Gujarat move to replicate Amma canteen for construction workers opposed: Plea to utilize funds for welfare

By A Representative
Closely following the Amma canteens of Tamil Nadu and Annapurna Rasoi of Rajasthan, the Gujarat government’s populist decision to provide meal at a highly subsidized rate of Rs 10 to an estimated 50,000 construction workers across the state appears have few takers among social organizations working among them.
Announced in the 2017-18 budget, the state government proposes to hand over the kitchen for providing meal to a charity organization at chosen 88 spots, where construction workers seek jobs every day in the state’s urban areas. In all, it is estimated, it would cost state coffers Rs 70 crore in a year.
Opposing the move, Vipul Pandya, general secretary, Bandhkam Mazdoor Sangathan (BMS), which has branches spread out in all major cities, in a letter to Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani said that the workers wanting to have meal would face the “unnecessary hassle standing in queue every day”, which would “hurt their self-respect and dignity.”
Subsidized meal at Amma canteens is said to be a major reason why late Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa managed to remain popular in elections. Taking the cue, ruling parties of several states, including West Bengal, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, introduced a similar scheme.
The letter, written following a meeting of senior activists working among construction workers, says that such a scheme would become an “unnecessary drain on the exchequer of the Gujarat Construction Workers Welfare Board (GCWWB), which is supposed to fund for the scheme.”
“Instead”, the letter insists, “It would be more proper to provide workers with unemployment allowance of Rs 1,200 per month, especially during the monsoon season, when they are jobless, from GCWWB funds.”
“In fact”, states Pandya, “Even today, several charity organizations provide free meal at different spots, hence where is the need to spend money on providing subsidized meal is difficult to understand.”
Pandya says, the decision to hand over money from from GCWWB coffers has “little meaning”, as whatever funds the government body collects as cess for GCWWB from builders is “not utilized for the welfare of the construction workers.”
“The cess is collected at the rate of 1% of Rs 3,000 per square metre of buildup area, and according to our estimate, the GCWWB has already collected Rs 1,600 crore, which is lying unutilized”, says Pandya.
According to Pandya, “It is difficult to understand why the GCWWB continue to collect cess on the basis of a government resolution (GR) of 2006, instead of a 2012 GR, which says that the collection should be 1% of the construction cost involved per square metre.”
“Already”, says Pandya, “The GCWWB has lost an estimated Rs 2,500 crore for failing collect cess under the new formula”, adding, “The GCWWB fund should be collected under the new GR, and it should be utilized in providing interest free loan of up to Rs 2 lakh to buy up equipment used while doing construction work.”
“Also”, says Pandya, “The amount should be utilized in providing a subsidy of Rs 1,60,000 for the construction workers wanting to own a house, whether in city or in rural areas.”
He added, “The amount could also be used for providing pension of Rs 2,000 the construction workers, who cross 55 years of age, because they are unable to get employment in the industry thereafter.”

Comments

Plastic burning in homes threatens food, water and air across Global South: Study

By Jag Jivan In a groundbreaking study spanning 26 countries across the Global South , researchers have uncovered the widespread and concerning practice of households burning plastic waste as a fuel for cooking, heating, and other domestic needs. The research, published in Nature Communications , reveals that this hazardous method of managing both waste and energy poverty is driven by systemic failures in municipal services and the unaffordability of clean alternatives, posing severe risks to human health and the environment.

From protest to proof: Why civil society must rethink environmental resistance

By Shankar Sharma* As concerned environmentalists and informed citizens, many of us share deep unease about the way environmental governance in our country is being managed—or mismanaged. Our complaints range across sectors and regions, and most of them are legitimate. Yet a hard question confronts us: are complaints, by themselves, effective? Experience suggests they are not.

From colonial mercantilism to Hindutva: New book on the making of power in Gujarat

By Rajiv Shah Professor Ghanshyam Shah ’s latest book, “ Caste-Class Hegemony and State Power: A Study of Gujarat Politics ”, published by Routledge , is penned by one of Gujarat ’s most respected chroniclers, drawing on decades of fieldwork in the state. It seeks to dissect how caste and class factors overlap to perpetuate the hegemony of upper strata in an ostensibly democratic polity. The book probes the dominance of two main political parties in Gujarat—the Indian National Congress and the BJP—arguing that both have sustained capitalist growth while reinforcing Brahmanic hierarchies.

