Doing the Math

5th April 2008

Yesterday there had been a lot of speculation about who would get the charge of the CDO in his absence. Since the letter had already been sent to the CDO, we were not too worried about it, but word was that the DDO and Program Director (PD) were lobbying hard for it. We reached Vikas Bhavan at 11:30 am where the steno told Richa that the letter would be in our hands at 1:30 pm, guaranteed! We sat down outside the office to wait when a big group of villagers approached. They started speaking to the steno about getting an audience with someone or the other regarding their wages when Richa stepped in. Some of the villagers recognized her and began telling her their problem. They had done some work through NREGA some time ago and had yet not received their wages. Their job cards had been held by their Panchayat secretary and they had finally managed to get them back. In their cards a number of entries had been falsified – for example, a man who had worked for 6 days found 7 more entries of 6 days each in his card!

By now, Richa had found out that the PD had been given charge of NREGA. She took everyone upstairs to his office. On seeing her and the 20+ villagers in his office, the PD exclaimed, “Arre, Richaji, the NREGA file has not reached me yet and you are already here!” On hearing the circumstances, the PD called the BDO of Pisawa and began asking what was going on, with a lot of interjections along the lines of “If he is incompetent, remove him from his post.” After a lot of back and forth (and with a number of villagers trying to get their word in), he determined that the Pradhan of the village had recently passed away, some Panchayat members had been removed from their posts etc. with the result that there was only one office bearer in the village. This person was holding on to all the job cards.

The PD then started lecturing the villagers on why they need to hold on to their job cards. “How many times have we explained to you that you should not let them out of your hands?” Richa tried to explain to him that it was not easy to get them back – in one case, even when she was personally involved, it took a few days to get them back. If officials say that they will not pay the labourer unless they can keep their job cards, how long can the labourer resist?

Hearing the PD speak, I was reminded of all the instances when friends and family who have paid bribes have explained the circumstances: “If we didn't get a ration card, we wouldn't get a gas cylinder and how would we manage?”, “If I didn't bribe the official, my goods would rot in the godown”, “If I didn't pay the bribe, they'd keep me running around their offices for god-knows how long, and I had to leave in 3 days.” How easily we justify paying bribes. And how conveniently we dismiss villagers as ignorant when they do effectively the same, at greater costs to themselves.

Finally, the PD called in his assistant and handed the job cards and complaint letter over to him. Richa immediately asked the secretary to take copies and hand the job cards back to the villagers! We walked out and Richa told the villagers that they had been demanding their rights and the officials weren't doing them any favours – there was no need for them to be so deferential. She then strategized with them on what they would do next and we left them waiting for the secretary.

Downstairs the DDO called us into his office – he had received a copy of the letter and would hand us one. After the usual 'pleasantries', we got a copy of the letter. Just as it was handed to us, in walked the bureau chief of the Hindustan!

There was good and bad news to be found in the letter. The good news was that the committee had been ordered to complete the calculation work. The bad news was that the accusations of the Pradhan association had been mentioned in the letter and the committee was asked to give them a hearing. This incensed Sharmaji and he stormed out of the office. Richa and I followed with the editor who managed to get himself a copy as well.

Well, the task of getting an unemployment allowance from the government was not easy to start with and more and more roadblocks were appearing. More strategizing followed for the rest of the day.

By the way, the government's NREGA website is worth visiting here. Reports from all implementing districts in the form of statistics are uploaded. Speaking of which, earlier in the day we were sitting in the CDO's office and I was looking at all the graphs there. One bar graph was titled 'District schemes' and showed approved expenditure and actual expenditure for the past few years. Looking at the numbers, I realized that the 2007-2008 approved expenditure was pegged at ~Rs. 103 crore. This confused me – wasn't the NREGA allocation itself Rs. 110 crore?

I mentioned this to the 2 other people in the room, both men, who immediately started disputing my math – they said the number in the graph was Rs. 1030 crore (the figures were in thousands and there were no helpful commas). It took a few minutes of arguing and actual pencil-and-paper determination for them to accept (without actually accepting) that I was right. Then they told me that this was the State-approved expenditure and didn't include the funds from the Centre. Couldn't they have told me that in the first place?! At the back of the room was another chart which showed the money coming in from the centre under various schemes – Indira Awas Yojana, Afforestation, Rajiv Electrification Scheme etc. The total money from all of these schemes amounted to ~Rs. 1600 crores. With Sitapur's population estimated at ~40 lakhs, that works to about Rs. 4000/person. And, with luck, maybe Rs. 400 trickles down to some...

