Date:03/10/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/10/03/stories/2008100352740300.htm

New Delhi

Novel way to lure Bihari workers to Punjab

Free cell phones being offered to migrant farm workers

‘Lack of transparency in the implementation of the NREGS’
The government plans to encourage social audits through gram sabhas

New Delhi: Agriculturists in Punjab seem to be struggling this season to hire migrant farm workers from Bihar and are believed to be using novel ways, like offering free cell phones, to lure them.

The lower scale of seasonal migration from Bihar could partially be due to the floods there, yet the woes of the farmers in the grain bowl of the country are being seen in a positive light by officials of the Ministry of Rural Development.

Rita Sharma, secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, on Thursday said the shortage of migrant workers from Bihar is an indicator of greater availability of jobs in their own state under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS).

“The traditional migration did not happen and farmers from Punjab tell us that they are luring workers from Bihar by offering incentives like cell phones,” she said at a national level interaction on Implementation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.

Highlighting lack of transparency in the implementation of the NREGS as a major challenge, she said, draft rules for raising accountability are almost ready and have been posted on the ministry website for suggestions.

An ombudsman mechanism for fortifying the grievance redressal system of the scheme was also under consideration, she said.

The government planned to encourage social audits through gram sabhas for the scheme, through which Rs.30,000 crore is expected to be spent in 2008-09 in 615 districts.

This would be in addition to performance audits through CAG in select districts, Ms. Sharma said. -PTI