National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA)

NREGA: National Rural Employment Guarantee Act

Presence of PWDs from planning to implementation:

  • The State Employment Guarantee Council should at least have one member from an agency working towards the rights of the disabled. Some recommendations in this regard include Secretary/Commissioner (Disabilities), Department of Social Welfare of the State or representatives of NGOs working on the issue.
  • Among the Staff appointed in all levels to implement the State Employment Guarantee Scheme, 3% quota for the Persons with disabilities should be implemented as per PWD Act 1995.

Registration and wages

  • Each adult with disabilities should be considered as a separate household regardless of whether he/she has a family or not.
  • Persons with Disabilities should be provided with wages that are Time Based – and not Task Based (Also specified in ILO convention).

 Designing of works

  • Appropriate Areas of Work and Tasks should be designed and assigned to the persons with disabilities, keeping in mind the abilities, qualification, degree / category / nature of disability[1].
  • The projects should be designed in consultation with organizations for and of persons with disabilities
  • Special Technical Professional Assistants should be appointed to identify and design works to different persons with different kinds of disability.
  • Undertake the Land Development works of Persons with disabilities on the analogy of SC, ST lands under NREGA.
  • Crèche supervisor post should preferably go to Women with Disabilities.
  • Ear-marking of 3% of the REGS funds for employing persons with disabilities.This is based on the Persons with Disabilities Act 1995, which states that “the appropriate Governments and local authorities shall reserve not less than three per cent in all poverty alleviation schemes for the benefit of persons with disabilities.”
  • Work should be assigned to Persons with Disabilities as close to their residence as possible. In case of work provided beyond 5 kilometres, appropriate transport facilities should be provided to Persons with Disabilities.

Work environment

  • Ensure accessible toilet facilities and barrier free environment for worker in general. Special facilities for disabled men and women at the workplace should be ensured.
  • Appropriate guidelines against all forms of discrimination should be issued by the State governments in relation to persons with disabilities

Capacity building of staff

  • Special trainings of staff in order to orient them towards the challenges and needs of the PWDs

Information dissemination

  • Information about Persons with Disabilities both on the record as well as virtual should be made mandatory in all monitoring report of work generated under APREGS.
  • Communication Material should be made accessible to Persons with Disabilities through translation in “brail” language
  • Social Audit, Vigilance committee, Central and state data to include information about Persons with disabilities also.

Source- Administrative Reforms Commission

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