Getting nothing done

4th April 2008

After the drama of yesterday, there had been a lot of speculation about what had motivated this shift in the DM's approach – after all, he had been the one to take the lead in setting up the enquiry committee in December. Some things became apparent after perusing Friday's Hindustan Hindi. The pradhans of Mishrikh and Pisawa had submitted a letter to the Sitapur City Magistrate alleging that the enquiry committee set up last December was unconstitutional and was completely under the control of 'dalali' organizations – basically groups that exploit both the government and the workers by taking a cut of wages. Now all the comments in the DDO's office began making sense...

Of course, this started a new round of phone calls and exchange of information. At the same time, the news reached Richa that the CDO had gone on leave! It was known that he would be going on leave for training (including a field trip to the US) later in the month. But it began to look like the CDO would not be appearing in Sitapur dt. for a while.

We reached Vikas Bhavan as planned at 11 am and found the DM in the CDO's office. His neck brace was off and he looked a lot more vigorous. A number of officials stood around busily taking notes. Richa started off about the letter and he immediately replied that it would be signed. When Richa asked when it would be done, he just repeated that it would be done. Then he mentioned that there had been opposition to the report from some officers and they had threatened to go on strike! Richa and Sharmaji talked about the fact that the committee was chaired by a Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM), that it had given opportunities to the BDOs to make their statements etc. The DM sent us on our way promising to get the letter signed. Richa said that we would be back by evening.

We then went to the offices of Hindustan Hindi to lodge a protest about their article. Any person unfamiliar with the issue would get a very incomplete and biased picture from this article, especially considering the extensive and favourable coverage of the December dharna by the Hindustan. The bureau chief justified the coverage saying that the paper has to cover all news and that he had a high opinion of Hindustan's readers – they would be able to connect the dots. Well, they are his readers – I guess it's his prerogative to have such expectations from them. I wouldn't have such expectations from myself!

When we returned at 4 pm to Vikas Bhavan, we learnt that a special messenger had been sent to Lucknow to get the CDO's signature on the letter – wow! There were conflicting replies on when he had been sent – some said in the morning itself, others said at 3 pm. The DDO came by and threw out a few remarks – the letter has been sent, let's see if he will sign it etc. etc.

All in all, after 2 days and four rounds of Vikas Bhavan, we still didn't have the letter in hand. The bureaucrats have indeed mastered the art of never saying no and yet getting nothing done!

While returning home, Richa received a call from an SKMS member – this lady and others from her village had received daily wages of only Rs. 40 for a pond repair job. They had filed a complaint and protested and the DM had ordered an enquiry. A magistrate was supposed to visit their village the next day to take statements and that morning a constable from a nearby police station had come by and made threatening statements. This led to another round of phone calls, with Surbala planning to go to that village the next day. Richa also called the constable who visited the village and shouted at him. In such situations, only experience will tell you what to do and how much force to use, I guess. This also seems to be a big dilemma for activists and organizations – if the villagers, out of fear of the police, back down from the complaint, should their partners in cities or other villages pressure them to continue the fight, fight on in their absence or step back from this particular battle???

How to say No to NREGA - lessons from the district offices

3rd April 2008

A little background to today's blog – as I had mentioned earlier, the December dharna had ended with the DM's order to set up an enquiry committee to look into the matter of unemployment allowance. The committee had submitted its initial report with a list of eligible receipients on March 14th. Unfortunately for the cause, the DM had not mentioned in his order that the final calculation of payments be done. According to NREGA rules, unemployment allowance is to be paid only to the head of household after calculating how many hours all members of that household have worked.

Without this accounting, the report is incomplete and therefore the committee was waiting for the DM to issue the order. When Richa went to visit him after submitting the initial report, the DM was making noises about setting up a separate committee to make the financial determinations and decide who was to blame for the earlier notice that said there were no eligible recipients. Richa was upset – while the latter issue is a department matter and could be decided by another committee, the former issue is very much under the purview of the enquiry committee. She protested and decided to bring along more SKMS members. The next day, almost 60 people turned up and entered the DM's office. The DM then promised to issue the order for the enquiry committee, but asked for a little time for the end-of-financial-year activities. So the matter was tabled till early April.

