Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act –
Operational Guideline, 2013
The Mandate
The mandate of the Act is to
provide at least 100 days of
guaranteed wage employment in
a financial year to every rural
household whose adult members
volunteer to do unskilled manual
work.
GOALS
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Social protection for the most vulnerable people living in
rural India by providing employment opportunities
Livelihood security for the poor through creation of
durable assets, improved water security, soil
conservation and higher land productivity
Drought-proofing and flood management in rural India
Empowerment of the socially disadvantaged, especially
women, Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Schedules Tribes
(STs), through the processes of a rights-based
legislation
Strengthening decentralised, participatory planning
through convergence of various anti-poverty and
livelihoods initiatives
Deepening democracy at the grass-roots by
strengthening Panchayati Raj Institutions
Effecting greater transparency and accountability in
governance
Key Stake holders
District Programme Coordinator
Programme Officer
Pradhan
PROCESS OF ISSUE OF JOB CARDS
Application for registration should contain names of those
adult members of the household who are willing to do
unskilled manual work (“adult “means a person who has
completed 18 years of age), particulars such as age, sex,
SC/ST status, Rashtriya Swastha Bima Yojana (RSBY)
number, Aadhar number, Below Poverty Line (BPL) status
and bank/post office account number (if s/he has opened
one).
The GP will verify:
a. Whether the household is really an entity as stated in the
application
b. Whether the applicant household are local residents in the
Gram Panchayat concerned
c. Whether applicants are adult members of the household.
The process of verification shall be completed as early as
possible, and in any case not later than a fortnight after
the receipt of the application in the Gram Panchayat.
Custodian of Job Card
To ensure transparency and
accountability, it must be ensured that
the JC is always in custody of the
household to whom it is issued. If for any
reason i.e., updation of record, it is taken
by implementing agencies it should be
returned on the same day after the
updates. JCs found in the possession of
any Panchayat or MGNREGA
functionary, without a valid reason, will
be considered as an offence punishable
under Section 25 of the Act.
Entries for Employment and
Wages in Job Card
Entries pertaining to employment
and wages should be updated from
time to time and in any case no later
than 7 days of the corresponding
event date. Missing entries or
delay in entries in the JC will be
considered a violation and
punishable under Section 25 of
the Act.
Validation of Job Card &
Renewal
The JC shall be valid for a period of five years
and will have provision for the addition/deletion
of members eligible to work. Deletions in any
household on account of demise, or permanent
change of residence of a member, are to be
reported immediately by the household
concerned. Additions desired may be applied for
by the household.
Renewal of job cards will be done by the Gram
Panchayat in due time free of cost. Old job card
will be in the custody of the job card holders.
APPLICATION FOR WORK AND RECORDING OF
DEMAND
1.
2.
3.
4.
4.
Every adult member of a registered household whose name appears
in the JC shall be entitled to apply for unskilled manual work.
As per Schedule II para 7 of the Act, applications for work must be
for at least fourteen days of continuous work. There shall be no
upper limit on the number of days of employment for which a
registered person may apply, or on the number of days of
employment actually provided to him/her subject to a maximum of
one hundred days per household in a given financial year.
Applications for work should generally be submitted to the GP. They
may also be submitted to the PO but this should be treated as a
‘fallback’ option only.
Applications for work given in writing should state the following:
a. The registration number of the JC;
b. The date from which employment is required; and
c. The number of days of employment required.
Application for work may be on plain paper or it may be in a printed
proforma that will be made available free of cost at the GP.
Dated receipt for work
application
The Gram Panchayat or Programme
Officer, as the case may be, shall be
bound to accept valid applications for
work and to issue a dated receipt to the
applicant. Ideally, the Application Form
for work should have a counterfoil
receipt on which the date can be entered
and the dated receipt can then be issued
immediately upon the submission of the
application for work. Refusal to accept
work applications and provide dated
receipts will be treated as a
contravention under Section 25 of
MGNREGA.
Authority to receive demand &
issue date receipts
each Gram Panchayats in the
meeting of Artha O Parikalpana Upa
Samity shall authorize one of its
employees to receive all applications
for MGNREGS and to issue dated
receipt for such application
Authority outside GP to
receive demand & issue date
receipts
Gram Panchayat members,
anganwadi workers, school
teachers, SHGs and Common
Service Centres (CSCs)
ALLOCATION OF WORK
Employment should be provided from the
date that employment has been sought,
or within 15 days of the date of
application, whichever is later.
If some applicants have to be directed to
report for work beyond 5 km. of their
residence, the workers are required to
be paid 10 per cent of the wage rate as
extra wages to meet additional
