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Society for Social Audit, Accountability & Transparency

(SSAAT)

Annual Report 2012-13

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SSAAT’s VISION & MISSION

To promote empowerment of rural communities directly

benefiting from welfare schemes such as MGNREGS and

minimising leakage and wastage of public funds.

To help improve quality of government programmes and

schemes in terms of its efficacy, local appropriateness, and

achieve the social objective of developing a sense of

ownership amongst the beneficiaries of these programmes

and schemes.

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Acknowledgement

This report has been put together by the staff of SSAAT. I would like to

thank each and every one of them for their contribution. I would also like

to thank the field staff of SSAAT for all the efforts that they put in and the

odds that they face bravely while doing the Social Audits. If it wasn't for

them, SSAAT would not be able to make the difference that it does today

in the implementation of welfare schemes to the lives of the rural

community.

Sowmya Kidambi,

Director, SSAAT

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Chairman’s Executive Summary

Journey So Far & The Challenges Ahead

The Government of Andhra Pradesh is privileged to be associated with some of the most

respected social activists and civil servants in the country on the Governing Body of SSAAT.

In the last 5 years, AP in general and SSAAT in particular, gained enormously by the

guidance that all of you have given. I wish that this association continues for the benefit of

programmes and schemes’ implementation, and through that, the rural poor of the state.

This five year journey is neither too short not too long, but certainly very exciting. We had

our moments of elation when the social audits could contribute to improving the programme;

and moments of depression when big scandals have been brought to light. A five year run is

a good enough period to look back and see where we stand and figure out the path ahead. I

hope this Governing Body will deliberate on the future of social audits not only here but in

the country as a whole.

This period has seen many successes and challenges. The successes that we have seen are:

a) Institutionalisation of the system of social audits. They are now accepted everywhere

and by everyone. In many cases, people are demanding for social audits.

b) The system of reading out social audit reports in Gram Sabha has stabilised. The

attendance has increased and this has contributed to spreading of awareness.

c) The entire process of social audit has got a statutory sanction through the AP

Promotion of Social Audit and Prevention of Corrupt Practices Act 2012.

d) A very committed, competent cadre has been built up under the leadership of Ms

Sowmya Kidambi, Director, SSAAT.

The challenges that we are facing are equally daunting. I am sure all of them will be debated

in the meeting.

a) Backlogs and schedule: Despite increasing the number of DRPs, the backlogs are still

continuing. We are under pressure, but unable to complete social audits within six

months from the date of completion of work. This problem is accentuated by the

stoppage of works during social audit by the field staff, leading to reluctance on the

part of implementation agencies to have social audits in the peak work season.

b) Meeting other demands: The scope of the programme is increasing with more

departments calling for social audits. That is going to mount more pressure on the

social auditors and would also mean more time required for each audit.

c) Concurrent social audits: We have decided to do wall-writing in all GPs. This was

done in about 1/3rd

of the state and was stopped since the administrative costs are

increasing beyond reach. We need to look for strategies for promoting concurrent

social audit.

d) Outcome audit: Apart from an entitlement and expenditure audit, we need to promote

outcome audit, to check whether the fruits of the works have gone to the rural poor or

not. This would require rethinking on our current formats and the mode of conducting

the social audits.

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e) Capacity building: We have managed to train a large number of youths in conducting

social audits. But how to build their capacities is a matter that merits discussion. We

must ensure that the fundamentals of social audit should be carried into any walk of

life that they may go into.

f) At the senior level, we need to find competent persons who have the right attitude,

experience, competence and a pro-people outlook. The post of SDS (Social

Development Specialist) would need to be filled up after 30th

June and we need to

identify a suitable person from an activist background.

g) Effective follow up: We need to strengthen the system that would go into details on

each social audit observations and punish people who are found guilty. Since the same

implementation machinery is doing this work, it is leading to delays and many times,

easy acquittals. The Special Courts are sanctioned, but only one is set up so far; others

stuck in High Court on procedural issues. While we try to resolve them, we need to

find measures that would allow better follow up of the social audit observations. The

systems for recovery of money determined as misappropriated are yet to be stabilised.

h) Database and data mining: The current system for data entry is not working, as the

challenges and volumes of data are daunting. We need to develop in-house capacities

to address this matter. The data mining systems are to be streamlined and used for

throw up information for use in the decision-making.

I am sure the discussion in the Governing Body and the decisions that you take today would

have bearing on the future of social audit here and elsewhere in the country. We would look

forward to your guidance on various issues related to the conduct of social audits.

