This piece came in "South Asia Politics"-an international journal in September 2008 issue
I have co-authored this article with Rajkishor Mishra, Orissa State Adivsor to Supreme Court Commission on Right to Food
NREGA challenges Institutional Extortion System
Rajkishor Mishra and Pradeep Baisakh
“Killing was engineered by vested interests that were apprehensive of Lalit’s exposing their corrupt practices” reads the condolence message sent by Sonia Gandhi on Lalit’s murder.
“A Sarpanch (President of Gram Pnchayat) spends about five to seven lakhs in the Panchayat election, a MLA spends 40 lakhs to 2 crore rupees in the assembly election. Similarly a Panchayat Samiti Chairperson and Zilla Parisad President spend about 10 to 22 lakhs to purchase the members of Panchayat Samiti and Zilla Parisad for winning the position. Where does this huge amount of funds come from? How these funds are replenished after winning the election?” asks a Panchayat expert from Orissa.
Lalit Kumar Mehta, an activist who was working on right to food and right to work issues in Palamau District of Jharkhand was brutally killed on 14 May 2008 while he was on his way from Daltonganj to Chhattarpur by a motorcycle. At the time of the incident, Lalit was helping a team of student volunteers from GB Pant Social Science Institute, Allhabad and elsewhere to conduct a social audit of NREGA works in Chainpur and Chhattarpur Blocks of Palamau District. Before liquidating him, attempts had already been made by the vested interested groups to dissuade the aforesaid team from conducting this investigation, particularly in Chainpur Block.
In similar such incidences Narayan Hareka, a Naib-Sarpanch in Borigi Gram Panchayat, Narayanpatna Block of Koraput district was killed recently while he was returning to his in-law's house from the block head quarter where he had gone to bring some information on NERGS. Kameshwar Yadav, a CPI Liberation NREGA activist was killed in Giridih District, Jharkhand for similar reasons very recently.
The recent days have witnessed infliction of violence against the activists and people by the groups which gets illegal gratification form the implementation of NREGS during when inspection of the work under NREGS is done by the former. This has been wide spread in various places for the country including Jhalawar of Rajasthan (in February 2008) where activists were attacked by the goons of the vested interest groups, in Malkangiri district of Orissa in March 2008 where Jacob Naka and his mother were thrashed by vested interest as they dared to testify in a public meeting , in Mayurbhanj district and Sundergarh districts of Orissa etc (in April-May 2008) where people giving testimony in the public meetings of NREGA social audit were attacked by the contractors’ lobby and in various other places including in Jharkhand. It has been so as the social audits brings fore the public money siphoned off by them. True, no body would like to be caught as a thief which becomes real in the public meetings conducted at the end of the inspection and cross verification of documents. But nobody would expect that the backlash would go to the extent of taking somebody’s life! Alas, this barbarism has now become true with the murder of Lalit and Narayan and Kamlesh, all of whom had tried to expose corruption in NREGS works by using the transparency mechanism existing in the law.
Instances of percentage cuts:
Prof Jean Dreze, the famous welfare economist and architect of NREGA legislation write in his article “Corruption in NREGA: myths and reality” came in ‘The Hindu’ on 22nd January 2008 writes “ In Jharkhand, detailed muster roll verification of NREGA works in five randomly selected Gram Panchayats of Ranchi district suggested leakages of about 33 percent.” It writes “In Bolangir and Kalahandi districts the infamous “PC system” (where various functionaries demand fixed percentage of scheme funds) continued and seem to absorb around 22 percentage of funds” . The percentage distribution among various players is found out in break ups as following in Orissa: the BDO takes two per cent, junior engineer five per cent, assistant engineer three per cent, other block staff one per cent, PEO five per cent, GP secretary three per cent, miscellaneous three per cent. The total works out to be 22 per cent. Over and above this the contractor has his/her share in terms of percentage and/or some share from the material cost. The total cut therefore comes to the level from 30 to 36 percentages.
Confidential sources suggest existence of similar percentage system in the surveyed blocks namely, Chainpur and Chhattarpur of Palamau district which is between 30 to 36 percent. Sources also reveal that contractors from Bihar having link with politicians both in Bihar and Jharkhand are functioning in the government works in Palamu district indirectly.
