After a sustained campaign of over two years by civil society, the government has finally deleted the section 13(b) of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Act (MNREGA) which barred outsiders from being a part of the social audits of projects carried out by the gram sabhas.

In an official notification issued on June 30, the rural development (RD) ministry announced the latest amendment.

“In exercise of the powers conferred by sub-section (1) of section 29 of the MGNREGA, the central government, on being satisfied that it is necessary and expedient so to do, hereby makes the following further amendments in the schedule I to the said Act namely:--in the said schedule, in paragraph 13, sub paragraph (b) shall be omitted,” the RD ministry said.

The original clause, incorporated in December 2008, empowered gram sabhas to carry out the social audit without any interference from an outside individual, who could only be an observer.

Introduced without any dialogue or discussion with the civil society, the clause had evoked fierce protests and disapproval from many NGOs including Aruna Roy’s Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS).

A report submitted by the Aruna Roy-led working group set up by the rural development ministry in March last year to address the issue of transparency and accountability in the scheme had been very critical of the clause.

“The working group feels the amendment brought about by the government on 31st December 2008 to 13(b) schedule 1 is self-defeating. The amendment empowers the gram Sabha to carry out the social audit without any interference from an outside individual, who can only be an observer. The Amended clause 13(b) is not only antithetical to the aforementioned philosophy of Social Audit but also militates against the basic principles of auditing, namely, that the audit function has to be conducted by an independent agency,” the report said.