Skip to content Skip to navigation

MGNREGA schemes implementation in Assam disappointing!

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is a revolutionary Act of the Government of India with tremendous potentiality of eradicating unemployment situation in the country. On February 2, 2006 first phase of NREGA implementation was started in 200 districts of the country in which seven districts of Assam were also incorporated. In the year 2007, the second phase of NREGA had started where five districts of Assam were also included. The third phase started on April 1,2008 where remaining 14 districts of Assam came under the purview of the Act. Hence, at present all the districts of Assam are implementing the provisions of MGNREGA.


On March 31, 2012 Assam completed sixth year of MGNREGA implementation. Under this Act any rural family is guaranteed to provide at least 100 days unskilled employment at minimum wage in a financial year. A survey by the North East Social Trust (NEST) and a few other voluntary organizations of Assam monitoring the impact of this Act and implementation during last couple of years has found the result very disappointing. For the financial year 2011-12 NEST carried out an intensive research on the basis of the Governments Data to find out the implications of the Act in the state.


It was found that 43,69,372 households in the state were provided job cards, whereas 17,98,372 households only were able to get job in the year 2011-12. It means, 58.84 percent households with job cards did not have any opportunity of working in this scheme during this period. Out of those who worked under this scheme 73 percent of them got employment for less than 30 days in the whole year. During the whole year Assam could provide 100 days employment to only 1.04 percent job card holders.


Total number of house hold provided 100 days employment in the year was 45,490. Kokrajhar district could provide highest number of 100 days employment to 23,216 households, whereas in North Cachar Hills district not even a single household could complete 100 days employment.


Nagaon district recorded second lowest 100 days employment provider by providing only 115 households (0.05 percent job card holders) with 100 days employment.


No registration have taken place In 12 panchayats of Assam across seven blocks of five districts. Twelve panchayats of Chirang districts have no demand of work. These panchayats are spread in two blocks of the districts, namely Manikpur and Borobazar.


To meet with the current requirement of job card holders 47 panchayats of Assam do not have any ongoing work across 15 blocks of three districts. Assam’s 33 blocks have violated the norms of Labor material ratio. And 591 numbers of works in these blocks have spent 41 to 60 percent as material cost. 106 number of works have spent 61 -80 percent of the fund on materials and 26 numbers of other works have spent 81 -100 percent of the project cost on materials only.


In the year 2011-12, Assam could complete 9,970 numbers of projects by creating equal numbers of Rural Assets. Sonitpur district could complete highest 2,163 numbers of work , whereas Chirang and Nalbari districts bottomed the list by completing 1 and 7 works respectively in the whole year.


Out of ten categories of works approved in the MGNREGA , 62 percent of works were competed only under Rural connectivity and drought proofing types. Only 19 works of Rajiv Gandhi Seva Kendra was completed in Assam.
In Assam, 51,964 number of works are running behind schedule, out of which 48,013 number of works are delayed by more than three months. 3,094 number of registered households in Assam are not given job cards even. Besides,2,443 job card holders have not been paid the unemployment allowances.


The programme officer in 207blocks of the state are not doing enough to prepare Shelf of Projects (SoP) and get them duly approved. As a result 1,622 number of panchayats out of total 2,645 do not have any approved work under MGNREGA schemes.


Based on the last three years research NEST has suggested to keep Shelf of Projects approved and ready for implementation in each and every panchayat of Assam and appoint full time programme officers in each block of the state solely to take care of MGNEREGA activities in respective blocks.


It has suggested to provide due unemployment allowances immediately and also make sure that the job cards are received by the registered households of the state. The job demand placing procedure should be citizen friendly, preferably, job card holders should be able to place job demands through SMS also and it should be directly reflected in the MGNREGA online MIS. More emphasis should be given on categories of work like flood control, irrigation canals and providing irrigation facilities to SC/ST/IAY/LR. In each Gaon panchayat, Anchalik Panchayat and Zila Parishad level immediately projects on Rajiv Gandhi Seva Kendra construction proposals prepared and implemented, the NEST suggested.
.

Author info

Daya Nath Singh's picture

Journalist; Guwahati Press Club office Secretary

Add new comment

Assamese Translator

Assam Times seeks English to Assamese translators!
Join our volunteer team.
Email editor@assamtimes.org.

Random Stories

PhD on child health and welfare

14 May 2014 - 11:23am | Lalremlien Neitham
Lalneizo Darngawn d/o Lalneithang Ruolngul, Principal, Renglai Govt High School, Manipur has been awarded a doctorate degree by Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi on May 11, 2014. She...

AASU burns draft of land swap deal

5 May 2015 - 4:36pm | Hantigiri Narzary
Students activists from Kokrajhar district committee of the All Assam Students Union protested and burnt draft of land swap deal supported from state government at Kokrajhar town near Rajmela ground...

Serial bombings crack Assam: over 60 killed, more than 300 injured

31 Oct 2008 - 1:54am | Nanda Kirati Dewan
After a prolonged lull, once again terrorists have capitalized their angers on Thursday in Assam with a biggest ever bombings that left over 50 killed besides hundreds injured.At least nine blasts...

KNP waiting for central fund

16 Jul 2012 - 2:58am | editor
Dispur is waiting for a huge Central fund to dress the Kaziranga National Park afresh after it was ravaged in the time of flood. Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said on Sunday disclosed it after he made...

