India being one the largest DEMOCRATIC country has place its people's at the core of its development activities. The 73rd Amendment to the constitution has put forth for the conduct of SOCIAL audit by the Gram SABHA or the public. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural EMPLOYMENT Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) EMPHASIZES the importance of transparency in the scheme and mandates Social Audit as a tool to maintain transparency and accountability through the participation of the people.

Social Audit is defined as a process in which details of the resources, both financial and non financial used by the Public Agency for the development initiatives, are shared with the public through a public platform. This aspect allows the clientele to enforce transparency and accountability by scrutinizing the development activities which also enable them to participant in the development process.

Needs for Social Audit

To ensure transparency in decision making and implementation of scheme

To enhance accountability of delivery system to the people

To increase public participation in the implementation of the scheme

To enable people to exercise their rights

To plug in irregularities in the implementation of the scheme