R. Subrahmanyam

Chairman, SSAAT

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Agenda for the 5th Governing Body Meeting of SSAAT

Please refer to Annexure I for Minutes of the Meeting of the Last GB and Action Taken on the resolutions)

20th

June, 2013

10:00 A.M-10:15

A.M

Welcoming the GB Members and formal Introduction of Special Invitees

New developments in MGNREGS –

- Demand Capture / Unemployment Allowance / Delay Wages Compensation

10:15 A.M-11:30

A.M Progress Report in the conduct of Social Audits-

- Social Audits conducted since the last GB – MGNREGS/SSP & AABY /

IWMP / MDMS (Pilot)

- Experiences related to social audits of schemes other than the MGNREGS

- Main observations and trends

- Challenges faced in conducting audits once every 6 months in MGNREGS

- Re-Organization of SSAAT

11:30 A.M –

11:45 A.M Tea Break

11:45 A.M –

12:30 P.M Improving the Social Audit system –

- Role of Observers (identifying people from civil society organizations,

training for existing observers)

- Linking Quality Control wing with Social Audit

- Culpability of officials for not handing over records

- Filling up the existing vacancies of the DRPs / SRPs

- Identifying good DRPs based on the mobilization of people to attend the

gram-sabha

12:30 P.M – 1:30

P.M Post Social Audit Follow up Mechanisms & Processes (Progress since last

GB)

- Disciplinary cases status

- Functioning of the Mobile court - No. of cases filed and convictions

- Categorization of cases – “A” & “B” category

- Challenges in filing cases

- Vigilance Wing Issues

1:30 P.M-2:30

P.M Lunch

2:30 P.M-3:15

P.M Data Related issues-

- Onsite data entry delays, building an in-house capacity for data entry,

ensuring the quality of social audit reports

- Data Analysis based on the Social Audit Reports (ppt)

- Current Data Analysis – tagging DTF paras and ATR paras

3:15 P.M – 4:00

P.M Capacity Building –

- VSA’s Grading

- 21 day training of VSAs in APARD

- Identifying 100 Resource Persons from SRPs and DRPs to train the VSAs in

the field

- Future Role of SSAAT at the National Level in Capacity Building

4:00 P.M-5:00

P.M SSAAT Related issues - -Setting up pay-committee

- Recruitment of DRPs through C-SATA

- Medical claims for the year 2012-13

-Insurance Scheme for employees to be followed from 2013 onwards

-Ex-Gratia for employees

-Issues to be placed in the GB for approval & ratification

5:00 P.M-5:30

P.M

Closing Comments

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Contents

Chairman’s Executive Summary .................................................................................................. 7

Agenda for the 5th

Governing Body Meeting of SSAAT ............................................................. 9

Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 13

The progress since the last GB is listed below............................................................................ 16

Progress of Social Audit ............................................................................................................... 18

I. Main trends noticed based on the social audit data between 2011-12 and 2012-13: . 18

II. Backlog of Social Audit – ................................................................................................ 21

III. Re-Organisation of SSAAT ............................................................................................ 22

IV. Progress of the Post Social Audit Follow-Up ................................................................ 24

V. Data Related Issues ......................................................................................................... 28

VI. Data Ware-House ............................................................................................................ 29

VII. Data Analysis ................................................................................................................... 30

VIII. Capacity Building and Recruitment Innovations ......................................................... 31

IX. Synergy with the Accountant General’s Office ................................................................ 32

X. Budget .................................................................................................................................. 33

XI. Welfare Initiatives for SSAAT Staff .................................................................................. 34

Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 35

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Introduction

In year 2012-13, SSAAT entered its 5th

year as an independent organisation set up by the

Department of Rural Development to carry out non-partisan social audits of the MGNREGS.

SSAAT has extended its work to audit schemes such as the Social Security Pensions (SSP),

Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana (AABY), Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP)

and has also taken up the social audit of the Mid-Day Meals on a pilot basis in two districts in

Andhra Pradesh1.

In the last five years, SSAAT has grown massively in size from an organisation with an

overall strength of 488 people to a current strength of 1373 people. There are 1060 District

Resource Persons (DRPs) posts, out of which 897 have been filled and 163 are vacant. There

are 125 posts of State Resource Persons (SRPs) sanctioned, out of which 87 have been filled

and 38 are currently vacant. The organisation also plans to identify 100 Data Entry Operators

(DEOs) from its own Village Social Auditors (VSAs) resource pool to do data entry of the

social audit reports at the Mandal level2.

Since SSAAT was the first Social Audit Society to be set-up in India and has a prescribed

process of conducting social audits (through rules / prescribed formats3 / Guidelines and

Memos), there are continuous requests from other states to provide technical assistance by

way of conducting trainings for the resource persons and sharing information related to

setting up of a Society, Rules and Regulations etc. Government of India has also requested

SSAAT to extend support to various states that are setting up similar societies in compliance

with the MGNREGS Audit of Schemes Rules, 2011 issued by the Ministry of Rural

Development.

In the last year, SSAAT has made significant strides in the process of Social Audit. A number

of special audits have been undertaken based on requests made by MPs/MLAs and

beneficiaries of the Scheme as well as the State Government. There is a growing awareness

about the social audit process in the villages and amongst the beneficiaries. However, the

challenge still remains in trying to ensure that more and more people attend the social audit

gram sabha despite intimidation that exists within the village. In recent times, SSAAT has

begun to identify the best DRPs based on the number of people they have managed to

mobilize to attend the social audit gram sabha.

1 Please refer to Annexure 1 for statistics on MGNREGS, SSP, AABY and booklets for IWMP and MDMS.

2 . Please refer to annexure 2 for current status of SSAAT resource base.

