Dec 18 2014 : The Economic Times (Delhi)
MGNREGA Social Audit Irks Rural Min
Yogima Sharma
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New Delhi
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Underreported figure of misappropriated funds at just Rs 17.67 crore prompts officials to streamline the audit process
The rural development ministry is miffed at the process of social audit of the Centre’s flagship employment scheme that shows misappropriation of just .`17.67 crore since 2012 despite allegations of widespread malaise.
The paltry figure has left officials wondering whether the government should recast the entire process of social audit of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme launched by the Congress-led UPA government in 2006.
The figure has resulted from gross underreporting, a senior government official said.
The official explained, “This is largely because just 17 states — as of November 30, 2014 — are following the rules set by the ministry for social audits and a few of them have seriously done the audit only very recently.” According to the official, who did not wish to be identified, there is a need to make the entire process of social audit more stringent and streamlined so that not a single penny is diverted and the true beneficiaries get their dues.
“We may have to take a fresh look at the process of social audits as there are a lot of loopholes in the system that need to be rectified before we get the true value of the funds that get diverted under the scheme,” the official added.
As per the audit, until November this year, a total of .
`17.67 crore was misappropriated in eight of the total 19 states, with the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh reporting misappropriation of about .
`9.8 crore followed by Karnataka (. `5.5 crore), Sikkim (. `87 lakh), Bihar (. `69 lakh) and Uttar Pradesh (about .
`65 lakh). Of this, only .
`62 lakh has been recovered by the government. Recent reports, however, claimed that 200 crore was siphoned off in just seven districts of Uttar Pradesh, leading to a Central Bureau of Investigation query in the matter. This is just one such example, said rural development ministry officials, who believe that the cumulative embezzled amount under the scheme could run into several thousand crores of rupees.
The social audit of the scheme, entitles millions of workers enrolled under it to .
`100 a day for a minimum of 100 days of work in a year, was taken up three years ago to check allegations of misappropriation of funds.
Since then, over eight lakh social audits of the scheme have been carried out at the grass-roots level, costing the government over .
`1,500 crore.
The government spends .
`34,000 crore a year on the scheme and has spent nearly .
`2 lakh crore in all over the past eight years.
The paltry figure has left officials wondering whether the government should recast the entire process of social audit of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme launched by the Congress-led UPA government in 2006.
The figure has resulted from gross underreporting, a senior government official said.
The official explained, “This is largely because just 17 states — as of November 30, 2014 — are following the rules set by the ministry for social audits and a few of them have seriously done the audit only very recently.” According to the official, who did not wish to be identified, there is a need to make the entire process of social audit more stringent and streamlined so that not a single penny is diverted and the true beneficiaries get their dues.
“We may have to take a fresh look at the process of social audits as there are a lot of loopholes in the system that need to be rectified before we get the true value of the funds that get diverted under the scheme,” the official added.
As per the audit, until November this year, a total of .
`17.67 crore was misappropriated in eight of the total 19 states, with the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh reporting misappropriation of about .
`9.8 crore followed by Karnataka (. `5.5 crore), Sikkim (. `87 lakh), Bihar (. `69 lakh) and Uttar Pradesh (about .
`65 lakh). Of this, only .
`62 lakh has been recovered by the government. Recent reports, however, claimed that 200 crore was siphoned off in just seven districts of Uttar Pradesh, leading to a Central Bureau of Investigation query in the matter. This is just one such example, said rural development ministry officials, who believe that the cumulative embezzled amount under the scheme could run into several thousand crores of rupees.
The social audit of the scheme, entitles millions of workers enrolled under it to .
`100 a day for a minimum of 100 days of work in a year, was taken up three years ago to check allegations of misappropriation of funds.
Since then, over eight lakh social audits of the scheme have been carried out at the grass-roots level, costing the government over .
`1,500 crore.
The government spends .
`34,000 crore a year on the scheme and has spent nearly .
`2 lakh crore in all over the past eight years.