On Wednesday, Sharmaji visited the DM and was informed that the CDO would be signing the order. He let Richa know that evening. This news was highly upsetting – the earlier CDO was the one who had issued the notice that was challenged by SKMS. He had also been intractable in negotiations and stories of his corruption were rampant in Sitapur – apparently 2% was his cut for a signature! Only because of the DM were they able to achieve this much, so why was he shrugging off this last bit of responsibility?

This was the setting for Thursday's shenanigans...

10:45 am: We set off for Vikas Bhavan in Sharmaji's car. Sharmaji and Richa strategize on how to tackle this twist in events.

11 am: There aren't many people in the DM's office when we arrive – apparently it is early in the day yet. The DM is wearing a neck brace and looks quite beat down. We sit there for about 5 minutes and he presents one hell of a blank face – who knows what he is thinking! All Richa and Sharmaji manage to get out of him is 'CDO sign kar denge.' and 'Woh implementing officer hai' – the CDO will sign the order and he is the implementing officer. Conveniently, no mention of when he will sign the order!

11:10 am: After exchanging niceties with the CDO's stenographer (which includes cursing all corrupt officials to high hell), we enter the CDO's office. The current CDO was given his new posting on 5th March and arrived on 14th March. All his replies and body language reflect his guardedness in his new position. And of course he must have heard that SKMS was largely responsible for the removal of the previous CDO! He throws out a few sentences about how BDOs and Pradhans were unhappy with the report and how could he come out with an order that directly contradicts his predecessor. Richa and Sharmaji counter that the previous CDO did agree to the setting up of the enquiry committee and that the new order was just a minor one. At this point, he calls in the DDO and the atmosphere immediately changes.

Whether or not the DDO is villainous, he fits the role to a tee. Gutkha chewing and spitting is part of his repertoire as is, atleast in this situation, throwing out taunts and statements calculated to inflame. Among the many things he says: why did you submit an incomplete report, we have many demands on our time and haven't read your report, we have to take the side of justice. When Richa retorts that he was given the responsibility of this post because he was capable and the government provides him conveniences to help him do his work, he replies, “Aap ke paas bhi kam suvidhaayein nahin hain” - you don't have any less conveniences.

The volume of the people in the room has gone up while the CDO sits calmly watching the proceedings and occasionally mediating. Finally, he says and the DDO concurs that the letter will be available. We get up to leave after Richa promises to continue the discussion with the DDO in his office.

11:45 am: We step out of the CDO's office and into the main compound of Vikas Bhavan. Richa shows me the places of interest during the dharna – where they cooked, where they slept, where the people on a hunger strike sat etc. In the meantime, she has been fielding calls from a villager and we run into him. This man is from a Scheduled Caste and has come to collect some money he is eligible to receive for his daughter's wedding. The officials have been running him from pillar to post for the last 15 days – finally telling him his form was lost although there was a record of it in their register. He has come to ask if Richa or Sharmaji have the copy of the form that he remembered handing to them. They promise to look for it and also to talk to the officials upstairs.

12:30 pm: After a tea break and some discussion, we head back to Vikas Bhavan and to the DDO's office. A number of Block Development Officers (BDOs) are there and from the sound of things, they have been discussing ways to counter the enquiry committee's report. The backhanded compliments from the DDO continue - “You are quite capable, Richa-ji, you just need to go in the right direction.” The BDOs play the role of naysayers – 'explaining' that the committee formation was not mentioned in NREGA and is therefore unconstitutional, that there is no provision to cancel job cards so a lot of dud cards susceptible to misuse are floating around, that the Center and State are not allocating sufficient funds for NREGA – 'How are we supposed to pay all those labourers?', that there is no work left to do in the villages (ha ha ha!) etc. The chorus of excuses go on for quite a while – we try to counter whenever possible. I have joined the multiple discussions by this time – one can only keep quiet for so long! The DDO, on finding out that I have come to learn from SKMS says, “Arre, what will you learn from her – I will tell you. Go to a village, get 50 workers together and file an application for work. Then all of you disappear for 20 days and come back demanding an unemployment allowance!” I stare at him for a few seconds before delivering a weak reply – got to build on my rudimentary debating skills. Finally, Richa delivers her rebuke to the DDO and we leave the office while exchanging niceties as well.

