The Union Cabinet today passed the National Food Security
Bill. Intended to cover 67 per cent of the Indian population, the United
Progressive Alliance is seeing it as one of the game-changer duo (direct cash
transfer of subsidy being the other one) to help it win the next general elections
that all say it has already lost.
Okay, that is an analysis in the future, but given the
precedent set by two other (not counting many others here) flagship (populist)
dole-outs by the UPA government, the Farm Debt Waiver (FDW) scheme and the
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Guarantee (MNREGA) that is also known as NREGA,
this too, is going to be yet another hotbed of political and bureaucratic
corruption.
The government is simply not apt to handle such mammoth
projects. Given their scale involved covering a large section of the Indian population
stretched across a vast geographical space, there has to be a complex
monitoring procedure to regulate the desired flow of the resources.
But sought and implemented as populist dole-outs (though
with bad economics), more emphasis was placed on giving customary statements and
doing customized data-sheets showing the positive outcomes while suppressing or
even killing the negatively worrying trends that let the people involved in the
implementation of FDW and MNREGA embezzle thousands of billions in a country of
a billion socioeconomically poorly managed lives.
Let see the how the FDW and the MNREGA have lost the track
– what FDW and MNREGA began with and what became of FDW and MNREGA.
Farmers' Debt Waiver Scheme
Text (1) of the FM's statement (during the launch)
2008
As you are aware, this is the most ambitious debt waiver
and debt relief scheme ever undertaken by any Government in India. Our
initial estimates placed the number of beneficiaries as 3 crore small and
marginal farmers and 1 crore 'other farmers'. As it terms out, the number of
small and marginal farmers is more than 3 crore is estimated that the number is
likely to be Rs. 3,69,00,000 and the number of other farmers is estimated about
Rs. 59,75,000. These are of course unaudited figures. They are verified but
they are yet unaudited figures. Initially, in the budget, it was estimated that
the cost of the scheme will be about Rs. 60,000 crore to the Central
Government. As it turns out, the cost of the scheme is likely to be in the
order of about Rs. 71,680 crore, again unaudited. After audit, there may be
some reduction.
To see what became of it, I quote from an article I wrote
when the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) preliminary report on Farm Debt
Waiver audit came out recently.
The CAG says on the sampling:
“Since debt relief and waiver mechanisms involved a huge
amount, Performance Audit was undertaken to assess whether the management of
claims for debt waiver and relief under the scheme was in accordance with
relevant guidelines and requirements. The review, carried out from April 2011
to March 2012, covered 25 states involving field audit of a total of 90,576
beneficiaries’/farmers’ accounts in 715 branches of lending institutions
situated in 92 districts. The sample included 80,299 accounts of such farmers
who were extended benefit under the scheme, 9,334 accounts of such farmers who
were not selected as beneficiaries even though they had received agricultural
loans between 1 April 1997 to 31 March 2007 and 943 cases where complaints were
received.”
Now that is a good enough size given the fact that this a
preliminary report on the performance audit. When we see it in the historical
perspective of the fund misappropriations in various government schemes
including the MNREGA and NRHM, it only indicates for a bigger anomaly to
surface say when the sample size is increased to 2 per cent of the universe of
the covered 3.45 crore farmers (that would be a sample size of 6,90,000!) or
who knows Mr. Pawar will ask for a 5 per cent sample size (with 17,25,000
cases!).
Sure, a more comprehensive report should and would follow
and no matter what the sample size is, the country is going to see more dirt on
the scam. UPA’s history of scams says the misappropriation level is only bound
to go up.
Also, Mr. Pawar’s statement is fundamentally flawed. Even
the audited 0.25 per cent of sample size (from a comprehensive number of 90,576
beneficiaries spread over 92 districts) establishes irregularities in the fund
management of the farm debt waiver scheme and Mr. Pawar’s denial or any
justification falls flat.
