Thread by @SwetaDash93

I write about #MGNREGA for @GenderITorg

For ~8cr rural women, MGNREGA is a crucial safety net that prioritises women in the workforce. Women accounted for 56.62% of the workforce last year.
Now, the two new mandates have caused all-round mayhem. (🧵1/n)
genderit.org/feminist-talk/…

FIRST: The online attendance with the #NMMS app.

Workers are losing out on their wages because of some ‘server issues’. Sarada, a worker for Rajasthan: “We are poor workers living from hand to mouth. Do they think we even know what a server is?” (🧵2/n)
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Surekha, a worker from Karnataka, has not been paid since the app was introduced. “Is it my fault that there is no network in the forest area where I live and work?” she asked.
(🧵3/n)

genderit.org/feminist-talk/…

MGNREGA mates are often seen running around the worksite raising their phones up in the air, struggling for network connectivity.

According to the India Inequality Report 2022, only 31% of the rural population has access to  internet services. (🧵4/n)
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The app offers no confirmation if the attendance request has been accepted and if a worker will, consequently, get paid.

Redressal can be harrowing and most often leads nowhere.

Not to forget, NMMS was pilot-tested in just ONE district. (🧵5/n)

genderit.org/feminist-talk/…

SECOND: The introduction of Aadhaar-Based Payment System (ABPS) is yet another nightmare.

By the government’s own admission, until March this year, only 47% of all MGNREGA workers were eligible for #ABPS. (🧵6/n)

genderit.org/feminist-talk/…

Najri Bai, a 50-year-old MGNREGA worker from Rajasthan, is facing the heat of documentation woes because she is named as ‘Najri’ on her Aadhaar card and ‘Najri Bai’ everywhere else.

This mismatch has kept her from getting paid for weeks. (🧵7/n)
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This particularly affects women.

Says @praavita: “[This] lays bare how patriarchy functions. Not only do women have to change their names after marriage but they also have to somehow ensure their ‘new’ marital name reflects in all their docs.” (🧵8/n)
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Kamla, a worker from Rajasthan: "Now, with such digital systems, there is no possibility of easing out workers’ troubles with some kind of physical verification and community trust.” (🧵9/n)

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In 2021, @LibtechIndia studied 18L MGNREGA invoices and found #ABPS did not make wage payments more efficient. So, no reason to “scientifically justify the cost.”

“Then what does this ABPS do for workers?” asked Kamla (🧵10/n)
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When MGNREGA was introduced in 2005, it did something significant for women’s empowerment in the country: for the first time in the history of India, there was a promise of guaranteed employment for women, with equal and fair wages. (🧵11/n)
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Kamayani Swami, from @JJSSBIHAR said MGNREGA also facilitated women’s inclusion in democracy.

“For starters, women go to have their voices heard at the Gram Sabha and participate in important decision-making on what their village needs.” (🧵12/n)
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MGNREGA allowed women to be part of a community within the workforce. They became involved in unionising and collectivising. Many of them who had forgotten how to read and write then began afresh because they saw a purpose in it.
(🧵13/n)
genderit.org/feminist-talk/…

While the government is trying to get workers to use apps and digital tools, it ignores their actual needs. The worksites lack provision for water, shade, sanitation facilities, and creche.

It is a herculean challenge for women. (🧵14/n)
genderit.org/feminist-talk/…

With a majority of welfare entitlements pivoting towards digitisation and documentation regimes without the understanding of on-ground realities, it dismantles workers’ rights and pushes the journey towards women’s empowerment by many miles. (🧵15/n)
genderit.org/feminist-talk/…