Don Bosco Action India, through its partner organizations, is involved in a vast spectrum of development programmes across the country.  However, the network is currently focusing on two major programmes:

1. Securing the implementation of the NREGA

2. Promoting Human Rights Education 

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (NREGA)

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) is probably one of the first laws in the country to recognize the people’s demand for rights over welfare. While many schemes and programmes since Independence have extended various benefits to the people, the mindset has always been that of a benevolent government trying to ‘uplift the needy’.

The NREGA, in contrast, frames employment as a right, something that the State owes to the people who can demand it on their own terms. Enacted in August 2005 and extended to all rural districts in April 2008, the NREGA is the outcome of campaigns and struggles by many people’s groups for an employment guarantee law.

 The provisions of the Act are simple: each household is guaranteed 100 days of work at the minimum wage, or an unemployment allowance if the State is unable to provide applicants with work. The projects to be taken up will be selected by the Gram Sabha, which will also monitor their implementation. Therefore, the Act is designed to be one over which the people have full control.

However, getting the law passed was only the beginning of the challenge. At present, the implementation of the Act is still irregular in many places. Whether it is the issue of job cards, payment of wages or selection of works, neither the people nor the State apparatus have clearly understood that the NREGA is not merely a guarantee of employment; it is a law that puts control over the State into the hands of the people. Therefore, it could be the first step towards a drastic change in the manner in which the government functions.

And this is where people’s organizations and development workers have a role to play—not only in enabling rural communities to secure the correct implementation of the Act but also in helping them rethink their understanding of State power, so that they have real control over the governments that rule in their name.

Human Rights Education (HRE)

Knowing what one’s rights are is the first step towards securing them. The purpose of Human Rights Education is to ensure that all citizens, from schoolchildren to community leaders, are aware of the rights they are guaranteed and know how to claim them.

In recent times, the efforts of people’s groups and the demands of citizens have pushed the State to recognize rights to education, employment and information. Therefore, Human Rights Education will also guide people in the process of examining their needs, understanding which of these can be framed as rights and the methods they can adopt to secure them.

Finally, knowledge of the mechanisms for enforcing rights and redressing irregularities will enable people to report rights violations to the authorities and ensure that action is taken. Therefore, a focus on Human Rights Education will help communities understand their entitlements and responsibilities as citizens.