Over 200 workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) gathered in a powerful protest outside Raj Bhawan in Ranchi last week, condemning the relentless assaults on their rights and the systematic dismantling of the NREGA by the Union government. The protest, led by Jharkhand NREGA Watch and the NREGA Sangharsh Morcha, brought together workers from Jharkhand as well as Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and West Bengal in a united stand demanding the proper implementation of the Act in letter and spirit — guaranteed employment, timely payment of wages, and providing work without arbitrary exclusions.
According to a statement released by NREGA Sangharsh Morcha, the workers are calling for the immediate reversal of anti-worker technologies such as the national mobile monitoring system (NMMS) and the Aadhaar-based payment system (ABPS) which have proven to be opaque and arbitrary.
Maheshwari, from Bihar's Muzaffarpur, highlighted how workers in her panchayat are routinely denied their wages because of NMMS, with officials claiming their names were not on the muster rolls despite having completed the work. "The workers assert that these technologies have resulted in the exclusion of thousands of workers, delays in wage payments, and denial of work, thereby undermining the very spirit of the NREGA."
A particularly egregious issue raised during the protest was the total suspension of NREGA work in West Bengal since December 2021. Alleging implementation leakages, the Union government had invoked section 27 of the MGNREGA Act, freezing funds for the state and halting all work. As a result, thousands of workers in West Bengal have not been paid for work completed before the suspension, nor have they been able to access new employment under NREGA for nearly three years.
Ambarish, from West Bengal's Purulia district, derides the Union government's logic of making workers suffer for corruption on the part of government officials, demanding that NREGA work must continue regardless of any investigation into these alleged leakages.
In Jharkhand, on the other hand, NREGA Sangharsh Morcha says it is commonplace for NREGA works to be done using JCB machines in clear violation of the Act, while thekedars (middlemen) pocket a large portion of workers' wages. "But there is complete absence of political will to address such practices despite their being an open secret, leaving workers in the lurch between exacting middlemen and an insensitive state. The workers demand that the government must work towards strengthening social audits and grievance redressal under MGNREGA and ensure the independence of these processes to fight corruption and increase people's accountability under the Act. With the state elections around the corner, one thing is clear: the workers' vote will go to the one who works towards strengthening NREGA."
"With rural poverty on the rise and employment opportunities shrinking, the importance of NREGA has never been greater. For many workers and their families, the wages earned through NREGA are not just a source of livelihood but a means of survival. The message of rural workers to the Union and state governments is loud and clear: NREGA work at a living wage is our right, we will not let it go!" NREGA Sangharsh Morcha says.
Unfortunately, it is the poor who have to pay the price.