We then go upstairs to deal with the villager's issue – Sharmaji talks to a few people and gets the ball rolling. We have told the CDO that we'd be back at 4 pm to get the letter, so decide to head home in the interim. As we are leaving the compound at 1:30 pm, the CDO and DDO depart with their respective entourages for lunch. Richa talks about how during the dharna, the BDOs and Pradhans had been called to Vikas Bhavan - their jeeps along with 'gunners' waited outside and that added to the tension at the time. “There were numerous times when we felt that, yes, today there will be a lathi charge.”

3:45 pm: After lunch and a break (for me – Richa has been on the phone nonstop), we return to Vikas Bhavan to find out that the letter has been typed and is just awaiting the CDO's signature! In the interim, we go up to ascertain the progress on the villager's form. We learn that the form hadn't been lost but had been rejected because, in a couple of places, there was overwriting due to a pen running out of ink! Not due to illegibility or inaccurate information but because a few words had been overwritten! Richa and Sharmaji cannot move the process forward so they tell the villager to wait a few days before setting out again, in which time they would try to resolve the issue. Talking to him later, I learn that he takes a tempo for a few kilometres (as he put it – 8 'kos') and then has to walk 8 km to get to his village. I wonder if it is really worth it in economical terms to travel this distance twice every day. Further, as he puts it, he still wouldn't have been able to get this far in his work if not for Sharmaji or Richa speaking on his behalf. When we talk about services and funds available in the rural sector, how many of us think about the access issue? In cities, it is hard enough to get things done in government offices – add a hundred rupees or more and a few days spent traveling to the equation and then how many people would continue this minor struggle? This villager was able to manage because he has adult sons taking care of the harvest at home.

4 pm: We learn that the CDO has still not returned since leaving at 1:30 pm – quite a long lunch he is having! Richa sits down on the bench outside his office and states that we are not leaving here until a copy of the letter reaches us. We chat with whoever passes by – a lot of people come to pay their respects to Richa and tell her how wonderful the December dharna had been. Some of them seem to have just enjoyed the spectacle but others express genuine support.

5 pm: It seems that the CDO left his house 45 minutes ago. It takes just takes 5 minutes to get to Vikas Bhavan. Some are saying that he has left for Lucknow – others that he is at the DM's bungalow. Sharmaji comes back and says that there is no point waiting – the CDO has gone for a doctor's appointment to Lucknow and won't be back today. The good fortune of Sitapur is that it is close to Lucknow, the state capital, so has good access to the corridors of power. The bad fortune of Sitapur is that it is close to Lucknow – officials go there at a moment's notice and many commute from Lucknow as well. Hard to get access to your local official when he is 2 ½ hours away!

So that was the story of my Thursday. It might be a familiar tale to quite a few of you – I remember a story in our Hindi reader about a soul hiding in his pension file still trying to get it released after his death! But observing the games and tricks played by Vikas Bhavan was a novel experience for me and so I've written out this long entry. Hope you've experienced atleast a fraction of both the entertainment and frustration I derived in watching this drama.

Back to Mishrikh

2nd April 2008

No discussion about what Dwiji and I are doing in Sitapur can be complete without the inputs of Surbala and Reena. So on Wednesday, we set out for Mishrikh to meet them. Mishrikh is closer for both of them – coming to Sitapur would add another 30 km to their journey. Speaking of journeys, the economics of travel itself are worth considering – for a lot of villagers whose income barely crosses into 4 figures, the Rs. 40-50 that it takes for a day trip to Sitapur is prohibitive indeed. Mobile phones have transformed the landscape though and the practice of 'missed calls' is widely followed.

