SOCIAL AUDIT AND

THE NREGA
A USERS MANUAL
Centre for Equity Studies
Sponsored by
National Institute of Rural Development

With the support of

Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan
 What is a Social Audit ?
A social audit is a process in which the
people work with the government to monitor
and evaluate the planning and
implementation of a scheme or programme,
or indeed of a policy or law.
The social audit process is critically
dependent on the demystification and wide
dissemination of all relevant information.

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How is it related to other types of audits?
There are at least three types of audits:
Government Audit
People’s Audit
Social Audit
Government audit – usually by professional
auditors without significant involvement of
affected people.
– Assesses primarily procedural integrity and
outputs,
– Little ability to get public perceptions or verify
outcome.
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 How is it related to other types of audits?

• People’s audits - conducted by the people,

sometimes with assistance from
movements and NGOs, with a standing
invitation to the government.
– Can get public perception, local knowledge and
public verification.
– Can assess outcomes and priorities.
– However, low acceptance of findings among
governments.

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How is it related to other types of audits?
• Social audit - conducted jointly by the
government and the people, especially by those
people who are affected by, or are the intended
beneficiaries of, the scheme being audited.
– Can bring on board the perceptions and
knowledge of the people,
– can look at outcomes and not just outputs,
– Can involve the people in the task of
verification,
– Also, much greater acceptability by the
government.

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 The ideal scenario
• Government audit remains the basic
audit, but becomes more transparent
and participatory.
• Social audit conducted in addition for
certain types of schemes and activities,
especially those involving huge and/or
disaggregated expenditure.
• Public audit selectively where the
auditing process seems to have failed.

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 The Scope of a Social Audit
• A social audit is conducted over the life
span of a scheme or programme, and not
just in one go or at one stage.
• It audits the process, the outputs and the
outcome
• It audits planning, implementation,
monitoring and evaluation.

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 Elements of a Social Audit
1. Raising awareness of rights,
entitlements and obligations under a
scheme.
2. Specifically, about the right to
participate in a social audit.
3. Ensuring that all forms and documents
are user friendly.
4. Ensuring all relevant information is
accessible, displayed and read out.

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 Elements of a Social Audit

5. Ensuring that the decision making process is

transparent, participatory and, as far as
possible, carried out in the presence of the
affected persons.
6. Ensuring that all decisions, and their rationale,
are made public as soon as they are made.
7. Ensuring that measurements, certification and
inspection involves the affected people on a
random and rotational basis.

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 Elements of a Social Audit

8. Ensuring that there are regular (six

monthly) public hearings (jan audit
manch) where the scheme and the
process of social auditing is publicly
analysed.
9. Ensuring that the findings of social
audits are immediately acted upon.
10. Also ensuring that these findings result
in the required systemic changes.
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 Socially Auditing the NREGA
In order to develop a social audit protocol for the
NREGA, it is necessary to identify the distinct
stages (or sets of entitlements) involved. These
are:
A. Registration and receipt of job cards.
B. Applying for work, getting work in time or
receiving unemployment allowance.
C. Participating in the identification of
projects and sites, approval of technical
estimates and issuing of work order.
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 Socially Auditing the NREGA
D. Participation in the supervision and
measurement/evaluation of work.
E. Disbursement of full wages, on time.
• For each of these steps (or entitlements),
identify the vulnerabilities and dangers.
• For each of these vulnerabilities, determine and
design the social auditing method most
appropriate and fix institutional responsibilities
and time frames.
A tentative outline, for discussion,
follows
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 A. Registration and receipt of job cards
Some Vulnerabilities and Dangers
1. Denial of registration to eligible families.
2. Incomplete list of family members.
3. Registration/issuance of job cards to
ineligible/bogus families/individuals.
4. Asking for bribes for registration/job cards.
5. Delay in job cards.
6. Non-issuance of job cards.

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 A. Registration and receipt of job cards

Social Audit measures by government (to be

specified in rules)
(Responsibility: Gram Sewak/ GP Secretary)
1. Registration initially in a special gram sabha
called for the purpose. preceded by survey of
eligible families and family members.
2. Details of households registered read out.
3. List open for inspection at Gram Panchayat (GP)
office and updated every 3 months

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 A. Registration and receipt of job cards

4. Registration to remain perpetually open.

5. Registration at GP in prescribed form A1
(photocopies allowed) received against
signed and dated receipts.
6. Obligation of the registration official to
assist in completing registration form,
even after oral request.

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 A. Registration and receipt of job cards

Social Audit measures by the people

1. The people must attend all such gram sabhas in
large numbers and be vigilant.
2. They must protest if either ineligible people are
being registered or given job cards, or eligible
ones are being denied.
3. They must check the authenticity of all the
information that is recorded and verify all lists
and registers.
4. They must regularly check whether the lists and
registers are being updated as required.
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 B. Applying for work, getting work in time or
receiving unemployment allowance
Some Vulnerabilities and Dangers
1. Non-acceptance of work application by the
relevant functionary
2. The wrong date or no date recorded on the work
application.
3. Giving out-of-turn allotments for work.
4. Favouring or discriminating against people in
allotting type/location of work.
5. Not respecting the gender quota.
6. Not informing the applicant and then showing
him/her as absent.
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 B. Applying for work, getting work in time or receiving
unemployment allowance

Vulnerabilities and dangers contd….

