Workers know little about rights

DNA, March 23, 2013Only 16% workers knew there is a provision of providing a job in 15 days of it being demanded and Only 12% of the surveyed knew the job would be within a 5-km radius of their village. A survey covered about 17,000 households with about 45,000-48,000 MNREGA job card-holders in Jaipur and Tonk districts

Only one in five people knew about form number 6, where requisition is filled for work

Seven years may have passed since the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA) was implemented in the state. However, only 7% workers included under the scheme are aware of the unemployment allowance provided by government in case it fails to find a job for a worker after 15 days of demanding it.

The survey, conducted by Consumer Unity and Trust Society across 325 villages of 65 gram panchayats, covered about 17,000 households with about 45,000-48,000 MNREGA job card-holders, in Jaipur and Tonk.

Only one in five people knew about form number 6, where requisition is filled for work. Similarly, only 16% knew there is a provision of providing a job within 15 days of it being demanded.

Only 12% of those surveyed knew the job provided to them would be within a 5-km radius of their village. The abysmally low awareness level was further reflected with only 71% MNREGA job card-holders knowing about the 100 days of work provision under the scheme.

“The awareness about the entitlements is unfortunately very low. With such low awareness levels, the people do not know what they are entitled to and so, don’t benefit from the scheme,” laments project coordinator Madhu Sudan Sharma.

The findings also revealed that only 57% of the MNREGA workers knew about the full wage rate of the government scheme while 52% were aware of the worksite facilities they were entitled to.

Only 7% know they can claim unemployment allowance from govt!

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