A report of the Union Ministry of Rural Development has found out that the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in J&K continues to be poor.

This has been revealed by National Level Monitoring (NLM) team of the ministry in its findings. The team was entrusted with the task of monitoring the implementation of the scheme in 3,160 villages in 1,292 blocks of 327 districts across 28 states of the country in the second phase.

The NLM team interviewed job card holders in the state to verify the availability, authenticity and update status of the entries on the employment cards. The team reported that around 73 per cent of wage seekers in the state were not provided work within 15 days of the demand under the flagship scheme.

The employment should be provided on demand of work to an adult member of any rural household who is willing to do unskilled work within 15 days of demand. In case, the work is not provided within 15 days, the wage seeker is entitled to get an unemployment allowance.

It has also came to the fore that around one-third (24 per cent) of the job cards verified did not have complete/updated entries. In some districts, dated receipts were not given to the job card holders who had applied for jobs.

A similar survey was conducted by the NLM team a few years ago to know the status of the job cards issued to the beneficiaries demanding 100 days of work under the scheme. It was found that in around 46 per cent villages, no survey had been conducted for a long time.

The NREGA-2005 is a social security scheme that attempts to provide employment and livelihood to rural labourers in the country. The scheme was designed to provide any adult, who registers for rural employment, a minimum job guarantee of 100 days each financial year. This includes non-skilled work, making it the one of its kind across the world. It was later renamed the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.

At receiving end  

• A National Level Monitoring team of the Union Ministry of Rural Development was entrusted with the task of monitoring the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in 3,160 villages in 28 states
• The team interviewed job card holders in the state to verify the availability, authenticity and update status of the entries on the employment cards. The team reported that around 73 per cent of wage seekers in the state were not provided work within 15 days of the demand under the flagship scheme