The success of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) depends on the extent to which the scheme’s transparency is ensured through instruments like social audit, noted a workshop at the Mahatma Gandhi university .
The workshop, organized by the Inter University Centre for Social Science Research and Extension (IUCSSRE), also pointed out that the scheme’s accomplishment is contingent upon the confidence and trust between the local government representatives, officials, and the social audit team.
Inaugurating the workshop, B.S. Thirumeni, Chairman, of Appellate Authority (Ombudsman) MGNREGS, said that all stakeholders must acknowledge the ‘right to work’ as fundamental in the making of the NREGS. Due to the lack of awareness of the provisions of the MGNREG Act, many social evils such as corruption and nepotism permeate the scheme, he added.
N. Ramakantan, head of the Social Audit Unit said that although Kerala had been a model State in effectively conducting social audits under NREGS, the active participation of grama sabhas in the process had not been satisfactory. Experts and those involved in NREGA-Social Audit provided insights and feedback regarding the potential and limits of the audit. A select group of LSG personnel and representatives from different blocks and grama panchayats from Kottayam participated.
