Karnataka
Duration of the visit – 5th to 9th Jan 2015 ( inclusive journey days)
Places Visited during the visit
State office ( social audit unit at VikasSouda)
Mandya District ( Mandya and Maddur Blocks)
Gps and villages Under Mandya Block – Chamneeli
Gps and villages under Maddur block - Holalu, Dudda
Officials and other Significant People whom I met and Interacted during the visit
Director( Mr H. S Hegde)
State Resource Person( V.SSrikanta)
District Resource Person( MrShantaraju, )
Taluka Level social audit coordinators( Sudha and Suresh)
Village resource person ( VRPs) ( Suma, Kumar, Geeta, Laxmi, Nandini and K. M Suresh)
Panchayat Development Officers, Sarpanch, Nodal officers, MGNREGA Taluka level officer and other officials at Gram Panchayat level.
Wage seekers whose toilets has been constructed under MGNREGA and also with convergence with NBA.
Introduction
The Karnataka state social audit unit is called the “ Karnataka State Mahatma Gandhi National Rural employment Gurantee Scheme Social Audit Society ” has been established since 2012 and got registered as a society. Then it was named as Directorate after the appointing the Director. The present Director Mr S. G Hegde was appointed one year back who is a retired IAS officer. The previous director Mr Naik was also an IAS officer. The state has 30 districts, 176 Talukas and 5629 Gram panchayats. Only two districts has 2 district level coordinators belguam and tumkur. And one extra Taluka level coordinator if there are more than 45 GPs in a Taluka.The state unit proposedto have one director, one joint director, 6 state resource persons, 30 district social audit coordinators supported by an assistant, 176 Taluka level social audit coordinators supported by an assistant. The villager resource persons are hired. The present posts which are vacant are 1 – joint director ( actually as per the special project proposal it is social audit expert) , 5- state resources persons, 9- district level social audit coordinators and 38 nos of Taluka level social audit coordinators.
The State social audit unit has asked the MORD to finalise the nominee from CSOs as they written and given name of 3 CSOs for the selection committee. Once they receive they will start the recruitment process.
The present state social audit unit ( offict ) has 1 – director, 1- state resource person ( V.S Srikanta), 1- accountant, 1- driver, 2- computer operators, 2- attendants.
The society is conducting social audits twice a year as per the rules . They clearly said that the it is not their part of the job to oversee the action taken ( ATR) and their job only is to conduct social audits. As action taken on the issues is the part of the government’s job. Mostly retired officers are heading the state unit . Though they are much particular about the rules, and regulations but they limit themselves within that.
The state has a separate notification for the setting up of social audit unit and which mentions the role of the staff at each level. The governing body headed by the Additional Chief Secretary . ( has been attached as a separate file ( pdf file named as page 1 and 3, please see annexure –1 for the notification No RDPR 186 (1) MGNREGA2011 10.1 2012).(It is mentioned in the notification page 2 that a retired officer will be the head of the state social audit unit).
Then there was a social audit rules framed with responsibilities. ( attached as a separate file ( word file, please annexure -2 for the rules).
There is no public hearing at the Taluka level. Only the gram sabha is the final authority. The gram sabha is called as gram sabha public hearing. The social audit reports are uploaded and maintained at Taluka level. The state office only keeps the brief of the audit reports. The state office has 25 formats in which once a year the district level coordinators submit their reports. ( all the headings of the formats . other documents has been explained in annexure -3 below this report).
The SAU has been undergoing an evaluation by an external agency called Public affairs society which is headed by a high court judge since last couple of months and they will submit their report to the government by March 15 as shared by V.S Srikanta.
Background
During 2007 -2008 the social audits in Karnataka state was conducted by SIRD and after 2 years they expressed their inability to handle social audits and they hired some contractual people to conduct social audits in the state at district and at taluka level. For some time the responsibility was handed over to the MGNREGA society before the society was registered in 2012. So the existing person who were engaged by SIRD are presently accommodated as district and taluka level coordinators . There 2300 VRPs who are engaged by the state on a continuous basis. The state unit has been asked to conduct audits for Nimal Bharat Abhiyan and for other schemes also.
Field visits done ( 7th and 8th Jan 2015)
Visited Mandya andMaddur blocks of Mandya districts. During the whole field visits, I made my visits based on the following criteria
-Since i was there for 3 days, so I choose one nearest block
-One GP where the social audit record verification is going one
-One or two village where the door to door verification is going
-One Gram sabha
-And random checked at GPs for wall paintings whichever GP is on the way.
