The brick soling of the road is likely start in this year for which they are now eagerly waiting. The construction work involving a total cost of Rs.73,800 started on 15 July last year, generated 1230 person days in the village, and was completed within one and half months. For the women engaged in the work, mostly belonging to the Bengali community, this provided extra earnings for their families. In fact, ever since the NREGA schemes have been implemented in their locality, they have been able to augment their family income. The male folk of the village move to nearby towns in search of jobs, where they can earn between Rs.120 to Rs.150 per day on an average. Lack of job opportunities for women in the area has made them remain at home. In such a situation, the NREGA projects have provided relief.
If NREGA schemes are meant for enhancement of family income for women in Purba Barjala village, for the tribal women belonging to Tripuri tribe in Chargharia, a village under the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC), earning under NREGA project is crucial for their living. These landless tribals have no means of livelihood except depending on daily wage earnings in nearby town or in brick-making industries, which is not ensured everyday.
“There is no work available for women. The two kilometre road construction work under NREGA gave us the opportunity to work and earn something. But it was completed before the state assembly election. After the election, we are looking forward to more jobs under the scheme,” said Piranjay Debbarma, a senior woman of the village.
Be it for an increase in the family income or a crucial tool for living, Tripura engages a substantial number of women in NREGA projects as compared to other northeastern states. In some pockets like Jirania and Dukli blocks, participation of women in NREGA works is amazing. In Dukli Gram Sabha of Dukli Block, 10 km away from the capital city Agartala, percentage of women engaged in NREGA schemes has goes up to 70 to 80 per cent, says S R Choudhury, the Block Development Officer.
“This is because NREGA works fetch a relatively low wage – about Rs. 85 per day. Because of this, menfolk show little interest in these works. The daily wage, even for unskilled work, is much higher. For skilled jobs, the men get as much as Rs. 200 per day,” the BDO says.
The Minister for Rural Development, Jitendra Choudhury, while acknowledging that the high women participation in NREGA schemes is a very positive aspect, adds that as the left-front government of the state has been able to ensure substantial job opportunities for the male folk in rural pockets, women have come forward to take part in NREGA works. Also, the state has moved for multi-cropping agriculture practices instead of traditional single cropping, which also keeps the men busy in fields, giving women more opportunities to avail of NREGA facilities. In Tripura, in the non-tribal segment, the agriculture practice is an all-male activity.
Statistics say
In Khedarnal village of Amarpur block in North Tripura district, 100 person days have been generated for all the 321 families during 2007-08, under the NREGA implementation schemes. This is for the first time in the country that 100 person days were generated for all the families in a village selected for NREGA schemes. Altogether 32,100 person days were generated under the scheme during the year.
A state progress report of NREGA activities has recorded percentage of person days for women as 44.51, which is higher than the national average of 42.52. The state has the highest record so far in terms of employing women in NREGA projects amongst the northeastern states. In some of the major tribal states, percentage of employment for women are: Arunachal Pradesh - 29.58, Nagaland -29.36 and Mijoram – 36.62. In matrilineal Meghalaya, it is only 30.87 while Assam records 30.85 women employment and Manipur records 32.80.
The department of rural development records generation of person-days as 181.04 lakh, with creation of an average 38.86 person-days per family in 2007-08. The state recorded issuing of 4,65,779 job cards for the year 2007-08 in three districts including West Tripura, South Tripura and Dhalai. While Dhalai was the first to be selected for the NREGA projects in 2006-07, West and South Tripura were selected in 2007-08. The North district has been selected only in 2008-09, and works are yet to be implemented.
Percentage of person-days for scheduled tribes that constitute 31 per cent of the total population was 41.95 during the year. In Dhalai district, 76.03 person-days per family have been generated in 2007-08.
“Taking the Dhalai district experience, the first NREGA district in our state into account, we are expecting generation of more person-days in 2008-09 in West and South districts also. Normally it takes some time in planning during the first year. Implementation process shows good results only from the second year after selection of the district for NREGA scheme,” says Brijesh Pandey, secretary, rural development. Even in South district, the department could generate 100 person-days for 216 families in very first year of NREGA implementation, he says. The NREGA manual ensures 100 days job-guarantee to all families identified for NREGA schemes.
Aim to create permanent assets
One of the objectives of NREGA implementation projects in Tripura is creation of permanent assets by construction of road infrastructures. In Jirania Block for instance, out of the 33 NREGA projects for 2007-08, 14 were brick soling road construction projects.
The state records construction of 6,716 kilometres of road under NREGA projects in 2007-08. In Dhalai, another 962.66 kilometres have been constructed during that year. Justifying the major thrust on road construction, the minister says that while road construction is a permanent asset building process aimed at accelerating developmental activities at grassroots, the state government has set a target that every hamlet having a population of 250 will be covered with a blacktopping road within next two years.
“Ensuring person days is not the sole objective of Tripura model of NREGA implementation. Our thrust also rests on creation of permanent assets in the state”, Pandey says.
Apart from the road construction schemes, other projects that have a priority in NREGA schemes include water conservation and water harvesting, micro-irrigation works, renovation of traditional water-bodies, fisheries, land development, flood control and protection, culverts and RCC bridges.
Performance
In terms of performance of NREGA implementation, Tripura ranks second in the country. The record of other northeastern states as regards their performance: Mizoram – fifth in the country, Manipur – seventh, Assam – thirteenth, Meghalaya – eighteenth, Arunachal – nineteenth and Nagaland – twentieth. The ranking parameters include transparency, accountability, vigilance, monitoring, evaluation, physical performance indicator, financial performance indicator, staffing, training and others, according to NREGA guidelines.
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