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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | 'Scaling back NREGA would force rural youth to move to bigger cities' -Sameer Arshad

'Scaling back NREGA would force rural youth to move to bigger cities' -Sameer Arshad

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published Published on Dec 4, 2014   modified Modified on Dec 4, 2014
-The Times of India

NEW DELHI: Mangal Singh's three sons were forced to work as daily wage labourers in Gujarat, hundreds of kilometres from their village in Rajasthan's Ajmer district, before the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) was introduced.

They were employed there for perilous digging of wells and stayed away from their home for months leaving their 82-year-old father to fend for himself.

The NREGA came as a big boon for people like Mangal Singh, offering his sons guaranteed employment. "They used to get Rs 163 daily wage which was a lot for us and allowed my sons to get into cattle rearing as well," said Mangal Singh.

He said it was far better than the wages they got in Gujarat, where they had to stay away while their contractor was their master and robbed them of a part of their earnings.

"Now the NREGA is not working properly. Poor people from villages would again be forced to leave their homes for bigger cities to find work," rued Singh.

The Centre's attempts to undermine schemes like NREGA have prompted Singh to travel to Delhi along with hundreds of impoverished people for a sit-in protest. The organizers of the protest claim the schemes were being scaled back "at the behest of the corporates".

"We have come from across the country to force the government to accept our demands. NREGA is not working properly. It is hurting us the most," said Deep Singh (38) from Ajmer, as he napped on a cot after day-long sloganeering and having brought protesters from Rajasthan.

Shankar Navgare (22) was at the sit-in - 'Jan Sansad' - accompanying his parents, who work as rag pickers in Pune and were squatting at the protest venue carrying red flags and shouting slogans.

"They are in their 40s and are fit to work for a living. What would happen to them when they grow old and are unable to work? They need pension and have come here for that," he said.

"We want Prime Minister Narendra Modi to do something for the poor as well. His government is only benefiting the rich," he said amid slogans like "Abh ki bhar hamaray adikhar".

Several organisations joined hands for the sit-in saying they would not be heard unless they speak in unison.

Among them Bihar Progressive Alliance (BPA) joined the protest fearing for the future of secularism. "Secularism would be finished as the RSS has started implementing its agenda," claimed BPA functionary William Samuel from Patna.

He claimed the government was undermining legislations like the one on food security etc. to bankroll its "corporate sponsors".

"We have fought for it and have to get together to force the government to listen to us," said another BPA activist Manoj Kumar (48).

"Only the party connected with deprived masses should be in power. Legislations like Land Acquisition Act are being pushed for benefit of the rich. We would resist it," he said.

He alleged Modi was selling the rights of poor in places like Australia as a song played in the background saying: "Change the system with the push of revolution."


The Times of India, 2 December, 2014, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Scaling-back-NREGA-would-force-rural-youth-to-move-to-bigger-cities/articleshow/45352834.cms


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