NREGA workers expose rural development minister’s claims; Plan protest at Jantar Mantar on 5-6 December

By A Representative

NREGA workers, under the banner of NREGA Sangharsh Morcha have accused the Modi government of undermining the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). They highlighted issues such as inadequate budget allocations and the arbitrary deletion of job cards, challenging the claims made by the Minister for Rural Development during a parliamentary debate on December 3, 2024.

Renowned economist Jean Dreze debunked Minister of State (MoS) Chandrashekhar Pemmasani’s claim that the government has consistently increased the NREGA budget by ₹20,000 crore annually. Dreze pointed out that while Fund Transfer Orders (FTOs) are generated on time, actual wage payments are often delayed by weeks or months. Jharkhand NREGA Watch’s Afsana Khatun underscored how insufficient initial budgets result in delays in wage payments and the denial of work once funds are exhausted. She also called for an increase in NREGA wages to ₹800 per day to keep pace with inflation.

Jitendra Paswan from Bihar criticized the technical interventions, including the Aadhaar-Based Payments System (ABPS) and online attendance via the National Mobile Monitoring System (NMMS). He highlighted how poor connectivity and technical glitches prevent workers from marking their attendance, resulting in lost wages. Paswan also noted that 9 crore job cards have been deleted since FY 2022-23 due to stringent ABPS requirements, a fact confirmed by Libtech’s Chakradhar Buddha, who attributed this to the recent policy changes.

Meanwhile, Ambarish Soren from West Bengal condemned the Centre’s stoppage of NREGA funds to the state since December 2021. This has led to a complete halt in NREGA work and unpaid wages for FY 2021-22. The Rural Development Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, cited corruption in West Bengal’s implementation of NREGA as the reason but failed to provide accountability or penalties for officials involved. Soren argued that denying workers their rightful wages is not justified under the NREGA Act.

The NREGA Sangharsh Morcha accused the government of systematically dismantling the program through inadequate budgets and arbitrary technical interventions. They announced a two-day protest at Jantar Mantar on December 5-6, 2024, urging citizens to support their fight for fair wages and the right to work.

The workers demand transparency from the Rural Development Ministry, including the publication of the investigation report on corruption allegations. They also called for an immediate review of budgetary policies and technical systems to prevent further disenfranchisement of rural workers.

Comments

The golden crop: How turmeric is transforming women's lives in tribal India

By Vikas Meshram* When the lush green fields of turmeric sway in the tribal belt of southern Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat, it is not merely a spice crop — it is the golden glow of self-reliance. In villages where even basic spices once had to be bought from the market, the very soil today is yielding a prosperity that has transformed the lives of thousands of families. At the heart of this transformation is the initiative of Vaagdhara, which has linked turmeric with livelihoods, nutrition, and village self-governance — gram swaraj.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Love letters in a lifelong war: Babusha Kohli’s resistance in verse

By Ravi Ranjan* “War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” Bertrand Russell’s words echo hauntingly in our times, and few contemporary Hindi poets embody this truth as profoundly as Babusha Kohli. Emerging from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Kohli has carved a unique space in literature by weaving together tenderness, protest, and philosophy across poetry, prose, and cinema. Her work is not merely artistic expression—it is resistance, refuge, and a call for peace.

Authoritarian destruction of the public sphere in Ecuador: Trumpism in action?

By Pilar Troya Fernández The situation in Ecuador under Daniel Noboa's government is one of authoritarianism advancing on several fronts simultaneously to consolidate neoliberalism and total submission to the US international agenda. These are not isolated measures, but rather a coordinated strategy that combines job insecurity, the dismantling of the welfare state, unrestricted access to mining, the continuation of oil exploitation without environmental considerations, the centralization of power through the financial suffocation of local governments, and the systematic criminalization of all forms of opposition and popular organization.

Echoes of Vietnam and Chile: The devastating cost of the I-A Axis in Iran

By Ram Puniyani The recent joint military actions by Israel and the United States against Iran have been devastating. Like all wars, this conflict is brutal to its core, leaving a trail of human suffering in its wake. The stated pretext for this aggression—the brutality of the Ayatollah Khamenei regime and its nuclear ambitions—clashes sharply with the reality of the diplomatic landscape. Iran had expressed a willingness to remain at the negotiating table, signaling a readiness to concede points emerging from dialogue.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

False claim? What Venezuela is witnessing is not surrender but a tactical retreat

By Manolo De Los Santos The early morning hours of January 3, 2026, marked an inflection point in Venezuela and Latin America’s centuries-long struggle for self-determination and independence. Operation Absolute Resolve, ordered by the Trump administration, constituted the most brutal and direct military assault on a sovereign state in the region in recent memory. In a shocking operation that left hundreds dead, President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores were illegally kidnapped from Venezuelan soil and transported to the United States, where they now face fabricated charges in a New York federal detention facility. In the two months since this act of war, a torrent of speculation has emerged from so-called experts and pundits across the political spectrum. This has followed three main lines: One . The operation’s success indicated treason at the highest levels of the Bolivarian Revolution. Two . Acting President Delcy Rodríguez and the remaining leadership have abandone...

The selective memory of a violent city: Uttam Nagar and the invisible victims of Delhi

By Sunil Kumar* Hundreds of murders take place in Delhi every year, yet only a few incidents become topics of nationwide discussion. The question is: why does this happen? Today, the incident in Uttam Nagar has become the centre of national debate. A 26-year-old man, Tarun Kumar, was killed following a dispute that reportedly began after a balloon hit a small child. In several colonies of Delhi, slogans such as “Jai Shri Ram” and “Vande Mataram” are being raised while demanding the death penalty for Tarun’s killers. As a result, nearly 50,000 residents of Hastsal JJ Colony are now living in what resembles a state of confinement.

The price of silence: Why Modi won’t follow Shastri, appeal for sacrifice

By Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey* In 1965, as India grappled with war and a crippling food crisis, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri faced a United States that used wheat shipments under the PL-480 agreement as a lever to dictate Indian foreign policy. Shastri’s response remains legendary: he appealed to the nation to skip one meal a day. Millions of middle-class households complied, choosing temporary hunger over the sacrifice of national dignity. Today, India faces a modern equivalent in the energy sector, yet the leadership’s response stands in stark contrast to that era of self-reliance.

Search This Blog