Social Corruption Democratic Accountability and Empowerment of Dalits in India

Abstract

newline Set within a rights-based framework, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee newline Act (MGNREGA) is pioneering legislation that guarantees wage employment at an unprecedented newline scale and is path-breaking in its pro-poor vision. The programme provides non-negotiable rights newline and entitlements to the labourers. As per the Act, during its implementation, the implementing newline agency should give priority to the employment of Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), newline Other Backward Castes (OBCs) and women in employment generation programmes for creating newline durable assets. A mandatory social audit was introduced to ensure transparency and accountability newline in the system. Social audits conducted in undivided Andhra Pradesh and Telangana proved the newline existence of massive financial corruption and multiple irregularities during programme newline implementation. newline Corruption is defined as the misuse of public power for personal gain. In India, it is usually viewed newline from a financial perspective. Although corruption in South Asia, especially India, is a serious newline concern to deal with, regarding it in purely monetary terms is a narrow approach and limits our newline understanding of the impact it has on the marginalized groups of society. Caste, political power, newline and corruption work together in Indian society that is the base of theorising social corruption. newline The study was guided by three key questions. 1) What are the experiences of Dalit labourers while newline accessing the benefits of MGNREGS? 2) What is the concept of corruption, its processes and how newline it can be called social corruption? 3) How the tool of social audit contributed to empowering the newline Dalits and the effective implementation of MGNREGA? These questions were addressed with a newline methodological approach that incorporated both qualitative and quantitative methods. Data newline collection tools included surveys, in-depth interviews, case studies, interviews, and participatory newline observation tools to collect data from Adilabad and Nirmal Districts of Telangana. The field newline (universe of study) was selected based on SC population, Socio-economic backwardness, and newline planned social audits in the Mandals and villages by the Social Audit Unit (SAU) of the state. newline The key findings of the research suggest that the Institutionalised social audit has a significant newline contribution in empowering the marginalized groups of the society such as Dalits, Adivasi and newline women. Social audits provide a platform to raise their voices and make the system answerable. It newline xxihas not only made the system democratically accountable but also fixed the responsibility for the newline quality of implementation on the implementing agency and its personnel. newline The study found the existence of social corruption in programme implementation, which was not newline recorded by the social audit because there was no mechanism to address the issue. Social newline corruption is the nexus between dominant castes, political and bureaucratic power holders at a newline grassroots level. Social corruption has a deeper impact on social development than financial newline corruption. The research aims to theorize social corruption with its practices in the field and newline presents its operational definition, objectives and features and impacts. This also provides scope newline for debate on the newer ways of theorizing social corruption. newline Keywords: MGNREGA, Social Audit, Caste, Corruption and Social Corruption newline