Other Contents by Author

Gamusas and Japis are two important items in Assam, which are in much demand throughout the year in the state especially during festival seasons and social functions. These items are demanded by the people to honor the guests and honorable persons during each and every event.  However, it has been found that throughout the festival seasons the supply of locally woven gamusas are not according to demand by the customers. The reason behind it is said to be heavy cost of the locally produced items. On the other hand the weavers and traders from other parts of the country take advantage of supplying gamusas at cheaper rates and make more profit despite spending heavy cost on...
Archaeological Survey of India, Guwahati circle, has been trying to take-up the work of repairing of a broken pillar in the Mandap of Hayagriva Madhav Temple at Hajo for a long time. ASI, Guwahati has informed the media through a press note that one of the pillars of ancient temple was broken in three parts due to rusting of the iron dowels holding each other and the other developed cracks due to the same reason and widened more after the earthquake of May 2015. Hayagriva Madhav Temple is a reconstructed temple during the Koch period. The architectural parts of the earlier temple have been used for reconstruction. Different parts of the temple have been used randomly for making the pillars...
There is a generation gap between the signing of Assam Accord on the Independence Day 1985 and the present generation has to face new challenges to compete with the world class people in all spheres of development. The young people are confused over the airing of old issues which have lasted for long 31 years in absence of any solution. The issues pertaining to the Accord have become irrelevant under the present circumstances. The Assam Accord issue is still haunting and confusing the present generation due to absence of a clear picture. The fate of the Accord is not known to the people in general. A few politicians and intellectuals are trying to raise the issues of the accord from time to...
It is an established fact that a person involved in political activities cannot remain in peace till his cherished dreams are fulfilled. This can be noticed through the recent statements of former Assam chief minister, Tarun Gogoi, who has been expressing his views frequently in media against the four months old BJP-led alliance government in the state under the chief minister ship of Sarwanand Sonowal.  He (Gogoi) dares to demand a ‘white paper’ from state government about the steps taken by it to clear the encroachments of forest and other government  lands in the state and also to let the people of the state know, what action it has taken to identify and deport the foreign...
Addressing a huge gathering of residents of Udaypur, Jonakpur and Birubari at Udaypur Kali Mandir complex on Sunday, July 3, 2016, East Guwahati Assembly Member, Siddharth Bhattacharjee, emphasized the need of implementing the vision document of development as envisaged by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Speaking at the function organized by Udaypur Yuva Sangha to felicitate him on his success in the recently concluded polls to the state Assembly, he conveyed his thanks to the people of the area for showing their confidence in him. He assured the people that he would not let their confidence go in vain. The meeting was presided over by Dr Phani Borah. Senior citizen of the locality Kartik...
Hardly a few days ago, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Alliance has taken the reign of Assam administration the results of efforts made by Chief Minister, Sarbananda Sonowal under the guidance of PM Narendra Modi to bring back black money to the state coffer, has started recently with the arrest of Dhemaji Divisional Forest Officer, Mahat Chandra Talukdar by anti-corruption department. For a long time the reports of wildlife crimes were in the air, but the previous state administration ruled by Congress Party under the three-terms  leadership of Tarun Gogoi did not try to take any action. The former Chief Minister Gogoi was under a wrong impression that the people who gave him a...
A study conducted by B Boruah Cancer Institute, Guwahati, has revealed that during a decade from 2001-02 to 2011-12, cancer cases in the north-eastern part of the country have gone up from 5,404 to 8,708. A campaign, namely, Cycle 4 ride can help control this dreaded disease. In order to raise awareness to fight cancer a lady, namely, Marcellna Sangma, is going to lead a Biker Mission to 600 kms long stretch from Guwahati to Bum La Pass, near Indo-China border in Arunachal Pradesh. The ride is scheduled to be flagged off by Dr Amar Chandra Kataki, Director, B Boruah Cancer Institute, on April 21, 2016.Expressing her traumatic experience with cancer, Sangma, who was a cancer patient a decade...
Being disturbed since the first phase of polling for Assam Assembly on April 4 last, the Assam Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi is finding it difficult to remember the history of Assam agitation propelled by All Assam Students Union (AASU) since the year 1979 to the Independence Day of 1985, resulting in the Assam Accord which was signed between the Assam Government and the movement leaders in presence of erstwhile prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi. Heavy polling beyond 85 percent of the electorate in the second phase also made Gogoi to think over the majority of young and new voters were not the ‘beneficiaries of getting blankets, yarn and mosquito nets’. They are young, energetic, literate and...
Continuing campaigns for Assam Assembly elections have confused the Assam intellectuals to raise vital issues before the future state legislators and improve the quality of political atmosphere affecting the entire society for quite some time. Almost all political parties have started ‘derogatory’ comments against their rivals for attracting the electorates by their acts and objectives about which they are themselves ignorant. The main reason behind such interpretation is lack of knowledge about the real issues on which the political parties are campaigning. Assam as a state of multi-lingual and religious people continued to be disturbed since the year1979, when several organizations under...
Long awaited North East Graduate Congress, an initiative of Education Research Development Foundation (ERDF) is going to be held from February 26 to 28, 2016. This is the only graduate congress in India being organized by University of Science and Technology, Meghalaya (USTM) in association with RIST and supported by the State Bank of India (SBI). The venue of the congress is the USTM campus at 9th mile, Khanapara. Addressing the media persons in Guwahati on February 14, 2016, the USTM spokesperson informed that the three days congress is aimed to enhance all round development and bring out the capabilities of future graduates through various life skill processes to bring out  their...