Funds are made available to districts based on employment demand and the need for material. Figure 1 presents the trend of fund availability and expenditure in the district.

Figure 1: Fund Available and Expenditure (Rs Crore)

• The sudden increase in expenditure in 2020-21, when it almost doubled compared to 2019-20, indicates a high level of work demand because of the pandemic-induced lockdown and the subsequent economic slowdown.
• In 2021-22, expenditure fell 24% compared to 2020-21, but it was still 45% higher than the pre-pandemic level in 2019-20. This perhaps indicates that overall employment situation in places other than MGNREGS might have improved slightly compared to 2020-21, but is still much below pre-pandemic levels.

Figure 2 shows the total funds available and the total expenditure at the block level for the period from 2017-18 to 2021-22.
Figure 2: Cumulative Fund Available and Expenditure Between 2017-18 and 2021-22 (Rs Crore)

• Out of three blocks, Patan has the highest total allocation and expenditure, while Durg has the lowest allocation and expenditure.

Of the total funds available with a district, some amount can remain unspent at the end of a financial year for various reasons. Or, in other cases, expenditure can exceed funds available, which indicates a shortage of funds. The extent of funds spent out of the total funds available is called the ‘rate of utilisation’. 
Figure 3 shows out of the total funds available with the district, how much was unspent at the end of the financial year, and its annual rate of utilisation.

Figure 3: Unspent Balance and Rate of Utilisation

• The district had an unspent balance in four of the five years. 
• In 2017-18, expenditure exceeded funds available— there was a shortage of Rs 1.3 crore.
• Except 2017-18, when there was a shortage of funds, fund utilisation has been in the range of 96%-99%

Figure 4: Unspent Balance/ Fund Shortage in Blocks (Rs lakh)

• While the overall district had an unspent balance in the last two years, at the block level, there were fund shortages in Durg and Patan. 
• This is because funds were unspent at the level of the ‘district level line department’ and the ‘district programme coordinator (DPC)’. 

Total expenditure under MGNREGS occurs on four components: wages, material, taxes paid on buying materials, and lastly the administration. The last two are small components. Hence, only wages and material expenses have been analysed below. 

Figure 5: Components of Expenditure

• From 2017-18 onwards, expenditure on wages has continuously increased till 2020-21.
• During 2020-21, when there was a sudden increase in demand for work under MGNREGS, of the total increase in expenditure of Rs 65 crore, Rs 47 crore went towards wage payment. 
• The other two components (taxes and administration) are in the range of a combined Rs 2.5-4 crore in this period.

Sometimes, either because of excess expenditure over funds available or because of procedural delays, payment for the work done can be due at the end of the period. This amount is called ‘payment due’. This amount is generally paid in the subsequent period. Figure 6 shows the trend of total payment due and its breakup across two major components, wages and material.

Figure 6: Total Payment Due (Rs Lakh)

• Between 2017-18 and 2020-21, payment due remained at a minimal level. 
• In 2021-22, payment due increased by Rs 2.1 crore over 2020-21. 
• At the end of 2021-22, Dhamdha had payment due of Rs 91 lakh, while Durg and Patan had dues of Rs 58 lakh.

Under the scheme, all rural households whose adult members are willing to do unskilled manual work, and demand the same, are to be given such work. In this context, there are three datapoints: how many persons demanded (applied for) work; of those who demanded, how many were offered work; of those who were offered work, how many availed the work. These indicators are presented below.

Figure 7: Trends in Employment Demanded, Offered and Availed (No. of Persons in 1,000)

• The number of persons demanding work increased by 35% year-on-year in 2020-21, which again points to the impact of the COVID-19 induced crisis in the job market. 
• In 2021-22, demand came down by 15%, but the number of persons availing work declined by 8%.
• In all five years, almost everyone who demanded employment under the scheme was offered employment. 
• However, in all five years, the number of persons who availed employment was much less than the number who were offered.
• The average number of days a person worked ranged from 30 (in 2019-20) to 39 (in 2020-21). This is much below the 100 days guaranteed under the scheme and needs to be investigated further to identify the underlying reasons.
• Of the total families who were offered employment, the proportion of families that completed 100 days of work in a financial year ranged from 7.5% in 2019-20 to 17% in 2020-21.

