In his address Dr. Joshi stressed the need to have a more concerted and dedicated efforts to ensure timely payment of wages for the NREGA beneficiaries. He emphasized the need to spread awareness and evolve a way out for speedy convergence with the schemes initiated by other Ministries with full adherence of NREGA guidelines. He reiterated that the cardinal principles of NREGA would always be kept in mind while reaching out to the rural people. The Minister said in order to provide rural masses a proper channel for their job related demands under the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA, the need for establishing fully equipped Panchayat Ghar along with the Bharat Nirman Rajiv Gandhi Sewa Kendras is the need of the hour.

The members were informed about the implementation status of Mahatma Gandhi NREGA in the light of the new Panchayat Bills for the 50% reservation to women as well as changes in the rules made and amendments carried out in the schedule of NREGA,2005. The Minister said that the emphasis should be on tackling issues related to delayed payments under the Act, the unemployment allowance and enlarging the scope of work on land belonging to the small and marginal farmers belonging to SCs, STs and the BPL population. The participants expressed concern over delays in payment of wages, lack of efficient monitoring mechanism and lack of awareness among the job card holders about their rights and entitlements under the act. They also suggested group visits by the members of the council to various states to monitor the implementation of the scheme.

In order to implement Mahatma Gandhi NREGA effectively and ensure transparency and accountability the Council has decided to set up an Expert Committee under the Chairmanship Of Secretary Rural Development to constitute sub groups on different aspects of the act. The other members of the Committee include Smt. Aruna Roy, Shri Jean Dreze, Shri Mihir Shah, Shri Madhusudan Mistry and Prof. Ashwini Kumar. The committee has been empowered to engage the services of experts from various disciplines to look into various aspects related to implementation of Mahatma Gandhi NREGA including the issues related to timely payment of wages, social audits and capacity enhancement of PRIs etc.

It was the 11th meeting of the Central Employment Guarantee Council and the third since the UPA Government returned to power in 2009. During the meeting the members discussed at length issues related to the administrative and technical capacity building under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. Those who attended the meeting include Union Ministers of State for Rural Development & Panchayati Raj Shri Sisir Adhikari, Shri Pradeep Jain “Aditya”, Secretaryu Rural Development Shri B.K.Sinah and Sexcretary Panchayati Raj Shri A.N.P.Sinha, Member Olanning Commission Shri Mihir Shah ,Smt. Aruna Roy, Sanjay Dixit, Shri Nana Alias Ramesh Pandurang Gawande, Shri Madhu Sudan Mistri, , Shri Bhakta Charn Das, Shri Jean Dreze, Shri M. I. Shanavas, Prof. Ashwani Kumar, Shri Rangu Rao, Shri K.S. Gopal,Shri Ratn Ben Yadav , Sabina Yasmin and Prof. Mool Chand Sharma along with the representatives from Karnataka, Chattisgarh and Himachal Pradesh along with the representatives from other central ministries and senior officials from the Ministry Of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj among others.

Mahatma Gandhi NREGA provides for a Central Employment Guarantee Council at the national level with the representatives from the Central Government, the State Governments, Panchayati Raj Institutions , organizations of workers and disadvantaged groups with the representatives from women and members of Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, the Other Backward Castes and Minorities. The Council is mandated to perform the following functions and duties (a) establish a central evaluation and monitoring system; (b) advise the Central Government on all matters concerning the implementation of this Act; (c) review the monitoring and redressal mechanism from time to time and recommend improvements required; (d) promote the widest possible dissemination of information about the Schemes made under this Act; (e) monitoring the implementation of this Act; (f) preparation of annual reports to be laid before Parliament by the Central Government on the implementation of this Act; (g) any other duty or function as may be assigned to it by the Central Government. In addition it is authorized to have the power to undertake evaluation of the various Schemes made under this Act and for that purpose collect or cause to be collected statistics pertaining to the rural economy and the implementation of the Schemes.