Another NREGA whistleblower killed in Latehar, Jharkhand
Latehar: Niyamat Ansari, an activist working for the National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme was killed by a group of 12 Maoists at Jerua village in Latehar district. Ansari, who was a close aide of the noted economist Jean Dreze, one of the architects of MNREG, was dragged him out of his residence at 7 PM and beaten up mercilessly.
It all started after Ansari and his friends, on February 20, exposed a case of brazen embezzlement of NREGS funds. They lodged an FIR against the former Block Development Officer (BDO) of Manika, Kailash Sahu, in connection with the case. The Maoists also searched for another activist, Bhukhan Singh, in the village but could not find him.
Ansari was active in the Gram Swaraj Abhiyan in Latehar’s Maneka block and was convenor of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee ACT (MG-NREGA). The Maoists had on July 7, 2010 pasted posters warning Ansari and Singh not to ‘exploit forest land or face consequences’, the sources said.
Three years ago, another MG-NREGA activist, who worked with Dreze, had been killed by unidentified persons in neighbouring Palamau district which triggered widespread protests by several people, including Dreze.
NREGS is the flagship scheme of the government for the poor and aims at enhancing livelihood security of people in rural belts by guaranteeing 100 days of wage-employment in a financial year to a rural household.