Hyderabad|India|March'2009: The two day
national consultation on social audit review of NREGS and various other
central government schemes
organized by PRIA and
National Institute of Rural Development, Hyderabad concluded after hectic
deliberations amongst functionaries of various state governments, Ministry
of Rural Development, Government of India officials and representatives of
over 15 civilsocial organizations from all over India. Aimed at sharing
experiences, formulating modified
guidelines with respect to implementation of rural development schemes
especially NREGS and reviewing efficacy of its social audit, the
consultation concluded with a number of vital recommendations and
inferences reached upon by the participating delegates.
While sharing the major recommendations of the
conclave during a vital session Social Audit- the
road ahead, Dr Rajesh Tandon, President, PRIA,
listed the following outcomes:
01. Simplification of the
social Audit Manuals prepared by the NIRD
02. It is important to track whether the resources serve the purpose
or not
03. Social audit should start from the top to reach the Panchayat &
Gramsabha levels.
04. Social Audit should also happen outside the NREGA
05. To have a collaborative frame work for scaling up Social audit,
there is a requirement for large scale re-orientation through out all
the different levels.
06. Social Audit &
financial audit should be kept separate but they should continue
to enrich each other, the accounting part should get inputs from the
social audit.
07. There should be independent commission responsible for social
audit.
08. Regular record keeping & reports on the social audit should be
there in the Gram Panchayat
09. There is no need to idealize the process; we rather need to
develop a workable process.
10. Administration should provide information in easy to use form in
time bound manner.
11. Social audit must be a process of people’s empowerment
12. Apart from statutory provisions like Panchayati Raj Act and NREGA,
central and state governments should immediately notify transparency and
accountability rules.
Prior to this Mr Manoj Rai, Director PRIA, while chairing a panel
discussion on challenges and impact of social audit along with Ms
Shakuntala Meena, Pradhan- Panchayat Samiti, Saporta, Rajasthan spelled
the need to draft transparency and accountability rules with regards to
social audit mechanism. A panel discussion on non negotiable principles of
social audit chaired by Ms Rita Teotia,
Principal Secretary,
Rural Development and
Panchayati Raj, Government of Gujrat, included Ms Rohini Mukherjee,
GM, Nandi Foundation, Hyderabad, Mr Jayant Kumar Director, Church
Auxiliary for Social Action(CASA), Ms Reetika Khera, Professor, Delhi
University and Mr. G P Singh, SIRD,
Madhya Pradesh. Ms Teotia emphasized the need for thrashing out
more effective guidelines for ensuring optimization of NREGS and various
other central government schemes.
Delegates called upon
Ministry of Rural Development to make needful modifications and
look earnestly into the recommendations generated after insightful and
enlightening brainstorming during the two day conclave. Circulars to
respective state governments were also sought to be issued regarding
social audit manuals where shortcomings were identified.
Reachout's News Bureau
March' 2009
Two
day Conclave on
Major
recommendations to rural development ministry