Rajasthan slips in NREGA implementation by Anindo Dey

Once nominated as the best state for implementation of MGNREGA, Rajasthan has now gone down the chart in the implementation of the flagship scheme of the UPA government. In fact, the irony is that the state got the laurels for the scheme under the Vasundhara Rajegovernment and its fall has come under a Congress government.

The data compiled by Aruna Roy-led Suchna Evum Rozgar Ka Adhikar Abhiyan from the government’s website has brought to fore the shrinking wages in the state under the scheme. The Abhiyan has compiled a list of at least 50 villages where the wages have been to the tune of Rs 2 or Rs 3. At one village in Karauli, the wage was calculated at Rs 7.16.

"It was a random collection of data from the government website. In Dab village in Sum block in Jaisalmer district, the wages paid were Rs 2. Similarly, a village in Akshyagarh, Sawai Madhopur, has been paying Rs 3 as wages while one village in Baseri block in Dholpur has paid Rs 4 as wages. In Alipur, Karauli, the wage has been calculated at Rs 7.16. One fails to understand as to how they arrived at this number," says Mukesh Goswami of the Abhiyan.

The statistics are revealed at a time when the Abhiyan is already fighting tooth and nail against payment of Re 1 as wages for MGNREGA workers of Unariya village in Gudaliya gram panchayat in Ajmer district. While the government is yet to initiate action against the junior engineer, the assistant engineer and the BDO, the workers are also yet to get the right wages.

The data also reveal a maximum of 35% have got wages between Rs 21 to Rs 30 in 2010.