Who we are

 

We are a team of engineers, social workers and social scientists who are interested in improving public service delivery in India. We are inspired by India’s Right to Information movement and believe that transparency can go a long way in reducing corruption and improving accountability.

While technology is integral to our approach, we recognise that a transparency project cannot just be about transferring bits of information from one place to another. We have learned that providing actionable information is a hard task. It requires an understanding of concrete problems that people face in each context, a strategy on which issues could be reasonably tackled in a given context, and an assessment of what role information can play in a role in this social process.  Doing so requires us to combine technical imagination with a sound understanding of social and political complexities. Consequently, LibTech’s focus has been on combining a thorough presence on the ground with rigorous academic research – what we call ‘Action Research’.

February 2024 Data Point: Mass Jobcard Deletions in NREGA

Recent Publications

MGNREGA Employment

This Report was prepared using data available in the public domain. The analysis is based on data from three Financial Years: 2019-20, 2020-21, and 2021-22. In this report, we present the state and district level details of Employment generated, Expenditure and Rejected Payments.

Hardships Accessing Payments in Odisha

Half the workers spent more than Rs. 200 (approximately equivalent to NREGA’s daily wage of Rs.215) on each visit to the disbursement to withdraw their wages. bbb

MGNREGA Employment

This Report was prepared using data available in the public domain. The analysis is based on data from three Financial Years: 2019-20, 2020-21, and 2021-22. In this report, we present the state and district level details of Employment generated, Expenditure and Rejected Payments.

Updates

LibTech is Hiring for a Data Analyst
‘The India Forum’ has published an article authored by members of the LibTech India team, addressing the challenges faced by MGNREGA post the COVID-19 pandemic.(26 December 2023).
EPW has published article by LibTech team members, highlighting how the imposition of Aadhaar has resulted in the mass deletion of over 5 crore workers from MGNREGA rolls nationwide.(25 August 2023)