On 18 December, a large village meeting was organised near Rampura, in village Bugar (Bathinda, Punjab), by the Mazdoor Adhikar Andolan Punjab and the Trade Union Centre of India. During the meeting, an effigy of the fascist Modi government was burnt.
Addressing the gathering, Comrade Labh Singh Aklia, Provincial Secretary of Mazdoor Adhikar Andolan Punjab and Central Committee Member of the Trade Union Centre of India, along with Comrade Nashtar Singh, stated that the Modi government has for a long time been engaged in dismantling the MGNREGA law. This extremely anti-worker government has continuously reduced the budget allocation for MGNREGA and has also restricted the funds allocated to states under the scheme.
Now, the Modi government has amended the MGNREGA law, removed the name of Mahatma Gandhi, and, in a ridiculous move in line with the fascist Sangh Parivar’s Hindutva Rashtra project, has passed a new law in the Winter Session of Parliament under the name “Ji Ram Ji 2025”. Under this new law, the right to demand of employment has been abolished. At the same time, the central government has shifted its financial responsibility onto the states.
Progressive workers’ organisations across the country are strongly opposing this move. At the meeting, working class leaders demanded that this new law be immediately repealed. They also demanded year-round employment for workers, a daily wage of ₹700, and a guarantee of year-round employment for two members of each family.
