A round table meeting of agricultural and rural workers, NREGA workers, leaders of organisations of the rural poor, academics, legal defenders, leaders of the National Platform for Rights of the Disabled and right to work activists, concluded successfully at HKS Surjeet Bhawan today. The meeting resolved to form a broader national level joint platform of various agricultural and rural workers unions and organisations affiliated with the NREGA Sangharsh Morcha.

With over 100 participants from various organisations and unions, it was decided that the platform’s first united campaign to save MGNREGA and reject VB-G RAM G will run from January 10 to February 12, 2026, a month long campaign. In this period, there will be continuous campaigns and mass actions in villages across the country demanding rollback of the VB-G RAM G.

On the occasion of Republic Day, i.e. January 26, 2026, all the organisations will mobilise at the mandatory Gram Sabhas and move resolutions to reject VB-G RAM G and reinstate MGNREGA. Further, to mark the 20th anniversary of the launch of MGNREGA on February 2, 2026, the participant organisations resolved to conduct demonstrations outside government offices in their respective villages. The first phase of mass protests and coordinated actions will conclude on February 12, 2026 in coordination with the platform of central trade unions, demanding the rollback of the four labour codes as well as the rollback of VB-G RAM G. These are all the activities decided by the round table meeting today.

Proceedings of the meeting:

The meeting began with the election of a presidium to steer the meeting consisting of B. Venkat of AIAWU, along with Mukesh Nirvasit, Anuradha Talwar and Nikhil Dey of NREGA Sangharsh Morcha, and VS Nirmal of BKMU.

The meeting was inaugurated by renowned developmental economist Jayati Ghosh who spoke out about the conditions of working people in the neoliberal era and how the wrath of global capital affects the rural working class the most. She highlighted how the minimum employment guarantee under MGNREGA helped bring some relief for agricultural and rural workers, which is now in danger of being snatched away with the VB-G RAM G Act.

Initiating the discussion, B. Venkat, General Secretary of the All India Agricultural Workers’ Union, spoke about the importance of the round table meeting. He proposed the future programme and a note about the new act.

Nikhil Dey and Anuradha Talwar from NREGA Sangharsh Morcha talked about how the newly brought VB-G RAM G is a direct attack on the rights of the rural poor for it reduces a demand-driven employment guarantee to a supply-led scheme run at the behest of the Central Government. The new law not only makes the rural employment programme subject to an arbitrary budget cap determined by the Centre, it also dilutes its universal nature for it will only be implemented in such rural areas as notified by the Centre. Moreover, by diluting the Centre’s responsibility for payment of wages and shifting significant financial burdens onto states, it also constitutes an attack on federalism within the democratic framework of our country.

Representatives of the joint platform of central trade unions expressed solidarity with NREGA workers, stating that the issue of repealing MGNREGA is as important to them as to the organisations of the rural poor. Sudip Dutta spoke from CITU, Shahnaz Rafique from INTUC, and V S Giri from AITUC.

Representatives from the Samyukt Kisan Morcha, Ranjan Kshirsagar and Prem Singh Gehlot, talked about the immediate opposition put up by the Morcha as soon as the bill of the new act was introduced. They equated the destruction of MGNREGA with the destruction of the rural economy and resolved to participate in future programmes undertaken by the platform.

Representatives of various others organisations also addressed the participants and extended solidarity with the rights of NREGA workers, including Madhuri from JADS (Madhya Pradesh) and associated with NREGA Sangharsh Morcha, Gulzar Singh Goria, General Secretary of BKMU, R S Dagar from AISKS, Archana Prasad from All India Women Democratic Women’s Association, Dr. Arti from AIKSM, Himangraj and Sanjeev from the Democratic Youth Federation of India, Harish Bala from the All India Youth Federation, Subhash Jakhar from the Students’ Federation of India.

Vikram Singh, of AIAWU, placed the final set of resolutions about formation of a national level coordination committee, the major demands of the platform, and the future programme of action. After a brief discussion and some amendments to strengthen the resolutions, all the resolutions were unanimously accepted by the round table meeting.

The meeting concluded with the following resolve:

1. A joint level coordination committee will be formed amongst agricultural and rural workers’ unions and the NREGA Sangharsh Morcha.

2. The meeting decided to demand the following:

a. Roll back of VB-G RAM G and reinstating a strengthened form of MGNREGA.

b. This strengthened form must provide a guarantee of at least 200 days of work for every adult rural worker with a minimum wage of Rs 700 which should be adjusted yearly as per market inflation.

c. Roll back of the arbitrary and exclusionary technologies for payment of wages and recording workers’ attendance.

d. The Gram Sabhas' permission must be made mandatory for planning of MGNREGA works and for its implementation throughout the villages.

3. The first phase of the campaign against VB-G RAM G:

a. January 10, onwards: Campaigning at the grassroots level to mobilise people through awareness campaigns about the new law, its demerits, and the illusion of 125 days of work.

b. January 26: Moving resolutions against the new law in the mandatory Gram Sabhas organised on Republic Day.

c. February 2: Mass demonstrations and protest actions in state capitals and district headquarters as a pan-India Resistance Day marking the day when the MGNREGA was launched two decades ago.

d. February 12: Jointly campaigning and joining the central trade unions strike against the four labour codes and demanding to bring back MGNREGA.

The overall spirit of the meeting was for united action of all organisations together at a mass scale to make the BJP government take back the VB-G RAM G which strips the rural workers of their employment guarantee, right to work, and with that their dignity. All organisations agreed that the need of the hour is to come together and demand to bring back MGNREGA immediately!