The government may be going gaga over NREGA 'success' but the scheme may just have failed parts of rural India, if what the sarpanch of a Rajasthan village says is anything to go by.

Criticising the government’s flagship welfare scheme, Chhavi Rajawat, sarpanch of Soda village in Tonk district of Rajasthan said, “When we speak of sustainable project, NREGA is not one that can help rural India.”

“Instead of government-oriented, supply-driven approach, it is important to shift to people-oriented, demand-responsive approach,” Rajawat said at the CII conference on sustainable summit in New Delhi on Wednesday.

Elucidating how NREGA is not helping her village, she told Governance Now, “Villagers have got used to proxy attendance and some even go for just two or three hours of work and receive payment for a day under the scheme.”

"I am also trying to bring transparency in the scheme by asking the villagers to work for eight hours for getting payment from NREGA," the celebrated sarpanch who quit her corporate job this year to become a village head.

Rajawat also said that the villagers are unaware of government led schemes and even the sarpanch has no role except for signing of the NREGA attendance. “There is a multiplicity of agencies. The engineeer decides how much of money is to be given and strangely, the sarpanch has to sign the document.” She also advocated more autonomy for the village sarpanch. 

“It is important to empower rural India. It is important to have people’s participation in the government schemes. Only then can the responsibility come in and they can take ownership and will the project be sustainable,” the 30-year old sarpanch who studied at Lady Sriram College (LSR) in New Delhi said.
 
Talking about her stint as a sarpanch of the village, she said, “We are trying to build a reservoir in the village but the project is not finished due to lack of funds. Whatever money is provided is from my family only,” she said.