The cuts culture is well entrenched in the system wherein the funding to the elections are managed partially form the cut. Therefore any attempt by anybody to challenge the system where these powerful people are the stake holders, the backlash is most likely.
“The huge inflow of money under NREGS in a district has also raised the quantum of percentage cuts to a handsome level. Out of 75 crore rupees spent on NREGS last year, if we accept that about 20 percent is accounted toward percentage cuts then it comes out to be 15 crores which is not a small amount. On the other hand in one single work the percentage may yield to a small 50,000 to 60,000. This may not prompt a murder. Therefore the murder could not have taken place because it has affected the interested of one single individual, or a small group of persons. A sum of 50,000 rupees may not prompt a murder, but 15 crores can”: opines, a engineer friend of Lalit. He adds “Lalit was not only going to block office to get to get records and other facts under NREGA, he was also visiting DRDA office for similar purpose.”
Lalit has been a threat to all those who were making illegal money from the NREGA funds. Due to his engineering background he was able to make proper measurement of the earth work done and to decipher the “measurement book” in each work. “He was teaching people / beneficiaries on how to measure their work under piece-rate wage system and how much wages they should get according to their work done. By this, the corruption in measurement of work may straight way be caught. This would not go well with the engineers and other functionaries. And this is the reward he got for his work for people” laments Gopi, a leading NREGA activist of Jhrakhand and a colleague of Lalit.
It is an open secret that there exists institutional extortion system that take percentage cuts form all the welfare schemes implemented at various levels of governance and this has intricate relationship with the funding of elections right from the levels of elections to Panchayats, Assembly and above. The contractor system though patronage of political parties is one such phenomenon which constitutes the institutionalised extortion system. The contractors serve as the primary funder to the contestants during elections. Or on the other way around, the party cadres who campaign for the party/candidate during elections are rewarded by giving tenders and contracts by the political leaders with the help of officials after the election if the party/candidate comes to power. Jogendra Behera, an MLA from Titlagarh in Bolangir district in Orissa, wrote letter with his seal and signature to the BDO of his area to grant NREGA works in favour of his pet contractors. This may serve a case in point in support of the presence of patronage contractor system. The bureaucracy plays a vital role in this entrenched system of organised loot.
But why so much fuss about the system ‘now’ which has been existing since time of independence? The answer is simple. Though many know it exists, but nobody has the clue as what is the extent, what is the percentage share, how to expose the embezzlement with corroborative facts and figures. NREGA is probably first such well drafted legislation that provide ample scope for exposing and plugging in the areas of corruption. Jean Dreze says “NREGS aims at dismantling the prevailing organised loot of the public money and bring about a transparent system which is accountable to the people.”
NREGA hits at the root of percentage system:
NREGA hits at the root of the political patronage of contracting out the government work to the pet men by banning the contractors system in all NREGA works. Various transparency and accountability measures have been clearly enumerated in the act e.g. planning at the Gram Sabha, selection of mate by the villagers, constitution of vigilance and monitoring committee, proper maintenance of the muster rolls at worksite, device of Job Card as a document near the worker to keep track of his work and payment, payment in open before all the workers or by bank and post office pass books, suo moto disclosure of all the records of the work, furnishing the information/records relating to NREGA to all citizens in seven days of application, compulsory social audit of the works by Gram Sabha so on and so forth.
It is these mechanism accompanied by the action by vigilant civil society groups and academicians who have been using the provisions on a continuous basis to bring out the cases of embezzlement in NREGA works in various parts of the country has ruffled the feathers of the corrupt system in which only a handful people corner the gain. As the audits of NREGA works have brought out the levels of corruption and fixes responsibility on the authorities, the vested interested groups have been panicky in responding to the activism of citizens determined for a more transparent and accountable system backed by a strong legislation.
Brief findings of Palamu survey:
A brief look at the preliminary findings of the surveyors in Palamu district would be useful in understanding the size of the hole and why the backlash is inevitable. The survey was conducted in 10 randomly-selected Gram Panchayats of Chainpur and Chhattarpur Blocks of Palamau District, in May 2008 by the G.B. Pant Social Science Institute, Allahabad.
