In Photos| ‘Losing Wages Due to App Glitch': MGNREGA Workers Protest in Delhi

Workers from Bihar have reached Jantar Mantar to demand to the rollback of mandatory app-based attendance.

Workers from Bihar have reached Jantar Mantar to put forth their demand to roll back mandatory app-based attendance.  

(Ashna Butani/The Quint) 

Since 13 February, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) workers from Bihar have been assembling peacefully at Delhi's Jantar Mantar to put forth their demand to roll back mandatory app-based attendance.  

Marking attendance on the National Mobile Monitoring System (NMPS) app daily was mandatory in January. Since then, many claim, they have "lost attendance and in turn, wages due to weak network."

In a conversation with The Quint on day four of the protest at Jantar Mantar, many alleged that they "have not received their payment for all the days that they have worked on as the app glitches" when they try to mark their attendance.    

Since last week, MNREGA workers have been protesting at Delhi's Jantar Mantar against mandatory app-based attendance. The protest is being held by NREGA Sangharsh Morcha, and is supposed to go on for 100 days. Protesters will come in batches from different states for the duration of the protest. Workers from Bihar’s Muzaffarpur and Vaishali districts hold the fort for now, and will be followed by workers from West Bengal. While some workers have been put up at a gurudwara, others are staying at shelter homes in the city.  

Vikas Kumar, 25, a MGNREGA worker from Chhapki village, explains the root of their problems. "Workers can only feed in their attendance on the National Mobile Monitoring System (NMPS) app between 6 am and 11 am, if they are morning workers, and between 2 pm to 5 pm for the evening workers. But we do not have good connectivity sometimes, so we cannot log in.” In addition to digging roads, he is also tasked with feeding in attendance of 80 workers under his Panchayat. Vikas, a postgraduate student of Chemistry in a government college, says, “I took up MGNREGA work to pay for college. But I have lost Rs 1,500 in the month of January since I was marked present only for seven out of 14 days that I worked... If I calculate for all the workers in my Panchayat, we have collectively lost Rs 1,08,000 for no fault of ours.”  

Workers show photos of recent protests in their hometown in Bihar.

“I have been doing MGNREGA work for the last six months. Earlier, attendance was not a problem. Some of the women would mark attendance on the register. In the last few months, the app has been made mandatory and authorities have reached out to some of the younger workers to voluntarily assist with app-based attendance," added Vikas. 

MGNREGA was a flagship scheme aimed at enhancing livelihood security of rural households by providing at least 100 days of guaranteed employment. However, not all of them get 100 days of employment every year, say the workers. Their other concerns include Aadhar-based payments which have also been made mandatory by the Centre. Workers also point out that the Union Budget has allocated Rs 60,000 crore for the MGNREGA scheme for 2023-24, which is 18 percent lower than the Rs 73,000 crore budget estimates for 2022-2023. 

Nand Kishore Ram, 69, a worker from Bihar's Muzaffarpur claims that he has not been paid under the scheme for the last two years. He says, “I had linked my Aadhar card and my MGNREGA card. I had updated my bank account details too. But I have not been paid a rupee till date. When I complained to the authorities in my district, they said that the payment is going through. I do not know which account it is going to and I do not know what to do now.” He added, “I used to work as a rickshaw driver in Delhi till the lockdown. After that, I took up MGNREGA work so that I can sustain my family. I take land on lease for farming once a year but there is no profit there either. I have a debt of Rs two lakh.” 

Sudha, 34 (centre) said, “If the website opens, we get paid, if it does not, we do not get paid at all for that day.” She adds that the problem is not entirely new.

Rajoo Devi said, “MGNREGA work is good but what is the point? All of us do not get 100 days of work. Sometimes, we only get 10-15 days of work. They pay is Rs 210 a day. We want a guarantee of 100 days of work and a guarantee of payment for each day that we work.” She has three children and her daily expenses come up to Rs 500 a day. She has a debt of around Rs 7,000 that she's finding difficult to pay back. 

Workers leave the protest site for the day at 4 pm.

At the protest, a group of women sang a song that they had written for the protest; “Nyay naam ki cheez nahi, Anyaya badhta jai, Mehnat kare dhoti wala, Topi wala khaye.”