Job cut out

That the government proposes to review the implementation of the rural jobs programme before increasing its ambit is, given India8217;s history of social welfare policy, a progressive step. Inflated muster rolls in Arunachal Pradesh, as reported in this newspaper, are not the only problem in the jobs programme. An ambitious and potentially paradigm-shifting policy in terms of tackling rural poverty, the jobs programme needs careful review. Reports about subcontracting of work, often to contractors who use machinery instead of hiring labour, thus defeating the whole purpose of the programme, are particularly worrying. This compounds a design problem. The objective of creation of productive assets has been defeated by limiting the allocation of capital expenditure on projects to 40 per cent, so low that 8216;pucca8217; works are nearly out of question and the 8216;kaccha8217; roads that are under way will, in a majority of cases, be washed away by the monsoons. The twin objectives of generation of jobs for the poor and creating productive assets at the same time are rarely being met.

The bureaucratic approach is evident in the drive to increase the 8216;utilisation of funds8217; under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act NREGA. The employment scheme is a demand driven scheme. Expenditure happens when there are poor people holding job cards asking for employment. Instead, every state and within each state every district has been allocated funds. At the district level each block is being allocated funds and block development officers are being encouraged to enrol people to work on rural projects, even when there are urban jobs for migrant labour offering higher wages. This approach of 8216;ulitisation of available funds8217; is entirely against the economic rationale for having a welfare programme which typically kicks in only when there is a lack of other employment opportunities. Low ulitisation of funds should per se not be seen as a problem. Indeed, when the economy is growing at 8-9 per cent, it should be expected that that would be fewer jobs demanded. That is what makes the jobs programme an anti-cyclical and self-adjusting scheme.

The Planning Commission has brought out a report detailing the many lapses in official welfare schemes that have been in existence for years. That8217;s precisely the kind of fate the rural jobs programme must avoid. Right now, before the scheme gets extended nation-wide, is the chance to design it better.