1. 44% of workers (out of 100 workers surveyed) reported that contractors were involved at the worksite. This means ban on private contractors is routinely violated
2. In Chainipur block, a muster roll in a work done by forest department in Khendra Khurd panchayat there were 108 names on it, whereas only a few labourers (around 8) have actually worked. So almost all the signatures are fudged and the muster roll is a fake one.
3. In a case in Chiru panchayat in a muster roll 36 names were found but not a single person from them have actually worked!
4. Suresh Bhuyan, the mate of a work done in Shahpur GP testified in the Public Hearing on 26th May 2008 that he had to bribe the Gram Sevak for releasing the money.
These are few instances of manipulation done to cover up the corruption in NREGA works in the district. This may show why those who would be exposed by the survey would have tried hard to prevent the attempt by the surveyors and Lalit.
District administration’s desperation to cover up fault:
The letter written in by the District Collector NP Singh and The Superintendent of Police Deepak Verma of Palamu district to the Rural Development minister at centre Raghuvansh Prasad would show their anxiety and desperation to de-establishing the link between NREGS fraud and Lalit’s murder. They wrote that there is no link between the irregularities in execution of National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) and killing of Lalit Mehta. They have raised various other possible reasons for the murder: road rubbery, inter religion/caste marriage of Lalit that was not accepted (as the report claims) by both the families, and the involvement of Vikas Sahyog Kendra (VSK), of which Mehta was the secretary, in dealing in cash meant for execution of various developmental schemes. “It used to be a gathering point for many contractors also. It is quite obvious that some kind of dispute over share of money might have led to killing of Mehta” the letter mentions. The letter even stoops to the level of accusing Prof Jean Dreze and others of attempting to malign the state government and falsifying statements.
A group of activists led by Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey write in an appeal letter meant for the citizens of the nation to sign “…Instead of presenting a serious analysis of the circumstances of the murder, the report (prepared by DC and SP) makes absurd insinuations, such as Jean Drèze's possible involvement in the murder, or the allegation that he and his team manufactured evidence of fraud in NREGA works… The report reinforces earlier suspicions that there is an entrenched and deep rooted nexus of corruption and violence surrounding NREGA in Palamau, with powerful connections. Otherwise, why would the district's senior most officers go to such length to undermine a forthright examination of the use of NREGA funds in this area?”
Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey wrote in Indian Express online edition on 14th June “The police, with unseemly haste, buried the unidentified body (of Lalit), carrying it back 25 kilometres to the scene of the crime, after a hurriedly conducted post-mortem… the social audit conducted after 12 days of the murder established that a large proportion of the Rs 73 crore spent in the district had been siphoned off by contractors, officials and the well-entrenched development mafia.”
The Chief Minister of Kharkhand Madhu Koda, while ordering CBI inquiry on 19th June 08 to the matter (though after much reluctance) said “Though the CID probe, which I had earlier ordered, was following the case very closely, I chose to go for the CBI enquiry as a section of people had started suspecting the role of state police”
NREGA will deepen democracy at grass root:
The incidents of violence are likely to increase as more and more surveys and social audits are to be conducted through out the nation as part of the mandate of the act, and as because NREGA has provided both platform and opportunity for the concerned citizens to break the vicious cycle of hitherto unchallengeable loot. The intensity of backlash would be more in the poorer states like Jharkhand, Orissa, Bihar, Chhatisgarh as the index of corruption is high in these states due to low level of awareness of the people on one hand and the established strong nexus among the contractor, implementing officials and politicians on the other which take the lions share from all welfare schemes. They are likely to take all possible tricks to safe guard their fort of corruption and exploitation.
Various groups and individuals perceive the provisions of NREGA in their own mirror. The corporate world sees it as drainage of public money as the real benefit of NREGA does not percolate to the target people as the findings of social audit suggest. This group is in fact knowingly ignored the fact that it is the social audit mandated under NRGEA which has brought out the level of corruption that has been existing in implementation of previous welfare schemes which are unknown till date. In fact a different politics work in corporate world that has shaped its image of antipathy toward NREGA. It is only natural that more public money diverted toward welfarism, less is available for investment in industrial sector. On the other hand Mihir Shah, the co-founder of National Consortium of CSOs supporting Gram Panchayats in planning implementing and social audit on NREGA, writes in his article “ The real radicalism of NREGA” in The Hindu on 22nd May 2008 “ the brutal murder of Lalit Mehta exposes the violent opposition by the vested interest deeply threatened by the radical provisions of NREGA” While some of the provisions are admittedly radical, the real fact is that NREGA has unlimited potential to bring social transformation in rural areas and has real prospect of deepening democracy by uniting people to ask questions and seek accountability from the public servants. It has the capability to challenge the status quo and usher a new era of transparent governance at the grass root level.