On the above criteria I visited the following areas.
Sl No / Date of visit / District \block / GP\Village name / Aspects covered1 / 7th Jan 2015 / Mandya District ,Maddur block / Chamneeli GP, Chamneli village / VRPs and Taluka level coordinators were verifying records
2 / 7th / -do- / Chamneeli GP, Chapurdodi village / Door to door verification
3 / 8th / Mandya district , Mandya block / Dudda – GP / Gram Sabha
4 / 8th / -do- / Bevakallu – GP, village – B. Hatna / Door to door verification and wall paintings.
5 / 8th / Mandya district, Mandya and Maddur block / Dudda, Chamneeli , Bevakallu and Holalu GPs / Saw wall paintings ( done or not)
Social Audit Process
The VRPs whom I met were trained in July 2014 and from August they got engaged. After each audit they get 2 days. The VRP remuneration is Rs 325 per day and 75 rupees for travel. The VRPS don’t stay in the GP nor in villages. Every day they commute to their villages. The Bharat nirman volunteers ( BNVs) are taken as VRPS and I met two wage seekers. Mostly the women are working as VRPs which is a good sign. But again the state office feels that there is a issue of security so they are not allowed to stay in the villages or in GPs during the audit. The VRPs are literate up to 12th level, and most of them are also graduates. The VRPs are deputed to the near by GPs and they don’t do audit in their respective resident GPs. Normally 4 VRPs are placed in one group with 1 taluka level coordinators. In the present phase of audit the 4 group of VRPs will cover 42 Gram panchayats as per plan after one GP they will shift to another GP. ( a model sent to through courier).
At Mandya district, Maddur block, Chamneeli GP the VRPs, were verifying records along with the Taluka level Coordinators. There are 76 works in the Gp with an expenditure of 3 lakh 19 thousands which include land development, road of 200 mts and individual toilets ( IHHL). The IHHL is with convergence with Nirmal Bharat abhiyan. The payments for the wages are made through the Bank after it has been checked by the Sarpanch by giving his finger print and dangling it. The GPs in Karnataka has been connected through swipe system ( thumb impression) . The IHHL cost is 9,200 where 4700 is under NBA. The GP level officials seemed to be cooperative in disclosing all the information, about files, MBs, and other documents. The social audit for the period of April 14 to sept is presently going on in all GPs. Two durations of social audit ( april to spet and oct to march). The social audit process normally takes 3 to 6 days depending on the size of the village and works done. Minimum 3 days and maximum 6 days.
1st day – verification ( muster roll, as all GPs are connected with internet facility so the documents are downloaded at the GP itself as and when required). The GPs are supported with computer operators. Panchayat development officer is the key official supported by a Panchayat Secretary.
2nd day – work site verification
3rd day – door to door verification and 4th day is the social audit gram sabha
There are 6 formats at field level and after whichthetaluka level coordinator prepares the consolidated report and it is read out in the gram sabha.
In village Chapurudodi, the VRPs were undertaking door to door verification for IHHL. The IHHL has an information board as shown below. Each toilet wall has been painted with the information.
Two other VRPs were measuring the road ( work code id – 1521002034/RC/992248720935) 200 mteres from Adishakti temple with labour cost 20,705 ).
The GP Chamneeli has 3 villages including ( Chamneeli, Chapurdodi, and Deshali). There are total 979 job cards in the GP Chamneeliaand 963 are active job cards. During 2013 to 14 there were 660 active job cards.
The Gram Sabha in Mandya district ( Mandya block in Dudda GP) had their 1st round of social audit and 8th was the 2nd round of social audit. The GP had only 209 works from which 10 were IHHL with an expenditure 5lakh 54 thousand with 875 job cards. The GP has 1229 households with population of 5880. But only 122 came for Gram sabha. The important of MGNREGA was shared by the district level coordinator. The CDPO was the nodal officer. Before each gram sabha a pamphlet is also circulated. The ZP also gives a prior notice with dates and with a letter. The gram sabha was very general as there were not much works and not much serious issues. The taluka level coordinator read the report along with the VRPs. There were no independent observer nor ombdusmen. The gram sabha was completed within 1hour and 30minutes. It is said that unless there is some issue the independent observer is not deployed there. Only there was one issue about the picture absent in the file. One person came up with the request for construction of cow shed and questioned why only toilet construction.
After the gram sabha the proceedings were read out by the Taluka level coordinator. In GP Bevkallu ( village – B. Hatna) the VRPs were doing site and as well as door to door verification.
