9.56 Crore Rural Workdays Lost, Claims SKM, Demands 200-Day MGNREGA Guarantee

The Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) on Wednesday alleged a 9.56-crore decline in person-days of rural employment in July-August this year compared with the corresponding period in 2025, and demanded restoration of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

Citing data from the Ministry of Rural Development's Rural Employment Dashboard, the farmers' organisation said 29.77 crore person-days were generated under MGNREGA in July-August 2025, against 20.21 crore person-days under the Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act (VB-G RAM G) during the corresponding period this year.

The figures, according to SKM, represent a 28.51 per cent decline in employment generation. The organisation termed the fall a "cruel assault on the rural poor" and alleged that the new legislation had resulted in fewer employment opportunities.

SKM said Rajasthan, Bihar and Odisha recorded particularly low workdays during the transition period. Rajasthan, it claimed, witnessed a decline of more than 52 per cent in July compared with the same month last year.

The farmers' body said MGNREGA legally guaranteed up to 100 days of manual employment to every rural household, but actual employment had averaged between 45 and 52 days per household annually. Only around 7 to 10 per cent of participating households, it claimed, completed the full 100-day entitlement in a financial year.

SKM demanded that MGNREGA be restored, with the employment guarantee increased to 200 days and the daily wage raised to Rs 700.

It said a coordination meeting with the Platform of Agricultural Workers' Unions and independent unions would be held on September 25 in New Delhi to discuss "intensifying united struggles".

SKM also reiterated demands for a legal guarantee for MSP, comprehensive farm loan waiver, compensation of Rs 25 lakh to families of farmers and daily-wage workers who died by suicide, and implementation of the Forest Rights Act and PESA. It also opposed land acquisition allegedly violating the 2013 law.

The organisation said it plans to restart the farmers' struggle from November 26 and criticised the government's free trade agreements.