New Delhi: With job losses making headlines due to the slowdown, the government has increased the outlay for its job guranate scheme, the NREGA, by nearly 150 per cent.
When thousands of diamond workers in Surat earning nearly Rs 7,000 a month lost their jobs because of the global meltdown, they sought the safety net available in their villages.
The assurance of 100 days of paid work on demand under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. They were grateful they were able to survive.
In states like Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan where NREGA has been implemented with success, it has curbed distress migration.
For the rural poor it has also led to an upward trend in minimum wages.
"I think the increased allocation of funds is an important opportunity to expand the (NREGA) programme. In terms of making it more effective, the accountability mechanism has to be activated. Right now it's being sidelined," said Dr Jean Dreze, Economist.
"Expanded allocation reflects the resolve of the government to enable people to know that they have this right and to act on that right," said Harsh Mander, Supreme Court Commissioner's office, Right to Food.
NDTV reports from the ground found that the key to the Act's success was proper implementation. There continue to be numerous challenges facing NREGA.
In Punjab's Tarn Taran district, people said they were going to bed hungry.
"Yes, we need work. The poor can only feed themselves when they have work," said a farmer.
In Haryana, women like Santosh told us that the Sarpanch who has to implement the work plan had been discouraging. He had also refused to mark their attendance or pay minimum wages.
In Jharkhand, one of the worst performing states, Chabutri Devi got her job card in January 2007 but all she has to show since then is just 22 days of work. Worse she has not been paid her wages.
Experts say the problem is an unstable political environment and the fact that implementing institutions like the Panchayati Raj are absent from the state.
By increasing substantially, the budgetary allocation for NREGA, Pranab Mukherjee has signalled the right intentions for the scheme, but the challenge for the government in a state like Jharkhand, is to plug loopholes in the system, so that the benefits of the scheme can actually filter down to the people who actually need it the most.