OCTOBER 2008: The fields of Mahua Tand in Jharkhand’s Deogarh district are full of wheat. Farmers and field hands are busy irrigating their lands. The rains have not been very helpful this year, and pumpsets and wells are the saviours of crops. Our social audit team is inspecting two NREGA projects in Mahua Tand, both involving the construction of a well on private land – a common type of NREGA work in Jharkhand.

The well constructed by Taufique Zarra reminds the team of the tragic Tapas Soren episode. In the short video recording of his last words (available at www.youtube.com), Tapas Soren testifies that a corrupt government machinery had driven him to take his own life. He had tried to construct a well on his own land under the NREGA but was unable to cope with the frequent demands for bribes. A helpless and distraught Tapas set himself ablaze at the Collector’s office in Hazaribagh to highlight his plight and warn others about this trap. But Taufique, unaware of Tapas’ fate, fell into the same trap.

Taufique hails from a below-poverty-line (BPL) family and his sole source of income is the little agricultural land he owns. In the absence of a reliable source of irrigation, he is often at the mercy of unpredictable rain. Having heard that wells can be constructed on the land of BPL families under the NREGA, Taufique applied. Soon enough, he was informed that if he could pay Rs.2,500, a well would be allotted to him, he said. The NREGA mandates that a shelf of works be prepared in the gram sabha, but no such attempt was made in Mahaua Tand.

He said he paid the bribe and the well was sanctioned, and he became both the beneficiary and abhikarta (manager) of the project. As an abhikarta Taufique signed an agreement with the government and was in charge of executing the work. He was to fill the muster rolls, purchase materials and oversee the worksite. He also had to pay workers’ wages and for materials as the work progressed, but funds were often delayed and depended on his ability to pay the “PC” (percentage, a term for illegal commissions) to government functionaries. The PC had to be given in cash before the bill for his payment was passed, he alleged. Taufique took a loan of Rs.20,000, sold a buffalo and mortgaged his land to arrange for the PC and the construction costs.

For Taufique, this well was a chance to escape poverty but today, he says, he is struggling to make ends meet. Luckily, Taufique was not driven to suicide. But the whole PC system did push him into a web of indebtedness. Maybe for every Taufique who survives this gamble, there is a Tapas Soren who may not.

Kamayani Swami