“Instead of empowering the poor, the government is suppressing their voice. We are neither getting any support from the government nor are we getting any work through MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act), said 38-year-old Krishna. She is a MGNREGA worker from Nighdu village in Karnal district of Haryana, where Lok Sabha elections are due on 25 May.
Former Haryana chief minister and senior BJP leader Manohar Lal Khattar will be contesting from the Karnal Lok Sabha constituency in these elections.
MGNREGA, which was launched by the Dr Manmohan Singh-led UPA government in 2006, guarantees 100 days of paid employment to rural households, which demand work and are willing to do unskilled manual work, in a year. The objective of the programme was to provide livelihood security to people living in rural areas through guaranteed paid work.
MGNREGA was launched at a time when unemployment and poverty were quite high in India’s rural areas. However, 18 years later, people in rural Haryana claimed that they did not get “even a single day’s work” through the job guarantee scheme in the last one year.
According to the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), Haryana recorded the maximum unemployment rate of 37.4 percent as of January 2023. More recently, a report in The Tribune that 63 percent of Haryana’s population was living below the poverty line.
Amid rising prices and the dearth of jobs in rural Haryana, The Quint spoke to MGNREGA workers on if they are receiving guaranteed work, and if not, would it weigh on their minds when they cast their ballots on 25 May. Here’s what we found:
‘9 lakh MGNREGA Workers Without Work in Haryana’
“I have had to work as a domestic help for the last one year. I received no work through MGNREGA,” claimed Darsho Rani, residing in a workers’ colony in Karnal district’s Nigdhu village. She added that even though she has been associated with the job guarantee scheme for 5-6 years, she still hasn’t received her job card.
Job cards are issued to workers by the Gram Panchayat after their registration and verification. The job card keeps a record of the number of workdays and ensures workers get their daily wages. For Haryana, the minimum wage is Rs 374 per man day.
“What is the point of educating our children when they are killing time, jobless?” Krishna remarked. She said that there was a severe lack of jobs in the village and that she had got no work in the last one year.
While many women workers, who have been associated with MGNREGA in past, narrated similar stories about no work in the job guarantee scheme, Shailender Kumar claimed he was “denied work because of his disability.”
“It has been five years since I have filled forms for work, but my household has not come above the poverty line... I am a person with disability. Nobody gives me work. They say, 'you're handicapped’,” Kumar told The Quint.
This is in stark contradiction with MGNREGA’s Operational Guidelines for Vulnerable Groups which states exclusive measures for promoting participation among persons with disabilities.
Somnath, a member of the MGNREGA Mazdoor Union, told the The Quint that there are more than 13 lakh job cards in Haryana. Of these, nearly 3.66 lakh workers (job-card holders) have received work under MGNREGA.
“What is shocking is that only 2,557 job card holders have received the promised 100 days of work under MGNREGA. The others have received no work at all. This means nearly 9 lakh MGNREGA workers did not receive a single day of work.”Somnath, MGNREGA Mazdoor Union
‘No Work + No Govt Support = Extreme Poverty’
According to Section 7(1) of MGNREGA, 2005, individuals not employed within 15 days are entitled to a daily unemployment allowance. However, workers in Karnal district weren’t even aware of this provision.
“I am not aware of any allowance. If I get my daily wages from the government, that would also help in running my household,” said Urmila, another MGREGA worker.
Meanwhile, another issue seems to be ailing this part of rural Haryana.
“I fear my children will be trapped under the debris and die if our roof collapses,” 52-year-old Veermati told The Quint. She added that she hasn’t received any financial support from Prime Minister-Gramin Awas Yojana (PM-GAY).
The ‘housing for all’ scheme promises low-interest loans for rural poor to build their own pakka houses.
“We are entitled to loans from the government to build pakka houses but no one here has received it. Everyone has filled forms but we have not received any benefits,” Shailinder mourned.
When The Quint visited the village, we observed that almost every third house didn’t have a stable concrete roof and residents were put up in unhygienic conditions.
“I have spent so much money in filling applications and getting family ID cards made so that I can enroll for government schemes and subsidies to make a toilet. Each form costs Rs 200-300. But neither did I get any subsidy, nor did we get any help through the state government's scheme for women workers (Mahila Shramik Samman Yojana),”Darsho Rani, resident, Nighdu Village, Karna
Veermati retorted saying, if the government can’t provide us with the financial assistance it promised, then it should “at least provide us with work under MGNREGA.”
‘Won’t Vote for a Govt That Ignores the Poor’
“The truth is we don't have enough to feed ourselves or buy fodder for our cattle. We don't have enough to buy vegetables, or to fend for ourselves or educate our children,” Shailinder told The Quint.
He added that the government should either provide jobs or some financial assistance for the residents of Nighdu village to survive.
Somnath recalled that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised two crore jobs every year, and former Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar too had promised to provide 60,000 jobs until June this year. “But how many have actually got jobs?” he asked.
“The truth is that they are finishing jobs. If their intention was right, then why are they privatising government sectors, which used to earlier create jobs?”Somnath, MGNREGA Mazdoor Union
Shailinder, who claimed to be a part of the programme when former Congress president Sonia Gandhi had launched MGREGA, accused the BJP of running the scheme “insincerely.”
“When they come to ask for votes, they go to each and every house. But when we demand something from the government, they look away. We will not vote for such a government,” Krishna said.
Somnath also pointed at skilled youth from Haryana being sent to conflict-ridden Israel as part of a government initiative. The Quint had earlier reported on a recruitment drive organised in Rohtak by Haryana Kaushal Rozgar Nigam earlier this year. The first batch of 64 workers reportedly left from Haryana to Israel in April this year.
“If they have enough job posts in Haryana, why are they sending our youth to Israel, where a war is going on. And the conflict is unjust, as Israel is killing Palestinians. The government is sending our youth to be a part of this injustice and die,” Somnath lamented.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)