NREGA Sangharsh Morcha, a collective of workers, activists and academics have called for the defeat of the BJP government in the 2024 general elections to save the MGNREGS scheme. The various groups had just concluded their two-day national convention where the state of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act was discussed.
At a press conference in Delhi, the collective cited, delayed payments, MNREGS wages lower than state approved minimum wages, budget cuts and weaponising of technological interventions to dissuade workers as issues which are leading to the programme’s early demise.
Anuradha Talwar of Paschim Banga Khet Mazdoor Samity from West Bengal, said that suspending MNREGA in the state is the first experiment that the government is conducting towards ending the programme altogether. Ashish Ranjan of Jan Jagran Shakti Sanghathan, Bihar, said, “If MNREGA has to be kept alive, then this government will have to be defeated.”
