2nd arc
2
SECOND REPORT
UNLOCKING HUMAN CAPITAL Entitlements and Governance - a case study
SECOND ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS COMMISSION
UNLOCKING HUMAN CAPITAL
Entitlements and Governance a case study
Second Administrative Reforms Commission
Government of India
2nd Floor, Vigyan Bhawan Annexe, Maulana Azad Road, New Delhi 110 011 e-mail : arcommission@nic.in website : http://arc.gov.in
JULY 2006
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
SECOND ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS COMMISSION
SECOND REPORT
UNLOCKING HUMAN CAPITAL
ENTITLEMENTS AND GOVERNANCE - A CASE STUDY
JULY 2006
PREFACE
The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005 is a path-breaking legislation. It signals a paradigm shift to legal entitlements, public accountability coupled with community rights, and responsive and participative management. In the past, wage employment programmes, though well stretched, suffered for a variety of reasons. Programme coverage was low. More than fifty per cent of beneficiaries were not from the most needy group. Labour employed was not always from the local population. Payment made was lower than the prescribed wage. There was disparity between wages paid to women and men. On an average, 16 to 29 days of employment were provided to a worker per annum. Quality of assets created was not always of the requisite standard. There were reports of forged muster roll. On the whole, wage employment programmes did not eventually achieve what they set out to do.
The unhappy result was that even though a number of such schemes were taken up, the poor continued to remain poor, caught in social captivity and were not enabled to participate in the mainstream process. This was particularly true of areas plagued by extremism, and frontal and inaccessible areas where employment schemes were taken hostage by contractors and middlemen, locking people in a seemingly perpetual cycle of poverty.
Empowering the poor is best done by breaking the barriers of
SECOND REPORT
UNLOCKING HUMAN CAPITAL Entitlements and Governance - a case study
SECOND ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS COMMISSION
UNLOCKING HUMAN CAPITAL
Entitlements and Governance a case study
Second Administrative Reforms Commission
Government of India
2nd Floor, Vigyan Bhawan Annexe, Maulana Azad Road, New Delhi 110 011 e-mail : arcommission@nic.in website : http://arc.gov.in
JULY 2006
GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
SECOND ADMINISTRATIVE REFORMS COMMISSION
SECOND REPORT
UNLOCKING HUMAN CAPITAL
ENTITLEMENTS AND GOVERNANCE - A CASE STUDY
JULY 2006
PREFACE
The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005 is a path-breaking legislation. It signals a paradigm shift to legal entitlements, public accountability coupled with community rights, and responsive and participative management. In the past, wage employment programmes, though well stretched, suffered for a variety of reasons. Programme coverage was low. More than fifty per cent of beneficiaries were not from the most needy group. Labour employed was not always from the local population. Payment made was lower than the prescribed wage. There was disparity between wages paid to women and men. On an average, 16 to 29 days of employment were provided to a worker per annum. Quality of assets created was not always of the requisite standard. There were reports of forged muster roll. On the whole, wage employment programmes did not eventually achieve what they set out to do.
The unhappy result was that even though a number of such schemes were taken up, the poor continued to remain poor, caught in social captivity and were not enabled to participate in the mainstream process. This was particularly true of areas plagued by extremism, and frontal and inaccessible areas where employment schemes were taken hostage by contractors and middlemen, locking people in a seemingly perpetual cycle of poverty.
Empowering the poor is best done by breaking the barriers of
References: Hirway, Indira (2005): Providing Employment Guarantee in India: Some Critical Issues, Center For Development Alternatives, Ahmedabad, India Kannan, K. P (2005): Linking Guarantee to Human Development, W Papola T. S. (2005): February, 12.