transportation and living expenses.
UNEMPLOYMENT
ALLOWANCE
If an applicant is not provided
employment within fifteen days of
receipt of his/her application seeking
employment, he/she shall be entitled to a
daily unemployment allowance.
The unemployment allowance will be paid
as per Section 7 of the Act. The
allowance will not be less than one-fourth
of the wage rate for the first thirty
days and not less than one-half of the
wage rate for the remaining period of
the financial year.
The liability of the State Government to pay
unemployment allowance to a household during any
financial year shall cease as soon as:
1.
2.
3.
4.
The applicant is directed by the GP or the PO
to report for work either by himself or depute
at least one adult member of his household; or
The period for which employment is sought
comes to an end and no member of the
household ofthe applicant had turned up for
employment; or
The adult members of the household of the
applicant have received in total at least one
hundreddays of work within the financial year;
or
The household of the applicant has earned as
much from the wages and unemployment
allowance taken together which is equal to the
wages for one hundred days of work during the
financial year.
An applicant who
1. Does not accept the employment provided to
his/her household; or
2. Does not report for work within fifteen days of
being notified by the Programme Officer or the
implementing agency to report for the work; or
3. Continuously remains absent from work, without
obtaining a permission from the concerned
implementing agency for a period of more than
one week or remains absent for a total period
of more than one week in any month.
shall not be eligible to claim the unemployment
allowance payable under this Act for a period of
three months but shall be eligible to seek
employment under the Scheme at any time.
Sectors of work
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
water conservation and water harvesting
including contour trenches, contour bunds,
boulder checks, gabion structures,
underground dykes, earthen dams, stop darns
and springshed development;
drought proofing including afforestation and
tree plantation;
irrigation canals including micro and minor
irrigation works;
provision of irrigation facility, dug out farm
pond, horticulture, plantation, farm bunding
and land development on land owned by
households specified in paragraph lC;
renovation of traditional water bodies
including desilting of tanks;
land development;
Sector of Works
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
flood control and protection. works including drainage
in water logged areas including deepening and repairing
of flood channels, chaur renovation, construction of
storm water drains for coastal protection;
rural connectivity to provide all weather access,
including culverts and roads within a village, wherever
necessary;
construction of Bharat Nirman Rajiv Gandhi Sewa
Kendra as .Knowledge Resource Centre at the Block
level and as Gram Panchayat Bhawan at the Gram
Panchayat Level
agriculture related works, such as, NADEP composting,
vermi-composting, liquid bio-manures;
livestock related works, such as, poultry shelter, goat
shelter, construction of pucca floor, urine tank and
fodder trough for cattle, azolla as cattle-feed
supplement;
Fisheries related works. such as, fisheries in seasonal
water bodies on public hind;
Sectors of Works
13.
14.
15.
works in coastal areas, such as, fish drying
yards, belt vegetation;
rural drinking water related works, such as,
soak pits, recharge pits;
rural sanitation related works, such as,
individual household latrines, school toilet
units, anganwadi toilets, solid and liquid waste
management
A
B
16.
Construction of Anganwadi Centres
Construction of Play Fields
Any other work which may be notified by the
Central Government in consultation with the
State Government.
Conditions for execution
1.
2.
3.
Scheme must be included in the Annual
Action Plan
The 60:40 ratio for wage and material
costs should be maintained at GP level
for all works to be taken up by GP and
for works to be taken by all other
agencies it should be maintained at the
Block level.
No contractors and no labour-displacing
machinery shall be used in execution of
works.
Payment of Wages
According to Section 3(3) of
MGNREGA, workers are entitled to
being paid on a weekly basis, and in
any case within a fortnight of the
date on which work was done.
Electronic Fund Management
System (e-FMS)
1.
2.
3.
to make all MGNREGS payments
through a Central Account being
operated at the State level
to generate all Payment Orders
for payments from Bank/ Post
Offices exclusively using
NREGASoft.
to adopt Digital Signatures for
approving the payments.
COMPENSATION FOR DELAY
IN PAYMENT OF WAGES
As per the provisions in para 30 of
Schedule II, workers are entitled
to compensation as per the
provisions of the Payment of Wages
Act, 1936 in the event of any delay
in wage payments, Compensation
costs have to be borne by
respective State Government.
Vigilance & Monitoring
Three – tier Vigilance & Monitoring
Committee to be constituted
State Level
District Level
Gram Panchayat Level
State Level Vigilance & Monitoring
Committee
Commissioner, Panchayat & Rural
Development Department, Govt. of
West Bengal to function as Chief
Vigilance Officer
District Vigilance &
Monitoring Committee
Constituted vide Order No. 1126/MGNREGS dated 3007-2013 of the District Programme Coordinator,
MGNREGS & District Magistrate, Jalpaiguri
District Nodal Officer (MNGREGA): In – Charge
Assistant Engineer (MGNREGA): Member
Function of the District V&MC

