungarpur work sites

RURAL EMPLOYMENT: MYTH & REALITY

"Farjiwada" or fake entries is the most commonly heard complaint in the buzzing work sites of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme in Rajasthan. More so in the district that is now looked upon as a model for the implementation of the Right to Work.

Dungarpur, the tribal district of Rajasthan where 60 per cent of the area has no electricity and where tribal households are perched away from one another on distant hill tops, and where there seems to be silence everywhere, the NREGP work sites have droves of people coming as if from nowhere.

But in this crowd, people are not quite sure if their entitlements are safe. Suspicion and fear of exploitation lurks everywhere.

The muster roll is the key component of the programme and records the hours and days put in by each worker. It is often absent from the scene, leaving the pradhan or mate free to tamper with the attendance of the workers and make payments to imaginary workers.

In Kodiyagun in Bichiwada block of Dungarpur, 80 workers are supposed to be digging at a field trying to level it. But on count, there are only 56. Workers say the mate does not allow them to see the muster roll daily and almost every day 20 to 25 people are missing.

The vice sarpanch Jaidev,who is at the site, agrees to get the muster roll. It is brought and removed almost immediately.

The muster roll has been missing for days according to villagers and resident activists Lachmi and Devilal.

"It is a clear case of farjiwada. And these villagers don't realise anything as the muster roll is always with the pradhan,'' says Lachmi, the activist volunteer of Waghad Kisan Mazdoor Sangh from the village.

"Ya to gadbadi se," says the mother of two children pulling up the long pallu that veils her face. Farjiwada or fake entries and false payments is one of the key complaints in Dungarpur where there is almost cent per cent coverage under the NREGP.

At a workshop organised by Waghad Kisan Mazdoor Sangh, volunteers from various villgers raise the issue of farjiwada in different shapes.

Paathi bhai of Jharni panchayat in Block Simwada says his attendance was faked on May 1 by the team leader or mate Uda. "The panchayat secretary told me," he insists. But he doesn't know where to complain. He now plans to go straight to the district collector who is known for her interest in the programme.

Sankar Kawa Khat of Ganwapal panchayat in Simwada block died two years ago. But a job card exists in his name, says villager Mohan Jeeva Ghat.

In Santhuna village in Simarwada block for instance, villagers found out that some people had got cards made but had never worked. They had an understanding with the mate with whom they shared the money.

Lack of transparency in the implementation of the programme is seen also in the fact that workers are allowed to apply for work only when the sarpanch deems it fit.

"If I want work, the mate fills forms and puts a date that falls five days later and gives it to me," says Devilal of Rasthabal in Chinganwada block in Dungarpur.

Receipts are never given when forms are submitted. So if there is a delay in getting work, the pradhan does not have to pay an unemployment allowance, say villagers.

The measly payment made to workers is also another sticking point with Rajasthan's growing NREGP workforce.

(This is the second of a seven-part series)