MNREGA and community power structure
Several rural development programmes were initiated in India during 1950s and 1960s. These programmes, popularly known as community development programmes, regarded rural people as beneficiaries but not participants in the development process. They were centrally designed and were implemented by extension agents using a top-down mode of decision-making. Those agents virtually had no knowledge of local conditions and the training either of the agents or the beneficiaries was inadequate. Consequently, due to the factors like legal barriers, lack of access to resources, gender discrimination in various spheres and traditional power structures, much of the benefits of the programmes were absorbed by the better-off sections of the rural communities. Taking into consideration the loopholes of earlier programmes the UPA run central government of India has launched another rural development programme the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) in 2005.
Later on, this programme is named after Mahatma Gandhi and now it is known as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). For the first time in the history of post independence India the Gram Panchyats are directly involved in planning, implementation and social audit of MGNREGA. Gram Panchayat and Gram Sabha are responsible for identifying, approving, allocating, supervising, monitoring and are accountable for all works under MGNREGA in their respective areas. It is an Act to provide for the enhancement of livelihood security of the households in rural areas of the country by providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.
Under MGNREGA, the law acknowledges people‟s right to seek work and stipulates that a worker is authorized to demand for work. In case of failure, on the part of the implementing agency to provide work within 15 days of their demand the workers do keep the right to demand unemployment allowance, compensation up to Rs.3000 and imposition of penalties. Thus scheme is a revolutionary demand-driven and people oriented development approach. The choice of works seeks to address the causes of chronic poverty such as drought, deforestation, soil erosion, flood, and so on. MGNREGA is thus touted as a “People‟s Act” in several senses.
MGNREGA programme has made an effort to improve the people‟s participation level in decision making process to the evaluation process through the provision of Right to Information Act, social audit and the Gram Sabha which are indeed unique platforms for the villagers to raise their voice and monitor the working of the programme. For the purpose, the bottom-up participatory approach of development has been adopted where; the Gram Panchayat is the nodal agency at bottom level that has the authority to select, design and implement 50 per cent of the works. Accordingly, section 13(1) of MGNREGA mandates that „Panchayats at the district, intermediate and village levels will be the principal authorities for planning and implementation of the schemes‟. Further empowering the Gram Panchayat, it stipulates that a minimum of 50% of the funds and relevant works be executed by the Gram Panchayat.