Context:

• The Management Information System (MIS) on Social Audit maintained by the Union Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) reveals statistics about social auditing done by states under MGNREGS.

Social Audit under MGNREGS

• Social auditing in more than 50% of gram panchayats:  This has been done in only six states out of the 34 States and union territories.
  • Kerala is the only State to cover 100% gram panchayats. Other than Kerala, the only States to cross the 50% mark are Bihar (64.4%), Gujarat (58.8%), Jammu and Kashmir (64.1%), Odisha (60.42%) and Uttar Pradesh (54.97%). 
  • States covering 40% or more villages: Telangana (40.5%), Himachal Pradesh (45.32%) and Andhra Pradesh (49.7%). 

• Social auditing in poll bound states: Other than Telangana, among the poll-bound States, the numbers are very low: Madhya Pradesh (1.73%), Mizoram (17.5%) Chhattisgarh (25.06%), and Rajasthan (34.74%). 
• Periodic Social Audit Public Hearings (Janakeeya Sabhas): Kerala is the only state conducting this at the panchayat level to subject the audit reports to close public scrutiny. 
• In the other States, such public scrutiny is done only at the block level. 

About Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)/Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS):

• About: Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act was enacted in 2005 as a social welfare program by the Ministry of Rural Development.
• Objective: To guarantee 100 days of employment in every financial year to adult members of any rural household willing to do public work-related unskilled manual work.

Key Features of the scheme:

• Legal Right to Work: The Act grants a legal right to employment for adult members of rural households. 
• Unemployment allowance: Employment must be provided within 15 days of being demanded failing which an ‘unemployment allowance’ must be given.
• Role of Gram Sabhas:  They must recommend the works that are to be undertaken and at least 50% of the works must be executed by them.  
  • Monitoring of work under MGNREGA: Under section 17 of the act, the gram sabha “shall monitor the execution of works”. 
• Work Site Facilities: All work sites should have facilities such as crèches, drinking water, and first aid.
• Funding:  It is shared between the centre and the states. 
• Social audits: They are conducted by gram sabhas to enable the community to monitor the implementation of the scheme.
• Social audit units(SAU): Each State has SAUs which are supposed to work independent of the implementing authorities. 
• Auditing standards: Laid down by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, these were issued on December 19, 2016. 
  • According to them, every SAU is entitled to funds equivalent to 0.5% of the MGNREGA expenditure incurred by the State in the previous year.

• • The audit involves quality checks of infrastructure created under the MGNREGA, financial misappropriation in wages, and checking for any procedural deviations. 
• Provision of Ombudsperson: There should be an ombudsperson for each district who will receive grievances, conduct enquiries, and pass awards. 

News Source: The Hindu