NREGA Worker's Union

The Gujarat Labour Commissioner has accepted the formation of NREGA Workers union- Gujarat. This is probably the first registered trade union under NREGA. This union will provide a voice to workers employed under NREGA to seek and secure their entitlements to the 100 days employment guarantee. This union will be registered under the Labour Act (trade union) of Gujarat and the constitution of the union will be similar to the labour unions for Gujarat. The annual fee for all the members is fixed at Rs 6.

Initiatives by Disha (Gujarat)

DISHA (Developing Initiatives for Social and Human Action) is a mass based and membership based organization formed in 1985, working towards improvement of socio-economic conditions of marginalized communities, mainly the tribal societies and other landless labourers in Gujarat. In different villages, the community members, Gram Panchayat members approached Eklavya Sangathan (an umbrella group for DISHA's work) during beginning of February 2006 to clarify their doubts and concerns regarding the scheme. It was soon realized that there were widespread misconceptions and generalizations, which prevailed in all the tribal districts.

With an objective of bridging this information gap at the grassroots level, Eklavya Sangathan of DISHA compiled all the important information in the concise form of a pamphlet in the local language- Gujarati to initiate an awareness campaign. To ensure clarity of the scheme for Gram Panchayats, Eklavya Sangathan organized joint information distribution along with Taluka Development Officers. These exercises ensured synchronization in the understanding of the governmental officers, DISHA and Gram Panchayat members. These exercises were conducted during March 1st to 20th 2006. Some discrepancies in the implementation of NREGA:-

• Those who have some dues pending like annual revenue, house tax or similar taxes are not allowed to get registered for work in some villages.
• Those who do not possess ration cards are not able to get registered.
• Those living under joint family and who have only one ration card for the entire joint family have not been given the option of registering for all eligible adults.
• In most of the villages only one person per family is being registered on the interpretation of the scheme that only one person is supposed to be given work per family. However, consideration is not given to a situation where the registered person is unable to work due to illness and any adult family member is entitled to take up work under the scheme.

Incidentally Disha organized support for the formation of a statewide union (in Gujarat), an effort that has succeeded. This statewide union will work for effective implementation of the Act, payment of minimum wages for the guaranteed works and representation of different work related issues. A general meeting of the people working under the Act and forestland tillers was organized at Bagh Tekri (Godhara), under the aegis of Eklavya Sangathan. Around 5000 workers from 6 districts of Gujarat and representatives of different Non-Governmental Organisations attended the meeting and supported formation of the union.

Local Initiatives in Bengal by Paschim Banga Khet Mazdoor Sangathan (PBKMS)

[Translations from Poura O Grameen Sambad by Shyamsree Dasgupta]

The PBKMS has been organizing agricultural labourers in the state of West Bengal to demand work under the NREGA.

In this regard the agricultural labourers of five villages in Vikrampur (Nakshipara block, Nadia) had issued a charter of demand to the local panchayat on 17th May. In the charter they have demanded the job for both men and women workers in their family. One hundred and seventy labourers in this region have already applied for the job cards two months ago but are yet to receive it. However the administration remained completely silent in this matter despite the panchayat pradhan's promise for speedy distribution of job- cards. This willful delay by the panchayat has evoked discontent among the labourers. They had mentioned it very clearly in their charter that there is basically no provision for employment in the village. As a result they have had to emigrate. According to the female family members of the workers' family if the jobs are not available everybody will definitely die out of hunger in the near future. However the pradhan tried to bypass all the allegations raised by the laborers regarding the negligence with the pretext of being extremely busy with the works to be done for the forthcoming election.

The West Bengal Agricultural Labour Association and Women's Labour Association motivated more than 500 workers in different blocks in 24 Parganas (s) to gherao the BDO offices in the issue of 100-day employment and the distribution of the job cards on July 7th. Both the association and the gheraokaries complained that even after the job cards were distributed the BDOs and the panchayat pradhans were taking just no initiatives to assign the job. The gherao was withdrawn only after an executive magistrate listened to them and assured them that the job cards would be distributed soon. On the 6th of July more than 400 applicants gheraoed the Kakdeep BDO office. They complained that despite being informed earlier, the BDO was not present in the office. In a similar mobilization in Sagar block, more than 500 workers of West Bengal Agricultural Labour Association and Women's Labour Association gheraoed the BDO. The allegation was the same. In Namkhana, on the other hand, the BDO office had been gheraoed on 11th of July as the authority failed to distribute the cards within the due date of 30th June. Almost 500 male and female villagers participated in the gherao. The spontaneous participation of the women was remarkable.

Children's RTF updates

The Right to Food Campaign, secretariat has created an e-group (childrensrighttofood@googlegroups.com) to discuss issues specifically related to children's rights to food. On behalf of the Secretariat, we will send regular updates bringing you interesting reports of activities and studies, from around the country. The first such update has already been circulated. To view this you can visit the homepage of childrenstighttofood@googlegroups.com . If you wish to be a member of this group, please write to us at righttofood@gmail.com.

For other news on current activities, please visit our website www.righttofoodindia.org.

Brief Announcements

• Anantapur Padyatra: A padayatra and mass Social Audit is being organized in Ananthapur district from 30 August to 9 September, 2006. It is being organized by 37 NGO networks and Civil Society Organizations in collaboration with the Government of Andhra Pradesh. The Anantapur social audit initiative will attempt to build on the experiences of the ongoing social audit campaign in the State, as well as draw on the lessons learnt from a similar exercise that was carried out in the month of April this year in Dungarpur District (Rajasthan) by the "Suchna Evam Rozgar Adhikar Abhiyaan"
• Public Hearing in Giridih: To protest the delay in beginning works under the NREGA, a public hearing is being organized on 20th September2006, to review the implementation of this act in Giridih district of Jharkhand. This meeting is being organized by Mazdoor Kisan Samiti and Nari Shakti Sangathan.
• Bal Adhikar Yatra, Delhi: Groups and organizations in Delhi have decided to conduct a Bal Adhikar Yatra from 14th to 21st November tentatively, as discussed in the Hyderabad Convention. The activities and programs are still under discussion.

Recent Writings of Interest