Fix issues, don't repeal MGNREGA: 350 activists, others write open letter to Centre

The open letter said a normative design, as in the VB-G RAM G, erodes such spaces from where democracy is born from the ground up and places the burden of proof on the poor to come up with an alternative allocation rather than start by listening to them from the outset.

New Delhi: Several scientists, academicians, civil society organisations and others on Tuesday wrote an open letter to the central government to fix issues with the implementation of MGNREGA instead of repealing it.

The open letter signed by around 350 academicians, researchers and field functionaries said there were several gaps in the reasoning provided to repeal the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and replace it with the Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act (VB-G RAM G).

The open letter said the demand-driven nature of the MGNREGA is a revolutionary construct that arises from its rights-based employment guarantee mandate and provides a crucial space for local democracy to operate for the poor to demand their rights, for the marginalised to demand to be visible and for the minority to be heard.

It said a normative design, as in the VB-G RAM G, erodes such spaces from where democracy is born from the ground up and places the burden of proof on the poor to come up with an alternative allocation rather than start by listening to them from the outset.

It said innumerable studies show how MGNREGA has provided the foundation for the poor to demand social accountability from the administration, equity from the local elite and mutual respect and consensus from the community. "This will get lost with a normative design," it said.

It called for preserving the "open-ended demand-driven" nature of MGNREGA.

On the problem of misappropriation of resources, such as work not found on the ground, expenditure not matching physical progress, use of machines in labour-intensive works and frequent bypassing of digital attendance systems, it said the new Act aims to add on to existing mechanisms like the NREGA Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS) app and geotagging of structures with biometric-based authentication.

It said communities in need of livelihood and resilience assets often do not understand the complex guidelines they need to follow to demand funds for such assets and are unable to follow through with placing their demands in the gram sabhas.

Introducing digital technology and putting rigid processes in place to reduce leakages is neither an effective solution nor does it address the underlying causes -- empowering communities who require MGNREGA to be able to avail its benefits is the right approach to have MGNREGA live up to its potential of addressing rural resilience and equity, it said.

Counting the notion that MGNREGA creates challenges to the availability of labour in the peak agriculture season, the open letter said MGNREGA wage rates are significantly lower than prevailing agricultural wages, often by as much as 40-50 per cent.

MGNREGA functions as a fallback, not a primary employment option and is used when farm work is unavailable, uncertain or exploitative, it said.

On the budget of the scheme being shared between the Centre and the state, and the burden of extra expenditure being on the states, it said these clauses might lead to political favouritism towards some states.

To be fiscally prudent, states are likely to stifle work demand leading to increased unemployment and distress migration, it said.

"Further, while the new Act promises 125 days of employment per household per year, even with the current funding allocation, the average days of employment per household per year is only 50 days. With funding offloaded to states, the promise of 125 days of employment is misleading," it added.