NAPM calls for systemic shift to secure justice for Bihar’s working millions

By A Representative 

On the eve of the Bihar Assembly elections, the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) has released a comprehensive statement titled “Workers’ Agenda on the Eve of Bihar Elections”, urging political parties and policymakers to commit to a systemic shift in governance that prioritizes justice and dignity for the state’s working population. The statement underlines that Bihar’s workers, who contribute immensely to both the state and the national economy, have continued to face precarious livelihoods, migration distress, and policy neglect for decades.

NAPM argues that two decades of neoliberal policies under successive governments have deepened the crisis for Bihar’s working class, calling for a new development paradigm that places workers, not corporate interests, at the center of economic planning. The alliance emphasizes that the need of the hour is not isolated welfare schemes, but a coherent, pro-worker strategy led by a strengthened state apparatus and redistributive policies.

Among the key demands, NAPM calls for a new agrarian strategy to revive local economies through equitable access to land and resources, state procurement at fair prices, decentralized public distribution systems, and support for cooperatives and non-farm linkages. It also demands expansion of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) to provide 200 days of work annually at Rs. 800 per day, and the introduction of an Urban Employment Guarantee Act to secure 150–200 workdays for the urban poor and youth.

The statement highlights the urgent need to rebuild public capacity by filling all vacant government positions, ending contractualization, and expanding the workforce in health, education, and welfare sectors. NAPM further proposes a comprehensive social security system covering informal, gig, and women workers, along with the waiver of microfinance loans up to Rs. 1 lakh to relieve women borrowers facing harassment and debt-related distress.

Given Bihar’s high outmigration, NAPM stresses the importance of new legal frameworks to protect migrant workers’ rights, reinstating safeguards removed by recent labour law changes. It also calls for ensuring postal ballot rights for all migrant workers to participate in elections. In education, the alliance urges massive public investment and stronger regulation of the private sector to ensure quality and accessibility for all.

The organization criticizes successive governments for pursuing corporate-led development that has marginalized workers and small producers, calling instead for people-centric economic planning based on progressive taxation, increased public spending on social infrastructure, and integration of social justice into economic policy design.

The statement underscores that true development in Bihar must include representation and rights for all categories of informal workers—agrarian, NREGA, domestic, sanitation, construction, health, gig, and others—ensuring fair wages, social protection, and dignity of labour.

Concluding the appeal, NAPM asserts that the working class embodies the real citizenry of Bihar and deserves justice, recognition, and empowerment. It warns against exclusionary policies and anti-worker models that undermine democratic participation.

The statement has been endorsed by several activists and organizations including Ashish Ranjan (Jan Jagran Shakti Sangathan, Bihar), Thomas Franco (Protection of Voters Rights Movement, Tamil Nadu), Soumya Dutta (MAUSAM & NACEJ, New Delhi), Usman Javed (Independent Researcher, Mumbai), and Meera Sanghamitra (All India Feminist Alliance, Telangana), on behalf of the All-India Workers Forum and the National Working Group of NAPM.