They say "Seeing is Believing". But what about the underlying details that one cannot see with naked eyes? What if you know that whatever you are seeing is just half the truth or may be window-dressing and still the evidences vouch against it? I have been trying to understand the village dynamics ever since i entered this field but seriously this is one hell of a task. People are unpredictable. You would never know whats in store for you.
I went for the inspection of a pond under MGNREGS which had recently attracted some media attention. It was alleged that though NREGA funds had been extracted in the name of pond rejuvenation yet no actual work was done. I'll leave behind what the actual case was and what all was found in the end. My focus centers around PEOPLE. I was baffled with the way people behaved. The person on whose statement the whole media report was based denied that he said anything about the pond. A jovial young man. He said, "Madam bulaiye uss reporter ko fone karke. Jhooth likha hai". Agreed!!!
Then came 2 NREGA workers. While I was talking to one of the workers the MATE very smartly turned his back against me and started strolling near the second worker. And there he went mumbling something in the ear of that worker. I gave a sharp look and the worker showed as if nothing passed between him and the MATE. Teamwork!!!!
Then came a lady who talked incessantly. She proclaimed how she and the whole village had gained from the pond and that the allegations were all wrong. Later I came to know she was MATE's mother. Great!!!
The workers said they received the payments on time. When asked about the jobcard they said its with the MATE. MATE clarified he took the jobcards just yesterday. The workers didn't know what to say. They probably didn't know that the jobcard is their own property. They changed their statements every now and then. "Just yesterday" conveniently changed to 1 week. In the meanwhile, the mother kept interfering with her shrill and unstoppable blah blah. I understood what putting words in one's mouth literally means. Eureka!!!
I felt like Sherlock Holmes....judging every minuteness in the surroundings. Things were being fabricated. But the evidence missing. The papers/records vouched work had been done. JE, MATE, Labours,Passers By- all testified the same. Seeing the site with my own eyes made me believe that work had actually been done. But something did miss my eyes!!!!
Seeing is Believing?????????
4 comments:
i may sound impractical here , but how about appointing local spies .(you know like high school going kids and other non-nrega guys in the village). Do experiment and let me know.
cheers,
phani.
Phani even in dat case i wud need to know the village dynamics completely.....how would u know whom to trust????
pretty well put... another example could be that we talk a lot about tribals being exploited by other caste groups... but i have never been able to identify an instance of this exploitation in the village..
@vartika : you really have a peculiar case of collusion . there must be a lot of non -nrega people (say the village tailor ,teacher , pawn shops). yes , you may have to know about the entire village dynamics for that .
@anshuman : i have encountered it in one village here . " the anganwadi worker ", people say ," mistreats children from their tribe",when they come to avail the 'cooked food' and pre school scheme .
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