3 Please refer to Annexure 9 for social audit formats

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The Department of Rural Development has also introduced new provisions in the

implementation of the MGNREGS through two significant GOs - Demand Capture and

Unemployment Allowance Rules and Delay Payment Compensation to labourers4.

Introduced a few months ago through a mobile based application, the Demand Capture

process has ensured that a significant number of people who couldn’t access work earlier, not

just manage to register their demand but also get work within 15 days. While in the earlier

rounds of social audit, demand was a notional figure with no formal capture by issuing dated

receipts to the labourers. The Social Audit teams have now started auditing these aspects with

the records that are being maintained at the field level and the same have been incorporated

into the revised formats.

Earlier this year, the Department of Rural Development also issued orders related to the

validity period of measurements that will have a significant impact on the MGNREG works

to be audited in the future. One of the critiques of the social audit process has been that it is a

post-facto process and often works are being measured after a year due to which the

measurements tend to vary. The guidelines mentioned have been issued to address this issue

so as to ensure that the implementing agency has the required proof to show that a work has

taken place and the auditors have clear guidelines about the supporting documents that they

can rely on while conducting the audit.

Similarly, the Disciplinary Rules for Fixed Tenure Employees (such as the Field Assistant /

Technical Assistant / Computer Operators/ Additional Programme Officer) whose services

are contracted through the Society for Rural Development Services (SRDS) have been

revised based on the social audit categorisation of issues. Initially, the social audit database

generated 125 types of issues identified through the audit process which were eventually

categorised into seven broad categories of offences and the same were linked to the

employees to be indicted as well as the type of penalty (Minimum and Maximum) to be

imposed.

While the state continues to try and improve the implementing mechanisms, each change

poses new challenge for the social audit process at the field level. Constant changes in the

implementing mechanism also requires SSAAT’s resource base to constantly upgrade their

skills. Regular refresher trainings are held to ensure that the DRPs and SRPs are kept abreast

of the changes in the implementing system. The challenges faced by the social audit teams

are continuously placed before the Department of Rural Development in the monthly review

meetings that are held by the Principal Secretary, RD and Commissioner, RD, along with

other officers of the Department. This facilitates the decision making process for necessary

steps at the field level. The same has been extended to other schemes being audited as well.

4 Please refer to the Compendium of Circulars (COC) for copies of all the G.Os/Rules/Circulars/Memos

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The Department of Rural Development has also benefitted with the inputs provided by the

social audit teams and this has led to policy changes in the implementation of the various

schemes such as MGNREGS, SSP, AABY and IWMP. The expansion of SSAAT to facilitate

social audit processes of other schemes, the increasing pressures on the organization to play a

significant role in helping other States set-up similar processes and institutions, the human

resources required to fulfil such a role, funding for the trainings conducted for other States

and Departments without becoming a revenue model driven process are questions that need

consideration and guidance which is sought from the Governing Body.

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The progress since the last GB is listed below

A brief over-view of the progress made since the last GB Meeting is indicated through the

figures below.

S. No Particulars Fin. Year 2011-12 Fin. Year 2012-13

1 Total No. of S.As Planned 1316 1066

2 Total No. of S.As Completed 1082 1051

3 Total No. of GPs covered so far 21725 20946

4 Total No. of Habitations covered so far 55300 47234

5 No. of Independent Observers Attended - 3251

6 No. of Independent Observers NOT

Attended

- 5962

7 Total Working DRPs 875 855

8 Total SRPs as per recent Recruitment 77 86

9 Present Working SRPs in field 61 82

10 Total No. of Teams in the Field 71 78

11 Total No. of VSAs who participated in the

S.A process

33575 36389

12 Total MGNREGS Expenditure Including

other Convergence Rs.

29,10,77,94,387 48,88,52,84,744

13 Total Expenditure Records Given to S.A

(Audited) Rs.

26,95,15,90,241 42,84,04,13,866

14 Expenditure Records Not Given to S.A Rs. 2,15,62,04,146 6,17,07,43,254

15 Expenditure which Incurred for S.A in Field

Rs.

9,34,28,637 12,81,49,482

16 Amount of Deviation Found as part of S.A

Rs.

1,35,80,74,879 2,98,13,77,521

17 Percentage of Deviation Found as part of S.A 5.04 6.96

18 Amount of Deviation accepted by the

Presiding Officer Rs.

75,37,37,639 1,71,74,05,378

19 Percentage of Deviation accepted by the

Presiding Officer

55.50 57.60

20 Amount Recovered as part of S.A Rs. 73,13,033 70,55,434

21 Balance Amount to be recovered as per S.A

Rs.

1,35,07,61,846 2,97,43,22,087

22 Percentage Recovery 0.54 0.24

23 Total Paras/ Issues Identified so far 138344 175119

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24 Total number of persons held responsible as

per S.A

16063 22337

25 Persons held Responsible - F.As/ Rojgar

Sewak

10435 16047

26 Persons held Responsible - T.As 3103 3906

27 Persons held Responsible - APOs 738 1014

28 Persons held Responsible - MPDOs 622 882

29 Persons held Responsible - Others (AE-PR,

NPM, ITDA etc.)

1165 488

30 Total Delay Payments Identified as part of

S.A Rs.

