Recent reports indicate increasing problems in the implementation of MG-NREGA in Himachal Pradesh, the most disturbing aspect being the long delays in the payments of workers. A front page, top news report in a leading newspaper of this region Amar Ujala stated on April 28, “ in most gram panchayats of Himachal Pradesh daily wage payments of thousands of workers [Read More…]

Himachal Pradesh has been experiencing several adversities in recent times including erratic weather conditions.  The year 2021 started with a prolonged drought spell and unseasonal, widespread forest fires. After this there have been several spells of very heavy rain concentrated in a short span, sometimes accompanied by hailstorm, which have caused extensive damage to seasonal crops and horticultural produce from[Read More…]

A law enacted by the previous UPA Government in India to provide rural employment guarantee proved to be a significant help in reducing the aggravated distress of the rural poor in pandemic times last year. However while the pandemic related distress had not yet abated, the union government with undue haste reduced the budget for this important program, leading to[Read More…]

The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act currently offers 100 days of work to all rural households. Given the crisis in the economy and the slowdown of economic activity in urban centres, more people have now returned to their rural homes. NREGA Sangharsh Morcha on Saturday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking that the Union government extend the[Read More…]

The increase in the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) wage rates for 2021-22 is extremely paltry (see the table). There is no increase in Kerala’s NREGA wage rate. Rajasthan’s wage rate has increased by just Re 1. In fact, for 24 states, the increase in the NREGA wage rate is less than 5 per cent. The country’s economy has[Read More…]

MGNREGA has been a controversial scheme, politically, since its inception in the year 2006. Some politicians has referred to it as a means for menial jobs to poor, while some others claim it as a symbol of erstwhile UPA government’s failure. But undeniably it is the only employment scheme that directly benefits the unemployed poor and downtrodden. It is quite[Read More…]

Co-Written by Anurag Singh and Sandeep Pandey Atma-nirbhar (self-reliant) India must perform on several fronts in order to vindicate itself on its adopted path in the current economic crisis coupled with crippling pandemic, two of which are Education and Employment. As a matter of considerable advantage, two recent historic social legislations offer a means to overcome the times of crisis[Read More…]

Demand Rs 600 as daily wages and strict implementation of locally planned works Today, workers in over sixty districts across eleven states of the country observed “NREGA Adhikar Diwas” by submitting a memorandum to the Prime Minister to demand an increase in the annual guarantee of work to 200 days per person, revision of the daily wage rate to Rs[Read More…]

The miseries of the workers relating to Covid19 is unending one. Few weeks before we had condemned the reform of labor laws, initiated by the Union Government and subsequently followed by various states, because it was an attempt to take away the rights of workers they had achieved through their fight. In another incident, Supreme Court took a reverse stand[Read More…]

MGNREGA( Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) this year has almost come to a standstill. While the nation is debating the economic slowdown and falling demand in the rural areas , economists emphasizing that increase in the rural income and generating resources for the poor as a potential solution to the on going crisis, the so called world’s largest[Read More…]

The cover has finally blown. The shadow of a slowing economy has caught up as the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) recently declared an overall unemployment rate of 6.1% in FY18, the highest in 45 years. Though the government maintains its contention with the comparability of PLFS with older data, academics and scholars across the country reiterate its credibility. However,[Read More…]

Strengthening MGNREGA is important to  alleviate rural distress The  election manifesto of the Bharatiya Janata Party has been recently  announced and MGNREGA has been completely ignored in the manifesto. While more than 13 crore people across the country are dependent on MGNREGA and it is being the  biggest employment opportunity for the rural sector,  not even a mention of NREGA[Read More…]

  The Government of India’s official website shows that Jharkhand has failed terribly in MGNREGA implementation in 2018-19  while the country has seen a steady increase in work demands under the programme Jharkhand has gone through a rough patch in MGNREGA implementation in the financial year 2018-19. The implementation of MGNREGA was almost standstill for nearly about 6 months during[Read More…]

Official apathy and the failure of the governments to provide basic facilities like shades and administration’s negligence in ensuring adequate security measures at the work sites for the labourers, responsible for the tragic incident in a NREGA worksite at Y.Tippagutta in Telengana. This place is located in the Teeleru panchayat of Marikal Mandal in the district of Narayanpet. On Wednesday[Read More…]

The wage rates for NREGA workers for 2019-20, notified yesterday, have again exposed central government’s lack of commitment for NREGA workers’ rights. The hike ranges from a meagre Re 1 to a majestic Rs. 17 for various states and Union Territories (UTs). And workers of 6 states and UTs will have to be content with no hike at all. Workers[Read More…]

To, Shri Narendra Modi Prime Minister of India Dear Prime Minister, NREGA has been a lifeline for the poor, with one in every three rural households working in it. About 5 crore households access some employment under this Act every year. Even though most households are able to access their full guarantee to employment under NREGA, the programme  has played[Read More…]

 As the month of march progresses, there is great pressure from the administration to intensify the works  but does the government have money  to  make timely payments to the workers?   Workers employed under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) across India gathered at their nearest police stations to lodge complaints against the Prime Minister of India  for irregularities and[Read More…]

The Central Government has forgotten that the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee ACT is an employment generation programme and not merely a rural asset generation scheme. The idea of MGNREGA was conceived, based on the fact that the planning and implementation of the schemes will be done in a decentralized manner, which will honor the local and traditional knowledge[Read More…]

The  MNREGA Sahayata Kendras of Jharkhand have been working on strengthening the demand side of the grievance redress mechanism since their inception. The idea of a sahayata kendra led community driven grievance management and monitoring system is  very recent but the experiences have been very rich and significant .The grievance redress policies and provisions as proposed in the MGNREGA ACT[Read More…]

In its recent press release the NREGA Sangrash Morcha brought in several important issues which we need to reflect upon for the efficient implementation of one of the world’s biggest employment guarantee schemes. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) budget for 2018-19 is Rs 55,000 crores, the same as that of this year’s in money terms. (The[Read More…]

Close to 1,000 NREGA workers and other rural labourers converged to Birsa Chowk from 12 districts of Jharkhand today and sat on dharna to protest against repeated attacks on their right to food and right to work. The event was jointly organised by Right to Food Campaign Jharkhand and NREGA Watch. The dharna was prompted by a series of recent[Read More…]