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ABSTRACT
Social audit is a requisite tool under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to monitor and evaluate the works that are being carried out under MGNREGA, in line with annual village plans. MGNREGA play a helpful role to reformation local governance and transforming social defense into social justice. By analyzing the Social Audit mechanism under Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act, this paper explores how Social Audit process is effectively in Rural Employment. The basic objective of a social audit is to ensure public accountability in the implementation of projects, laws and policies. Primarily envisaged as only post implementation exercises, they have actually now emerged as a way to empower poor and transform social-political structures in the villages. Section 17 of the MGNREGA Act provides for conduct of regular 'Social Audits' at different stages of implementation of the scheme to ensure the reach of benefits to the poor. To strengthen the process of social audit, the Ministry Rural Development has notified the Social Audit Rules in June 2011 and made it mandatory to establish an independent Social Audit Unit to facilitate the Social Audits in Gram Panchayats and to ensure the proper implementation of various Rural Development Programs. We examine the accuracy and performance of Social audits process in Gram Panchayats of Different District in Chhattisgarh.
Keywords: MGNREGA, social audits, social justice, gram panchayats
Social Audit is accepted as a central accountability tool in the improvement sector because it is argued that it contributes to transparency and effective governance. The compulsory requirement for social audit under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), which was launched in 2005 by the Government of India, is an innovative measure aimed at ensuring accountability from those involved in the implementation of the scheme. What is particularly significant is that social audit under MGNREGS is to be conducted by the beneficiaries of the scheme. While the scheme is to be implemented by Gram Panchayats (GPs) or Village Councils, it is the members of Gram Sabhas comprising of ordinary villagers who are responsible for conducting the audits. Social audit is measurement of an national development towards superior accountability in all fields. Social auditing is a process by which organizations can report for, account on,...