Context and Background
- The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) provides guaranteed employment to rural households.
- Over the past four years, 10.43 crore job cards have been deleted, raising concerns about procedural transparency.
- The deletions have coincided with the government’s Aadhaar-based payment system, though authorities deny a direct correlation.
- New 10-page guidelines have been issued by the Ministry of Rural Development to streamline and regulate deletions.
Relevance : GS 2(Governance , Schemes)
Key Provisions in the Guidelines
- Verification Process: Deletions must be approved in a Gram Sabha, social audit Gram Sabha, or a specially convened Gram Sabha.
- Reasons for Deletion:
- Permanent migration of households to urban areas or another panchayat.
- Gram panchayat declared an urban settlement.
- Duplicate or fraudulent job card registrations.
- Death of the worker.
- Transparency Measures:
- Deleted job cards must be publicly displayed for at least 30 days.
- Two Gram Sabhas per year will discuss draft lists of deletions and objections.
- Workers should be informed of their right to appeal with a defined procedure.
- Pending dues must be cleared before deletion.
Impact and Implications
- Improved Accountability: Strengthens the role of Gram Sabhas and social audits in ensuring fair deletions.
- Better Transparency: Public display of deleted job cards reduces arbitrary removals.
- Rights Protection: Clear appeal mechanism prevents wrongful deletions and safeguards workers.
- Potential Challenges:
- Administrative burden on local authorities to verify and document each deletion.
- Risk of political misuse or favoritism at the panchayat level.
Causes and Factors
- Aadhaar-Based Payment Issues:
- Technical glitches in linking Aadhaar with job cards may have caused wrongful deletions.
- Exclusion of genuine beneficiaries due to authentication failures.
- Urbanization: Rising migration trends and conversion of rural panchayats into urban areas.
- Fraud Prevention: Past irregularities in job card issuance, including ghost workers and duplicate registrations.
Way Forward
- Monitoring & Evaluation: Strengthening social audit mechanisms and third-party verification.
- Technological Improvements: Ensuring a seamless Aadhaar integration to prevent wrongful exclusions.
- Capacity Building: Training Gram Panchayat officials on fair and transparent implementation.
- Grievance Redressal: Establishing timely resolution for wrongful deletions and payment delays.
