MGNREGA, Power Politics, and Computerization in Andhra Pradesh

Abstract

The link between e-governance and accountability of state administrations for service provision has been problematized in the literature to date. However, little is known about its application to anti-poverty programmes, of which public workfare schemes are an increasingly important subset. In this paper, we fill the gap with a study of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), India’s largest workfare scheme, as it is being computerized in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. A state-level information system was devised to ensure transparency of transactions, and hence combat the illicit diversion of the programme’s funds to non-entitled recipients. But while doing so, the system carries a policy of centralization, which concentrates decision-making power in the hands of a limited set of actors rather than distributing it across the programme’s stakeholders. In particular the Field Assistants, appointed officials responsible for the village-level management of the scheme, have direct control on the information inputted in the system, which reinforces their position of authority rather than challenging it in favour of greater empowerment of wageseekers. Furthermore, wage payments are traced by the information system till they reach the disbursement agencies, but are prone to capture in the ‘last mile’ where workers collect their salaries, which results in greater vulnerability for them. As a result, MGNREGA workers are constructed by the new information system as sheer beneficiaries rather than active participants in the programme, which concurs to crystallizing existing power structures rather than resulting in wageseekers’ empowerment. Lessons are drawn for other states currently computerizing their social safety nets.

Keywords:

• accountability
• e-governance
• anti-poverty policy
• MGNREGA
• India
• Andhra Pradesh

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank three anonymous reviewers, whose constructive comments have enabled us to substantially improve the quality of the paper.

Notes on contributors

Silvia Masiero is a Lecturer in International Development at the School of Business and Economics, Loughborough University. Her research focuses on the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the field of socio-economic development. Her current work revolves around the embeddedness of ICT artefacts in development policy and governance, with a specific interest in their participation in the politics of anti-poverty programmes.

Diego Maiorano is a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellow at the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies and the School of Politics and International Relations, University of Nottingham. His research focuses on India's politics and development and on political and economic change in developing countries, with special reference to the themes of poverty and inequality. His current research focuses on India’s largest anti-poverty programme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. He is the author of Autumn of the Matriarch - Indira Gandhi’s Final Term in Office (Hurst/Oxford University Press/Harper Collins, 2015).

Notes

1 Full statistics are available on the national MGNREGA website: http://www.nrega.nic.in.

2 Critiques to the programme (e.g. Bhagwati & Panagariya, 2014) find their core argument in the lower economic effectiveness of MGNREGA as compared to a cash transfers scheme. This point, while central in the ongoing debate, does not dispute the contribution to poverty reduction achieved by MGNREGA.

3 Drèze (2014) shows, however, that corruption is significantly lower in MGNREGA as compared to other workfare programmes, and has been declining over time.

4 Over fiscal year 2014/2015, only 27.38 per cent of payments were disbursed within the prescribed 15 days, while more than 13 per cent were delayed by more than 90 days (Accountability Initiative, 2015).

5 Beyond research conducted for this paper specifically, the second author has led extensive work on MGNREGA in Andhra Pradesh, consisting of in-depth interviewing and participant observation of works and social audits in the districts of Vishakapatnam, Srikakulam, Guntur, Chittoor, Mahbubnagar, Karimnagar and Anantapur between 2012 and 2017. Part of this work has preceded the bifurcation between Andhra Pradesh and Telangana in 2014. This work has served to triangulate the data presented here, and to place observations in the broader context of MGNREGA.

6 This was consistently true until 2012/2013. From 2013/2014 on, the ranking of Andhra Pradesh dropped significantly. While what caused the fall in employment generation is not clear, it is plausible that the agitation for the bifurcation of the state, occurred with the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act in 2014, affected the implementation of the MGNREGA too, as a result of the virtual paralysis of state administration post-bifurcation.

7 Interview with a senior official, 30 August 2014.

8 It should be noted that YSR’s anti-corruption agenda was limited to welfare schemes and in particular to the MGNREGA, which played a central role in building his political credibility. In other spheres, such as the management of public revenues and the state’s food security system, he allowed widespread corruption to occur, displaying sensibly lower levels of attention to the rigor of public procedures and their equality for all citizens.

9 Interview, senior Rural Development Department official, Hyderabad, 9 December 2013.

10 Interview with the former Minister for Rural Development, Hyderabad, 5 August 2013. This was confirmed by the second author's field visits in Chittoor, Karimnagar, Mahbubnagar and Vishakapatnam districts. In every single village visited, we found that Field Assistants had important political connections.

11 Interview, senior Rural Development Department official, Hyderabad, 5 August 2013.

12 This observation comes from the second author’s extensive fieldwork in Rajasthan’s rural areas in January-February 2014 and from conversations with scholars working on other states. See also Jenkins and Manor (forthcoming) for evidence regarding Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

13 Interview, senior official, 5 August 2013.

14 Observation conducted at the Society for Social Audit, Accountability and Transparency, as well as at three different volunteer organizations engaging in protection of MGNREGA workers, has confirmed the frequent use that these organizations make of reports produced by the information system.