Actor Atlas

[See section 4(5)]

Minimum Features of a Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme

1. The focus of the Scheme shall be on the following works in their order of priority:—
(i) water conservation and water harvesting;
(ii) drought proofing (including afforestation and tree plantation);
(iii) irrigation canals including micro and minor irrigation works;
(iv) provision of irrigation facility to land owned by households belonging to the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes or to land of beneficiaries of land reforms or that of the beneficiaries under the Indira Awas Yojana of the Government of India;
(v) renovation of traditional water bodies including desilting of tanks;
(vi) land development;
(vii) flood control and protection works including drainage in water logged areas;
(viii) rural connectivity to provide all-weather access; and
(ix) any other work which may be notified by the Central Government in
consultation with the State Government.

2. Creation of durable assets and strengthening the livelihood resource base of the rural poor shall be an important objective of the Scheme.

3. The works taken up under the scheme shall be in rural areas.

4. The State Council shall prepare a list of preferred works for different areas based on their ability to create durable assets.

5. The Scheme shall be subject to appropriate arrangements as may be laid down by the State Government under the rules issued by it for proper maintenance of the public assets created under the Scheme.

6. Under no circumstances shall the labourers be paid less than the wage rate.

7. When wages are directly linked with the quantity of work, the wages shall be paid according to the schedule of rates fixed by the State Government for different types of work every year, in consultation with the State Council.

8. The schedule of rates of wages for unskilled labourers shall be so fixed that a person working for seven hours would normally earn a wage equal to the wage rate.

9. The cost of material component of projects including the wages of the skilled and semi-skilled workers taken up under the Scheme shall not exceed forty per cent, of the total project costs.

10. It shall be open to the Programme Officer and Gram Panchayat to direct any person who applied for employment under the Scheme to do work of any type permissible under it.

11. The Scheme shall not permit engaging any contractor for implementation Of the projects under it.

12. As far as practicable, a task funded under the Scheme shall be performed by using manual labour and not machines.

13. Every Scheme shall contain adequate provisions for ensuring transparency and accountability at all level of implementation.

14. Provisions for regular inspection and supervision of works taken up under the Scheme shall be made to ensure proper quality of work as well as to ensure that the total wages paid for the completion of the work is commensurate with the quality and quantity of work done.

15. The District Programme Coordinator, the Programme Officer and the Gram Panchayat implementing the Scheme shall prepare annually a report containing the facts and figures and achievements relating to the implementation of the Scheme within his or its jurisdiction and a copy of the same shall be made available to the public on demand and on payment of such fee as may be specified in the Scheme.

16. All accounts and records relating to the Scheme shall be made available for public scrutiny and any person desirous of obtaining a copy or relevant extracts therefrom may be provided such copies or extracts on demand and after paying such fee as may be specified in the Scheme.

17. A copy of the muster rolls of each Scheme or project under a Scheme shall be made available in the offices of the Gram Panchayat and the Programme Officer for inspection by any person interested after paying such fee as may be specified in the Scheme.