MGNREGS social audit hit, Kerala says funds from Centre delayed

Social auditing, a crucial component of the flagship MGNREGS, has come to almost a standstill in Kerala, with a large number of resource persons quitting due to non-disbursement of wages and honorarium.

The financial crisis comes even as the audit, which is conducted every six months to check official records against ground realities, faces resistance from local-level politicians in many villages.

Kerala claims to have received only Rs 1.46 crore of its due share of Rs 9.33 crore for this year, and said salaries and honararium for more than half a year are pending.

The funds for the social audit unit are released by the Union Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD). The MoRD did not respond to queries on the matter.

Kerala has 16,000 wards under 941 panchayats, and a social audit unit of thee resource persons is stipulated for each panchayat. Recently the number of village resource persons, who are paid Rs 350 per day, per panchayat was reduced to two.

Kerala Social Audit Unit Director Dr N Ramakanthan said: “On account of the non-release of funds during the last financial year and inadequate release in the current fiscal, the social audit process in Kerala is facing a severe crisis. Of the due share of Rs 9.33 crore, the audit unit in Kerala has got only Rs 1.46 crore. A sizeable number of resource persons have quit for want of payment of wages. We are also unable to recruit new hands at the village and block level.”

Ramakanthan said they had taken up with the issue with the MoRD, and the governing body of the social audit unit has decided to fill vacant posts anticipating allotment of funds.

Sources in the unit said the number of social audits conducted have been falling. In 2019-2020, 2,831 were held as against the mandatory figure of 16,000. “What is happening is only a concurrent audit, done with the work. Even that does not happen in all panchayats. Of 941 panchayats in the state, concurrent audit is held only in half,’’ a source said.

Officials at the State MGNREGS Mission pointed out that independent audits were necessary to prevent irregularities. Incidentally, as a source pointed out, despite audits held from 2017 to 2020 pointing out several anomalies, “not a single paisa could be recovered from the erring parties”.

Another hurdle in MNREGS social audit in Kerala is the management information system template. Under the national-level plan, the basic field of activity is the village panchayat, whereas in Kerala it is the ward. “Every village panchayat in Kerala has 14 to 18 wards and the same number of gram sabhas. We have to resolve the systematic issue for uploading the reports in the management information system,’’ an official said.