Roundtable on Mahatma Gandhi-National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MG-NREGA) & Employment

3rd January 2019 | Thursday

Constitution Club of India

Samruddha Bharat organised a roundtable on MG-NREGA & Employment in collaboration with People’s Action for Employment Guarantee and NREGA Sangharsh Morcha.

Participants: The party representatives who participated in the roundtable included Prithviraj Chavan (former Minister of State, Prime Minister’s Office & former Chief Minister, Maharashtra), Digvijay Singh (former Chief Minister), Sitaram Yechury (Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha and General Secretary of the Communist Party of India Marxist), K. Raju (Congress President’s Office & former Additional Secretary, National Advisory Council), Jignesh Mevani (independent MLA), Brinda Karat (former Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha), Deepender Hooda (Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha), Prof. Rajeev Gowda (Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha), KC Ramamurthy (Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha), Tikender Panwar (former Deputy Mayor, Shimla), Yogendra Yadav (President of Swaraj Abhiyan) etc.

Some of the eminent activists and academics who attended the roundtable included Aruna Roy (former member of National Advisory Council and IAS), Dr. Syeda Hameed (former member, Planning Commission and Trustee, Samruddha Bharat), Harsh Mander (former IAS and Centre for Equity Society), Nikhil Dey (Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sanghatan), Shankar Singh (Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sanghatan), Prof. Jayati Ghosh (JNU), Prof. Prabhat Patnaik (JNU), Avik Saha (Convenor, Jai Kisan Andolan) etc.

Outcomes: Policymakers resolved to:

Endorse an open letter to the Prime Minister and Finance Minister highlighting the urgent steps that need to be taken to revive MGNREGA.
Raise questions in Parliament on programme funding, delayed payments, delay in the payment of compensation, non-payment of minimum wages and payment of unemployment allowance etc.
Raise a ‘Calling Attention Motion’ on the current financial crisis faced by MGNREGA.
Assure political commitment to reviving MGNREGA in party manifestos for the General Elections.