Workers’ groups demand rollback of VB-GRAMG Act, call for strengthened MGNREGA

By A Representative

A policy dialogue convened at the Constitution Club of India brought together Members of Parliament, economists, activists and workers under the banner of the Joint Platform of Agricultural and Rural Workers’ Unions and the NREGA Sangharsh Morcha, to deliberate on the future of rural employment in India.

The meeting focused on concerns surrounding the recently introduced Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-GRAMG) Act, 2025, with participants calling for its rollback and restoration of a strengthened Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). The platform described the new law as a “jumla” and an attack on workers’ rights.

MPs from seven political parties, including the Indian National Congress, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, Communist Party of India, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Bharat Adivasi Party, attended the dialogue. Among those present were Jothimani, Sasikanth Senthil, Manoj Jha, Amra Ram, Rajkumar Raut, Arun Nehru, Sanjay Yadav, Sivadasan, Raja Ram Singh and D. Raja. The MPs expressed solidarity with MGNREGA workers and said they would raise the issue in Parliament and other forums. A joint letter demanding an immediate halt to the implementation of VB-GRAMG is set to be circulated among MPs and submitted to the Prime Minister.

Workers from Rajasthan and Punjab shared testimonies on how MGNREGA has supported rural livelihoods, while warning that the new Act could weaken decentralised governance. They argued that VB-GRAMG dilutes the role of states, panchayats and Gram Sabhas, undermining the participatory framework of MGNREGA. Participants also flagged the Union government’s refusal to disclose details of pre-legislative consultations on the Act in response to an RTI query.

With the new financial year approaching, speakers cautioned that uncertainty around implementation and budget allocations could trigger increased distress migration in rural areas.

The Joint Platform announced a nationwide strike by MGNREGA workers on May 15, 2026, and reiterated its commitment to sustained mobilisation. Key demands include the immediate rollback of the VB-GRAMG Act, expansion of employment guarantee to at least 200 days per rural household with a minimum wage of ₹700 per day indexed to inflation, withdrawal of exclusionary technological systems in attendance and wage payments, and restoration of Gram Sabhas as central institutions in programme implementation.

Participants emphasised that at a time of continuing rural distress, strengthening rather than weakening MGNREGA is essential for safeguarding livelihoods, reducing migration, and advancing socio-economic rights.

Comments

The soundtrack of resistance: How 'Sada Sada Ya Nabi' is fueling the Iran war

By Syed Ali Mujtaba* The Persian track “ Sada Sada Ya Nabi ye ” by Hossein Sotoodeh has taken the world by storm. This viral media has cut across linguistic barriers to achieve cult status, reaching over 10 million views. The electrifying music and passionate rendition by the Iranian singer have resonated across the globe, particularly as the high-intensity military conflict involving Iran entered its second month in March 2026.

Lata Mangeshkar, a Dalit from Devdasi family, 'refused to sing a song' about Ambedkar

By Pramod Ranjan* An artist is known and respected for her art. But she is equally, or even more so known and respected for her social concerns. An artist's social concerns or in other words, her worldview, give a direction and purpose to her art. History remembers only such artists whose social concerns are deep, reasoned and of durable importance. Lata Mangeshkar (28 September 1929 – 6 February 2022) was a celebrated playback singer of the Hindi film industry. She was the uncrowned queen of Indian music for over seven decades. Her popularity was unmatched. Her songs were heard and admired not only in India but also in Pakistan, Bangladesh and many other South Asian countries. In this article, we will focus on her social concerns. Lata lived for 92 long years. Music ran in her blood. Her father also belonged to the world of music. Her two sisters, Asha Bhonsle and Usha Mangeshkar, are well-known singers. Lata might have been born in Indore but the blood of a famous Devdasi family...

'Batteries now cheap enough for solar to meet India's 90% demand': Expert quotes Ember study

By A Representative Shankar Sharma, Power & Climate Policy Analyst, has urged India’s top policymakers to reconsider the financial and ecological implications of the country’s energy transition strategy in light of recent global developments. In a letter dated April 10, 2026, addressed to the Union Ministers of Finance, Power, New & Renewable Energy, Environment, Forest & Climate Change, and the Vice Chair of NITI Aayog, with a copy to the Prime Minister, Sharma highlighted concerns over India’s ambitious plans for coal gasification and the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR).

Manufacturing, services: India's low-skill, middle-skill labour remains underemployed

By Francis Kuriakose* The Indian economy was in a state of deceleration well before Covid-19 made its impact in early 2020. This can be inferred from the declining trends of four important macroeconomic variables that indicate the health of the economy in the last quarter of 2019.

Incarceration of Prof Saibaba 'revives' the question: What is crime, who is criminal?

By Kunal Pant* In 2016, a Supreme Court Judge asked the state of Maharashtra, “Do you want to extract a pound of flesh?” The statement was directed against the state for contesting the bail plea of Delhi University Professor GN Saibaba. Saibaba was arrested in 2014, a justification for which was to prevent him from committing what the police called “anti-national activities.”

Food security? Gujarat govt puts more than 5 lakh ration cards in the 'silent' category

By Pankti Jog* A new statistical report uploaded by the Gujarat government on the national food security portal shows that ensuring food security for the marginalized community is still not a priority of the state. The statistical report, uploaded on December 24, highlights many weaknesses in implementing the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in state.

Why Indo-Pak relations have been on 'knife’s edge' , hostilities may remain for long

By Utkarsh Bajpai* The past few decades have seen strides being made in all aspects of life – from sticks and stones to weaponry. The extreme case of this phenomenon has been nuclear weapons. The menace caused by nuclear weapons in the past is unforgettable. Images of Hiroshima and Nagasaki from 1945 come to mind, after the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the cities.

Subaltern voices go digital: Three Indian projects rewriting history from the ground up

By A Representative A new wave of digital humanities (DH) work in India is shifting the focus away from university classrooms and English-language scholarship, instead prioritizing multilingual, community-driven archives that amplify subaltern voices . According to a review published in the Journal of Asian Studies , projects such as the People’s Archive of Rural India (PARI), the Oral History Narmada archive , and the Bhasha Research and Publication Centre are redefining how the country remembers its past — often without government funding or institutional support.

Beyond Lata: How Asha Bhosle redefined the female voice with her underrated versatility

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat* The news of iconic Asha Bhosle’s ‘untimely’ demise has shocked music lovers across the country. Asha Tai was 92 years young. Normally, people celebrate a passing at this age, but Asha Bhosle—much like another legend, Dev Anand—never made us feel she was growing old. She was perhaps the most versatile artist in Bombay cinema. Hailing from a family devoted to music, Asha’s journey to success and fame was not easy. Her elder sister, Lata Mangeshkar, had already become the voice of women in cinema, and most contemporaries like Shamshad Begum, Suraiya, and Noor Jehan had slowly faded into oblivion. Frankly, there was no second or third to Lata Mangeshkar; she became the first—and perhaps the only—choice for music directors and all those who mattered in filmmaking. Asha started her musical journey at age 10 with a Marathi film, but her first break in Hindustani cinema came with the film "Chunariya" (1948). Though she was not the first choice of ...

Search This Blog