India - Employment as a Right - Varanasi
Scene 1 of the TVP documentary
Project Location: Varanasi, India
Playlist on Youtube TVPChannel : http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7AEC0BEDCB280967
Episode 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
This is a typical village of northern India. More than 70% of the Indian population lives in rural areas. Many programmes of the Indian Government aim at making rural India an active part of the country’s economic growth and at helping rural communities to benefit from the fruits of development and technology.
In August 2005, the Indian government approved a job guarantee scheme called MNREGA or the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act; an Act that provides a hundred days of wage-employment per year, at 120Rs (or $2.70) per day, to rural households whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. This Act has promoted investments in rural infrastructure projects, providing jobs to millions of Indian villagers, especially to semi or un-skilled labour that live below the poverty line and improving their purchasing power. Now, Indian villagers can stay on in their villages for at least three months in a year, reducing urban migration and precarious living. This Act is part of India’s commitment to Millennium Development Goals. Many people in rural India still do not know about this Act and lose out on earning that extra little money that can cover the basic needs of their families. Their ignorance becomes an opportunity for corruption among lower level government officers who supervise this programme.
Rekha is a social worker in an Indian non-government organisation, called Mahila Swarojgar Samiti (Women’s Self-Employment Committee). The organisation helps rural women gain economic independence by forming women’s groups, accessing income generation opportunities and advocating for their rights. Rekha informs women about their rights, helps them in accessing the rural employment scheme of the Indian government and trains them in public speaking and leadership skills. Rekha assists women in establishing and managing Self Help Groups so that they are able to use their new earning opportunity to start small business activities and cover family expenses.
The project of informing women about their rights, government programmes that benefit them, and other opportunities to earn their livelihoods has been funded by the Dorabji Tata Trust, the corporate social responsibility initiative of TATA, one of India’s largest groups of manufacturing companies. Rekha took us to one of the villages she regularly visits in the North Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and introduced us to some women who have benefitted from the Self Help Groups and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.
Women in this village of Uttar Pradesh are largely illiterate. Before Rekha’s organisation started working in this village, women used to manage their households and rarely work outside their homes to earn a living. Rekha and her team talked to the village women about their rights and taught them to manage small income generation activities. With the help of Rekha and her team, women established Self Help Groups. They came together as a collective and demanded their rights. They became self-confident and made their voices audible in local political processes of village panchayats, the elected bodies at the village level. They learned about government programmes and started asking for their rights. They were now able to send their children to schools, cover the health care expenses for their children and families and even buy themselves new clothes and household articles.
For the first time, women felt the joy of earning and felt empowered. They became active members of their communities. They became protagonists of their destinies and became agents of change in their homes and their communities.
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Additional Notes
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA or NREGA as it is popularly called) is a job guarantee scheme enacted by the Indian Government in August 2005 aimed at eradicating poverty and hunger (Millennium Development Goal 1). The Act aims at enhancing the livelihood security of people in rural areas by guaranteeing hundred days of wage-employment, at 120Rs/day (around $2.70), in one financial year to rural households whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work. This Act was introduced with an aim of improving the purchasing power of the rural people, primarily semi or un-skilled work to people living below poverty line in rural India.
The EUGAD team visited a village near Varanasi where a local NGO, Mahila Swarojgar Samiti (MSS), has been raising awareness among village women organised self help groups, conducting leadership skills training and helping women access the NREGA scheme, as part of a national drive to empower women. The EUGAD team interviewed women in the village and asked them about how their lives had changed after working in the NREGA scheme and working with NGOs like the MSS. Women in this village are largely illiterate. Before MSS started working in this village, women essentially used to manage their homes and rarely work outside to earn a living. Gradually women started gaining strength by coming together as a collective and bringing their voices across. They started becoming more self-confident, participating in local decision making processes. They started participating economically in the management of their households and spent the savings from their incomes in sending children to schools and accessing better health services.
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| NREGA - Lalita (story of women empowerment) selected to be the case study through which the project will be narrated | X0ZfcF1gQOw|300}} |
| NREGA - Pramila (Village Lady at NREGA site) | BlSEfLefvhQ|300}} |
| NREGA - Malti (Village Lady at NREGA Site) | 5HtZSwzcm3s|300}} |
| NREGA - Raju (Pradhan of the Village at NREGA Site) | 78wCHtTi0eA|300}} |
| NREGA - Lakshmi Singh (Lady Pradhan of near by Village at NREGA Site) | 0k7Q66qk_YQ|300}} |
Interviews to Pundits
| A.K. Shiva Kumar, NREGA – It is a right and no one who goes from a poor household and says, “I need work” can be denied work. What is distinct about the NREGA are the clauses to ensure better governance and accountability. Social audit, which means that it is an audit by the people of the program, is mandatory. | 1MwY_XsolOU|300}} |
| National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) |
| P. Krishna - How can Communities count more in Development Choices | YUUuo-1DBck|300}} |
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Specific Questions for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan
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Among the things she says, she introduces the SSA and gives number figures of the contribution |
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan |
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We are directly putting money in the big envelope of the government. But this is not limited in just signing a cheque to the government. We are a very important party in a number of discussion of the steering committee which is in charged of the implementation of the program. But we are also helping in designing and monitoring the program. Through our presence we can influence, but this does not mean imposing a model but offering our experience, proposing technical assistance, showcasing are lesson learned and also bad experiences from where they can learn and be a source of inspiration.
