In a move to empower rural women in the country, the government has reportedly decided to assign women in rural areas the duty of auditing its welfare schemes.
Also, the women will be assigned the role of nodal persons following which they will take up the responsibility of resolving the beneficiaries’ complaints regarding the schemes.
According to Amarjeet Sinha, Secretary, Ministry of Rural Development, the beneficiaries would be assessing the schemes’ impact themselves in the audit. The process also involves a comparison between the current progress of the programmes with the officially registered data.
Also Read: Does Opening a Bank Account Make Rural Women Financially Literate?
Also, educated rural women from self-help groups associated with the National Rural Livelihood Mission will ensure that the procedures are carried out ethically.
The social audit initiative first began with the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Act. Over the years, the auditing has now been extended to other welfare programmes such as the Pradhan Mantri Sadak Yojana (Rural), Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Gramin), among others by the Ministry of Rural Development.
Sinha also added that the women would also be compensated for their services rendered in auditing the welfare programmes.
The Ministry has finalised the standards for the social audit with the Auditor General and Comptroller.
For any clarifications/feedback on the topic, please contact the writer at viswanathan.v@cleartax.in
Abbreviation is the name of the game – SIP, NPS, ELSS, KTM, and OMR.
Vishnu is the cat that got too curious. He can normally be found staring at market charts or drooling over his Real Madrid curios.
Favourite quote: ” Madrid, Madrid, Madrid ¡Hala Madrid! Y nada más”
