Social Audit

Social Audit is an audit conducted by the people, especially who are affected by or are the intended beneficiaries of the scheme being audited and facilitated by the Government.

SA is verification of the implementation of a scheme/preference and its results by the community with active involvement of the primary state holder.

SA is done by comparing official records with actual ground realities, with the participation of the community in the verification exercise and reading out the findings aloud is a public platform.

SA also examines whether the money was spent properly and has  made difference to peoples lives.

Objectives of Social Audit

Promote transparency and accountability in the implementation of the programme.

Inform and educate people about their rights and entitlements under the law in course of conducting Social Audit.

Provide a collective platform. Such as Social Audit Gram Sabha for people to express their needs and grievances.

Promote peoples participation in all stages of implementation.

Strengthen participation is Gram Sabha, make it an inclusive and participatory institution and make it a platform for positive collective action.

Improve capacity of local stake holders who participate in the Social Audit.

Strengthens the scheme by deterring corruption and improving implementation.

Mandate

Section 17 of the MGNREGA 2005, States that the Gram Sabha would monitor the execution of works within the Gram Panchayat, conduct regular Social Audit of all the project under  the scheme taken up within a Gram Panchayat.

Gram Panchayat shall make available all records to the Gram Sabha for the purpose of Social Audit (Section 3.2 of  Auditing Standards for Social Audit).

Government of India, in consultation with the C&AG under sub- section (1) of section 24 of the Act, has framed a set of Rules and Regulations in April 2011 titled the “Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Audit of Scheme Rules-2011” ( MGNREGA Scheme Rules, 2011).