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Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan |
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I think that supporting the education of a child is a wonderful objective, a wonderful approach to defend human rights; because education is a fundamental right of every child. The second element is that the money has been worth spending for in 2003 there were 25 million children out of school in India.Thanks to the program of the Government of India and the EU in 2009 there were only 8 million children out of school. The third element is that when a child is educated, when a teenage is going to college and when out with a degree a student is getting a job; i don't think we should think in terms of competitors. We should think in terms of wealth, in terms of world economic growth. The more children are coming to the labor market with a degree, with skills... then you make the world economy run. Today there is so much interdependence between countries; it is imprtant that there is economic growth in India and china for when our countries are lagging behind, and when they are in the middle of a crises it is then important that other countries are the locomotive of the economic growth. Whenever you give money to somebody you have less for you; but you may have less now... but it will bring you more tomorrow. And your child who is going to school in europe, tomorrow might need the growth that an indian child is going to produce. In terms of economic cooperation, today, we always have to look for win win situations.
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Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan |
Additional
Information on the project________________________________________________________________
The NREGA contributes to rural development and employment, thus helping reduce
migration to urban areas and increase local purchasing power. The work
implemented as part of NREGA must be targeted towards a set of specific rural
development activities such as: water conservation and harvesting,
forestation, rural connectivity, flood control and protection such as
construction and repair of embankments, etc. Digging of
new tanks/ponds,
percolation tanks, land leveling and construction of small check dams are also
given importance.
In 2010-211, with a
budget of $8.91b, , NREGA provided a total of 470 million days of work, out of
which 49.36% was to women. (http://nrega.nic.in).
A very interesting aspect of this project is the "Social Audit". This means
that the people themselves audit the accounts and then these accounts are be
available for public scrutiny to anyone.
Mahila Swarojgar
Samiti is an organization that works in 26 villages of Uttar Pradesh for the
empowerment of women. Through awareness building on basic rights including
health and education, facilitating women’s access to public schemes
potentailly benefiting them, providing training in leadership skills and
public participation, setting up self-help groups and fostering income
generation projects, MSS helps women access and defend their rights. By
creating formal self help groups of women in the villages of the Indian State
of Uttar Pradesh, MSS strengthens the collective voice of women in advocating
for their rights and well being. MSS also runs education centres for
pre-school children in the villages of Todapur, Chakrapanpur, and Harfos in
Uttar Pradesh.
"Earlier I had not
seen life outside my home. Now I know my rights. I can operate a bank account.
I can talk with confidence in public. Now we have a collective voice. We know
the legal language of rights, duties and responsibilities among people and
governments. Now we speak together and we are heard”, said a woman from the
village
“In the beginning we
suspected the motivations of MSS and thought they wanted to take advantage of
our ignorance. Slowly we realized that they wanted us to help us stand up for
our rights and improve our lives. Gradually I understood what MSS workers
really wanted and that what they said was right. They helped us come together
as a committee in the village. They also helped us save money. We understood
our rights and we gained strength. Now we know more, we earn and we lead a
better life” says another woman.
Rekha, the project manager of MSS believes that the greatest challenge to women’s empowerment in rural India is to lead the women out of their ignorance, out of their homes and outside their veiled existence. “Women have been ignorant and deprived of their rights. MSS believes that women must actively participate in public life just like they do in their homes and must contribute to political processes just like men do. MSS brings women together, trains them and helps them strengthen their collective voice. Once women gain confidence and knowledge and understand the laws and schemes that benefit them, they start demanding their rights. They start realizing that they have a duty to be responsible.” Says Rekha
==External links==
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| The Natiional Rural Employment
Guarantee Act or NREGA s
an Indian Job guarantee scheme, enacted by legislation on August
25, 2005. The scheme
provides a legal guarantee for one hundred days of employment in every
financial year to adult members of any rural household willing to do
Public work-related unskilled manual work at the statutory Minimum wage of
Rs.60 per day. The Central government outlay for scheme is Rs. 39,100
crores ($8 billion) in FY 2009-10. This act was introduced with an aim of
improving the purchasing power of the rural people, primarily semi or
un-skilled work to people living in rural India, whether or not they are
below the Poverty line. Around one-third of the stipulated work force is
women. The government is planning to open a call centre. Once operational,
the call centre can be approached on the toll-free number, 1800-345-22-44. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/city/patna/CM-to-open-NREGA-call-centre-on-Oct-14/articleshow/5077911.cms
It has been renamed as Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act on
2nd October, 2009.<ref> http://www.ptinews.com/news/310479_Union-cabinet-gives-NREGA-the-Mahatma-Gandhi
)
more in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Rural_Employment_Guarantee_Act |