I am trying to facilitate effective implemantation of National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in a tribal Block of Madhya Pradesh. It includes empowering local communities to be vigilant at checking corruption, conducting studies to input Advocacy efforts at pressurizing the Administartion to be more Transparent & Accountable at ensuring workers' rights as envisaged in the historical Act that turns work as matter of right.
National Rural Employment Guarantee Act has a strong component of Transparency and Accountability but the Implementing agency has all the roadblocks to let it happen. The access to information is made difficult, the enquiries are tortoise paced and the grievance redress process is obstacled that lets the wage earners feel discouraged and often hopeless.
I intend to evolve a truly vigilant community, a labor collective potent at negotiation and confrontation and set my small area effort as a model to be replicated across the country.
We are working mainly on the issue of Right to Food & Work in teh tribal dominated Khalwa block in Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh (India). The focus is to empower the resident communities to know their entitlements to various Food Security schemes and demand the same as a matter of Right. For macro policy issues we resort to in depth factual studies that input our Advocacy & Lobbying efforts. For instance we powerfully Advocated teh issue of malnutrirtioon deaths and imported wheat for Public Distributioon System. Currently we are also targetting fair implementation of Rural Employment Gurantee Act and the evolution of strong wage earners Collective.
Our recent involvemment also comprise an effort to assist migatory labors through providing them identity, establish linkages so that they have access to all admissible benefits and legal recourse in case of violation of their Human or Constitutional rights.