Now let’s come to another UPA drum-beater – the Mahatma
Gandhi National Rural Guarantee Scheme
What the UPA government had proposed or (the tall and
lofty claims):
THE NATIONAL RURAL EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE ACT, 2005 (2)
No. 42 OF 2005 [5th September 2005]
An Act to provide for the enhancement of livelihood
security of the households in rural areas of the country
by providing at least one
hundred days of guaranteed wage
employment in every financial year to
every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual
work and for matters connected therewith
or incidental thereto.
A PIB release (3) on five-year assessment of MNREGA read: It
has been five years since the launch of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) launch from Anantpur in Andhra Pradesh on
February 2, 2006. The act has been instrumental in raising the productivity,
increasing the purchasing power, reducing distress migration, creating durable
assets while ensuring livelihood opportunities for the needy and poor in rural India.
The verbal manipulation continued to drumbeat the tall and
lofty claims completely ignoring the reports about the widespread corruption.
Now see what became of MNREGA with some reports on MNREGA
corruption:
2012: NREGA: Wages are often denied or delayed, with
corruption rife
(4) - In spite of NREGA work being measured, most workers are underpaid,
with people having been paid as little as 1 per day (in Tonk, Rajasthan).
Average wages paid across the country are well below the statutory minimum
wage. Getting acknowledgements for work applications is very difficult, and the
unemployment allowance is a pipe dream.
After being taken to one of the 6,38,365 villages in the
country, this writer would like to extend a counter-invitation: not to show
that the NREGA is working perfectly, but to show corruption, forged muster rolls,
delayed wage payments, low wages and work sites appropriated by higher castes.
But the desire would also be to introduce people, who in spite of all this,
struggle and fight for the right to work.
2011: Indian rural welfare - Digging holes (5) - India's biggest single
welfare project was launched in 2006 and costs over $8 billion a year. Alone,
it eats up over 3% of all public spending, and officials say over 50m
households last year got some benefit from it. Supporters say it has helped to
lift rural wages—on average workers get about 120 rupees ($2.40) a day—which
should mean falling poverty. But in many districts, especially poorer ones,
huge amounts are stolen or wasted.
2010: 'Corruption mars implementation of NREGA' (6) - A government-sponsored study
on NREGA has found large-scale corruption and irregularities in the
implementation of the programme in several states with authorities in some
areas "misappropriating" central funds and "threatening"
workers to keep their mouth shut. The study, sponsored by Rural Development
Ministry, was initiated in September 2008. The research team visited Andhra
Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh
and West Bengal.
2008: Dismal Experience of NREGA: Lessons for the Future (7)
The CAG Report underlines the fact that the guidelines
indicated in the NREGA have not been followed. The Report specifically mentions
lack of provision of professional staff to implement the scheme.
All this resulted in a situation where out of 20.1 million
households employed in the NREGA, only 2.2 million (that is, 10.5 per cent)
received the full 100 days employment and wages as promised by the Act. The
average employment per household was 43 days in 2006-07 and 35 days in 2007-08,
as revealed by the Ministry of Rural Development.
Although the NREGA has provisions for transparency in the
process of implementation, in actual practice, data on the work done and
payments made for various kinds of jobs is kept as a closely guarded secret. As
a consequence, there is a mockery of social audit. Even some of the fake NGOs
are prepared to verify social audit by charging a ridiculously low fee per
panchayat. As a result, the most radical provisions of the NREGA are violated
with impunity.
A CAG report on MNREGA audit is awaited and is slated to
be tabled in the Parliament. Be prepared. If we come across yet another CAG
report on how the project was ill-managed costing a huge sum to the public
exchequer, it wouldn’t be a surprise.
We have all the reasons, rooted in the recent history of
the political and bureaucratic corruption that has surpassed GDPs of even many
nations, to believe that the precious resources are again going to be wasted.
This is the irony of India – a rich country where
majority of the world’s poor, and undernourished somehow manage to survive.
(1) Farmers' Debt Waiver scheme - Text of the FM's statement
(2) THE NATIONAL RURAL EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE ACT, 2005
(3) Five Years of Mahatma Gandhi NREGA - 02-February, 2011
(4) The Economic Times, April 21, 2012
(5) The Economist – November 5, 2011
(6) Zee News, May 23, 2010
(7) Mainstream, April 12, 2008