Pathetic State of Congress in General Elections 2014-Fading Magic of MANREGA

Yes, I knew that Narendra Modi has become a phenomenon himself and Samajwadi Partyhas a major image crisis in the whole Uttar Pradesh. But what about Congress?

At least five to ten social welfare and social security schemes are being run by the Central Government, covering a major chunk of the population. Why the Congress Party cannot cash the effect of these welfare schemes? I tried to gauge impact of biggest of these schemes, i.e. MANREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act).

A Government poster about MANREGA scheme

Very popular in this Hindi Heartland of eastern Uttar Pradesh, this scheme gives guarantee of minimum days of job guarantee to the persons, living below poverty line. What appears in the national media that this scheme has saved crores of people from starvation?

I was interacting with ************ Yadav, a young and energetic village head, called Gram Pradhan, who had won a closely fought election. Yadav, belonging to the Indian caste traditionally associated with milk business, is from a wealthy family; and had some big plans for his village, after election to the post of Gram Pradhan. But, now he has lost all his hopes.

What he described is nothing new in a country, mired with corruption. Drawing any fund for development is a mammoth exercise, impossible without paying specific percentages to various Government functionaries. And when funds arrive, his near and dear ones in the village expect their share of loot.

The same story goes with MANREGA. After offering their share to the deities in the Government offices, whatever funds come to the village, he had to execute some projects in the village, so that people in his village may get some employment. But, the MANREGA rules have been framed in such a way that it has become perch for all type of idlers and shirkers, who only pretend to work just to gain the pittance wages of MANREGA.

MANREGA- No work, less wages

They will report to work, just to pass time whole day. If asked to work, they simply threaten to not to vote him in next elections. So, this scheme has become cause of all type of wrong things, created a vicious cycle.

I was interacting with Mr. ************ Ansari, an exporter of handmade carpets, who was very sad with all these developments. He was unable to find hands for manufacturing his famous carpets, even at the double wages compared to that in MANREGA. This scheme is promoting idleness and affecting industries negatively.

So, essence of the story; no one was happy with this much touted scheme. I was thinking about poor Congress party, who is making calculations about the windfall of votes on the basis of MANREGA like schemes and the Law of Reincarnation Raw.