Though after initial hiccups the National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREG) scheme took off, alleviation of rural poverty still remains a distant dream. The NREG was envisioned as a safety net, but the babudom is out to create holes in it. What is happening in Rajasthan is indeed a matter of shame.

For eleven days a group of poor labourers dug a check dam under the scheme but on the day of the payment each of them was handed over a paltry sum of Rs 11; Re one each day. The reason cited by the district collector was absurd: he has not measured the work! At Narvem in Goa, NREG labourers had to wait for payments for six months. Denial of wages is a criminal act under the NREG Act. In Rajasthan case, the sarpanch had sent his report about completion of the work but no government official came to measure the work. With the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh sanctioning a huge amount of Rs 68,000 crore middlemen have become quite active to usurp the fund. Sometime back Prof Jean Dreze, a member of the Central Employment Guarantee Council, had found to his dismay that middlemen are embezzling the funds. While the sarpanchas, panchayat secretaries and others ‘hoard’ the job cards to siphon off NREGS funds he has also found that millions of workers under the scheme were being routinely violated, whether it is the entitlement to work on demand or to minimum wages or to payment within 15 days, or to basic worksite facilities. The most unfortunate part of the scheme is the government has not initiated any significant effort to plug the leakage points and ensure that the scheme should work as an instrument for inclusive growth. This lack of initiative has helped the unscrupulous officers and middlemen to loot the fund. Unless the government brings about a major operational change in the scheme it would not benefit the labourers. The anti-poverty programme should be growth oriented and at the same time it should protect the poor from destitution and social insecurity. What we witness today is spending of the public money on some projects that are not part of the development plans. We must listen to agricultural scientist, Prof M S Swaminathan who laid emphasis on creating assets in tune with the overall development plans.