During the process the presence of the contractor-politician-official nexus will have to disappear gradually. Though this transformation may not be so peaceful and gradual as recent killing and many instances of violence on the people and activists suggest. In fact the series of NREGA related murders in different parts of the country only strengthens the belief that the root of this extortion system is deeper than seems on its face. Mihir Shah writes in the same column “Lalit’s work revealed high levels of corruption involving people in high places”
The social audits at various places of the country have witnessed the real democracy in operation. In the public meetings where the findings of the social audit were presented in the presence of the villagers and the officials, the fearless testimony of the rural poor and his/her assertion in taking the hissab from the Panchayat and block level authorities would be noteworthy observations. For example, in Silhadon panchayat of Ranchi district, where social audit was conducted as part of the exercise undertaken by National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD) in the whole Ranchi district in May 2007, it was found that the 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. Similarly in Kuchhu Panchayat under Angadha block, 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 during the public meeting. Similarly in Orissa in a series of social audits conducted by NIRD in association of CSOs and villagers during January to May 2008 it was observed that the the platform of SA has also been used to redressing other grievances of people. For example, in Similipadar GP under Kantamal block of Boudh district just after the public hearing on NREGA the people complained of prolonged irregularity in supply of ration under PDS to the BDO and the Asst Project Director, DRDA. The people gheraoed the officials and relented only after assurance of smooth ration distribution. These instances substantiate the claim that NREGA has the potential to reinstate faith of common people on democracy. In the social audit process they are participating not only in the decision making but also in the implementation. These occasions provided the platforms, for the first time for people, where officials are forced to answer to their questions on various aspects of policy and implementation of NREGA. What has been exhibited is the public accountability in its real sense. Social audits provide voice to the hitherto voiceless.
Governments’ waning commitment toward NREGA:
The biggest cause of concern is the signs of waning support from different governments from NREGA. The recent move by the central government to increase the minimum hours of work from seven hours a day to nine hours and then reducing it to eight hours after protest is one such example.
In Jhalawar district (the home district of Ms. Vasundhara Raje, the Chief Minister) of Rajasthan the attempt by Abhiyan, a campaign of labourers, small farmers, activists, researchers, students and people from all walks of life committed to transparency, to conduct social audits during January-February 2008 was met with violent attack on the volunteers by the locals led and fed by the Sarpanch union and other vested interest groups. Such planned violence has happened despite the fact that Ms Aruna Roy had personally handed over a letter to the Chief Minister Ms. Vasundhara Raje on January 25th informing her of the social audit and asking for her support. The activists were of the view that the state government, which had made commitments to the employment guarantee scheme and its transparent implementation, working in co-operation with the Abhiyan ever since its much-successful social audit in Dungarpur in 2005, distanced itself from the social audit by Abhiyan from Banswara (in Decemabre 2007) and Jhalawar (February 2008) coming under the pressure from its cadres at the local level.
Conclusion:
Organisation of the workers is a must to contain this back lash from the powerful groups. The act itself provides the space for the same. It discusses about labour union for uniting people on the issue of right to work under NREGA and surprisingly there is space for this in the Act itself. The activists who are committed toward successful operationalisation of NREGA should depend on people’s power to deal with the possible onslaught of the powerful vested interest. Also this would help break the nexus of corruption and exploitation (politician-contractors and officials). The recent order of the Chief Minister Madhu Koda for a CBI inquiry into Lalit’s murder will prove to be a turning point in the fight to save NREGA .
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Rajkishor Mishra is State (Orissa) Advisor to the Supreme Court Commission on Right to Food
Pradeep Baisakh is a Freelance Writer based in Orissa
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