Civil Society News New Delhi

THE government of Rajasthan’s order suspending social audits in 16 districts of the state has disappointed activists.

In early October, CP Joshi, Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj facilitated a social audit in his own constituency of Bhilwara. State government officials worked in close coordination with the Mazdoor Kissan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) to undertake the social audit and find out how money disbursed to panchayats for the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme had been spent.

The audit turned out to be a resounding success. Corruption got uncovered, officials gained experience and awareness spread. People who volunteered got trained. Good practices, like the Vijapura wall on which details of work, materials and people employed were displayed, began to be copied by other panchayats.

Buoyed by its success, the government had then said that social audits would be carried out in all the districts of the state. So the order cancelling audits has caused dismay.

“Bhilwara created a huge momentum. That will be lost,” said Nikhil Dey of the MKSS.

Trouble had started brewing soon after the Bhilwara social audit. Sarpanches and gram sewaks realised that their embezzlement of funds would be uncovered by a transparent social audit. They ganged together and sat on dharna. Local politicians cutting across party lines joined them wrongly believing panchayat elections would go in their favour. Such was the fear of the social audit that in Madhogarh panchayat, the sarpanch even disappeared with all relevant papers.

“The panchayats are dominated by feudal interests and the social audit shakes those interests,” says Dey. “Many sarpanches are known for corruption and are not popular with the people.”

Activists point out that in Andhra Pradesh where social audits were done in every district overriding opposition, the government won elections handsomely and the people appreciated their efforts to promote transparency.

The Social Audit Directorate was set up in Rajasthan with the announcement that it would be based on the “Andhra Model”. This process succeeded in Andhra because ministers, MLAs and others were exposed to the audit and were told categorically that this process could not be stopped

Andhra’s success was based on strong political will. But in Rajasthan, there has been opposition even to doing just one panchayat in each district as a model. Vested interests will agree to the social audit only if it is conducted as per their wishes, in a manner in which their misdeeds will not be uncovered.

It is under such pressure that the government has agreed that no ‘outsiders’ will be given a role in the social audit. Only gram sabha members would be allowed to speak and take part.

In fact, the demand is that even people who are nominated by the government to the social audit team should be removed. Activists find this strange. “If the government inducts a person into the team he or she becomes part of government,” said Dey.

It is important for the public hearing to be an open forum and not be reduced to a village fiefdom. The presence of ‘outsiders’ gives everybody the right to speak. It encourages the weak-hearted to speak up.

The MKSS is asking for action to be taken against those opposing the social audits. It wants fresh dates for social auditing. “The social audit should now be held 30 days from the date when the government took the decision to conduct these 16 social audits and announced its schedule.”

The preparatory process of sharing information and disseminating it with the citizens of the concerned panchayats should continue.

As per orders of the state government given on 20 April all panchayats were supposed to display on their walls the list of materials spent on pucca work done. Details of people employed, their details of job cards etc were to be painted on all hamlets. MKSS is asking how many of the 16 panchayats have complied with the order.

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