GO-NGO partnership in Social Audit: a worthwhile exercise

This article came in "View Point", the sociological e journal in July-December 2007 issue.

http://www.geocities.com/husociology1/socialaudit2007.htm

GO-NGO partnership in Social Audit: a worthwhile exercise

Pradeep Baisakh

“Pata nehin me kis platformse bolrahahon…humareliye bhi ye neyi uplabdhi he… , hum bhi janna chahrahen kahan galti ho rahahe…” (Don’t know in which platform am I talking from…these are also a new experiences for us…we also need to learn where lie the lacunae) tells Kamal Kishore Soan, the Deputy Commissioner of Ranchi in the response to the observations made by the team that conducted social audit on Ranchi on NREGA.

A thousand of crores of rupees is spent on the rural employment guarantee scheme for providing job guarantees and build durable infrastructure in the villages. To make the programme a ‘People’s Programme’ a lot of provisions have been adopted such as identifying the work and choosing the mate in Gram Sabha meetings, wage payment in front of the villagers and after all the provision of social audit by the Gram Sabha directly or through Village Vigilance and Monitoring committee etc.

A “social audit” is a physical verification of government works carried out by the people, which is an independent process from the government audit. Social audit is a mandatory requirement under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. In this pursuit, NIRD (National Institute for Rural Development), in association with Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) of Rajsthan, which is expert in the field of muster roll watch and social audit, has been conducting social audit on NREGA works in six districts of the country starting from Dungerpur in Rajasthan, Anantpur district of Andhra Pradesh, Kalahandi of Orissa etc to the final one in Ranchi district of Jharkhand, which was done from 14th to 21st May 2007. Social Audit in Ranchi was a collective effort of district administration of Ranchi, NREGA Watch-a conglomeration of civil society organisations and individuals in the State along with NIRD and MKSS. It was conducted in 16 Panchayats of 4 blocks.

Is social audit a process to find faults of the government? Does the Government-Non Government Organsation (GO-NGO) partnership in conducting SA create a paradoxical situation since at the end of the day it is the government, which would be nailed by the findings of the audit process? Nikhil Dey of MKSS says” SA is neither a fault finding instrument nor is targeted against the government officials; it is an instrument of accountability of the public servants to the public, who are the masters of the sovereign nation. The government participation in the SA would lead to strengthening the functioning of the system as the lacunae in the system would be identified in the process and will provide the opportunity to redress them.”

Before audit process started in Ranchi, necessary official documents like muster roll, work estimates, administrative and financial sanctions etc of the works were provided by the district administration those were consolidated by a small group of experts under the guidance of MKSS. This consolidation gives a first hand knowledge about the discrepancies in the records and points at the probable areas of corruption which may be cross-verified with the villagers and others in the field.

Two days training programme was organized in Bromvey, near Ranchi where participants from across the country were acquainted with the muster roll watch, and various provisions of NREGA. On the sidelines of the training, an interface of the district level officials was organised where Ms Karuna, who is in charge of SA in the state of Andhra Pradesh, spoke on various facets of SA to the officials. Sharing her experience Ms Karuna tried to dispel the fears from the officials mind the misconception that the SA is targeted against the officials and is a fault finding mechanism.

The trained volunteers were divided into groups to visit various panchayats. Each team conducted meeting among the villagers and spread awareness on the act; ascertained about the progress of the work under NREGA and various aspects like delivery of job cards, application for jobs, availability of jobs, payment of wages, worksite facilities etc. Necessary muster roll watch was done by cross verifying with the villagers and Abhikartas (the person who gets the work done or otherwise called ‘mate’). During the audit process, people shared with the groups about their experiences and grievances relating to the implementation of the scheme.

The public hearings (PH) were conducted in Panchayat and block levels basing on the findings of the audit process in the midst of a lively and in some places charged atmosphere. Despite attempts by vested interest groups to prevent people’s participation in these public hearings in some villages, people turned up in large numbers in most places. People came and testified fearlessly. In Karge Panchayat two of the beneficiaries of sanctioned works testified that the Panchayat Sewak had taken over Rs 500 from each of them as percentage cuts, and that they had made false muster roll entries to recover the amounts. While the concerned Panchayat Secretary denied this, it was established nevertheless that false muster roll entries had been made. In Silhadon panchayat, names of 10 women had been struck off the muster rolls when they demanded payment against providing drinking water to the workers. At the public hearing the panchayat sewak simply folded his hands and apologized, and agreed to pay the women for the work done within 3 days. During the PH in Angadha block, Ms Annie Raja, member of Central Employment Guarantte Council (CEGC), along with other activists was seen batting for the people’s rights under the act before the block level authorities. In one case, where people had worked for three days but were not paid as that project was scrapped afterwards, the BDO ordered the payment to be made immediately. Consequently on the spot payments were made to the people due to them for months together.

Corruption angle and percentage culture prevailing in civil works were coming to the fore during the process. The Abikarta of Kuchhu Panchayat of Angadha block alleged that the Junior Engineer (JE) had demanded bribe and was in fact paid the same to release cheque for the payment to be made to the labourers.

In yet another interesting case of Bijaram of village Chaudanda (Panchayat Tendi), he was told verbally to “go ahead” after he submitted the proposal in the block, without any written sanction. Two months later, he owes Rs 18,000 to the labourers but is unable to pay them because the Panchayat Sevak and others are demanding Rs 12,000 for releasing the cheques!

