ENGAGING DIFFERENTLY ABLED PEOPLE IN MGNREGS: A NEGLECTED AREA REQUIRING FOCUSED INTERVENTION

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act having been the most progressive instrument ever produced in the Country to recognize employment as rights and not as welfare intervention of the Government, there were expectations that the Scheme developed for implementation of the Act will have major impact on exclusion of the marginalized in the development process. The Scheme has specific focus on inclusive development and different processes enshrined in the Scheme favour inclusion of the marginalized. However, unfortunately, one specific focus of inclusive development- including the differently abled people in the workforce has been largely ignored in implementation of the programme. In India, rights of the differently abled people are protected by The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995. The said Act defines the role of the state actors as well as the private actors in relation to the differently abled people. Section 40 of the Act clearly indicates that the appropriate Governments and local authorities shall reserve not less than three per cent in all poverty alleviation schemes for the benefit of persons with disabilities. Operational guidelines for MGNREGS incorporate the following provision in relation to this marginalized section of the society: if a rural differently able person applies for work, work suitable to his/her ability and qualifications will have to be given. This may also be in the form of services that are identified as integral to the programme. Provisions of the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995, will be kept in view and implemented. However, unlike the case of women, there is no specific direction to the State Governments or the project implementing agencies as to the minimum percentage of employment to be reserved for the differently abled. In absence of such a stipulation we may presume that the minimum should positively be in conformity with the PwD Act, 1995. Data as reflected in the MGNREGA portal of the Government of India displays a dismal picture in this respect. Most of the States pay scant attention to this issue and reports extremely insignificant engagement of people with disabilities as provided for in the MIS (nrega.nic.in) in MGNREGA workforce. In fact, West Bengal reports maximum persons with disabilities engaged as unskilled workers in absolute number in MGNREGS over the years. Unfortunately, performance of West Bengal too is substantially below the stipulated three per cent as per the PwD Act. Table-1: Maximum number of differently abled people engaged in MGNREGS in States, 2010-11 financial year (Source: nrega.nic.in- Employment Status)

Sl No. 1 2 3

State West Bengal Andhra Pradesh Tamil Nadu

Differently abled persons engaged in absolute number 89636 70609 38630

Table-2: Maximum number of differently abled people engaged in MGNREGS in States, 2011-12 financial year (Source: nrega.nic.in- Employment Status) Sl No. 1 2 3 State West Bengal Andhra Pradesh Tamil Nadu Differently abled persons engaged in absolute number 98270 86533 41319

In the current financial year, however, till date, Andhra Pradesh has reported more differently abled people working than West Bengal. The following table (Table-3) gives comparative figures between the first three States as on 10 November 2012: Table-3: Maximum number of differently abled people engaged in MGNREGS in States, 2012-13 financial year (report as on 10 November 2012) (Source: nrega.nic.in- Employment Status) Sl No. 1 2 3 State Andhra Pradesh West Bengal Tamil Nadu Differently abled persons engaged in absolute number 98735 72486 37315

In West Bengal, participation of differently abled persons in MGNREGS varies across districts. However, the trend indicates that three of the districts consistently report relatively higher (although insignificant) engagement in MGNREGS. Table4 gives the comparative figures: Sl No. 1 2 3 1 2 3 Year District Malda Burdwan Burbhum Malda Burdwan Burbhum Differently abled persons engaged in absolute number 28699 11953 11203 17211 10767 8758

2011-12

2012-13 (till 10 Nov, 12)

On the lower side, Siliguri Mahakuma Parishad, Howrah, Jalpaiguri and Dakshin Dinajpur consistently report abysmally low figures on this count.

In 2010, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India formed several working groups to suggest improvement in implementation of MGNREGA in the country. One such working group was on Specific Needs of Special Categories under MGNREGA. The report, submitted in July 2010, identified following problems in relation to the differently abled people in MGNREGA: Non inclusion in the MGNREGS (low coverage) Unfavourable work norms in MGNREGS Distance to worksites Lack of sensitivity of delivery system towards disabled Low social capital- Lack of access to formal and informal organisations The working group made the following set of recommendations for integration of the differently abled and the aged people in MGNREGS:

1. All those workers above 65 years be treated as aged. 2. The claim of the disabled should be supported by doctors certificate or by fellow workers. In case of wrong certification the fellow worker should be made liable to lose the job card. 3. The District administration should strive to graduate all the disabled towards skilled status in a specific time frame. 4. In the selection of Mates, Grama Rozgar Sevaks (GRS) and Technical Assistants, the literate and/or semi-skilled persons with disabilities (PwDs) belonging to labour households be given preference. 5. A system of flexi hours should be adopted for PwDs and aged, so that they can execute the work at convenient times during the day. 6. The length of actual work time be relaxed for PwDs and aged and they may be allowed to work for 5.30 hrs a day (This is recommended on the basis of Work Time Motion Studies under taken by an NGO (SWADHIKAR, AP.) 7. The work norms (as per SoRs) for PwDs and aged should be reduced by 30 percent. 8. The PwDs and aged be given separate and independent Job Cards within a household. It has been observed that the households having a PwD and aged at home generally avail the benefit for a non-disabled member in the family and PwDs are not allowed to work in the site and actually earn. Having a separate Job Card will make the PwDs and aged independent for pursuing employment under the scheme if s/he chooses to do so. 9. Exclusive staff may be posted at the block and district level for mobilization of PwDs and to look after the special needs of the workers with disabilities. He will act as a channel between the officials / PIA and workers with disabilities and strive for creating conducive environment for PwDs to work. He will also look after the information, communication and education (IEC) needs of PwDs. The salary and allowances of such staff may be borne out of administrative expenses of the scheme. 10. In the matters of deciding the work and also location of work the PwDs and aged be allowed to exercise their choice (in a situation where different types of work are being carried out and at different locations) and priority should be given to their preferences.

