Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Giriraj Singh, is scheduled to deliver the keynote address at the second National Seminar on “Social Audit of Rural Development Programmes” scheduled for 26 September 2023 at the Dr Ambedkar International Centre, New Delhi. . The theme of this important seminar is “Rethinking Social Audit to Bring Transparency and Accountability”.
The seminar will be attended by dignitaries including Union Minister for Rural Development and Steel Fagan Singh Kalaste. Union Minister of State for Rural Development and Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti; Union Minister of State for Panchayati Raj Kapil Moreshwar Patil; Rural Development Department Secretary Shailesh Kumar Singh. Joint Secretary (Mahatma Gandhi NREGA), Amit Kataria, and senior officers of all State and Union Territory Governments.
The event is expected to bring together experts and officials from various states who will share their valuable experiences related to social audit. Directors of Social Audit Units from States/UTs along with State Resource Persons (SRP), District Resource Persons (DRP) and Block Resource Persons (BRP) of State Social Audit Team, with their insights and best practices. It will strengthen the conversation. .
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (Mahatma Gandhi NREGA) empowers Gram Sabhas to conduct regular social audits of all operations and expenditure. This includes setting up independent social audit units, providing full access to all records both online and offline and active disclosure through wall writing. Mahatma Gandhi’s Mandatory Social Audit by the Gram Sabha for all projects undertaken in the Nriga Gram Panchayat was a landmark act, which later became a model for many other schemes.
To streamline the process, the central government, in consultation with the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (C&AG), enacted the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Audit of Scheme Rules in 2011, to conduct social audits. Procedures and rules were formulated for this. States/UTs At present, 28 States/UTs have established social audit units, and these units are continuously encouraged to recruit and train core staff at the state, district and block levels. goes
Building on the success of the first national seminar held in November 2019, where social audit was extended to other major schemes under the Department of Rural Development, this upcoming seminar aims to focus on social audit in states/UTs. To assess and formulate the status of implementation of A roadmap for reimagining social audit to enhance transparency and accountability. The second national seminar is organized by the Department of Rural Development and is scheduled on September 26, 2023.
The seminar promises to be an important platform for sharing knowledge, best practices and innovations in the field of social audit, ultimately contributing to the improvement of rural development programs across the country.
First Published: 24 Sep 2023, 08:45 IST