The Hindu Business Line : Employment guarantee

THE National Rural Employment Guarantee Bill, introduced in Parliament in December 2004, has understandably aroused a lot of interest. This is the first time a Government at the Centre is committing itself by means of a law to guarantee employment to the rural unemployed.

Hitherto, the same purpose was sought to be achieved by food-for-work schemes and rozgar yojanas under different appellations.

The Bill makes it obligatory for the Central and State Governments to provide employment, initially in 150 districts, to at least one family member of every rural household below the poverty line for a fixed number of (100) days at the prevailing minimum wage made up of both food grains and cash components.

The Bill creates an elaborate bureaucratic superstructure consisting of two Councils at the Central and State levels, and a District Implementation Committee as also new posts of officers for drawing up and supervising the schemes. This will only increase the overheads and the paperwork.

The Bill envisages the setting up of two special Funds by the Centre and each of the States, from out of which the expenditure incurred is to be met. For the 150 districts the total expenditure is estimated at close to Rs 18,000 crore, while the outlay may exceed thrice that amount when all the 500 districts or so are covered.

The basis on which the Central and State contributions will be apportioned is not mentioned; nor is it clear from where the States, in particular, with their parlous finances, will find their share of the money.

The works undertaken will have to be within a radius of five miles of the residences of the unemployed. Will there be enough such schemes for all the year round for all the unemployed within that limited area?

The Bill requires the States to make payments of wages within a week, and if no employment can be given on request, to pay an unemployment allowance at specified rates.

This assumes that there will be adequate funds at any given time and their timely flow to the many sites will be assured without fail.

Also, all the formalities such as measurement of works, verification of muster rolls and so on can be completed within that time. How realistic is this assumption?

These are just a few of the loose ends to be tied up to avoid practical difficulties in implementation.

B. S. Raghavan

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