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Happenings in Araria
Workers of Araria (Bihar) along with Jan Jagaran Abhiyan activists and supporters have been collectively demanding work uder the National rural Employment Guarantee act (NREGA). Their demands were finally met after a sustained struggle for work! Since March 17th works worth 18 lakhs were opened in 6 panchayats where intensive mobilisations were carried out since November, 2008. Other issues raised by the Abhiyan like non-opening of post office accounts, non-availability of job cards etc have also been adddressed to some extent.
Kamayani and Ashish volunteered with the Milwaukee chapter of AID in the US and are now working in Araria Bihar as well as are inititiating chapters in Bihar. Here is their latest report.
Contact: ashish.ranjanjha@gmail.com, kamayani02@yahoo.com.
 
June 2009 Report

It has been around three months since we updated you about the happenings in Araria. So here is another update from where we left last time [Past Report]

We would like to start this update with some positive developments…. 

1-      Works were opened in all the six panchayats where workers had applied for work (around December 2008), our rough estimate is that works worth 18 lakhs were opened in these panchayats, after 16-17th March.


        

 

2-    Post Office accounts [2] were opened in places where they had been pending for a long time. For example in Jamua GP no NREGA accounts had been opened till the time of the visit, but over 400 accounts have been opened since, meaning payments to workers can be made in these GPs without glitches.

3-     Pending payments were made for works in Sharanpur and Jamua GPs.

 These developments came at the end of a long journey, some of which you are already aware of and the rest follows…

As you may recall, from the last update, in a public meeting held on 9th February, 2009 in Patna the Principal Secretary, Rural Development, Bihar Government in a public forum said that the Araria district administration had stated that workers who apply for work under NREGA are not interested in working and so when asked to come to work they do not report. The Principal Secretary at the same time had stated that he did not believe this claim of the district administration and planned to send a ‘jaanch’ team to Araria to find out the truth.

Report from the District Administration

Our first focus then became getting a copy of the district administration’s report to the Department of Rural development, Bihar Government. The report, which we got a couple of days later, was a clear attempt at maligning the JJA and rubbishing the whole demand for work under the NREGA as a manipulation by the JJA. The report sent by the District Magistrate (DM), based on the report of the Programme Officer (PO), NREGA of Araria block was sent a day after our collective protest at the Araria NREGA office on 29th January, 2009. Below is a table giving the claims made in the administration’s report and an attempt to give the true picture from the JJA’s end:


 

Administration’s claim

JJA’s rejoinder

1.1 a

Workers want cash payments and therefore they non-cooperate in opening of accounts.

Workers give complete cooperation in opening of accounts, administrative and systemic failure is responsible for the slowness in opening of accounts. Also many representatives and officials who realize that accounts are a way of stemming corruption are not interested in payments being done through accounts. 

1.1 b

Workers who apply for work donot want to work but just want unemployment allowance.

Workers of Araria do not want money without work, they want to work and want full payment for the work they do. There is no proof with the administration that any worker provided work refused to come to work. In fact the truth is that workers wanted work but work was not opened for them as per the requirement of the Rural Employment Guarantee Act.

1.2

Panchayat Rozgar Sevak (PRS) is available in the Gram Panchayats (GPs) to receive work applications.

Ordinary workers have no idea as to when and where the PRS is available in the GPs. And no effort has been made by the block administration to make this information available in the GP.

2.1

The JJA instigates people to not work but try and get unemployment allowance.

Our aim from the beginning has been to spread awareness about the NREGA. JJA’s priority is to ensure that workers get work as per NREGA, in turn ensuring village development. However we do believe that unemployment allowance should be given as per the mandate of the NREGA so that guilty officials are held accountable for their failure and are warned that such callousness would not be acceptable in the future.

2.2

The JJA organizes people under the banner of the CPI

The JJA is a non party political initiative. However, workers and supporters of JJA may be involved with party   politics outside their work with the JJA. The JJA supporters come from a broad spectrum of party political leanings and these donot influence their work with the JJA. However, the JJA is not a front for any political party.

2.3

The JJA pays for people’s travel and food to come and protest at the block level, to disturb the administration.

So far workers have been involved in two collective efforts at the block level (held on December 12th, 2008 and 29th January, 2009, events we have talked about in our past updates) and they have had to pay for their own transport and food. This is a conscious choice of the Abhiyan as it believes that the issues being raised in the Abhiyan are workers issues and they should therefore find a way to support their own cause, rather than become dependent on external donations.

Given the falsity of the report, we decided to take the report to the workers of Araria block. We spent days in our panchayats sharing the details of the reports. As an annexure to the report we found copies of two Gram Panchayat (GP) Mukhiyas stating that supporters and karyakartas of the Abhiyan like kamayani, ashish, Ranjit and Mahesh ji were ‘asamajik tatva’, meaning anti-social elements, and we shared these too with the workers and village residents. Sometimes the workers just laughed ‘kaam nahin karna chahte to Punjab haryana kyun jaate’ (If we did not want to work why would we go to Punjab-Haryana) but some things made them angry, for example the allegation that JJA had paid for their visits to the block, made many workers angry for visits to the block meant expenses that had to be covered by workers with little income, or long walks and cycle expeditions. After the sharing we would inform everyone about the upcoming jaanch from Patna.


An Unpardonable Shame

During one of our stays in Jamua Panchayat, we came to know of a sad episode in which the PO, Araria block had used fraud to scare workers of the panchayat to sign on some papers, supposedly stating that they did not want unemployment allowance and had only applied for work on the insistence of the JJA.

