NEW DELHI: The ambitious Jawahar Rozgar Yojana (JRY), Rajiv Gandhi’s pet scheme launched three years ago with much fanfare, has failed miserably in achieving its targets of poverty alleviation and employment generation for the rural poor. This is not an Opposition politician’s statement but the broad conclusion of a recent study done by an official body.

An assessment by the Program Evaluation Organization of the Planning Commission has indicated that the program, which costs the exchequer a massive Rs 2,623 crore year, is far from achieving its targets, ‘

Particularly scathing is the observation that even basic information on the number of persons available for employment and the number actually employed under the JRY has not been maintained at the Central, State, district, block or gram panchayat level.

The study also states that the program has been able to provide employment to a mere 14% of the total population available for employment under the program.

The Planning Commission study covered 40 gram panchayats in 20 districts of 10 states including Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal which together account for a little over 90% of the country’s rural poor,

The study has observed that in the areas falling under the selected gram panchayats, the program was able, in 1989-90 to provide employment to only 14% of the population although 36% of the total population was available for employment under the JRY.

The figure for 1990-91 was 14.3% and for the first six months of 1991-92 it was an abysmal 3%. The study also reveals that more than half the available funds were utilized during the last quarter of the financial year, that is, between January and March.

Since this period coincides with the Rabi harvest season when demand for employment under the JRY is not very high, particularly in the wheat producing slates, the study categorically observes that this trend of expenditure “goes against the spirit of the wage employment program.”

Despite the hype about grassroots development which accompanied the launch of the program, precious little seems to have been done to ensure the participation of gram panchayats in the actual planning and implementation of the JRY, the study has noted.

While panchayats have been entrusted with handling 80% of the funds at the district level, no Steps have been taken to ensure timely elections to these bodies. The Planning Commission study points out that in states like Bihar, Orissa, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, elections to gram panchayats have not been held on time. In many gram panchayats in slates like Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra, elections have not been held at all.

In this context, the study categorically states that “since the action plan for (the) JRY is being prepared at the block level in some cases, the operation by the people and cooperation by the Government may not be achieved unless gram panchayats become truly democratic.”

The program, the study adds, has also failed to create durable crucial assets like wells. One million wells were to be dug under the JRY. The program failed to significantly develop land resources or setup organizations like Mahila mandals.

On creation of other assets such as roads, school buildings, panchayat ghars and the implementation of social forestry schemes, the Planning Commission assessment notes that the quality of assets is not up to the mark in a majority of cases. One suggestion made on improving the program reveals the efficacy of the Yojana; “It (should) be implemented (selectively)…in the areas of concentration of the poor.”

Article extracted from this publication >> July 3, 1992