The PH proved to be a unique tool for ensuring accountability of the public servants to the public in a face to face interface. The otherwise inaccessible officials were seen answering the queries and assertions of the aggrieved citizens in an open and public platform. People, who were helpless before, were visibly empowered to fight corruption and defend their rights under the Act in the PH. Real democracy was seen to be in operation. Observing the people’s power exhibited in the PH, a lady who attended the PH at Angadha block, tells” “now the officials cannot escape from making right payments to our labour, now we can fight our case.” It also provided the space for better understanding among the officials and the people, for officials could understand the problems faced by the people and vice versa.

Following the PH at Panchayat and block level, in an open Interface with the Deputy Commissioner of Ranchi, various teams placed their findings before him. In response to the observations made showing violation of various provisions of the act, DC, Mr. Kamal Kishore Soan, in an emotionally surcharged voice told “Pata nehin me kis platformse bolrahahon…humareliye bhi ye neyi uplabdhi he… , hum bhi janna chahrahen kahan galti ho rahahe…”. (Don’t know in which platform am I talking from…these are also a new experiences for us…we also need to learn where lie the lacunae). He shared the difficulties an enthusiastic officer faces from the system. He also shared about the resistance he faced from his officials in bringing out the chart on schedule of rates and rate on ‘lift and lead’ from the veils of secrecy and putting in public domain. The DC honestly admitted that there were many instances where his officers have not been able to deliver as per the mandate of the act, but asserted that proper system should be in place for the same, for which he is not the only empowered authority. Many aspects also depend on the other rungs of the government (read-policy level of the State and of GOI).

During the discussion a group of young volunteers demanded from the DC for immediate suspension of a JE who allegedly was non responsive to the people’s legitimate demand. Intervening in the debate Ms Aruna Roy, the Magasaysay award winner and pioneer of ‘right to work’ movement of the country told that stress should be made on establishing accountability of the system to the public. This larger aspect need to be kept in mind while demanding immediate action of the errant officers, though no guilty should be spared.

Toward the last leg of the whole process, a State level symposium was organised, where the Joint Secretary of Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), GOI Ms Amita Sharma, Secretary of MoRD, Government of Jharkhand, Mr. A. K. Singh and the members of the Central Employment Guarantee Council (CEGC) Ms Aruna Roy, Ms Annie Raja , Dr Jean Drèze and Mr. Santosh Mehrotra, who is also the advisor to the Planning Commission, GOI were present. Many Deputy Commissioner of the districts also attended the symposium. Various policy and implementation level issues relating to the act were discussed there.

The symposium provided the space for the policy making level of the government to grasp the difficulties faced by the district administration and below in implementation of the act, which prompted them to take vital decisions at their level necessary for streamlining the implementation. For example, the Secretary, MoRD, Govt. of Jharkhand assured to expedite the ‘Time and Motion Study’ and revise the schedule of rates to remove the discrepancy with minimum wages on one hand and the payment as per the amount of work done on the other. Sensing the inadequacy of the staff structure at the implementation level, the Secretary assured to strengthen the staff structure in grass root level.

Ironically the symposium also helped in removing major communication gap between the policy and implementation level of the government. For instance, the MoRD, Govt. of Jharkhand had already sent instructions to the District Magistrates empowering them to appoint ‘mates’, but ironically this was in none of the DC’s knowledge. It may be noted here that the prevailing practice in the Sate is to assign the person to carry out the work in whose land pond is to be dug for providing irrigation facility under the scheme. This unhealthy practice, which has all the scope for manipulation of funds, was carried out apparently due to the absence of the provision of appointing impartial mates to carry out the task.

It also was a platform for bridging the gap between the State and the Centre. The Joint Secretary, MoRD, GOI clarified on many policy related issues and assured to look into the outcome of the audit process. The grievance of the DC of Ranchi that he is not provided with allocation he demanded, apparently since his predecessor was unable to spend the sanctioned amount, was taken note of by the Joint secretary, GOI who assured to release the money as per the demand for work by the villagers, which is anyway a legal mandate.

The DC of Ranchi promised the gathering there that he would take action on the officers guilty of siphoning off the funds under the scheme, after due inquiry is made on the basis of the findings of the SA process, within three days. Living up to his words, the DC, within three days, suspended 16 officials and FIR was lodged against five, who were guilty of receiving commissions, misappropriating funds under NREGA and reporting without visiting the field!

The CEGC delegation met the Chief Minister of Jharkhand Mr. Madhu Koda and apprised him of the process. In a written submission to the Chief Minister, the delegation drew attention to some major concerns related to the implementation of NREGA in Jharkhand which are as following: inadequate NREGA staff; exploitative work measurement; delays in wage payments; absence of Panchati Raj institutions; and monitoring systems. Practical steps to address these concerns were discussed with the Chief Minister who assured the delegation of his full support for the delegation’s recommendations.

The whole process brought out a lot of implementation and policy level issues those need to be addressed at various levels of governance. Despite the concern areas highlighted by the social audit campaign Jean Dreze, member of CEGC who visited Ranchi around same time last year opines “some important improvements, such as better awareness of the Act, more extensive distribution of job cards, and higher levels of employment have taken place”

As discussed, the joint involvement of both the government and non-government agencies made the process unique. The issues those came to fore were taken seriously by the authorities at all levels, which otherwise would not probably have been taken, if it had been effort of the civil society only.