Meghalaya: Social Audit during Financial Year 2024-25 to commence from July 29

A CORRESPONDENT

SHILLONG: The Meghalaya Society for Social Audit and Transparency (MSSAT), the State Social Audit Unit, will facilitate the conduct of Social Audit during the Financial Year 2024 - 2025.

The schemes covered under the Social Audit are - Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) which includes components under the IGNOAPS, IGNDPS, IGNWPS & NFBS, Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana Gramin (PMAY-G), Sarva Shiksha Scheme (SSS), Public Distribution Scheme (PDS), Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS & PMMVY), Fifteen Finance Commission (XVFC), Poshan Abhiyan (PM Poshan Shakti Nirman), National Health Mission (NHM), National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) and Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Urban (PMAY-U).  The Social Audit will start from July 29, 2024. The social audit will be carried out with an aim to ensure transparency, accountability, and effectiveness in the implementation of various Government schemes across the state

Section 17 of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) 2005 mandated the conduct of social audits for works taken up under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Schemes (MGNREGS) Meghalaya then enacted the Meghalaya Community Participation and Public Services Social Audit Act, 2017, which is the country's first and only legsslation mandating social audits for schemes and programmes implemented by various Government departments under Schedule 1 of the Act.

These include Education, Health, Forest & Environment, Power, Water & Sanitation, Employment & Skilling, Roads, Agriculture, Community and Rural Development, Security, Planning, Border, Food Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs and Social Welfare.

The social audit process is initiated with a departmental meeting, the creation of the social audit calendar, programmes through village-level social audits, door to door verifications, site-verifications, institutional verification, focus group discussion, social audit gram sabha and culminates in social audit public hearings at the block level, wherein during these social audit public hearings, the identified social audit findings and issues are reported to the relevant officials, prompting necessary actions to address the concerns raised, which will then be submitted to the office of the MSSAT as Action Taken Reports (ATR).

The MSSAT shall submit the Annual Social Audit Report to the Government. The Social Audit process plays a crucial role in ensuring that the Government schemes reach their intended beneficiaries effectively and that the allocated funds for these programmes are used efficiently.

By promoting transparency and accountability, the Social Audit involves local communities and stakeholders in the monitoring and evaluation of these initiatives, thus fostering an environment of trust and integrity.

Through these efforts, the Meghalaya Society for Social Audit and Transparency (MSSAT) not only supports the Social Audit process but also contributes to the overall successful implementation of these schemes, ensuring they achieve the goals and deliver meaningful benefits to the communities they are designed to serve.

To ensure the success of the Social Audit, MSSAT requests the active participation of all stakeholders, including the beneficiaries, the general public and the implementing.

Also Read: Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government terms Budget 2024-25 ‘growth oriented’ (sentinelassam.com)

Also Watch: