The NREG Act brought the Congress back to power. It was a well structured program which reached out to the rural people. At the core of the NREGA was the guarantee of minimum days of labour it gave to the downtrodden.
The “Man” Behind it.
The man behind it was most certainly the Prime Minister. Fuelled by his urge to make realistic change and bound by the compulsions of coalition politics, Dr. Manmohan Singh walked a tight rope. Fear of loosing Left support, Manmohan Singh couldn’t do much in terms of Liberalization or Labour Reforms. NREGA was not a new scheme that was born from a radical thought. It was typical of all past preceeding reform schemes in content (at least mostly) but it was radically different in its implementation.
Social Audits.
At the core of the NREGA were social audits. These were to be conducted mostly by NGO’s or the general public at large. This move bought in transparency. And successful audits gave it credibility as well.
With a free mandate now, lets wait and see what Dr. Manmohan Singh can do now.