On February 5th a few workers from Jamua Panchayat went to an ongoing NREGA worksite. They were amongst the 48 workers who had applied for work but had not got work. They wanted to find out when they would be given work. The NREGA PO was also present at the worksite. In response to the workers queries the PO told them that JJA karyakartas, (Mahesh Kumer and Ranjit) had been arrested. He then rang up someone and put his phone on the speaker. Workers heard someone from the other side pleading for his release. The PO claimed this was Mahesk Kumar, a JJA supporter who had been active in mobilizing workers under the JJA banner. The voice said “mujhe maaf kar dijiye, mein phir aisa nahin karoonga, meri betiyon ki shaadi honi hai …”. The PO then said that a case had also been registered against the 48 local workers but he would ensure that the case was revoked provided the workers signed certain papers. Scared by what they had heard on the phone and believing the PO, the workers signed on papers provided to them by the PO. The PO then took one of them on his motorcycle to his village and got some more of the 48 workers to sign these papers, till a local worker started questioning the PO. Having got some 7-8 people to sign the PO then left the village.

We made the district administration aware of this episode, but did not hear back from them. At the same time we had sent a copy of this letter to the Principal Secretary wanting to be sure that the jaanch team would have a clear idea of the ground reality when they came to Araria.

 

The jaanch and Work our priority

 Chandrama Singh, DDC Saharsa during Jaanch in G.P Kismat Khawaspur

While the talk about the jaanch started in early February, the jaanch team would take longer to come to Araria than we thought. Around 9th March a little jittery that while the jaanch team was not visiting Araria no effort was being made by the block administration open NREGA works to meet the local work demand, we decided to meet the Principal Secretary again. We went to talk to him earnestly emphasizing that people wanted work while the jaanch could happen at it’s own pace works needed to be opened immediately so that workers could get some work before works for the year 2007-08 were closed on 31st March. 

As before the Principal Secretary's response was very positive and it was arranged that a jaanch team was organized and sent to Araria immediately. On 16th March members of the jaanch team arrived in Araria. The jaanch was transparent and JJA representatives were present during the jaanch procedure. We are not completely satisfied by the jaanch report. Though it pointed out the irregularities of the local administration, it failed to make a case for people’s entitlement to unemployment allowance and did not attempt to look into the intimidation used by the PO. However as of now the state administration has asked the DM Araria to identify those who are responsible for the irregularities found in the jaanch and take action. The state office has also promised us action against those responsible.

We see the jaanch as a fruitful exercise that has finally led to the opening of works in the GPs where a clear demand for work was raised. This is a signal that people’s demand will be heard provided there is a collective action and perseverance, combined with administrative responsiveness.

Future Actions:

Mobilisation for work: The JJA has planned to mobilize for the next round of work under the NREGA for the year 2009-2010. The next padyatra is scheduled in the next few days and will target to reach new tolas of GPs we already have a base in.

Observing worksites: We have tried to keep a record of the works opened after the jaanch. When we made a tally we found that none of the 14 worksites where works were opened had muster rolls on the site, when JJA supporters and workers visited, though attendance is to be taken only in the MR and the MR is to be kept at the work site as per the Act. Boards which are mandated in the Act, were found only on 5 worksites and facilities to be provided under the Act, like drinking water, medicines, shade and crčche for worker’s children below the age of 6, were found to be missing at most worksites. These lacunas are discussed with local workers and residents, making them aware of the gap between their entitlements and the reality. Similarly the local administration is also made aware of the situation. We plan to continue being the watchdog and will continue to pressurize the administration to take corrective measures.

 

       

   A Board in GP Sharanpur, with more information

 

Accounts (From Dec-6 to May 15th)

http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=rFbVScEE-htuFuFinm5WwQw&output=html

Incase you have problems viewing this account spreadsheet online, please request us for a pdf document.

About the JJA

The JJA, Araria grew from our involvement in coordinating an intensive survey on National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA)  initiated by the G.B. Pant Institute (Allahabad University) and Prof. Jean Dreze. The survey was conducted by and focused on assessing the ground realities of NREGA in two districts of Bihar, namely Kaimur and Araria. The survey also had related campaign activities like awareness generation, checking if transparency safeguards were in place to check corruption and documentation of irregularities and cases of corruption.

 Lack of awareness about NREGA entitlements amongst workers is very high and so the survey was a good way to generate awareness to ensure that people know that 100 days of work is a right. As part of checking the transparency safeguards we also did some muster roll verification exercises (kind of social audit) and found a leakage of about 50 % in wages that have been paid.

 These activities generated a lot of interest amongst local groups and people who are genuinely interested in issues of social change. This interest became the basis of the formation of the 'Jan Jagaran Abhiyan, Araria' which is focusing on NREGA, Right to Information (RTI) and issues of justice.

The Abhiyan does not take institutional funds.  For more information and to volunteer or individually support please contact:

Ashish and kamayani

A-5, Siddharth Apartment,

Jagdeo Path, Off bailey Road,

Patna, Bihar- 14. ph: 9771950248, 9973363664

Kamayani02@yahoo.com, ashish.ranjanjha@gmail.com


[2] In October 2008, it was made mandatory to make all NREGA payments for worker’s wages through post office / bank accounts. This is the Governent’s way to ensure that money reaches a worker’s account directly nd chances of it’s being siphoned are reduced. However the postal system and civil administration are simply not equipped to deal with such large number of accounts. Also, vested interests who benefited from seepage (corrupt officials and people’s representatives) are not interested in wage transfers through accounts but want to continue cash payments. Both these factors contribute to the slowness in opening of accounts. But the Araria district administration blamed workers for this tardiness, while most workers realizing the benefit of accounts have been actively cooperating to get their accounts opened.



 
 
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