For many of the yr, there is no such thing as a work within the villages. Work comes briefly, throughout sowing or harvesting, and then it’s a dry season. “All of us, practically 15 folks in my household, get work just for just a few months in a yr. The remainder of the time, there’s nothing. What saved us going was the assure,” mentioned Mahantappa Ok., a seasonal agricultural employee from Ananthapur, Belagavi, who travelled to Bengaluru to hitch a protest on Monday towards proposed adjustments to the Mahatma Gandhi Nationwide Rural Employment Assure Act (MGNREGA).
Underneath the MGNREGA, rural households can demand work, and the federal government is legally certain to offer it inside 15 days or pay compensation. “Now they’re saying work will probably be given provided that a requirement is recognized, authorized and funded. If there is no such thing as a authorized undertaking or the funds is exhausted, there is no such thing as a work. Meaning it is now not a assure. For folks like us, that uncertainty decides whether or not we keep within the village or migrate,” Mr. Mahantappa mentioned.
MGNREGA workers staging a protest towards the VB-G RAM G Act at Freedom park in Bengaluru on Monday.
| Picture Credit score:
ALLEN EGENUSE J.
February 2 marks the twentieth anniversary of the Act. Greater than 10,000 rural workers from throughout Karnataka gathered at Freedom Park for a State-level mobilisation, opposing what they described because the dilution and efficient substitute of the MGNREGA by means of the proposed Viksit Bharat-Assure for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G-RAM G) framework.
The workers argued that the brand new framework weakens the demand-driven, rights-based nature of the legislation that has sustained rural households for practically two many years, particularly throughout lean agricultural seasons.
The mobilisation, held as a Mahapanchayat, mirrored the MGNREGA’s impression over the previous 20 years and highlighted its function in strengthening girls’s livelihoods, offering labour safety, enhancing the socio-economic circumstances of Dalit communities, and deepening native governance by means of Panchayat Raj establishments.
Dalit workers recall life earlier than the Act
For a lot of Dalit workers, the problem went past wages. They spoke of how entry to work earlier than the MGNREGA was formed by humiliation, coercion and caste management. Vinayak P., a employee from Bagalkot, recalled how Dalit households have been compelled to just accept no matter work and wages have been supplied, usually beneath degrading circumstances.
That changed, he argued, with the MGNREGA. The Dalit workers organised themselves, discovered their rights, and have been capable of demand work and honest wages. Many workers recalled incomes as little as ₹5 to ₹10 for onerous labour earlier than the legislation got here into drive, pointing at how the MGNREGA ensured honest wages and dignity.
What changed for ladies?
Ladies workers described the MGNREGA as a turning level not simply economically, however socially. A number of girls workers mentioned they, who as soon as hesitated to step outdoors their properties, gained confidence by means of collective work and organisation, and later discovered how panchayats functioned, demanded equal wages, and started taking part in village-level decision-making. Many recalled working alongside males on bodily demanding duties and being paid the identical wages.
Widows, single girls and survivors of home violence mentioned the scheme enabled them to earn livelihoods in their very own villages with dignity, with out relying on exploitative labour or migration.
Gayathri Anjappa, a employee from Hubballi, identified that individuals who earlier survived by begging have been absorbed into panchayat work beneath the MGNREGA and now lived with respect.
Flagging the new restrictions beneath the proposed framework, workers mentioned that whereas the MGNREGA permits rural households to hunt work all year long, the brand new legislation bars employment throughout two months of peak agricultural exercise. This successfully limits entry to work for a minimum of 60 days yearly. This, the workers, described as a direct erosion of the proper to livelihood, significantly for households that depend upon wage work when farm incomes are unsure.
The federal government’s declare that the brand new legislation will present 125 days of labor per yr was described as deceptive. Shantappa Kumar, a farmer from Chitradurga, identified that even beneath the legally assured 100 days of MGNREGA, the typical employment generated per family was solely round 45 days because of insufficient funding. “Scrapping the legislation fully is pointless and unjustified,” he mentioned, highlighting MGNREGA’s significance not simply to labourers but in addition to farmers. Works similar to land levelling for smallholders, desilting of tanks, improved irrigation and the creation of farm ponds, he mentioned, had straight supported agriculture.
Extreme digitisation was flagged as one other main concern. Workers mentioned wages have been usually denied regardless of completion of labor, whereas massive numbers of job playing cards had been deleted. Even with these challenges, they careworn, MGNREGA continues to operate as a lifeline for lakhs of rural households in Karnataka.
The demonstrators argue that, the VB–GRAMG Act imposes a 60-day restriction throughout sowing and harvesting seasons, barring workers from searching for employment at instances when rural incomes are most weak.
From demand-driven to command-driven employment
Rajendran Narayanan of the MGNREGA Sangharsh Morcha mentioned the proposed legislation was essentially unfair as a result of it concentrates energy with the Central authorities. Underneath the MGNREGA, he mentioned, the proper to demand work rested on the village and panchayat stage.
Funds to States, he added, can be launched primarily based on what the Centre calls “goal parameters”, with mounted normative allocations. “This transforms the programme from demand-driven to command-driven,” he mentioned. Tracing the evolution of the scheme, Mr. Narayanan argued that MGNREGA started as a demand-driven, steadily grew to become supply-driven over the previous decade, and is now coming into a part the place employment will probably be dictated fully by central command.
He additionally raised considerations concerning the revised Centre-State funding ratio of 60:40, warning that it would disproportionately have an effect on poorer States. Mixed with better central management, he mentioned, the shift might result in political favouritism in the direction of some states and the victimisation of others.
Printed – February 02, 2026 08:29 pm IST
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