We got to Mishrikh just before noon and met Surbala on the way to the Dak Bungalow, our meeting place. Reena reached there soon after and a lively discussion ensued. One reason for meeting in a 'neutral' place was that we would be less interrupted by people coming by to pay their respects or with requests for assistance. But word gets around and sure enough, within a few minutes of Reena's arrival, some villagers from Pisawa block came by to update her on their efforts to get their job cards – though all workers are supposed to have one copy with them, their Pradhan wasn't releasing them. The more vocal among them were very clear on what they were doing and why and Richa said half-jokingly that some of them were becoming leaders in their own right. And rightly so – as they talked about later, during the early days of the December dharna, media coverage usually focussed on Richa Singh as the 'leader' of SKMS. But as the days went by, more and more people were mentioned as leaders, and more often than not, articles would say 'Mazdooron ne kahan' – the workers said.

Surbala and Reena talked about how Sangtin had built its strength on issues. “In some organizations,” said Surbala, “initial meetings are attended by 50 people and then the number goes down to 5 in a few years. In our meetings, we started with 5 people and the numbers gradually increased.” Reena talked about the canal issue – workers who cleaned the canal were promised foodgrains but none were distributed, even though on paper 1200 quintals of wheat had been distributed in Sitapur dt. With mobilization, labourers were able to get 58 quintals distributed in Mishrikh block. Now the work is focussed on NREGA – getting the job cards, applying for work and pressurizing for payment of wages or unemployment allowance.

Regional meetings are organized every month in Mishrikh and Pisawa blocks – these have been running for the past three years. At these meetings, SKMS asks that each village send only 2-3 representatives. Various issues are discussed – even personal or village-level arguments and fights. Certain issues start cropping up in a village or two. If they start coming up in more villages, then SKMS takes them on at an organizational level. That is how the canal issue and others have come up. Surbala and Reena expect that the ration card issue might come up in the next few months – this is of course not a new issue and thus in some ways is harder to fight. Ration shop owners have been holding on to ration cards and tampering with records for a very long time...

We also talked a bit about what kind of work can be done with NREGA funds. So far, the funds have mainly been used to clean canals and ponds, repair roads etc. Though it seems that the BDO of Pisawa block did use NREGA funds to level the fields of Dalit farmers – a worthy deed indeed.

But as with every other program, a huge chunk of money ends up in beaurocrats' pockets – the word on the streets is that 36% of the Rs. 111 crore allotted under NREGA to Sitapur dt. was immediately diverted. And the way 'babudom' is resisting making any payments, looks like their eye is on the remaining 64% as well.

We finally asked Reena and Surbala how they thought we could contribute and they turned the question around, asking us what our strengths are. Dwiji said his are cooking and a little bit of drama – so I guess we know what he'll be doing if there is another dharna!

A movement in action

1st April, 2008

I had visited Richa Singh and other members of Sangtin in Sitapur dt., UP back in 2005. Blog entries from that time can be found here. Back then Richa, Surbala, Reena and others were still exploring various issues affecting the region. They were clear on their approaches and philosophy but not on what exactly they would be doing. Through the rest of 2005, they had intense discussions in villages throughout Mishrikh block. The first issue they took up on a regional level was 'nahar ka mudda' – the canal issue. The main canal in Mishrikh block had plenty of water, but a wall blocked water from reaching a number of villages downstream. Through intense mobilization, pressure was put on local officials to repair the canal downstream and release water into it. Finally, in January 2006, water was released into the canal. This started the next campaign – enduring that wages and foodgrains were provided to the labourers as promised.

Ever since then, Sangtin has taken on a number of issues, mainly livelihood related and has evolved into Sangtin Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan (SKMS). Sitapur dt. was one of the pilot districts where NREGA was first implemented and SKMS has taken on the fight to get the promised employment for villagers. When employment is not provided for those who seek it, the Law has a provision for an unemployment allowance. But getting this from the State is no easy matter. Unable to make any progress on this issue, SKMS organized a massive dharna in December 2007. For 10 days during the peak winter season, 300-600 people occupied the compound of Vikas Bhavan (the District Headquarters) in Sitapur. They slept and ate there, chanted slogans and listened to speeches, walked the corridors, went on hunger strikes and organized a 'gheraao' of the Chief Development Officer (CDO) who is in charge of NREGA implementation at the district level.