17,44,07,787 13,67,34,565

31 Delay Payments at Postal Dept. level Rs. 4,36,43,213 3,31,43,948

32 Delay Payments at Smart Card level Rs. 3,22,79,797 4,37,87,978

33 Delay Payments at V.O level Rs. 1,00,46,371 82,51,617

34 Delay Payments at MPDO level Rs. 5,64,86,795 4,56,33,968

35 Delay Payments at Bank level Rs. 3,19,51,611 59,17,054

36 Social Security Pensions Audited Mandals

(from July'12 to April'13)

263 809

37 No. of SSP Pensioners met with S. A team 665268 8562897

38 Total SSP Audited Amount Rs. 37,53,84,361 3,77,27,26,488

39 Amount of Deviation found in SSP as part of

S.A Rs.

39,41,878.00 5,51,81,520

40 Percentage of Deviation found in SSP as part

of S.A

1.05 1.46

41 Details of Insurance, Abhaya Hastam &

Scholarships as per the records Rs.

- 59,74,03,848

42 AABY Total No. of Cases - 256677

43 AABY Total No. of Cases in Variation - 5274

44 AABY Total Amount Variation Rs. - 1,47,25,964

Details of Backlog Mandals

45 Period of 0 to 6 months 612 754

46 Period of 07 to 12 months 401 296

47 Period of 12months Above 86 30

(Please refer to Annexure 1 for detailed progress of MGNREGS)

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Progress of Social Audit

SSAAT has conducted social audits of the MGNREGS in 1066 mandals, AABY in 212

mandals (on a pilot basis), SSP in 1133 mandals, for IWMP in three projects (one in each

regions of Telangana, Rayalseema and Andhra) and MDMS in two districts of Khammam and

Chittoor covering one block each on a pilot basis. The experience of doing audit for these

schemes has been an interesting learning curve for the resource persons. To step out of the

comfort zone of doing audit of only MGNREGS to conducting audits of other schemes was a

challenge that they gladly undertook.

I. Main trends noticed based on the social audit data between 2011-12 and 2012-13:

The total MGNREGS expenditure audited was Rs 2900 crores in 2011-12. In 2012-13, there

was a significant increase to Rs 4900 crore that includes convergence with other departments.

This is almost 40% increase in the amount audited. The difference between the records not

given is 65% between the two financial years.

Record wise:

- In 2011-12 expenditure records not provided vis-a-vis total expenditure was 7% whereas

in 2012-13, there was a sharp increase of 13% which is a worrying trend.

- The percentage of deviation found through the social audit process has increased from 5%

in 2011-12 to 7% in 2012-13. This 2% amounts to Rs. 298 crores which is significant.

- 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000

2011-12

2012-13

2,911

4,889

2,695

4,284

Audited Expenditure (Rs. in Crs)

Expenditure for which records was not given for audit

Total expenditure records audited

Total MGNREGS expenditure including covergence

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Decisions- taken

- The percentage of the acceptance of social audit paras by presiding officer has increased

by 2% between 2011-12 and 2012-13.

- The percentage of recovery that takes places during the audit process has undergone a

sharp decline from 0.54% to 0.24%. Interestingly, the feedback from the field has

revealed that it is now commonly understood and perceived by EGS employees that

paying a recovery will be perceived as an admission of guilt and will be used in legal

action initiated against them at a later stage. Therefore there was a sharp decline in the

instances of recovery.

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Employees

- Total number of persons held responsible as per social audit has increased by 28%. Of

these employees, the FAs are the highest at 72%, followed by TA at 17%, APOs at 5%,

MPDOs at 4% and rest at 2%.

Delay payments:

- The social audit data shows that there is a marked decrease in the delay payments- almost

27% between the two financial years. Payments in AP are currently being done through

the postal departments and the VOs. Delay payment is being tracked at five levels – the

bank, mandal level (MPDO), VOs, postal and smart card. The delay in payments at the:

Postal level shows 1% decrease between the two financial rounds

Through smart cards an increase of 14% increase

Through the VOs a decrease by 0.3%

At the Mandal level an increase of 1%

At the bank level a sharp decline of 14%

An interesting trend that has emerged from the entire analysis of delay payments is that

except the smart card payments that have shown an increase, all others have shown a sharp

decline. This could be attributed to GO MS no. 8 PR & RD, dated 08/01/2013 related to

Compensation to labourers for the delay in wage payments.

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II. Backlog of Social Audit –

The backlog of Social Audits is a continuous challenge faced by SSAAT. In fact, in the last

year the number of audits has dropped from 1316 to 1066, which is a difference of about 250

audits. The reasons for the drop in the audits are mainly due to –

i. Non-provision of records in a timely manner which leads to the teams waiting

for records to be furnished and hence spending more number of days in the

blocks;

ii. Limiting the number of mandals where social audits could be taken up during

the peak work season (March-July) has meant a decrease in the audits and an

increase in the already existing backlog. The implementing agency was

bringing the works in the mandal to a halt because of the social audit and the

labourers were getting affected;

iii. Audit of other schemes such as SSP and AABY along with MGNREGS has

meant that the number of days required in the field have also increased;

iv. IWMP/ MDM pilot social audits;

v. Special Audits (P.R Roads & Coffee Plantation);

vi. High expenditure and high backlog mandals take much longer to audit;

vii. At any given point of time at least 5-10% resource persons are on leave;

The issue of whether or not to conduct a social audit in a GP during peak work season

remains an issue that has not been resolved so far.

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For SSP and AABY, it has been agreed that the same team which does the Social Audit

of the MGNREGS will undertake the audit of SSP and AABY too, there will be a

common gram sabha and public hearing. The costs for the same will be shared on a 65-

35 basis (with MGNREGS meeting 65% of the costs and 35% being met from the SSP

budget) so as to keep the social audit costs to 0.5% of the total MGNREGS budget.

III. Re-Organisation of SSAAT

As SSAAT continues to expand and cover other schemes and requests from other states, a

need has been felt to re-structure it for smooth functioning without any hindrance to the on-

going audits. There is a growing number of requests from many other Departments of the

State Government as well as from Government of India requesting SSAAT to undertake pilot

social audits and design Social Audit toolkits for other welfare schemes.

The Chairperson of SSAAT, Principal Secretary, RD, reviewed SSAAT’s existing structure

on 11.1.13 and suggested that the work of SSAAT be divided amongst 7 verticals, each

discharging a definite work with clearly delegated work. Based on the discussions that took

place during the meeting a revised organogram of SSAAT has been prepared which includes

existing as well as new posts to be filled5.

5 Please refer to Annexure 3 for SSAAT organogram.

Period of 0 to 6 months

Period of 7 to 12 months

Period of 12 months above

612

401

86

754

296

30

Details of Backlog Mandals

2011-12 2012-13

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Improving the Social Audit System –

Several initiatives have been undertaken to further strengthen the social audit process at

the field level. One of them is the Independent Observer6 who plays a critical role in the

Gram Sabha to ensure that the voice of the labourers is heard. This also ensures that the

evidence is recorded in a manner that enables the presiding officer to take an appropriate

decision.

a) SA Observers related initiatives–

SSAAT has undertaken the following initiatives to improve the Observer system in the

field which includes –

1) Training for independent observers identified by the government;

2) Attendance and performance review of the observers in the monthly review

meetings;

3) Proposal to have independent observers from civil society

4) Preparing guidelines for their performance

It is worth stating that even though there has been an improvement much more needs to

be done to further strengthen the process.

b) Linking Social Audits to the Quality Control Wing –

The social audit teams deal with a range of issues on the field such as auditing purely earth

works to material intensive works. A constant challenge that they have to deal with is lack

of technical qualification pertaining to material works because of which a number of

material works related issues that have been raised have often been referred to the quality

control wing by the Presiding Officers. To try and address this an order was issued to

ensure that the QC Teams went along with the Social Audit teams while the audit was in

progress and that the teams would together physically verify the material intensive works

to avoid further reference. The joint inspection of works has meant that the number of QC

references by the Presiding Officer has been reduced.

6 Please refer to Annexure 8 for note on role of observers

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c) Fixing Responsibility for Non-production of Records-

To address the issue of delay and non-provision of records Memo # 2525 was issued

on 10.03.13 by the Department fixing responsibility on the APO for producing the

records, failing which he/she would be placed under immediate suspension. If records

pertaining to 75% of the works on which expenditure was incurred since the last

social audit of a Block are provided then the Social Audit process should take place.

In the case of works taken up in convergence with other departments the person in-

charge of the DCC has been made responsible for handing over the records failing

which under Section 25 of the MGNREG Act, a fine will be imposed on the person.

IV. Progress of the Post Social Audit Follow-Up

The Department of Rural Development has set-up an independent wing to do the post social

audit follow up which is as critical as the process of social audit itself. In the previous rounds

of social audit, disciplinary action initiated by the Department was being challenged in the

Court by the FTEs (Fixed Tenure Employees) on the basis of Principles of Natural Justice.

They stated that they were removed directly after a social audit without being given a chance

to defend their case. Subsequently, the Vigilance wing was set up at the district level to

ensure that proper course of action was followed in all disciplinary cases by issuing Show

Cause Notices and providing people an opportunity to give their explanation through a

personal hearing.

The progress of the Disciplinary Cases since the last GB is indicated through the figures on

page 25 and 26:

Page 25

i. Status of Disciplinary Cases C

AD

RE

No

. o

f C

ase

s

Su

spen

ded

Rem

ov

ed

Pu

nis

hm

ent

Imp

ose

d

Acq

uit

ted

To

tal

dis

pose

d

FIR

Fil

ed

Ba

lan

ce

Field

assistants 6590 277 367 4163 1163 5693 7 897

Technical

assistants

2688

188 83 1628 426 2137 3 551

Engineerin

g Consultant 508 23 14 274 59 347 1 161

Computer

operators 1229 12 20 646 280 946 0 283

Addl

program

Officers

287 10 10 104 60 174 2 113

11302 510 494 6815 1988 9297 13 2005

MPDOs 116 2 0 1 3 4 0 112

AEEs 125 0 0 0 5 5 0 120

BPMs 459 0 0 0 0 0 0 459

Sarpanch 80 0 0 0 0 0 0 80

Others

(VOs,CSPs

etc)