The District Vigilance Cell will carry out the directions
of the State Vigilance Cell.

Perform inspections on its own and take follow up
actions for recovery, disciplinary action and filing of
criminal cases in respect of non-officials and officials
whose disciplinary authority is at the district level.

Oversee the inspection schedule of officials, the
observance of transparency provisions at the district
level and below and the functioning of Vigilance and
Monitoring Committees at the local level.

Where action has to be taken by the State Vigilance
Cell, the District Vigilance Cell would send proper
reports to it. It will also send an annual report to the
State Vigilance Cell.
Gram Panchayat Vigilance &
Monitoring Committee
All Gram Panchayats to constitute a 10 - member
committee within 30th September, 2013 half of
whom shall be women.
Members of the V&MC may be identified from
among the local school teacher, anganwadi
workers, members of SHG, member of
community based organization, youth clubs etc.
Members of the committee to be engaged by
the Gram Panchayat and such engagement would
be for a period of six months with subsequent
extension which should not exceed one year
Gram Panchayat V& MC should

Act as a forum for Concurrent Social Audit

Visit worksites and interact with workers

Assess quality of materials and costs

Provide end of work report on its satisfactory
completion including a qualitative assessment of
the nature of work and its usefulness

Place report of the committee at the meeting of
Gram Sabha
Social Audit
 Social
audit is a tool for
empowerment of the stakeholders,
not a fault-finding mission
 Ensures true Democracy by direct
participation
 Social audit is done by Gram Sabha,
facilitated by trained youth
 Comprehensive verification of
records
Pre-Social Audit Processes

Schedule is drawn up by the DPC

Selection of Social Audit Team Members by
the Programme Officer

Intimation letters are sent to the Prodhan
regarding dates of the Social Audit, schemes
to be audited & documents to be provided
Social audit process

5 day process
 Day 1 – Training of Social Auditors & consolidation of
documents
 Day 2 & 3– Field Verification
 Day 4 – Social Audit Report writing
 Day 5 – Social Audit Public Hearing

Resource Person & the Teams always move with the stakeholders

Verification of figures on records with facts on ground

Muster Rolls & Scrolls are verified with Job Card & Pass Books

Awareness building on rights and entitlements of the wage
seekers

Recording of evidence – statements in case of deviations
Post social audit
 Social
Audit & Decision Taken Report hosted
on public domain
 Programme
up action.

Officer takes the initial follow
Report sent to the District Programme
Coordinator for information within 7 days
 Report
sent to all those invited for the
Public Hearing
IT in Social Audit
 Exclusive
link in the District web
site www.nregajalpaiguri.com for
Social Audit
 All
Social Audit reports & Action
Taken reports are available in the
public domain
 Social
Audit video – clippings are
also available in the public domain
Vulnerable Groups
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Persons with Disabilities
Primitive Tribal Groups
Nomadic Tribal Groups
De-notified Tribes
Women in Special circumstances
Senior citizens above 65 years of age
HIV positive persons
Internally displaced persons
Enhancing Women Participation
COULD WORK UNDER MAHATMA
GANDHI NREGA
 COULD
PROPAGATE MESSAGE ON
ASPECTS OF MAHATMA GANDHI
NREGA
 COULD FACILITATE REGISTRATION
OF
DEMAND
UNDER
MAHATMA
GANDHI NREGA
 COULD
FACILITATE MONITORING
UNDER MAHATMA GANDHI NREGA

IMPORTANT CONTACTS
District Website www.nregajalpaiguri.com
District e-Mail ID nrega.jal@gmail.com
District Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/JalpaiguriNREGS
District Contact No. 03561 - 222334
District Helpline (Toll Free) 18003453215
THANKS