Unable to keep track of works done under the rural benefit schemes, the government has decided to form a special cadre of community people to carry out social audit and monitoring of the implementation of such programmes.
Members of the new cadre would be roped in from women’s self-help groups and other local bodies. They will undergo a certificate course, which will be conducted by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences with the National Infrastructure Protection Plan, government sources told The Asian Age.
The special cadre is being created in line with the Ashas (Accredited Social Health Workers), which work in rural areas, the sources said, adding that as in case of Ashas, the social audit workers will be paid a monthly remuneration.
Their job will be to keep a track of all development works being carried out in the rural areas, especially those under the flagship Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (Nrega).
The sources said that the government felt though much work is being done in rural areas under the Nrega — and even the Swachch Bharat Abhiyan — not much is being recorded.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already underlined the need for online recording and monitoring of assets to check leakages and effective mapping of terrain for future developmental works.
Therefore, the government will soon create a systematic procedure to develop a database on these assets. The approach adopts technological interventions in terms of using mobile-based geo-tagging and a Geographical Information System-based information system.“Geo-tagging of all assets created under the Nrega will be completed by November 30,” the sources added.
The department of rural development and National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) of Isro, Hyderabad, will do the geo-tagging.
Isro would be developing the geo-spatial solutions on Bhuvan Geo-portal and also the mobile-based geo-tagging applications for Nrega scheme. The entire implementation is planned in three phases and the memorandum addresses the first phase of implementation.
