Our first field visit as part of the Social Audit happened on Saturday, Feb 16. It was decided to start off from the office at 8.15 AM after having our breakfast. However due to some delays with cabs, we ended up starting from our office at around 10 AM. We had started with all the necessary things packed and ready to go.

It was a **-member team of Googlers from different departments with a goal of understanding the process and then working out the ways to make use of the Google products to smoothen the process.

We were required to visit theKarimnagar district for our Social Audit. The audit was arranged in the mandal of Bejjanki. The Bejjanki panchayat, around 150 km from state capital Hyderabad, conducted the social audit and scrutinized the works under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS). The works here ranged from construction of village roads to the tree plantation projects.

The people we met : -

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The report brought out many lacunae in the scheme and in its implementation. The problems listed in the report were such that some of them could be addressed at the local level itself. But others needed intervention at the state-level.


One of the major problems faced by the scheme is the delay in distributing wages to workers. It takes more than a month for wages to be distributed and as per the rules it should be done in 14 days. Another major problem faced was the improper execution of the tree plantation programs. The Government with the intention of providing employment to the workers initiated this program but had done no proper research in the sustainability of the life of these plants. Therefore more than 80% of the trees planted had died a slow death.


The session finished at around 4.30 PM. As it was getting dark, we decided to start our journey back which turned out to be a 4-hour journey due to the heavy traffic which was existent in the city.

It was the first Social Audit field visit for all of us and it turned out to be a huge learning experience to get to know the entire process and at the same time, it was important to appreciate various initiatives to prevent corruption in NREGA. For instance, the government of Andhra Pradesh has taken the bold step of paying all NREGA wages through post offices. This is an example of the “separation of payment agencies from implementing agencies,” recommended in the NREGA guidelines.


More information on the Social Audit Process flow can be found here - http://nrega.nic.in/MRD/MR_watch.htm