Lalith Mehta, kameshwar Yadav and Tapas Soren. Do these names ring a bell in the peoples mind? Most probably no. Why should they be recognised? Because they were victimised by the state. For what? Because they chose to voice their dissent against corruption. Because the spoke against against massive embezzlement of money from the government's exchequer thorough the flagship programme of the current Congress government - NREGS. Jean Dreze, one of the council member of NREGS went all around the country singing praises about the scheme (He himself fell victim to the officialdom. He was falsely implicated under spurious cases for conducting a social audit, which did not talk favourably of the babus).
NREGS is actually a wonderful idea. If implemented properly, it could be a boon to the rural poor. It would ensure 100 days of work to the villagers,control urban influx, stop hunger deaths and put money in the hands of unskilled labourers who otherwise would find it difficult to find work. Agreed. But with a rider "if implemented properly". The question is will it ever be implemented properly?
Its been five years. What is the progress? Who checks the quality of the works done (if at all they are done) thorough NREGS? Who checks if the labourers were paid the full amount entitled to the them? Were they all provided 100 days of work? The questions are many, the answers few. Some argue that social audit for this scheme is an inbuilt mechanism which acts as a check by itself. But this takes us again to the deaths of Lalith, Kameshwar and Tapas. Lalith Mehta was murdered. The damning social audit he undertook in the palam district if Jharkhand was proving inconvenient for the contractor lobby and the corrupt government officials. Suddenly he lies dead, murdered. The cases is as usual pending. Tapas again from Hazari bagh, Jharkhand, under took a work worth 167 Lakh. His first instalment of 37000 is released but was forcibly taken away from him quoting the government officials name. Further instalments were never released. Having promised money to his co workers, he was pushed to the wall. To show his frustration toward official apathy he burnt himself. Still the officials in the case were never punished. Kameshwar Yadav was shot dead, he too was actively involved in bringing to light the corruption happening in the NREGS scheme. How many more deaths? Is this not enough to scare away people from talking at audits? If people are scared, and only the words that the contractors and the official want are heard, How does it become an effective social audit? How can some one base the evaluation of such a massive project on social audits which could so easily be subverted?
The problem here is that the government put the ball in the peoples court and left them alone. Had it provided protection against any harm the anti social elements could cause, this audit mechanism could have been effective. But currently there is no such protection infrastructure in place. The police is ineffective and the courts intimidate people. So where is the redress mechanism? Whom do the people narrate their grievances to? Till such an infrastructure is put in place the government should take the onus of ensuring there is no corruption. It should use the latest technology to good use and monitor the scheme properly. Only then it can expect results.
Comments