Job drought

Vanmane realises this could be one of those days when she may have to return after hours of waiting because supervisors haven8217;t turned up.

At 11 am, after a three-hour wait, supervisor Chandrakant Shinde arrives. He claims he got delayed as he had other work to attend to. His assistants aren8217;t with him. 8216;8216;What to do?8217;8217; Shinde laments. 8216;8216;Many of us have more than one project to look after.8217;8217;

Vanmane fumes. 8216;8216;This happens quite often. We wait for hours and return because there is nobody to tell us what to do. And then they mark us absent and we lose our wages for the day.8217;8217;

Solapur district encompasses Chief Minister Sushilkumar Shinde8217;s Assembly constituency and is a litmus test of his government8217;s drought-relief efforts. The number of workers in Solapur under the Employment Guarantee Scheme EGS is among the highest in the state. Over 2,000 works are in progress in the drought-affected areas of the state, but the increasing number of beneficiaries is straining the local administration.

8216;8216;We are always thinking of where to send these people next,8217;8217; says a senior official. The drought is the worst in two decades 8212; sweeping 11 of the state8217;s 36 districts 8212; and Rs 105 crore has already been spent on schemes like this. If they are not rapidly made more efficient, the Rs 500 crore aid announced by the Prime Minster may end up in similar mismanagement and continuing hunger.

There are simple flaws in the EGS, meant to alleviate hunger. To once-productive families, it doesn8217;t even guarantee two meals a day as money and food for work doesn8217;t reach them when they need it most. Their daily bread usually consists of coarse unleavened bread called bhakri, which is eaten with salt. On better days, there is dry chutney or watery dal. Vegetables , which are scarce and unaffordable, are not on the menu.

According to EGS rules, workers are given coupons after attendance musters are closed every seven or 15 days. Payments have been made only until May 15. And for those living a hand-to-mouth existence, 15 days are an eternity. 8216;8216;Sometimes it gets delayed by a month,8217;8217; says Vanmane, who is entitled to Rs 50 a day for digging and carting mud. The wages come in cash and kind: up to Rs 25 in cash, the balance as foodgrains.

All 93 women at Mulegaon Tanda have similar stories. 8216;8216;I got this job a week ago,8217;8217; says Chandbi Sheikh, a widow. 8216;8216;I was turned away because I didn8217;t have a man. The man does the digging. We are not considered capable of that.8217;8217; Officials, however, deny discrimination: anyone over 18 can join.

But the stricken at Mulegaon Tanda place their hopes on an uncertain monsoon, rather than the state. 8216;8216;We vote,8217;8217; says Tarabai, 8216;8216;but no matter who comes to power, we continue living like this.8217;8217;