The NREGA Sangarsh Morcha has been protesting against the attendance monitoring system introduced by the Centre under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in Jantar Mantar, Delhi for the last two weeks with little space provided.
Jantar Mantar has seen many significant protests such as India Against Corruption led by Anna Hazare and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, the anti-CAA protest, etc since the 90s. One can protest from 10 am to 4 pm on a daily basis with permission.
However, NREGA workers, primarily women, from Bihar, Jharkhand, Bengal, and nine more states who travel long distances everyday to mark their protest are being harassed in the name of permission and daily scrutiny.
According to tweets from journalist Neha Dixit, the protest site has been barricaded to a few meters. Due to the confined space, the protest has not gathered heat leading to less coverage in media outlets. No media persons were found on the 14th day of the rally.
What is the protest about
Aruna Roy, activist and founder of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) stated that the Centre is fooling citizens with false claims.
According to the Union Ministry of Rural Development, all waged under MGNREGA were paid on time. The ministry further stated that the newly inducted National Mobile Monitoring Software (NMMS) which requires online attendance of its workers, has been running smoothly without any technical errors.
Roy, however, states that the claims are false.
“Workers in Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, and others have faced issues at multiple levels as they cannot register attendance due to weak internet connectivity,” she said, failing to which many are not being paid.
Roy said that it was a violation of the Right to Payment under MGNREGA. The Act assures payments within 15 days of work completion.
According to her, the problem is common in non-BJP-run state governments. Taking example of West Bengal, which is run by Mamta Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, she said, “West Bengal has not received funds for almost 1.5 years because the Union government wants to settle political scores with the state government. The situation of the scheme is worse in opposition-ruled states. The budget allocation should be much higher.”
