No MGNREGA watchdog for three years

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According to the MGNREGA, the CEGC is headed by the Rural Development Minister and comprises both official and non-official members. Apart from being a crucial watchdog of the scheme, the body is also expected to prepare annual reports on the Act’s implementation to be tabled before Parliament — an indication of the importance given to it by the Act. The council is also entrusted with the task of monitoring and redressal mechanism, as well as recommending improvements required.

The last CEGC was notified on June 2011 and the term of non-official members expired a year later. While the Act stipulates the council meet “at least two times in a year”, the last CEGC meeting was held in December 2011.

The ministry officials said no step had been taken to reconstitute the council after 2012 under the UPA government, which had brought in MGNREGA in 2006. The Rural Development Minister in NDA government, Birender Singh, is yet to take a call on the matter, sources said.

To facilitate its functioning, the CEGC had formed six working groups on wages, transparency and accountability, planning, scope of works, equity and social security, and management issues involved in the implementation at the grassroots level. Former CEGC members include MGNREGA activists such as Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey.