6 November 2018
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A recently concluded social audit of the implementation of Building and other Construction Workers (BOCW) Act in Delhi and Rajasthan clearly demonstrated that construction workers who build and make the foundation of cities, town and glitzy metropolises were victims of systemic corruption and arbitrary use of power. Far from being acknowledged and recognized as the true ‘makers’ of the Make in India paradigm, they were seen to be widely exploited by vested interests leading to their heightened vulnerability in a volatile sector. In fact, the workforce of nearly 10 crore workers continue to be denied their rightful share of the 8% growth rate that the country seems mesmerized with.
The BOCW Act passed in 1996 was a historic legislation that heralded the recognition of the rights of construction workers to a working life of dignity and security. The Act was the outcome of a long-sustained movement of peoples’ campaigns and trade unions. An ongoing PIL drawing the attention of the Supreme Court on systematic irregularities in the implementation of this Act by each of the statutory implementing authorities, led to the Court ordering the conduct of social audits in the act, “so that in future there is better and more effective and meaningful implementation of the BOCW Act. If a mistake has occurred, it is more appropriate to admit the mistake for a better future rather than to justify it or continue to repeat the mistake.”
Based on this mandate, pilot social audits were rolled out in collaboration with Civil Society Organizations in one ward each in Delhi and Rajasthan to arrive at a practical framework that govern the process, for them to be in compliance with the Auditing Standards of Social Audit as laid down by the O/o the C&AG. The social audit was conducted with the active help of the children of construction workers and representatives of trade unions. Records pertaining to the implementation of the Act in the respective areas were accessed by social audit teams prior to the audit. Care was taken to ensure that no official involved in the implementation of the scheme participated in the audit.
The audit brought to surface some very disturbing findings which exposed the complete lack of public scrutiny that the Department of Labour and the Board of Construction Workers has been subject to all these years. Brazen corruption was observed in processing registration, renew and processing of claims. Bribes were taken to the tune of 50% of the amount of financial entitlement due to workers. So audacious were the agents, that bribes were withdrawn through post dated cheques in nearly 5 cases. The lack of direct access of citizens and beneficiaries to the Department/Board through multiple platforms, has given rise to a cadre of middlemen exploiting the disconnect in connivance with officials themselves. The lack of seriousness in execution of a legal mandate was demonstrated by the fact that 53 construction activities taking place in Shalimar Bagh for instance were not even registered by the Department, and therefore precious cess collection was not even initiated. Entitlements such as updation of labour cards, delayed renewals, poor efforts taken by the Department to educate workers on their rights were rampant. The audits demonstrated extremely clearly that there is a total lack of a platform wherein workers can register their grievances and expect a time bound redress on the same. The fact that a social audit lasting merely 6 days resulted in bringing to surface nearly 2000 grievances and 800 applications for registration substantiated the fact.
In addition to identifying where the faults lay and who was responsible for the same, the social audits also threw light on where the solution could lie. Interaction with workers and an understanding of the limitations they face in accessing their legal entitlements helped suggest and recommend policy alternatives, thereby bring the paradigm of evidence based policy from rhetoric to practice.
To date, the Delhi Board has not reported any action on the findings of the social audit. To the contrary, registration of FIRs, recovery of money and grievance redress camps have been initiated based on the social audit findings in Rajasthan. The process showed that in spite of clear orders from the Supreme Court and documented evidence substantiating wrongdoings done by the Department and nefarious middle agents, the administration did not feel obligated enough to take swift action.
It is hoped that instead of adopting defensive actions to apportion blame, the Department should use this as an opportunity to course correct, plan and implement the programme with the active consultation of citizens, and ensure that independent, objective and actionable social audits are in deed rolled out across the country in true spirit of the Court order. This will also help the true makers of and in India restore their hard earned life of dignity.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of CBGA. You can reach Rakshita Swamy at rakshitaswamy@gmail.com.