'We will soon sort out all differences on NREGS'

Union rural development minister C P JOSHI tells Sreelatha Menon he has been following a progressive agenda on the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme and won’t be deterred by critics. Excerpts:

The government had promised to set up district ombudsmen to monitor violation of law in NREGP within 100 days of taking office. What is the progress?
We will announce them by October 2.

What would be their powers? Will they be able to fine violators?
We will act as per the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act . But they would definitely be able to lodge an FIR (police case) when they see violations.

Who will be made ombudsmen?
They will be men of integrity, selected from the respective states by a committee comprising the chief secretary, rural development secretary and a nominee of our ministry.

The district plans drawn by your ministry are not being implemented, as other ministries are making parallel plans. Are there plans to get all ministries to submit to the district plan?
Every ministry will have to submit to the district plan, as Article 247 of the Constitution is valid for all and not just our ministry. As for us, we are already doing convergence of NREGA with other programmes at the district level.

This convergence of NREGP with other schemes has been widely criticised.
Does not the President mention convergence of agricultural activities in her speech? Do we go by the decision of the democratically elected government or by the agenda of these people?

Questions have been raised against your decision to extend NREGA to all small and marginal farmers, rather than to just BPL and SC/ST small farmers.
If they happen to be non-BPL, do they cease to be small and marginal farmers? If you talk about natural resources, if ponds are being dug, the water is meant for all. But we are aware that this provision should not be misused. So, we have restricted the activities to water resources.

How will you sort out differences with activists like Aruna Roy and Jean Dreze on fears of dilution of NREGP?
We appreciate their concern. There are no differences, for we are not working at cross-purposes. There will be another meeting of the job guarantee council soon, besides a meeting with all rural development secretaries, to be addressed by the Prime Minister. There will also be a meeting with all political parties. These would pave the way for sorting out differences on various issues of development.

Andhra Pradesh has been giving computer-generated payslips in NREGP, making all transactions transparent.
We have told NIC (National Informatics Centre) to study that model for replication in the rest of the country.