NSK a boon for villagers in Jharkhand : Jean Dreze

Ranchi, July 22: Well known developmental economist Jean Dreze has claimed that existence of nagarik sahayata kendras (NSKs) in 76 blocks of Jharkhand is turning out to be a boon for villagers.

“In the year 2009, pilot NREGA Assistance Centres were started in Khunti Sadar and Chhattarpur of Palamu and in 2010 a centre was established in Manika of Latehar. Today this journey of  NSK reaching more than 76 blocks of the state is proving to be a boon for the poor,” said the Belgian born economist at a state level workshop held at Ranchi.

“People from remote villages reach the block headquarters with language problems, financial problems and even after waiting for the whole day, the deprived families are deprived of their constitutional rights due to the insensitive attitude of the officials. But NSKs are doing the work of getting the documents of such deprived families like death certificate, Aadhar card, bank account, ration card, pension application, MNREGA card, wage payment, unemployment allowance application,” informed Dreze.

He elaborated that in this process, widowed women, disabled people, helpless elderly and poor families get their government work done through NSK.

State coordinator of Social Audit Unit, Haldhar Mahato, said the problems of the deprived increase many times due to the use of new techniques in all welfare schemes including MNREGA.

“In NREGA alone, application for job card, application for work demand, application for pending wages, preparing documents for unemployment allowance and other provisions are very difficult tasks for illiterates. Due to no entries in the job cards by the Panchayats, it is very difficult to establish the issues in audit. In such adverse circumstances, the presence of NSK is no less than a miracle for the underprivileged. This is helping our social audit team to organize Gram Sabha, inform the workers about their rights and to stop the misuse of funds in government schemes by raising voice immediately in case of any corruption,” said Mahato.

State convenor of Jharkhand NREGA Watch James Herenz said the number of rights based schemes has increased with time. Along with this, sudden technical changes are made in all the schemes every day. But at that speed, the villagers, especially the poor, are not able to get information. By the time a little understanding develops, it is too late and people are deprived of their rights. Many times, due to such computerized techniques, post facto solutions are not possible at all.

“The villagers feel very uncomfortable with such a maze of technical words and get tired of visiting unnecessary government offices. If the culture of middlemen is to be eliminated from the government system, then the NSK can be an alternative,” said Herenz

A book titled From Hunger to Hope, Best Practices, a compilation of two decades of the Right to Food campaign, was released. A website of the campaign “Jharkhand Food and Nutrition” was also launched.