11. The PwDs and aged be given travel allowances at higher rate on preferential basis. For the travel from place of residence to worksite, the travel allowance may be paid @ 10 % of the minimum daily wages for the initial distance from .5 km to 5 km and @ 20 % for above 5 kms. 12. At Gram Panchayat, Block, and District levels, a monitoring and reporting mechanism of the works meant for PwDs and aged be put in place and monitoring and reporting should be done on a regular and continuous basis. The present institutional arrangements in MGNREGA be strengthened/ modified to accommodate this. A dedicated Cell at the state and district levels and an additional PO would help in effective monitoring and coordinating with other departments. 13. In Andhra Pradesh there is a system of providing Rs 3 per person per man day for mobilizing PwDs in MGNREGS. The CSOs/NGOs are engaged in mobilizing PwDs and the system seems to be working very well. This system may be replicated in other States. The NGOs and CSOs may also act as an implementing agency and can mobilize PwDs under this system. This suggestion is not duplicating the suggestion given at point No. 14 above. The staff to be posted at block and district level will be performing a job of moderator and facilitator and provide necessary intervention to facilitate a smooth work environment for PwDs and Aged. 14. A suitable shelf of works and opportunities may be created for the semiskilled PwDs having soft and traditional skills and crafts like computer, carpentry, masonry etc. 15. The land owned by the PwDs be given preference in the execution of MGNREGA individual works. 16. Works that facilitates accessibility and barrier free entry to all public places like schools, PHCs, water sources, parks etc., should be undertaken on priority and may be included in the shelf of projects as mentioned at Point no 11. 17. The work site facilities must be such that it takes care of the specific needs of PwDs and Aged. The district NREGA Cell of Burdwan district took up a situation analysis of differently abled people in relation to MGNREGS in the district. The study could give useful insight into the situation of work allocation to this specially disadvantaged group of people. There is a set of recommendations made by the Burdwan study as well. Taking both the sets of recommendations into consideration, a series of action can be taken at different level. Since policy decisions at the central level are required to make disability-specific changes in the programme guidelines, we would be concentrating on what we could do at the state and local level to enlarge employment opportunities to the differently abled through MGNREGS: State level action points Notifying relatively favourable schedule of Rates (SoR) for the differently abled. It may be either 30 per cent reduction over the SoR for the regular workers, as recommended by the Working Group or time-based SoR as recommended by the Burdwan study. Identifying works that can be executed by different categories of differently abled people and deciding on the norms of performance against each category of work. Organizing a special media campaign aiming at awareness generation amongst the rural people regarding the scope of employment for the differently abled people in MGNREGS.

 Developing an inventory of activities for this special group of people and sharing the inventory with the programme implementers and the people alike. Clearly spelling out the basic requirements for registration as a differently abled person for the purpose of work allocation in MGNREGS. District level action points Since programme implementation largely depends upon the leadership given by the District Programme Coordinator and the District NREGA Cell, the district authority should take specific measures to propagate the rights of the differently abled people under NREGA. Civil society organizations (CSO) / non-Government organizations (NGO) may be given specific responsibility of identifying differently abled people and bringing them into MGNREGS as unskilled workers. The district authority should strive to graduate differently abled workers from unskilled workers to semi-skilled workers and eventually to skilled workers. While recruiting people for different contractual positions under NREGA, preference should be given to differently abled people having requisite strength and qualification. Field level action points The PIAs should make it a point to give preference to the differently abled people in engagement at water carrier and the crche supervisor. If only one differently abled person can be engaged in one of the roles mentioned above, the state can easily generate a minimum of 30lakh person-days employing differently abled people alone. The estimate is based upon the fact that in any given year more than three lakh new schemes are opened by the PIAs in the State and individual schemes have an average work-span of 7 days. The Gram Panchayats and the block administration should take special care in making appropriate entries in the MIS to indicate the disability status of the job card holders. Often it is the simple fact that the entries in the MIS are perfunctorily made it becomes difficult to identify actual engagement status of this special group of people. Finally for all the facilitators and administrators, it is more an issue of orientation and focus than an issue of performance. All of us must be sensitive to this special group of people who can take engagement under MGNREGA as a matter of right and not as dole by the Government or the Panchayats.

Posted 11th November 2012 by Dibyendu Sarkar Labels: 1995 Differently-able MGNREGA MGNREGS Persons with Disabities Act