India: villains and villeins

A controversial rural employment scheme is being expanded nationwide this week.

It has been dogged by criticism since its launch three years ago, but the Congress-led government is anxious to appear peasant-friendly in the run-up to elections expected within the next year.

The expansion of the scheme, which coincides with plans to write off farmers' debt, guarantees up to 100 days of employment per year for every rural household. Along with other policies such as a social security bill providing welfare for the majority of workers working in the unorganised sector, it forms part of the Common Minimum Programme drawn up by Congress in 2004 and supported by its Leftist allies in parliament. Much-needed infrastructure work is among the jobs the government has  in mind for those involved in the  scheme.

Yet it is expensive and the 'jobs' involved are sometimes of questionable merit. Corruption and bureaucracy have also undermined its implementation. A recent report by the comptroller and auditor-general identified a series of failings. It claimed that 97% of households promised labour had failed to benefit from the scheme at all. The average number of days worked by each participant was also far short of the 100-day limit. Yet the scheme underscores the degree to which traditional assumptions about poverty continue to shape policy -- that the poor are rural peasants, and that food-to-work takes a higher priority than welfare planning for the state.