The Udyog Maidan near Statue Circle was witness to a different kind of Diwali celebrations' on Thursday. At the centre were two huge puppets carrying posters demanding minimum wages for NREGA workers while another one called for celebrating a black diwali. The protest got louder at the background where NREGA workers from various parts of the district help up posters on the issue. "It has been a unanimous decision from our side...

The Union Rural Development Ministry appears to have painted itself into a corner on the issue of paying minimum wages to workers employed under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS). The ministry has so far insisted that it is not obliged to pay minimum wages to MNREGS workers. This despite an Andhra Pradesh High Court order requiring the government to pay them statutory minimum wages. In a further...

The hopes of an early compliance to their demand of payment of minimum wages receding, the MNREGA workers, who are on an indefinite dharna here, on Saturday threatened to observe a “Black Diwali” this season. The dharna, convened by the Suchana Evum Rogar Ka Adhikar Abhiyan, on its 29th day was attended by over 2,000 persons from 22 districts of Rajasthan. The workers took out a rally in the evening demanding...

The Centre and states may vie to take credit for the MNREGS, but when it comes to footing the Bill for the job guarantee scheme, the story is different. Asking the Centre to notify new, revised wage rates “at the earliest” is, interestingly, a Congress-ruled state—Rajasthan. It also happens to be the home state of minister for rural development C P Joshi. Rajasthan principal secretary CS Rajan last week sent a letter...

For the first time, the ongoing Mazdoor Satyagrah at Statue Circle here, brought together various nomadic and marginalised communities in the state on a common platform on Thursday. Representatives from the Kalbeliya, Garia Lohar, Banjara, Kherua and other communities came together, sharing the platform with NREGS workers demanding minimum wages. "These are communities that don't even have an identity card to prove themselves, a proper residential facility, schools for their children or...