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The Hindu
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
No resumption of MGNREGA work in West Bengal despite HC order says PBKMS
Despite an order by the Calcutta High Court, to resume MGNREGA in West Bengal from August 1, there has been no resumption of 100 days work, Paschim Banga Khet Majoor Samity, a union of agricultural workers, said on Friday (August 1, 2025). Hearing a petition of PBKMS a division bench of the Calcutta High Court headed by T.S. Sivagnanam on June 18 directed the resumption of the scheme from August 1 'Yet, even after this landmark victory for rural workers, both the Central and State governments have chosen to brazenly defy the Court's order. Instead of preparing for the resumption of work, block offices in multiple districts are refusing to even accept job applications. This is a deliberate attack on the right to work of the state's poorest,' a press statement by PBKMS said. The union also added that job applications by people made under MGNREGA have been rejected. 'In just four days, between 28th and 31st July 2025, 2,092 job applications were submitted across block offices in Purulia, South 24 Parganas, and North 24 Parganas districts. Meanwhile, job applications from 1,349 workers were illegally rejected in 9 block offices across 7 districts,' the union said. A representative of PBKMS said that when they contacted the NREGA Commissioner, he clearly stated that no work will begin unless the Central Government issues fresh instructions - a position that clearly undermines the authority of the Calcutta High Court. Alleging willful inaction by both the governments, the union stated that the Central Government is equally guilty and by hiding behind Section 27 of the MGNREGA Act, 'it continues to block the release of funds and work, systematically depriving Bengal's workers of their legal right to employment'. The workers union also claimed that in Nadia district's Krishnagar-II block, when a member of the union accompanied workers to submit job applications, the BDO and several panchayat pradhans responded with abuse and threats, calling him a 'Bangladeshi' and threatening him with arrest and punitive action. Demanding the immediate implementation of MGNREGA work in West Bengal, as per the High Court order, the PBKMS stated that this blatant 'non-compliance with a High Court order is illegal, unjust, and unacceptable and it continue our struggle for the right to work in every village and every district'. Before the Lok Sabha polls in 2024, the Trinamool Congress along with MGNREGA workers held protests in Delhi demanding payment of wages and resumption of work. However, West Bengal's ruling party response to the High Court order has been lukewarm. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has said her government has started Karmashree Prakalpa to provide at least 50 days of wage employment to each Job Card holder household in a financial year. The scheme, however, is not visible at the grass roots level .Work under MGNREGA had stopped in the State since December 2021 which has resulted in widespread rural distress and migration.
India Gazette
10-07-2025
- Politics
- India Gazette
"Acting like party cell of BJP": Tejashwi Yadav targets ECI over Bihar's electoral roll revision
Patna (Bihar) [India], July 10 (ANI): As the Supreme Court is hearing pleas challenging Election Commission's order to conduct Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in poll-bound Bihar, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav accused the poll body of 'not issuing clarifications,' even after being asked several times. Yadav further alleged that the Election Commission is acting like a 'party cell' of the BJP, the ruling party in the centre. Raising questions, the Bihar Leader of Opposition asked the poll panel reasons for not including Aadhaar Card, Ration Card, Job Card and MNREGA Card as required documents for the verification process. Speaking to reporters, Yadav said, 'We have approached the court and presented our side. Let's see what happens in the Court... The biggest question is why are you rejecting Aadhaar Card, Ration Card, Job Card, MNREGA Card? People of Bihar still do not have documents. Election Commission is not issuing any clarifications. Why can't the Commissioners hold a press conference and clarify everything? Why are they causing confusion? What ego does the EC have? It feels as if the EC is acting like a party cell of the BJP.' The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise being carried out by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in Bihar ahead of the upcoming assembly elections has invited massive criticism, with the opposition parties and leaders labelling the revision of voter list as 'backdoor NRC (National Register of Citizens)' alleging 'vote theft' while also prompting them to question the independence of the constitutional body. However, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the centre, along with the double-engine government led by Janata Dal (United) president Nitish Kumar in Bihar, has accused the opposition of 'playing politics on the shoulders of wrongfully registered voters' while claiming that they were targeting the ECI to save themselves from political defeat. The INDIA bloc on Wednesday held a massive 'Bihar Bandh' rally in Patna against electoral roll revision in the poll-bound state, where Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi alleged that the pattern of electoral manipulation seen in Maharashtra could be repeated in Bihar. Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav called the ECI a 'Godi Aayog' while accusing the NDA alliance of using the constitutional body to remove the name of 'Bihar's poor people' from the voter list. Several senior leaders of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc, including CPI General Secretary D Raja, CPI (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation leader Dipankar Bhattacharya, Bihar Congress President Rajesh Ram, Kanhaiya Kumar, and Sanjay Yadav, also participated in the protest. However, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has reported significant progress in Bihar's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, with over 57 per cent of enumeration forms collected in the first half of the designated period, reinforcing the commission's commitment to maintaining pure electoral rolls across the country. (ANI)
