: 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 2024-25, from the 29th of July 2024. As with every year,the social audit is
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 legislation 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, progresses through village-level social audits, door to door
verifications, site-verifications, institutional verification, focus group discussions, 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 following schemes will be covered under the Social Audit:

1. Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA),
2. National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) which includes components
   under the IGNOAPS, IGNDPS, IGNWPS & NFBS,
3. Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana – Gramin (PMAY-G),
4. Sarva Shiksha Scheme (SSS),
5. Public Distribution Scheme (PDS),
6. Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS & PMMVY)
7. Fifteen Finance Commission (XVFC)
8. Poshan Abhiyan (PM Poshan Shakti Nirman)
9. National Health Mission (NHM)
10. National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM),
11. Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana – Urban (PMAY-U)
    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,
12. ensuring they achieve their goals and deliver meaningful benefits to the communities they are
13. designed to serve.
14. To ensure the success of the Social Audit, MSSAT requests the active participation of
15. all stakeholders, including the beneficiaries, the general public and the implementing
16. agencies.
17. For further information and updates regarding Social Audit and the MSSAT, please
18. visit mssat.nic.in.
19. D