Page 476 - SSB Interview: The Complete Guide, Second Edition

Yet another criticism is the unintended effect of MGNREGA in terms of
skill growth. A review published by India in September 2011 conceded the
lack of skilled technicians at almost every site under the MGNREGA
programme, along with rules banning the use of machinery or contractors

(labour is usually by shovel). Such bureaucratic regulations mean that the
labourers learn no new skill, and that the ponds, roads, drains, dams and other

assets built with manual labour are often of wretched quality. The idea behind
the MGNREGA programme is to create as many jobs as possible for
unskilled workers. But in practice, say critics, it means no one learns new

skills only basic projects get completed and the poor stay poor — dependent
on government checks.

A multi-crore fraud has also been suspected where many people who have
been issued the NREGA card are either employed with other government

jobs or are not even aware that they have a job card. The productivity of
labourers involved under NREGA is considered to be lower because of the

fact that labourers consider it a better alternative to working on major
projects. There is criticism from construction companies that NREGA has
affected the availability of labour as labourers prefer working under NREGA

to working on construction projects.

It is also widely criticised that NREGA has contributed to a farm labour
shortage. In July 2011, the Government advised the states to suspend the

NREGA programme during peak farming periods.

The National Advisory Committee (NAC) advocated the Government for
NREGA wages linkage with statutory minimum wages which is under the
Minimum Wages Act as NREGA workers get only `100 per day.

RIGHT OF CHILDREN TO FREE AND

COMPULSORY EDUCATION ACT

The present Act has its history in the drafting of the Indian Constitution at the
time of Independence but is more specifically rooted in the Constitutional
Amendment that included Article 21A in the Indian Constitution making