Click to play videoThe Union Budget is likely to be passed in Parliament on Monday. Central to the Finance bill of 2009 is the Rs 3,90,000 crore allocated for the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.
But is the tax payer's money actually reaching the rural poor? CNN-IBN assesses the NREGA in a special, week-long series Breaking New Ground.
First up is Andhra Pradesh, where NREGA is seen to be a big success.
Nalgonda: Fifty-year-old year old Jahangir is visually impaired. All his life, he and his wife begum sought work across the country till NREGA came to their rescue in the rmote Nalgonda district of Andhra Pradesh.
For the first time, the couple is earning Rs 200 daily.
"There’s no problem as far as the money goes. Earlier, we couldn’t manage one meal, now we eat thrice and work hard,” says Jehangir.
A local database center has been set up in Nalgonda and it helps create new work sites, allot labourers and fix payments.
The official website is open to public scrutiny. The Andhra Pradesh government has partnered with software giant Tata Consultancy Services to create software that tries to minimise corruption in NREGA.
“The idea is to curb corruption and decrease workload. It is all computerized, right from job allotment to payment,” says Director, NREGA programme, Colonel Rao.
The success of NREGA in Andhra is partly because of the manner it has been dovetailed to infotech. Two operators are enough to update the records of 9000 workers daily, edging out the middlemen.
While these poor wage workers seem content with the fact that they no longer have to move from place to place for employment, the government’s work is far from complete.
Even as these workers transform dry land into cultivable, a need for better infrastructure, tools and medical facilities still exists.
In remote Korpole, the country's first biometric verification system is in place.
Villagers lining up to register their fingerprints is a regular sight. Once identities are verified, there are no payment problems.
“Earlier anyone could take our payment but because of this system, my money comes in my hands alone. We don't have to stand in long lines either,” says a worker Kanshi Ram.
(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter and Google+)
displayed with permission. Use of the CNN name and/or logo on or as part of CNN-IBN does not derogate from the intellectual property rights of Cable News Network in respect of them.