7. Demanding money for allotting

work/unemployment allowance
8. Denial of unemployment allowance by wrongly
accusing a person for not reporting to work
9. Late payment of unemployment allowance
10. Payment of unemployment allowance to the
wrong person
11. Payment of unemployment allowance to non-
existent (ghost) persons.
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 B. Applying for work, getting work in time or receiving
unemployment allowance

Social Audit measures by government (to be

specified in rules)
(Responsibility: Sarpanch, Gram Sewak, Programme
Officer)
1. Work applications receivable by post or by hand at
GP or with programme officer (PO), on signed and
dated receipt.
2. Applications can be on plain paper specifying
number of days of work required, starting date(s),
date of request & job card number.
3. Failure to accept application or issue proper
receipt actionable (within 7 days) under section 23
& 25 of the act.
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 B. Applying for work, getting work in time or receiving
unemployment allowance

Govt. measures contd…

4. An application register (B1) open to inspection

by the public during working hours.
5. Copies of work orders on GP notice boards.
6. Employment register (B2) open to inspection at
GP.
7. Monthly day for disbursing NREGA information.
This could also be treated as the rozgar divas.

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 B. Applying for work, getting work in time or receiving
unemployment allowance

8. Details of those registered, given job cards,

allotted work, given unemployment allowance
to be read out and publicly displayed (B3).
9. Also used to explain the details of the scheme
including the entitlements and obligations, the
norms and procedures.
10. Also to answer queries and deal with issues
and complaints.

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 B. Applying for work, getting work in time or receiving
unemployment allowance

Social Audit measures by the people

1. Insist on a written and dated receipt for work
application.
2. If application is refused, or correctly dated
receipt not given, or neither work nor
unemployment allowance given in the
prescribed period, then a complaint must be
made to the district programme officer, and
followed up.
3. The monthly meetings must be attended in
large numbers and grievances addressed and
information checked and verified.
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 C. Participating in the identification of projects and
sites, approval of technical estimates and issuing of
work order
Some Vulnerabilities and Dangers
1. Selection of a low priority or inappropriate work.
2. Selection of work that serves a vested interest.
3. Lack of public participation/ consultation for
selecting work/sites.
4. Exaggerated/ inaccurate technical estimates.
5. Inclusion, in estimate, of unnecessary expenditure.
6. Excessive rates and material.
7. Unclear work order that does not make the details
of the work clear/leaves scope for mis-
interpretation.
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C. Participating in the identification of projects and sites, approval of
technical estimates and issuing of work order

Social Audit measures by government (to be

specified in rules)
(Responsibility: Sarpanch, Junior Engineer)
1. The shelf of possible works to be determined
and prioritised by the gram sabha; list publicly
displayed.
2. The technical estimates/work orders must be
summarised for lay persons and publicly
displayed at GP(C1) and work site (C2).

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 C. Participating in the identification of projects and sites,
approval of technical estimates and issuing of work order

Social Audit measures by the people

1. The people should ensure that the
projects/works/sites selected are as per their
wishes and reflect their priority.
2. The people must participate and ensure that
the estimates are realistic, that the rates being
quoted are as per local availability and that no
unnecessary items of expenditure are being
included.
3. The people need to remain vigilant and check
the final estimate and work order to ensure that
they are in accordance with what was
collectively decided.
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 D. Participation in the supervision and
measurement/evaluation of work.
Some Vulnerabilities and Dangers
1. Recording of ghost works/ workers.
2. Work not conforming to specifications/ standards
3. Supply of less than sanctioned/poor quality
materials and tools.
4. Taking or recording of improper measurements
5. Not consolidating the information regarding the
works in one place.
6. Issuing of false completion certificates
7. Data recorded in a confusing/ incomprehensible
manner.
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 D. Participation in the supervision and measurement/evaluation of
work.

Social Audit measures by government (to be

specified in rules)
(Responsibility: Mate, Gram Sewak, Junior Engineer)
1. Mate (site manager) shall maintain work site book
(D) containing formats of muster roll, consolidation
sheet, stock register, measurement book,
technical estimate & work sanction, vigilance
committee inspection report.
2. A copy of the work file, as per the prescribed
format, would also be available with mate for
public inspection.
3. Sample of materials can be accessed in
accordance with the prescribed procedure. 27
 D. Participation in the supervision and measurement/evaluation of
work.

Social Audit measures by the people

1. Must periodically verify the information on
the board and in the muster rolls.
2. Must also periodically ensure that the work
is going as per the sanction/work order;
must take random samples of the material.
3. Must participate in the verification and
assessment exercise, and ensure that the
work done conforms with what was
commissioned and is of use to the people
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 E. Disbursement of full wages, on
time.
Some Vulnerabilities and Dangers
1. Non-payment of wages
2. Late payment of wages.
3. Under payment of wages.
4. Payment of wages to the wrong person.
5. Payment of wages in the name of non-existent
(Ghost) workers.
6. Payment of wages for non-existent projects.

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 E. Disbursement of full wages, on time.

Social Audit measures by government (to be

specified in rules)
(Responsibility: Independent Institution??)

1. Payments will be made by an agency

independent of the implementing agency.
2. Payments will be made collectively at a public
place.
3. The pay order shall be read aloud.
4. Disclosure of piece rate measurement will be
made individually, and not en masse.

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 Additional Rules
• Disposal of Complaints
• Conduct of Jan Audit Manch

Thank You

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