The most amazing part, in my opinion, was the amount of local support they received. Food, tents and blankets were donated and a number of residents of Sitapur donated money to the cause. The protestors had two donation boxes - one was labeled 'Contribute to support our Sangathan' and another was labeled 'Contribute to bribe the CDO'. They collected some money in the latter box as well and this was duly handed over to the CDO!

After 10 days, the District Government finally agreed to set up a committee to investigate whether there are eligible recipients for the unemployment allowance in the blocks of Mishrikh and Pisawa. Six people were appointed to the committee, of which three were from SKMS and its supporters. The report was submitted on March 14^th. One component of the report is yet to be completed for which an order from the DM is necessary. This was where the situation stood when we arrived.

We reached Sitapur on the noon of April 1^st and were met at the bus stand by Richa and her son Sunny. We had planned on traveling light, but ended up with 5 bags of varying sizes (thankfully, nothing of transatlantic proportions). Luckily for us, Richa had arranged for a room for us with a neighbour – she lives with her son and mother and is constantly hosting family and friends.

We arrived here without much of a plan beyond learning from SKMS's work and contributing in whatever way we can. But if this is not to turn out into a continuation of our long vacation, we need to have something more concrete in place. The first evening, we sat with Richa and Mukesh, an associate from Lucknow, to get some ideas. Mukesh had earlier talked about his motivation for working with SKMS. He is interested in strengthening movements and building their understanding. As he put it, “When Richa, Surbala, Reena and the rest were in the DM's office arguing with him, I was outside with the rest of the protestors, keeping their energy up.”

Richa also talked about what she saw as the needs of the organization and where the current campaign was going. Then we talked about what Dwiji and I could do. There was talk about designing a website and identifying sources for specific funding needs. Of course, we also plan to spend plenty of time traveling to villages and learning how things work at that level.

Another associate of SKMS, Sharmaji, came by in the evening - he is a journalist with Hindustan Times. During the conversation, he shared some news about Mishrikh block which shocked Richa before she realized what the date was! It appears that April Fool's Day is celebrated as well as any other festival in this part of the world...

Of Inventories and Itineraries

27th March, 2008

It's been more than 2 years since I've updated this blog – not for lack of time, though. Maybe my blog writing bug is tied to Indian soil :)

We are finally back in India!! After a year of living out of suitcases and on the goodwill of friends, we are ready to do a year more of that, albeit in a more planned fashion. Most of our stuff is not with us but in boxes in my parents' basement or in suitcases in Dwiji's parents' attic. A comprehensive inventory of our worldly possessions was necessary, with constant updates required when we sent stuff ahead with my Dad and brother, when we had to prioritize and leave things behind etc. etc. Of course, some slips are inevitable – I forgot almost all my saris with mom in Canada. Well, I'll manage somehow!

All of our travel planning has required itineraries and more itineraries. These days I'm often mixing the words inventory and itinerary to Dwiji's great amusement (coming as it is from the self-proclaimed English whiz). But I guess they are closely connected in my head – where to go and what to take...

The first two weeks of our return has been devoted to catching up with family and friends. We have spent time in Bangalore and Rajahmundry so far. I've had to deal with a couple of digestive upsets – apparently, my stomach is not as tough as it used to be. Hopefully, it will resolve itself before we land in Sitapur, UP.

One thing I have sorely missed about India are the train rides. Yeah, they can be messy and long, but they're still more comfortable than traveling by plane or bus. And sometimes one gets to meet some real interesting people. In our journey from Bangalore to Rajahmundry, we met a lot of Indian Railways employees traveling home for Holi. There was a station master, a train guard and a locomotive driver. They regaled us with stories of coordinating passenger trains with goods trains, the latter being the bread and butter of the Railways; about iron ore mining in Kudremukh in coastal Karnataka where sometimes seven engines are pulling compartments up a 30% grade.

But the most poignant conversations were about 'suicides by train'. Each of them had experienced atleast a few people who ran in front of their train and died before they could brake to a halt. All of them have been affected by this to some extent or another, but have all learnt to cope with it. “If we can stop and save them, fine,” said one. “If not, we just have to shrug and go on.” Sometime, really determined persons wait till the train restarts and then jump on to the tracks. If the drivers are running late, they don't even try to stop. “It's not worth the bother of getting reprimanded for being late. Those people are going to kill themselves anyway.”

- Sudha