Politics

Employment Guarantee: A fish bone in the government’s throat

Employment guarantee, West Bengal: Employment guarantee remains a legal promise but a practical illusion. Despite extending rural work from 100 to 125 days, inadequate funding, bureaucratic paralysis, technological exclusions and political conflict have hollowed out the scheme. In West Bengal, workers continue to wait for jobs, wages and the rights the law was meant to guarantee.

Anuradha Talwar
15 min read
Employment Guarantee: A fish bone in the government’s throat

Na paarche gilte, na paarche phelte – this a phrase often used in Bengal for something stuck in the throat like a fish bone, which can neither be swallowed nor thrown out. This accurately describes the Government’s attitude towards employment guarantee for rural workers.

While the UPA government paid at least lip service to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA), the NDA has taken aggressive steps to dilute the law since 2014. Yet employment guarantee remains...

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Anuradha Talwar
Anuradha Talwar
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