In GPs Chammneeli, Bevakallu, Holalu, the wall painting were done as shown in the picture below.
Observations and Suggestions
The state has substantially a big team with 32 DRPs and 176 Taluka coordinators along with 2300 VRPs working with you whom you are engaging on a continuous basis.Mostly they are females which is indeed a good sign.
-The biggest advantage is that it constitutes knowledgeable person like Mr V. Srikanta ( retired government officer from state financial services) who is very much particular on rules
-The advantage of having people from government is that they can establish good relation with the government throughout the state, but at the same time there is a concern that they might not have a professional relation which might sometime hinder the process. Or might miss out some pertinent issues as observed that the VRPs are not checking the demand forms, bills etc.
-The ooVoo ( skype type chat) introduced at the district level ( Mandya district) where the DRP is having an conversation with all Taluka level coordinators is really a good initiative. This has to be done more often as observed all your GPs are well connected by systems and through net. The DRPs should devote their time more on field monitoring than concentrating on field work.
-The state office should have at least one person for managing the administration and Mr Raghunath is looking after accounts. As training is a continuous activity for you, Mr Srikanata services utilized more in training and in field monitoring.
-The state should have a HR policy and along with Recruitment policy ( if you require any assistance on this , kindly write to MORD) as you have already have a lot of political interference regarding recruitment as felt.
-Strictly the norms should be followed for the recruitment of SRPs, social audit experts, DRPs, Taluka level and VRPs. As I was told that the DRPs and other staff have formed one NGOs if not union. In some district fresh recruitment for DRPs to be taken up by the state office.
-As I had a discussion with Mr Srikanta that the unit is working as per norms and rules now it has to take that extra step to make the unit more vibrant . And in next couple of months financial year a test audit can be done .
-It is good that the state unit has a space within the Vidhansouda( secretariat) with free systems and furniture. And in within 10 to 15 days it is shifting to a newer building which is also centrally located.
- it seems the state social audit unit is rule bound and don’t cross their limit and don’t take any risks. As the team kept on saying that there is lot political interference in the process.
- The team at the district level coordinators shared ( only with confidentiality) since the salaries are released through the sign of the DRDA senior officer so they cant even give any effective report .
- The team is very hierarchical and cordial for their higher level managers. The previous director left the job due to political interference but he had lot of capacity and could able to make some space in the vidhansouda for the office along with computers and furniture.
- The DRPs ( ooVo chat was unknown to the state social audit unit, it was only found when I asked that how do the DRPs monitore the TRPs and VRPS during the social audit process. But they have had already 5 to 6 times discussion through the ooVo chat.
- A test audit needs to be conducted after this financial year in Karnataka for building the process , as the team is big and the state has the necessary resources to make it more effective.
Annexure 3
1)Social audit report
2)Proceedings of the gram sabha ( dudda – gp)
3)Model and schedule of the training module for VRPs
4)Zp notification issued about the gram sabha
5)Group plan ( how the groups will move )
6)The social audit report ( 2014 -15) 1st round ( in English)
7)The maddur block ( how many GPs completed , and no of gram sabhas )
8)Guidelines issued for social audit
9)Act and rules for training
10) 6 formats used for the social audit process ( general statstics, no og registered , job card holders, abstract of general information, recorded dates, format for physical verification, format for door to door verification, format for fake and ghost cards.)
11)Social audit rules
12) End to end software for complete the process of social audit from social audit till ATR
13) The 25 formats in which the DRPs consolidate the information and submit the report to the sate office
a)Progress report of social audit and MIS uploading
b)Amount objected and proposed recovery
c)Misappropriation of funds
d)Procurement of materials without transparent procedures
e)Usage of machineary
f)Payments without execution of work
g)Excess payment proposed for recovery
h)Died, ghost, migrated, other persons whose cards are not
i)Both material and labour payment made to one person
j)Work carried in other schemes and payments made there in, also made under MGNREGA for the same work
k)Payment made from in excess of execution
l)Low quality of work
m)Impermissible works
n)Without execution of work MIS uploaded
o)Any other irregularity
p)Amount proposed for recovery during social audit and its details
q)Repetition of payments in the two financial years
r)Non distribution of job cards
s)Job cards not with the holders
t)Details not updated in the job card
u)Photographs not updated in the job card
v)Display board not in the site
w)Unemployment allowance paid and its details
x)Delay in payment ( compensation for delay)
y)Compensation for death, accident and its details.