3113 6 462 1017 1 1480 0 1633

3893 8 462 1018 9 1489 0 2404

15195 518 956 7833 1997 10786 13 4409

51864 1306 5344 14984 6673 27001 163 24863

Page 26

ii. Status of Recovery from July, 2012 to May, 2013

S.No Name of the District Amount determined

as Misappropriation (Rs)

Amount

Recovered (Rs)

1 Adilabad 983616 731332

2 Ananthapur 10159290 873450

3 Chittoor 6417903 8425005

4 East Godavari 4095371 1678858

5 Guntur 11460612 1281966

6 Karimnagar 3178439 2350589

7 Khammam 10257115 1529894

8 Krishna 438069 495551

9 Kurnool 13664918 3124422

10 Mahabubnagar 13307985 2173105

11 Medak 5674317 2038042

12 Nalgonda 11145750 3282703

13 Nellore 2893553 1256896

14 Nizamabad 13556039 3282862

15 Prakasam 11783245 1143667

16 Ranga Reddy 6006736 527481

17 Srikakulam 1092606 656044

18 Visakhapatnam 7421395 2032181

19 Vizianagaram 6890048 1064625

20 Warangal 14751362 6325791

21 West Godavari 2244704 2125218

22 Y.S.R 4051788 2537645

Total 16,14,74,861 4,89,37,327

(Please refer to Annexure 4 for CVO follow-up status)

Page 27

iii. Mobile Courts

The AP Government passed the APSA & PCP Act, 2012 (Andhra Pradesh Promotion of

Social Audit & Prevention of Corrupt Practices Act) and since then one Mobile Court on

a trial basis has been set up in Medak which also covers Karimanagar. The First Class

Judicial Magistrate has held camp court at the GP level in both districts and cross-

examined witnesses in great detail. SSAAT’s resource persons (DRPs and SRPs) as well

as VSAs have been asked to appear for cross-examination in the camp court.

So far the progress of the Mobile court is depicted in the table below –

Dis

tric

t

# o

f ca

ses

file

d

# o

f ca

ses

un

der

tri

al

# o

f ca

ses

un

der

scr

uti

ny f

or

wan

t of

docu

men

ts

# o

f

per

son

s

con

vic

ted

Sen

ten

ce

s im

pose

d

# o

f p

eop

le a

cqu

itte

d

FA

TA

Imp

riso

nm

ent

Fin

e Im

pose

d

Medak

36 18 18 5 1 6

months –

1year

Rs.30,00

0 to

Rs.50,000

1

Karimnagar 40 18 22 0 0 - - 0

Total 76 36 40 5 1

(Please refer to mobile court booklet for details on functioning of Mobile Court and the

challenges)

Page 28

V. Data Related Issues

a) Onsite Data Entry –

In 2011 after a great deal of brain-storming it was decided that data entry of the social

audit reports at the Mandal level would be done online so that the soft copy of the reports

would go in a time bound manner. The previous mechanism involved sending the reports

to an off-site point where the reports were being entered. However, a lot of the

information was being lost in translation and there was a fear of losing reports in the

process of transportation. Data management of the social audit reports in SSAAT

continues to be an extremely challenging task.

Data Management involves the following –

a. Ensuring that the data for the expenditure and works of the period that is being audited

is generated by TCS in the requisite formats and sent to SSAAT on a DVD. Data is

generated based on the schedule of audits planned for any given month. On an average

the data pertaining to 120 Mandals – 3000 GPs is generated and handed over to

SSAAT;

b. The DVD containing the data is sent to the printer identified by SSAAT through a

tendering process. The data is printed into booklets for the purpose of social audit. These

booklets are then sent to the Mandals directly by the printer. There are 100 booklets per

Mandal which are to be filled by the social auditors;

c. Once the social audit teams return to the Mandal office from the field after the

verification process and the gram sabha has been held there is a Data Entry Operator

(DEO) waiting for them to start entering the data at the Mandal level itself;

d. The data entry has been out-sourced to eGram IT and it is their responsibility to send the

data entry operators to the field in time to do the data entry;

e. Ideally, the output sheet should be in the form of the Decision Taking Format (DTF) that

is a printed version which is used by the DRPs to read out from during the public

hearing and another copy in which the Presiding Officer can record his/her decisions;

Challenges associated with the data entry-

a. eGram IT is unable to send DEOs to all the Mandals, they are operating with less

number of DEOs and hence, data entry is getting affected;

b. In high expenditure mandals where the number of issues are also comparatively higher,

the data entry takes more than 2 days;

c. There is also potential for greater human errors as the data entry operators are also quite

slow and ill-equipped to carry out such a mammoth exercise;

Page 29

d. The output sheet or the DTF is not generated in a manner which is user friendly and

hence, the hand-written version is commonly preferred by the audit teams and the

Presiding Officers;

e. No quality check is being done at the field level hence, there is a big chance of issues and

data being missed out;

f. Categorisation of issues has to be accurate or else the issue would go into the general

category that is hard to query;

