Lok Sabha Question No. 132 (STARRED), answered on 2018-07-26
Subject: Planning and Monitoring Arrangements under MGNREGS
Ministry: RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: RAHUL KASWAN

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

## DEPARTMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 132

TO BE ANSWERED ON 26.07.2018

## PLANNING AND MONITORING ARRANGEMENTS UNDER MGNREGS

## *132.   SHRI RAHUL KASWAN:

Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether there is a need to make  better technique, planning and monitoring arrangements for works being carried out under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS);
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the steps taken by the Government in this regard; and
- (d) the role of the State Government of Rajasthan in this regard?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (SHRI NARENDRA SINGH TOMAR)

(a) to (d): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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## Statement  in  reply  to  Parts  (a)  to  (d)  of  Lok  Sabha  Starred  Question  No.  132  for 26.07.2018

(a)&(b): Planning under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) is done at the Gram Sabha level every year. All the plans of the Gram Sabha are consolidated at the block & district level. The Ministry with help of State Government supervises the entire planning process. The Ministry monitors the progress of the  performance  of  States  MGNREGS  on  regular  basis,  viz.  Video  Conferences  (VCs), National  Level  Monitors,  Common  Review  Missions,  Monitoring  visits  and  Mid-term reviews.  The  Ministry  periodically  conducts  intensive  field  visits  to  States  to  assess  the status of implementation of the programme. After the field visits, the finding/ observations and the corresponding recommendations are shared with the States for necessary appropriate  action.  Mid-term  review  of  the  performance  of  States  is  conducted  in  the Ministry and the status of implementation of Scheme is reviewed. To enable peer learning through knowledge sharing among the States, Inter-State Exchange Programme (ISEP) was initiated in FY 2016-17 and conducted in 6 States viz. Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Meghalaya, Jharkhand,  Andhra  Pradesh  &  Chhattisgarh.  During  FY  2017-18,  it  was  conducted  in  2 States (Himachal Pradesh and West Bengal). ISEP was also conducted in Sikkim for Social Audit in June, 2018. Nine States participated to share knowledge on further enhancement of implementation of MGNREGS.

(c): The Government has taken steps to strengthen implementation of MGNREGA from time to time. These include:-

- (i) Implementation  of  National  electronic  Fund  Management  System  (Ne-FMS) and focus on Aadhaar Based Payment system, streamlining fund flow mechanism, and monitoring of timely payment of wages to workers.
- (ii) Training of Barefoot Technicians, capacity building of MGNREGA functionaries  such  as  State  Technical  Resource  Team  /  District  Technical Resource Team / Block Technical Resource Team on Mission Water Conservation works, training on Geo-MGNREGA, training to Finance officers of States on preparation of fund proposals etc.
- (iii) Framework for strengthening of monitoring mechanism developed and advisories  issued  for  inspection  of  MGNREGA  works  by  State,  District  and Block level officials and National Level Monitors.
- (iv) The Ministry has initiated Job Cards (JCs) verification of MGNREGA workers to weed out the bogus and duplicates JCs.
- (v) Auditing Standards have been issued and States have been advised to establish independent Social Audit Units, conduct Social Audit as per Audit of Scheme Rules, training of Village Resource Persons for conducting Social Audit etc.
- (vi) A  path  breaking  initiative  for  improved  planning,  effective  monitoring  and greater transparency with the use space technology for geo-tagging of MGNREGA assets has also been launched.

(d): As intimated by the State Government of Rajasthan, the following initiatives have been taken by it: -

- (i) The planning of MGNREGA- Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana  (PMKSY) convergence programme in select blocks and introduction of Geo-spatial tools.
- (ii) Planned seven divisional training/ workshops for district level officers of  the  line  departments  to  strengthen  convergence  and  scientific  planning  of the works by application of modern scientific tools.
- (iii) Learnings and experiences of 'Mukhyamantri Jal Swavlamban Abhiyan' (MJSA)  were  also  incorporated  for  MGNREGS  planning  exercises  along  with appropriate use of Remote Sensing and GIS tools.
- (iv) The State Government has evolved a support system in the form 'SAKSHAM-  GIS  Facility  Centre'  and  11  such  Centres  have  been  set  up  with the  support  of  MoRD-GIZ  project  to  ensure  regular  handholding  support  to MGNREGS functionaries.
- (v) The  experiences  of  the  initiative  culminated  in  the  form  of  e-  SAKSHAM-  a digital  learning  platform  -  works  for  MGNREGS  functionaries  and  community members  about  GIS  enabled  planning  of  MGNREGS.  Government  of  Rajasthan contributed in the development of e-SAKSHAM.