participate in NREGS, rural households first need to be registered at the local _gram panchayat_ , which results in the issuance of a job card and entry of the applicants’ names into a register of all job seekers called the _muster roll_ .<sup>3</sup> Once work has been performed, workers are to be paid within a period of two weeks or less. In practice, these regulations are not always followed, and performance varies enormously across states (Comptroller and Auditor General of India 2008). Reviews of the program found that many job seekers were unable to obtain the desired level of work, at least initially (Dutta et al. 2012b). Local decisionmakers were found to use NREGS strategically to maximize rents (Niehaus and Sukhtankar 2012), consistent with wide variation in quality and transparency of implementation across the country.

An emphasis on promoting self-help groups among poor women that started in the late 1990s is likely to have allowed Andhra Pradesh a head start in implementing NREGS. Strong self-help group coverage, a federated structure, and various efforts to promote convergence with local government (Deininger and Liu 2013) allowed quick mobilization of the target group once NREGS became effective. Importantly, all self-help groups had elaborated “livelihood plans” to identify opportunities for small-scale labor-intensive investment that could be used as the starting point for a list of projects to be implemented under the program.

After implementation of a predecessor program was marred by high levels of corruption (Deshingkar and Johnson 2003), the state of Andhra Pradesh took distinct measures to hold officials more accountable (Aiyar and Samji 2009). First, key program information (muster rolls, lists of work performed and wages paid) is made available online for access by the public, making it easy to trace participants, work sites, and payments. Second, bank accounts were opened for all participants, and modern payment systems are used to reduce fraud and transaction costs while at the same time encouraging saving. By ensuring that payments are made to the individuals who did the work, the use of smartcards has, according to some observers, improved female empowerment (Johnson 2008). Finally, to quickly identify deviations from the rules and hold responsible officials to account, social audits featuring active involvement by a wide range of stakeholders are conducted regularly in all the state’s administrative units.<sup>4</sup> These features, many of which were subsequently incorporated into the national regulations for program implementation, have led the state to be considered one of a few ‘star performers’ in terms of the quality of program implementation (Dreze and Khera 2011).

> 3 As per the program regulations, the job card, which must contain photographs of all the adult members of the household, is to be delivered to applicants free of charge within 15 days of application. In principle, once a household has a job card, that household is expected to indicate demand for work (less than or equal to 100 days) under NREGS for the following year. Based on household demand as ratified by the village meeting ( _gram sabha_ ), a work plan at the _gram panchayat_ is elaborated and submitted upward for consolidation. Projects are sanctioned at the district level, and the _gram panchayats_ are responsible for the allocation of work among job seekers. In practice, the process is often more topdown, based on central budget allocations, and even information about available projects is not always available to job seekers.

> 4 During social audits, several frauds were uncovered. The responsible parties were punished, and funds amounting to Rs. 130 million (US$2.5 million) were recovered. Some officials embezzled money by “creating fake muster rolls, inflated bills, exaggerated measurements, and nonexistent works, all through bribes and cuts from wage seekers” (www.socialauditap.com).

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