Employment Guarantee Act: Social audit of NREGA and MDMS in Uttar Pradesh (2006-7)

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The Movement for Right to Food and Employment, UP, conducted a large-scale social audit of the NREGA in December 2006-January 2007. The audit was the outcome of discussions among various people's groups in UP, held in Lucknow in July and September, 2006. The group felt that looking at the enormity of task, it was better to carry it out under the banner of “Movement for Right to Food and Employment,” with the understanding that this formation was only provisional, and was not intended to create a new alliance or network.

The survey, conducted in December 2006-January 2007, covered 653 households from 112 gram panchayats and 139 villages, in 15 districts (a complete list may be found in the annexures). Two types of questionnaire were used: one for focus group discussions with workers, and the other for individual families. The survey was followed by detailed social audits in districts Hardoi, Sitapur, Jaunpur, Chitrakoot and Kushinagar. Following the social audits, "People's Commissions" public hearings, attended by hundreds of workers, were held in nine districts, through the month of March. These culminated in a "People's Court" held on 26th March, attended by 3000 people from over 20 districts in UP.

The campaign members included National Alliance of People’s Movement (NAPM), Dynamic Action Group (DAG), Right to Food (UP), Sangtin (Sitapur), Parmarth (Orai), Asha Parivar (Hardoi, Chandoli, Deoria and Unnao), Apda Niwaran Manch (Bundelkhand), PVCHR, Center for Contemporary Studies and Research (Lucknow), People’s Forum (Gorakhpur), Vanagana (Chitrakoot, Banda), Insaf (UP), Sai Jyoti (Lalitpur), Friends (Varanasi), Asra (Mirzapur), Gramya (Varanasi, Chandoli), CERT (Bhadohi), Sahyog (Lucknow), Ambedkar Mahasabha, Mahila Swarozgar Samiti (Sitapur), Lok Samiti (Varanasi), Savitiribai Phule Mahila Sangharsh Morcha, U.P. Khetihar evam Gramin Mazdoor Union, and the All India Agricultural Labourers Association. The process was convened by Arundhati Dhuru, Advisor to the Commissioners in the 'Right to Food' case. The final report, presented below, was written by her, with the assistance of Dr. Yogesh Bandhu.

National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and Mid Day Meal Scheme: Review of Uttar Pradesh, 2006-2007 (Movement for Right to Food and Employment, Uttar Pradesh) [.zip file]

• Acknowledgements
• NREGA: a tale of broken promises (survey and social audit findings on NREGA)
• Mid-day meals: is the meal sufficient? (survey and social audit findings on MDMS)
• Report on public hearings on EGA and MDMS
• Case studies
• A list of demands
• Annexures (questionnaires and list of survey districts) [Hindi questionnaires]

Press coverage
• 'Social audits should be given to individuals, not NGO's' (Express News Service, 26 March 2007)

Last updated: 6 January 2008