UPSC Mains 2025 GS4 Q18 — Case study - Welfare scheme management
Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Program, MGNREGA was earlier known as National Rural Employment Scheme, NREGA. It is an Indian Social Welfare Program that aimed at fulfilling the 'Right to Work' provisions made in the Constitution. MGNREGA was launched in 2006 under Rural Employment Sector by the Ministry of Rural Development. Main objective of the prog ram is to give legal guarantee of wage employment to the adult members of rural households who are willing to do unskilled manual labour work subject to a maximum of 100 days per year for every household. Every rural household has the right to register under the scheme, job card is issued to the registered, Job Card holder can seek employment; State Government shall pay 25% of minimum wage for the first 30 days as compensatory daily unemployment allowance to the families and of wage for remaining period of the year. MGNREGA work was undertaken by various Gram Panchayats. You have been appointed as an Administrator Incharge of the District. You have been given the responsibility of monitoring MGNREGA work undertaken by various Gram Panchayats. You are also given the authority to give technical sanctions to all MGNREGA works. In one of the Panchayats in your jurisdiction, you notice that your predecessor has mismanaged the Program in terms of: (i) Money not disbursed to actual job-seekers. (ii) Muster Rolls of the Labourers not properly maintained (iii) Mismatch between the work done and payments made. (iv) Payments made to fictitious persons. (v) Job Cards were given without looking into the need of person. (vi) Mismanagement of funds and to the extent of siphoning of funds. (vii) Approved works that never existed. (a) What is your reaction to the above situation and how do you restore the proper functioning of MGNREGA Program in this regard? (b) What actions would you initiate to solve the various issues listed above? (c) How would you deal with the above situation? (Answer in 250 words)
Question Decoded — examiner's intent
- Directive verbs
- What is your reactionhow do you restoreWhat actions would you initiateHow would you deal
- Scope keywords
- Administrator Incharge of the Districttechnical sanctionssiphoning of fundsfictitious personsunskilled manual labourmismatch between the work done and payments madeMuster Rolls
- Implicit sub-parts
- Identification of ethical dilemmas and systemic failures in the existing setup.
- Immediate administrative measures to stop ongoing leakages and fund diversion.
- Institutional reforms for transparency, such as Social Audits and Geo-tagging.
- Accountability measures and legal proceedings against the predecessor and complicit staff.
- Restoration of public trust among the genuine rural poor/job-seekers.
- Common pitfalls
- Spending too much time describing the MGNREGA scheme's history instead of solving the ethical/administrative crisis.
- Adopting a purely punitive approach without suggesting systemic technological fixes like DBT or SECURE software.
- Ignoring the 'predecessor' aspect—an aspirant must decide whether to report a senior/colleague or just fix the mess quietly.
- Failing to address the specific 'technical sanctions' authority mentioned in the prompt as a tool for oversight.
- Dimensions required
- Ethical/Moral (Integrity and Public Trust)Administrative/Legal (Accountability and IPC/Prevention of Corruption Act)Technological (Digital oversight and Geo-tagging)Social (Rights of the marginalized and Social Audits)Economic (Fiscal prudence and leakage prevention)
- Marks allocation hint
Devote approximately 50 words to your ethical reaction and situational analysis. Spend 100 words on specific corrective actions for the seven listed points, grouped logically. Allocate the final 100 words to long-term systemic restoration and dealing with the predecessor, ensuring you balance administrative firmness with the 'Right to Work' spirit.
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