BY TC News Desk
Agartala, 6th February 2026 : The Udaipur District Congress organized a mass deputation today protesting the repeal of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and demanding its immediate reinstatement. Since Gomati District Magistrate was absent, the deputation was submitted to Additional District Magistrate Subhash Acharya.
The program was attended by Udaipur District Congress President Titon Pal, Pradesh Congress General Secretary Milan Kar, District Mahila Congress President Parvati Pal Dey, Panchayat Raj Committee Chairman Abhijit Sarkar, along with leaders from district and block-level Congress units.
Speaking at the event, District Congress President Titon Pal described MGNREGA as a cornerstone of rural livelihood security. He noted that the scheme provides employment opportunities to nearly 50–60 million rural households annually, reducing forced migration, increasing wages, and creating sustainable community assets. Pal emphasized that demand-based work, guaranteed wages, and direct bank transfers under the Act particularly benefited women, Dalits, tribals, and marginalized groups. Women’s participation, accounting for nearly 60 percent of total workdays, highlighted the social significance of the scheme.
Pal recalled that MGNREGA was introduced in 2005 during the UPA government under the leadership of UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and then Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. As a rights-based law, it guaranteed every rural household the legal right to demand wage employment, with provisions for unemployment allowance if work was not provided within 15 days.
Congress leaders alleged that the current BJP government dismantled this rights-based framework by repealing MGNREGA and introducing the new VB-G-RAM-G law. They claimed the new law removed legal guarantees of work, centralized decision-making with the Union government, and curtailed the powers of state governments and village panchayats. Additionally, reducing the Centre’s share of wage payments from 90 percent to 60 percent has shifted financial burdens onto states and workers.
Leaders warned that budgetary restrictions, bans on work during peak agricultural seasons, and weakened wage protections would lead to reduced rural employment and rising poverty. They further criticized the removal of Mahatma Gandhi’s name from the law, calling it an insult to the dignity of labor and the ideals of village self-governance.
The Congress cautioned that unless MGNREGA is reinstated immediately, they will launch a larger movement in the coming days.
