NAGALAND UNIVERSITY

1. NAGALAND UNIVERSITY PRESENTED BY: DR. AMOD SHARMA NAGALAND UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES & RURAL DEVELOPMENT MEDZIPHEMA: CAMPUS, MEDZIPHEMA NAGALAND - 797 106.

2. METHODOLOGY The district of Mon, Wokha, Kohima and Mokokchung were selected for the present work selecting two RD blocks and four villages from each VDB units. Mon and Tizit R.D block of Mon district; Changtongya and Ongpangkong north R.D block of Mokokchung district; Wokha and Chukitong R.D block of Wokha district and Kohima and Tseminyu R.D block of Kohima district were selected for present investigation. The selected villages comprised of Mon, Chui, Goching, Tuimei villages from Mon R.D Block and Jaboka, Neitong, Tela and Lapa villages from Tizit R.D Block from Mon district. Longsa, Longsachung, Niroyo, Okheyan villages from Wokha R.D BlockandYanthamo, Yimkha, New Longidang and Longla villages from Chukitong R.D Block of Wokha District of Nagaland. The selected villages under Kohima district included Zisunyu , Tseminyu ,Nsunyu and Chunlika villages of Tseminyu R.D Block and Chedema , Sechu (Zubza), Mengugauma and Mezoma villages from Kohima R.D Block. Chuchuyimpang , Mokokchung , Aosettsu and Ungma villages from Ongpangkong North R.D Block and Longjang, Longpa , Sungratsu and Mopungchuket villages from Kubulong R.D Block of Mokokchung district of Nagaland.

3. FINDINGS • Awareness about the NREGA and its provisions:

4. II. Demand process of NREGA scheme

5. III. Work process of NREGA scheme

6. IV. Status of Wage payment under NREGA scheme

7. V. Status of Record Maintenance of NREGA scheme

8. VI.Socio economic Impact of NREGA on Beneficiaries

9. VII. Feed back of Non Beneficiaries of NREGA scheme

10. VIII. Mandays generated under NREGA programme It was found that an average of 26.5 mandays was generated under NREGA in Mon District, 44 mandays in Wokha district, 37 mandays in Kohima district and only 9.5 mandays was generated under NREGA in Mokokchung district. Thus an average of 29.25 Mandays only was generated under NREGA out of a target of 100 Mandays in these selected districts. However at the state level an average of 22.391 man days were generated in the year 2008-09 till February 2009 for a total number of 291938 house-holds.

11. IX Monitoring and Vigilance The status of monitoring and vigilance in the selected district was found satisfactory. NREGA work are being monitored by the competent personnels and these activities are also being inspected and verified periodically.

12. X. Types of activities undertaken • Construction of Agri link road was the main activity comprising about 44 per cent, followed by construction and maintenance of village approach comprising about 31 per cent and construction of foot steps which constituted about 6 per cent of the total activities under taken under these four districts. The remaining 19 per cent of the activities included construction of irrigation canal 4 per cent, horticultural farming 3 per cent, construction of fishery ponds, culvert, terracing, soiling and metalling each comprising 2 per cent. Construction of check dam, protection wall, tree plantation and well constituted 1 per cent of the total activities.

13. XI. Social Audit Process of social audit was found satisfactory. On an average three to five members constituted the committee for social audit comprising, members form church, school teacher, youth leaders etc. Social audit was done periodically and a copy of the audit was made available to the project team by the concerned BDOs.

14. XII. Flow of Fund • Flow of fund from state government to the village is quick and efficient. VDB secretary receives fund from the BDOs through cheque which is en cashed in a public sector bank through the savings account opened specially for this purpose. However flow of fund from the central government is not smooth in certain districts due to non submission of MPR in time or MPR not prepared in accordance to the guidelines by the MORD. Maintenance of Receipt and Expenditure account for NREGA at village level was found well managed. • Total fund received under NREGA for the state in the year 2008-09 till February 2009 was 13161.278 lakhs out of which 10834.648 lakhs have been already utilized.

15. XIII. Benefits of NREGA perceived by the respondents: • Has generated additional mandays thereby increasing employment opportunities at the village level. • Has created durable assets in the village. • Has been helpful in providing additional income and employment in lean seasons. • Equal opportunity of wage income has been facilitated for both men and women. • Better rural connectivity ushered. • Have made transportation of goods and services easier, including transporting farm implements to the farm.

16. Has improved the socio economic conditions of the rural community. • Resulted in social and economic empowerment of the rural poor and excluded groups of the society. • Promoted the health and nutritional security of the rural people. • Assured additional income per year. • Discrimination in wage payment in case of women abolished. • Transparency in the system of work has increased considerably. • Helped considerably in enriching the process of social capital formation.

17. XIV. Problems faced in implementing NREGA Work is not available when it is demanded by the job card holders due to non availability of fund or due to present social structure and dimentions. • Higher wages to the tune of Rs 350 to 450 are being paid for other skilled labour oriented jobs in the villages. Therefore, sometimes card holders are unwilling to do NREGA work. • VDB officials are burdened with the paper work without incentives. This may lead to misutilisation of fund in the long run. • Wage payment to the Job Card holders are paid in cash which should have been done through cheque or savings account in bank. However, at present 21 R. D. Blocks out of 52 R. D. Blocks in the state does not have any bank. • Mandatory demand of work for 14 days in one stretch sometimes deprives Job Card holders to avail other short period employment opportunity with higher wages. • Smooth flow of fund is also a limiting factor for reduced level of mandays generated per year. • Due to poor internet connectivity, a great difficulty is being experienced in the job of MIS reporting.

18. XV. Suggestions: • In Nagaland , there are many jobless families who totally depend on their daily wages for their livelihood. Therefore the present wage amount of Rs. 100 should be enhanced to a minimum Rs.150 which may be at par with the existing situation. • In this era of information technology IT, computers and digital cameras may be provided to the VDB’s of every village, for efficient monitoring and timely recording of NREGA related data’s. • Suitable incentives should be given to the VDB officials.

19. Due to difficult terrain and topography of the land in Nagaland use of machinery may be allowed for limited and justified purpose only. • Gram Rozgar Sahayak was not found in any of the selected districts under present study. Therefore they should be appointed at the earliest in every village, for better implementation of the NREGA work. • The paper works related to NREGA should be simplified to avoid difficulty in proper maintenance of the records by the village leaders. • Locally available materials may be allowed for NREGA work due to transportation and other local problems.

20. More trainings should be incorporated for human resource development. • In Nagaland, female / male members of the family separate themselves from the combined family just after marriage. Thus increase in number of nuclear family should be taken care of by timely availability of the job cards. • The top priority of work under NREGA in Nagaland has been given to rural connectivity in the form of construction of village approach road, Agri link road etc. Therefore, state department of Rural Development, Government of Nagaland should incorporate justified enhanced projection of labour budget for rapid development of the rural and remote areas in Nagaland. • A small fund may be earmarked for the maintenance of the assets created under NREGA.