Figure 8 compares the district with the state on the percentage of people who are availing employment out of those who were offered employment.

Figure 8: Out of All Who Were Offered Employment, What Proportion Availed It (%)

• Before the pandemic, this trend was similar for the district and the state, with the district having slightly higher levels than the state. 
• In the pandemic years, the trend has slightly changed compared to the previous years.

Figure 9 presents employment data divided by gender.

Figure 9: Gender Disaggregated Data

• Between 2017-18 and 2020-21, both men and women registered higher number of work-days.
• The share of women in work-days increased in the first four years, but fell in 2021-22.

Figure 10 represent the person-days availed, in absolute and relative terms, by the three social groups: Schedules tribes (STs), Scheduled castes (SCs) and others.

Figure 10: Employment for STs and SCs

• The person-days worked by all three social groups corresponds to the overall trend of increasing till 2020-21 and then declining.
• While there have been changes in the share of each social group in overall work-days, the changes are relatively small.
• The average share of STs and SCs in work-days was 6.4% and 10.3%, respectively. For STs, their share in work-days compares favourably to their 5.9% share in the district population. For SCs, however, it was below their 14.3% share in the district population.

Given the importance of the scheme in generating livelihoods for a large number of people, different data points/information related to the scheme should be available and accessible by the common masses. Figure 11 compiles a list of essential data points/information regarding MGNREGS that would of interest to various stakeholders, and hence must be available and accessible for the district. 
The data points/information regarding MGNREGS is available on the MIS of the scheme: (http://mnregaweb4.nic.in/netnrega/MISreport4.aspx). The Data accessed on 20th June, 2022.

Transparency and Accountability Index for MGNREGS in Durg

Availability of Information and Comprehensiveness

• Information on funds available
  
  • Yes.
• Delays in compensation and the reasons thereof
  
  • Yes
• Status of beneficiaries’ accounts (frozen or unfrozen)
  • Details on number of frozen accounts is available, but beneficiaries may not be able to check their status.
• Information on ‘number of person-days’ of jobs generated
  • Yes.
• Gender-wise disaggregation of beneficiaries’ data
  • Yes.
• Disaggregation of beneficiaries’ data by Social Groups
  • yes
• Availability of information on work/project undertaken
  • yes
• Geographical granularity of the fiscal indicator
  • Household

Accessibility

• Language of availability of information
  • English only (Addition of Hindi and other regional languages may be useful to users)
• Compatibility on devices
  • Phone, tablet, laptop friendly. But there’s no back button due to Captcha, which makes it a little cumbersome for users.

Timeliness

• How frequently are data updated
  • Real-Time

Relevance

• How relevant would users find it
  • It is largely useful and relevant for policymakers, civil society organizations (CSOs) and researchers. It can be made more relevant to beneficiaries. For instance, data on the number of projects, job-card holders, etc. is useful for researchers and CSOs; information on convergence of MGNREGS with other schemes and so on will be useful for policymakers and administrators, etc. However, beneficiaries cannot check their particular account status or delayed compensations, etc. 

Reliability

• Whether the data is reliable
  • While Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) audit reports for MGNREGS are available, authenticating with MIS as well as ground-truthing is essential. 

Accountability and Citizen’s Participation

• Social Audit schedules
  • Social audit calendars are available. 
• Availability of social audit reports
  • Gram Panchayat social audit reports are available for some Panchayats in some years, based on selection for social audit.
• Participation of beneficiaries in Gram Sabhas
  • Although details on action taken after social audits are available, information on the number of beneficiaries as participants is not available; just the total number of participants in the Gram Sabhas is given.
• Availability of details on financial misappropriation and recovery
  • yes
• Availability of information on grievance redressal mechanism for beneficiaries
  • Ombudsperson’s status and complaint register are available, but may need to be updated. Beneficiaries can check the status of complaints at: http://mnregaweb4.nic.in/netnrega/citizen_html/compdetail.aspx?source=national&Digest=nck/Hyo9Jns5wL4J/4pLUg