After going through the entire exercise it has been decided that –

a. SSAAT will build an in-house capacity to identify and train 100 DEOs from its VSA

resource base;

b. The back-end support will be extended by eGram IT for the time being;

c. Alternative options have to be explored to find a viable and less cumbersome data entry

process;

d. A full-time Programme Manager will be appointed to handle and manage data since all

the original reports are also being scanned and kept for future reference.

e. Data Management is a big responsibility as SSAAT’s core work resides in the reports and

the accuracy of reports being uploaded on the website has to be ensured;

f. Quality check of the data is also extremely critical;

g. Data entry for SSP / AABY has also begun recently which has added to the volume of

work;

VI. Data Ware-House

It has already been stated that SSAAT has conducted six rounds of MGNREGS Social Audits

across 1085 mandals so far and has now begun the audits of other schemes. The Social Audit

reports of each Mandal per round is more than 5000 pages and has to be stored carefully

since, disciplinary as well as legal action is being initiated based on these reports. Currently,

SSAAT has more than 5000 reports which is about 2.5 crore pages of evidence, critical for

follow-up action. This is just the records pertaining to MGNREGS, added to this are the

records of the SSP, AABY and IWMP. Unless a proper archive is maintained, the records run

a risk of getting damaged. Many of the cases that have been filed in the courts and are

coming up for hearing are more than 3 years old and the court requires the original reports to

be filed during trial failing which the trial cannot proceed.

Page 30

While records pertaining to the audits that have taken place in the last 6 months have been

placed in the record room at DWACRA building of SSAAT, the space is insufficient. There

are reports that have also been stored in two rooms at APARD. Retrieval of the reports is

virtually impossible as there is no space to stack them in an orderly manner.

Thus, it is critical to think of a proper record room for the storage of reports that is

spacious and will also protect them from termites, rodents, fire and any other damage.

SSAAT will need a warehouse to store these reports. A decision will also have to be

taken regarding the time frame for maintaining the reports.

VII. Data Analysis

SSAAT has undertaken an in-depth analysis based on the Social Audit data of 4 rounds. Data

pertaining to 4 rounds of audits conducted in 716 mandals was taken as a sample for analysis.

The data required intensive cleaning to eliminate bad or inaccurate data and was then tested

on various parameters. The data was analyzed on these aspects –

• Contribution of financial, non-financial and grievances to total irregularities

• Trend of the irregularities over the rounds

• Distribution of mandals with respect to financial deviation

• Issue compositions over the rounds

• Records not given

While data was available for each round, to keep the sample as consistent as possible, only

those mandals for which data was available across all rounds was considered. The

methodology followed for the analysis was as follows-

• Mandal was considered as a unit

• For AP level trends, only mandals with data across the rounds was considered

• 150 issue types classified

• Grouped by Financial deviation, non-financial deviation and grievances

Based on the analysis the following trends were noticed –

i. Financial issues have increased between round 1 and round 4 which could be

interpreted in many ways. In the first round, when the scheme was still at the

inception stage, there weren’t any material works and hence, all the deviation

identified pertained only to the wage payments and fraudulent muster-rolls;

Page 31

ii. By the 2nd

, 3rd

and 4th

rounds the material component had been introduced in the

scheme and was increasing with the categories of work chosen being material

intensive. Hence, the financial deviation shifted from fraudulent muster-rolls to

material intensive works;

iii. It is also possible that the Social Audit teams got better at the audit process over the

rounds and hence, were able to do a far more competent job than they were able to do

in the initial rounds;

iv. It is also interesting to note that the percentage of grievances reduced from the 1st to

the 3rd

round, but was slightly higher than the 3rd

round and the 4th

round. This could

be interpreted in many ways, one of which is that the grievances were fewer because

of an increase in the awareness level of the labourers.

v. It could also be that with every round of social audit the number of issues getting

addressed was increasing;

vi. It could also be an indicator that fewer people were willing to come forth and register

their complaints as there was both intimidation and a backlash from the local level

leaders;

vii. It is also seen from the analysis that while benami names were in the top two issues in

the first three rounds, by the 4th

round it had become a non-issue and did not figure in

the list of issues. This would essentially co-relate to the first point where we have seen

an increase in the financial deviation in every round largely due to the presence of

highly material intensive works, whereas, there was a dip in the fraudulent muster-

rolls and benami names.

(Please refer to Annexure 5 (PPT) on data analysis of 4 rounds of MGNREGS)

VIII. Capacity Building and Recruitment Innovations

The Resource Persons of SSAAT are the foundation of the social audit process and are

entirely drawn from the VSA base. SSAAT’s VSAs are from the labourers’ families and job-

card holders themselves, as a result of which they are quite aware of the MGNREGS and the

provisions in the Scheme. However, over a period of time it has been perceived that the

VSAs should be trained and their capacities should be built. Apart from skill building, it will

also enhance their understanding of other Rural Development schemes and problems faced by

implementing agencies. This will help them focus on other welfare schemes other than

MGNREGS and also they will be better equipped to undertake social audits of other rural

welfare scheme.

Page 32

In order to achieve this, SSAAT has collaborated with AMR-APARD and has set-up a centre

for training called C-SATA which carries out an in-house 21 days training for the VSAs

identified by SSAAT after grading their performance on the field.

