If people want only 30 days of work, how can you force them to do 100?: Birender Singh
Rural Development Minister talks of MGNREGA, panchayat polls and the road ahead with Shalini Nair.
Minister for Rural development Birender Singh. (Express Photo by Tashi Tobgyal)
What is the one thing you would like to focus on in the third year of your ministry?
If I were to talk about our flagship programmes, then naturally it would be Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana as we have redrawn our roadmap and reduced the execution time frame from six years to three. We have increased the target for the pace of construction of roads from 73 km per day to 100 in 2015-16; it should go to 130 km per day in 2016-17 and 160 in the last two years. We want to make sure all habitations in rural areas are connected with roads. Until now, we have been able to have about 3,000 km roads with a new green technology where plastic waste was made one of the important components for construction; jute was also used extensively in areas where jute is produced… The PM is very concerned about the construction of PMGSY roads. The programme used to have a budgetary allocation of Rs 9,000 to Rs 10,000 crore per year. It has now been raised to Rs 19,000 crore… Rural connectivity has played a very important role in the changes in the last 15 years.
It is said that the finance ministry’s failure to release enough funds for MGNREGA has hit implementation.
Not really. MGNREGA is demand-driven. And if there is a demand then we will have to make the funds available. Last year’s allocation was Rs 37,000 crore and until January 2016, we released 94 per cent of the funds to all the states. But by the end of the financial year in March 2016, a huge demand was generated by the states. I don’t know how they became that proactive and we had to spend Rs 6,000 crore more. This fiscal year, we have already released 50 per cent of our total budgetary allotment.
In view of the drought, you plan to release 75 per cent of your budgetary allocation by early July. Isn’t it a matter of concern that you wouldn’t be left with much for the eight months after that?
Last year, initially we were allotted about Rs 34,000 crore for MGNREGA and the finance minister made this commitment that he would release Rs 5,000 crore more if there is demand. He did release money later, but Rs 3,000 crore. This year our initial calculations show that there is a demand for 315 crore person-days and we have sufficient funds for that. If there is a good monsoon, then at least in the months of July to September, the demand will come down drastically.
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The Supreme Court has indicted the union government for providing only 48 days of wage employment as against the promised 100 days under MGNREGA. The feedback from the ground is that since the fund flow is not assured, state- and panchayat-level officials do not register the demand for work.
Since its inception, the highest average number of days of work provided under MGNREGA is 52 days. If people come forward asking for only 30 days of work, how can you compel them to do 100 days of work? It is the state government and the panchayat’s job to generate demand and inform us. This is also applicable as far as payments are concerned where they delay preparing the muster rolls. This is why social auditing is important. With Gram Uday se Bharat Uday, one thing that has come to the notice of my ministry is that gram sabhas are becoming more proactive as compared to panchayats. At this rate, the delays would be cut short.
The decision by the BJP government in Haryana and Rajasthan to make minimal educational qualifications a prerequisite for contesting panchayat polls has been criticised for its exclusionary impact on SCs and women.
It is fashionable for some of the NGO-type organisations to take up something new and scream violation of human rights. You may ask why has education qualification not been made mandatory for those contesting the parliamentary and assembly polls. In a democratic system, you cannot deny someone their rights on the basis that they are not literate. But when it comes to the Government of India and state governments, execution lies with the bureaucracy. Local bodies, on the other hand, are not the lawmaking bodies. They are basically in charge of execution and therefore the corporators and members of panchayats should have some educational qualifications.
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The drought that affects the country year after year is largely man-made. How do you propose to address that?
For dealing with drought, our ministry is placed at number three after Agriculture and Water Resources. The PM has said that under MGNREGA, priority should be given to conservation and harnessing of rainwater so that drought-like situations are averted in the future. A man-made phenomenon can also have man-made remedies. We need to implement the PM’s per-drop, more-crop in letter and spirit in the rain-fed areas. If watershed management programmes are a success, we can make sure that every drop of rainwater is conserved.
Recently Gujarat became the 11th state to declare drought. Haryana and Bihar have not done so, despite the matter being raised in the Supreme Court.
There are certain patches in all three states that have a scarcity of water but that cannot be equated with drought. It is not that they want to avoid paying compensation.
Your government was initially very insistent on amendments to the land bill. However, now with the joint parliamentary committee seeking several extensions, it sends out the message that you are on the back foot due to mass opposition to the proposed amendments.
Only the joint parliamentary committee can answer that. My stand is that we will go through with the land bill only if everyone agrees to it. If there is no unanimity then naturally, for all practical purposes, the amended bill is not in existence.
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In its report on the Jat agitation, the Prakash Singh committee has severely indicted the administration in Haryana for deliberate negligence. As a prominent Jat leader from Haryana, how do you view this?
They have given their report to the CM. What I think is that the report has not been prepared according to the terms and conditions that have been laid down for an inquiry under the Commission of Inquiry Act. This is only an inquiry handed over by the state government to a committee without any powers of a commission. Now the report has only added some information to the state government’s; it is not binding. The state government could get an idea into what are major causes, things to be corrected, people who didn’t perform their duties but there is no legal sanctity attached to the committee’s recommendations or report.
While you have been able to achieve much of your targets under Swachh Bharat (Rural), almost nothing has been done for the elimination of manual scavenging
We have managed 95 per cent more works for toilets as compared to the last two years of the UPA government. We have also reached 95 per cent of our own targets so far. A total 14 districts, 190 blocks and 56,000 villages have now been declared as open defecation-free. There may be a tendency that people have toilets but don’t use them, but in what seems like a good sign, a recent NSSO report actually showed that much of these toilets are being used by people. All these will eventually eliminate manual scavenging.
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