Economic superpower’s social failure? Inequality, malnutrition and crisis of India's democracy

By Vikas Meshram India may be celebrated as one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, but a closer look at who benefits from that growth tells a starkly different story. The recently released World Inequality Report 2026 lays bare a country sharply divided by wealth, privilege and power. According to the report, nearly 65 percent of India’s total wealth is owned by the richest 10 percent of its population, while the bottom half of the country controls barely 6.4 percent. The top one percent—around 14 million people—holds more than 40 percent, the highest concentration since 1961. Meanwhile, the female labour force participation rate is a dismal 15.7 percent.

Kolkata event marks 100 years since first Communist conference in India

By Harsh Thakor* A public assembly was held in Kolkata on December 24, 2025, to mark the centenary of the First Communist Conference in India , originally convened in Kanpur from December 26 to 28, 1925. The programme was organised by CPI (ML) New Democracy at Subodh Mallik Square on Lenin Sarani. According to the organisers, around 2,000 people attended the assembly.

Urgent need to study cause of large number of natural deaths in Gulf countries

By Venkatesh Nayak* According to data tabled in Parliament in April 2018, there are 87.76 lakh (8.77 million) Indians in six Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). While replying to an Unstarred Question (#6091) raised in the Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of State for External Affairs said, during the first half of this financial year alone (between April-September 2018), blue-collared Indian workers in these countries had remitted USD 33.47 Billion back home. Not much is known about the human cost of such earnings which swell up the country’s forex reserves quietly. My recent RTI intervention and research of proceedings in Parliament has revealed that between 2012 and mid-2018 more than 24,570 Indian Workers died in these Gulf countries. This works out to an average of more than 10 deaths per day. For every US$ 1 Billion they remitted to India during the same period there were at least 117 deaths of Indian Workers in Gulf ...

Celebrating 125 yr old legacy of healthcare work of missionaries

Vilas Shende, director, Mure Memorial Hospital By Moin Qazi* Central India has been one of the most fertile belts for several unique experiments undertaken by missionaries in the field of education and healthcare. The result is a network of several well-known schools, colleges and hospitals that have woven themselves into the social landscape of the region. They have also become a byword for quality and affordable services delivered to all sections of the society. These institutions are characterised by committed and compassionate staff driven by the selfless pursuit of improving the well-being of society. This is the reason why the region has nursed and nurtured so many eminent people who occupy high positions in varied fields across the country as well as beyond. One of the fruits of this legacy is a more than century old iconic hospital that nestles in the heart of Nagpur city. Named as Mure Memorial Hospital after a British warrior who lost his life in a war while defending his cou...

The architect of Congolese liberation: The life and legacy of Patrice Lumumba

By Harsh Thakor* Patrice Émery Lumumba remains a central figure in the history of African decolonization, serving as the first Prime Minister of the independent Republic of the Congo. Born on July 2, 1925, Lumumba emerged as a radical anti-colonial leader who sought to unify a nation fractured by decades of Belgian rule. His tenure, however, lasted less than seven months before his dismissal and subsequent assassination on January 17, 1961.

Epic war against caste system is constitutional responsibility of elected government

Edited by well-known Gujarat Dalit rights leader Martin Macwan, the book, “Bhed-Bharat: An Account of Injustice and Atrocities on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-18)” (available in English and Gujarati*) is a selection of news articles on Dalits and Adivasis (2014-2018) published by Dalit Shakti Prakashan, Ahmedabad. Preface to the book, in which Macwan seeks to answer key questions on why the book is needed today: *** The thought of compiling a book on atrocities on Dalits and thus present an overall Indian picture had occurred to me a long time ago. Absence of such a comprehensive picture is a major reason for a weak social and political consciousness among Dalits as well as non-Dalits. But gradually the idea took a different form. I found that lay readers don’t understand numbers and don’t like to read well-researched articles. The best way to reach out to them was storytelling. As I started writing in Gujarati and sharing the idea of the book with my friends, it occurred to me that while...

Search This Blog