BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

A survey team at work in Surguja, Chhattisgarh.

NREGA Survey 2008 was conducted in May-June 2008. It covered 10 districts spread over six North Indian States (Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh). The sample districts were Araria and Kaimur (Bihar), Surguja (Chhattisgarh), Koderma and Palamau (Jharkhand), Badwani and Sidhi (Madhya Pradesh), Dungarpur and Sirohi (Rajasthan) and Sitapur (Uttar Pradesh).

In each district, 10 gram panchayats (five each in two different blocks) were selected for investigation. In each of the 100 sample gram panchayats, one active NREGA worksite was studied, and at each sample worksite, 10 workers were selected randomly for interview.

The survey teams consisted mainly of university students working with local volunteers. Each team spent two days in each sample gram panchayat, living either with the labourers or in a public building such as the local school.

The survey was initiated by the G.B. Pant Social Science Institute, with joint support from Allahabad University and the National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS). Pilot surveys were also conducted in association with the Centre for Development Economics (Delhi School of Economics) and the Institute for Human Development (Ranchi).

This article also draws on social audits and informal investigations of the NREGA conducted in the sample States and elsewhere (including Himachal Pradesh, Orissa and Tamil Nadu) before and after the survey.

Further details (including the survey instruments) are available at www.righttofoodindia.org.