So far, four batches of 40 VSAs each have been trained of which one batch was exclusively

of women from the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh. These VSAs are then recruited as

DRPs and further trained in Social Audit. The trainings have been very successful and the

quality of the DRPs has significantly improved7.

IX. Synergy with the Accountant General’s Office

The synergy established between SSAAT and the AG’s office continues. SSAAT supported

the CAG’s Performance Audit of the MGNREGS by involving some of the DRPs and SRPs

in the field verification process along with the auditors from the AG’s office. SSAAT’s staff

has participated in training programmes and workshops for the auditors who work in the

AG’s office and their field level staff by organizing exposure visits to the field to participate

in the social audit process.

SSAAT’s work at the field level has also been audited during the CAG’s Performance Audit.

The report has pointed out that SSAAT will have to make efforts to meet the statutory

requirement of doing two audits in a year. They also found that in some areas the awareness

regarding social audit was high and in some places it was relatively low. The Performance

Audit report has however, acknowledged that AP is the only state to have undertaken the

process of social audit seriously and made a genuine attempt to promote it.

SSAAT has requested the AG’s office to conduct a financial audit of the organisation in the

forth-coming financial year so as to ensure that there is absolute financial propriety being

adhered to and also to give further guidance in case there are some changes that have to be

adopted in the current accounting mechanism being followed.

7 Please refer to Annexure 6 for detail on SSAAT capacity building and recruitment innovation.

Page 33

X. Budget

SSAAT continues to try and keep its expenditure limited to 0.5% of the total

MGNREGS budget. Recently, to ensure that the cost of doing audit of other Schemes

does not fall on the MGNREGS budget, an arrangement was worked out to meet 35% of

the total costs from SSP budget and 65% from the MGNREGS budget. SSAAT

continues to follow a system whereby no revenue is earned. The money that SSAAT

receives is the exact costs incurred by the organization to conduct the audits.

SSAAT has followed the same process with IWMP; a separate team has been constituted

to conduct the social audits. This team will be drawn from the existing resource base,

especially DRPs and SRPs who have been working with SSAAT for more than 3 years.

Internal Audit of SSAAT has been undertaken for the financial year 2011-12 and a

request has been made to the firm recommended by the Department of Rural

Development for the internal audit for 2012-13 to be undertaken in the month of July’13.

(Audit report will be circulated during the GB meeting)

The details of expenditure incurred in 2012-13 is:

Details Amount Rs. in Crores

Total Expenditure of Social Audits Rs 25,49,29,161 25.5 cr

SSAAT Expenditure Rs. 12,73,12,014 12.7 cr

Social Audit Field Expenditure Rs. 12,76,17,147 12.7 cr

Estimated Budget for 2013-14 Rs. 47,19,77,400 47.2 cr

SSAAT Expenditure Rs 21,27,77,400 21.2 cr

Social Audit Field Expenditure Rs 25,92,00,000 26 cr

(Please refer to Annexure 7 and 7A for note on budget and statistics)

Page 34

XI. Welfare Initiatives for SSAAT Staff

Resource Fee related issues-

A committee could be set-up to fix the remuneration of all the staff and look at the salaries

currently being paid and also to suggest pay-scales that should be followed.

Medical claims

Since the issue of insurance could not be resolved in the year 2012-13, a medical committee

has been set-up to screen the medical bills submitted by resource persons who fell sick while

in the field. The medical committee will scrutinize and recommend the cases that should be

reimbursed.

Insurance8

In the year 2013-14 SSAAT has decided to follow a Scheme of “Own your Insurance” which

has been designed by the HR manager with inputs from other staff members. It was also

discussed in the Executive Committee Meeting and a committee was set up to work out the

modalities of the scheme. Every employee who is not covered by Rajiv Arogyasri will have

to insure him/herself and SSAAT will meet part of the payment for the same as its share. The

same has to be approved by the GB.

Ex-gratia

It was suggested that SSAAT follow the same process as the SRDS for payment of ex-gratia

in case a Resource Person working with SSAAT loses his/her life or is disabled. A draft set of

rules have been prepared for the approval of the GB.

8 Please refer to consolidated notes on approvals/ ratification/ discussions by GB for scheme and

modalities of insurance and ex gratia

Page 35

Conclusion

It has been seven years since the foundation of Social Audits was laid in Andhra Pradesh.

Through these years it has been innovative and committed to the cause of demanding

accountability and transparency. In seven years it has come a long way in adhering to its

visions and mission but still continues to face many challenges. These issues cannot be

resolved by SSAAT on its own and it needs support of its stakeholders and other civil society

organisations to overcome these challenges.

While SSAAT continues to take steps towards achieving perfection; it also requires inputs as

well as direction from the esteemed Governing Body Members as well as others who are

engaged in protecting the MGNREGS as well as other rural development schemes. Social

Audits have proven to be invaluable in ring-fencing the scheme, but the real challenge ahead

is to keep the social audit process ring-fenced as well. Attempts are continuously being made

to undermine the process as well as the Scheme; a collective strategy and synergy will have

to be worked out to ensure that in the coming years, both are protected.

SSAAT Team

Page 36

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